Associate in science degree education programs: organization, structure, and curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Galvin, William F

2005-09-01

After years of discussion, debate, and study, the respiratory care curriculum has evolved to a minimum of an associate degree for entry into practice. Although programs are at liberty to offer the entry-level or advanced level associate degree, most are at the advanced level. The most popular site for sponsorship of the associate degree in respiratory care is the community college. The basis for community college sponsorship seems to be its comprehensive curriculum, which focuses on a strong academic foundation in writing, communication, and the basic sciences as well as supporting a career-directed focus in respiratory care. Issues facing the community college are tied to literacy, outcomes, assessment, placement,cooperation with the community, partnerships with industry, and articulation arrangements with granting institutions granting baccalaureate degrees. Community colleges must produce a literate graduate capable of thriving in an information-saturated society. Assessment and placement will intensify as the laissez-faire attitudes toward attendance and allowing students to select courses without any accountability and evaluation of outcome become less acceptable. Students will be required to demonstrate steady progress toward established outcomes. Maintaining relations and cooperation with the local community and the health care industry will continue to be a prominent role for the community college. The challenge facing associate degree education in respiratory care at the community college level is the ability to continue to meet the needs of an expanding professional scope of practice and to provide a strong liberal arts or general education core curriculum. The needs for a more demanding and expanding respiratory care curriculum and for a rich general education core curriculum have led to increased interest in baccalaureate and graduate degree education. The value of associate degree education at the community college level is well established. It is

Pathways to Science and Engineering Bachelor's Degrees for Men and Women.

Science.gov (United States)

Legewie, Joscha; DiPrete, Thomas A

2014-02-18

Despite the striking reversal of the gender gap in educational attainment and the near-gender parity in math performance, women pursue science and engineering (S/E) degrees at much lower rates than their male peers do. Current efforts to increase the number of women in these fields focus on different life-course periods but lack a clear understanding of the importance of these periods and how orientations toward S/E fields develop over time. In this article, we examine the gendered pathways to a S/E bachelor's degree from middle school to high school and college based on a representative sample from the 1973 to 1974 birth cohort. Using a counterfactual decomposition analysis, we determine the relative importance of these different life-course periods and thereby inform the direction of future research and policy. Our findings confirm previous research that highlights the importance of early encouragement for gender differences in S/E degrees, but our findings also attest to the high school years as a decisive period for the gender gap, while challenging the focus on college in research and policy. Indeed, if female high school seniors had the same orientation toward and preparation for S/E fields as their male peers, the gender gap in S/E degrees would be closed by as much as 82 percent.

45 CFR 2400.41 - Degree programs.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... degree in history or political science (including government or politics), the degree of Master of Arts in Teaching in history or political science (including government or politics), or a related master's degree in education that permits a concentration in American history, American government, social studies...

Communicative competences in Experimental Sciences degrees within the framework of the new European Space for Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseba Ezeiza Ramos

2009-10-01

Full Text Available The scenario for developing communicative competences in the Experimental Sciences degrees and within the new European Space for Higher Education is highly complex. This is confirmed by research reported in the White Papers on the new degrees in this subject area. Therefore, to smoothly integrate communicative and linguistic competences into future syllabi, I should first make a careful analysis of the main factors at work in the new situation. This paper seeks to provide a preliminary approach to the problem. First, I describe the academic and professional tasks that constitute the objectives of future European science degrees. This is followed by an analysis of the communicative and linguistic parameters considered essential for satisfactory attainment of these objectives. Finally, the specific skills that students must master in order to meet the demands imposed by the new framework are outlined. The results of this analysis will enable us to see how much the new situation differs from traditional university teaching. Under this new model, the development of communicative and linguistic competences will no longer be a mere adjunct to a science curriculum, but instead will become of prime importance to the academic and professional training of future scientists.

Longitudinal effects of college type and selectivity on degrees conferred upon undergraduate females in physical science, life science, math and computer science, and social science

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Stacy Mckimm

There has been much research to suggest that a single-sex college experience for female undergraduate students can increase self-confidence and leadership ability during the college years and beyond. The results of previous studies also suggest that these students achieve in the workforce and enter graduate school at higher rates than their female peers graduating from coeducational institutions. However, some researchers have questioned these findings, suggesting that it is the selectivity level of the colleges rather than the comprised gender of the students that causes these differences. The purpose of this study was to justify the continuation of single-sex educational opportunities for females at the post-secondary level by examining the effects that college selectivity, college type, and time have on the rate of undergraduate females pursuing majors in non-traditional fields. The study examined the percentage of physical science, life science, math and computer science, and social science degrees conferred upon females graduating from women's colleges from 1985-2001, as compared to those at comparable coeducational colleges. Sampling for this study consisted of 42 liberal arts women's (n = 21) and coeducational (n = 21) colleges. Variables included the type of college, the selectivity level of the college, and the effect of time on the percentage of female graduates. Doubly multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance testing revealed significant main effects for college selectivity on social science graduates, and time on both life science and math and computer science graduates. Significant interaction was also found between the college type and time on social science graduates, as well as the college type, selectivity level, and time on math and computer science graduates. Implications of the results and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Pathways to Science and Engineering Bachelor’s Degrees for Men and Women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joscha Legewie

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Despite the striking reversal of the gender gap in educational attainment and the near–gender parity in math performance, women pursue science and engineering (S/E degrees at much lower rates than their male peers do. Current efforts to increase the number of women in these fields focus on different life-course periods but lack a clear understanding of the importance of these periods and how orientations toward S/E fields develop over time. In this article, we examine the gendered pathways to a S/E bachelor’s degree from middle school to high school and college based on a representative sample from the 1973 to 1974 birth cohort. Using a counterfactual decomposition analysis, we determine the relative importance of these different life-course periods and thereby inform the direction of future research and policy. Our findings confirm previous research that highlights the importance of early encouragement for gender differences in S/E degrees, but our findings also attest to the high school years as a decisive period for the gender gap, while challenging the focus on college in research and policy. Indeed, if female high school seniors had the same orientation toward and preparation for S/E fields as their male peers, the gender gap in S/E degrees would be closed by as much as 82 percent.

The Effects of Cognitive Styles on Naïve Impetus Theory Application Degrees of Pre-Service Science Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Cataloglu, Erdat; Ates, Salih

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between pre-service science teachers' Field Dependent or Field Independent (FD/FI) cognitive styles and the application of degrees of naive impetus theory. The sample consisted of 122 pre-service science teachers (97 females and 25 males) who were enrolled in the…

EXPERIENCE AND PROSPECTS OF MASTER’S DEGREE TRAINING OF ENGINEERING STAFF IN THE FIELD OF METALLURGICAL SCIENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. M. Konstantinov

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The experience of training for MBA in engineering and technologies for specialties “Materials Science in Mechanical Engineering” at the department was analyzed. Efficiency of the practical-focused Master’s degree program for engineering staff of the machine-building and metallurgical enterprises was emphasized. Some ways to increase efficiency of master training of engineering experts in the field of metallurgical science and heat treatment are offered. Need of more active interaction with engineering services of the production enterprise during implementation of the master thesis was proved. Need of domination of requirements of the production enterprise is highlighted in master preparation program. The algorithm of interaction of department and technical service of the production enterprise during training of the factory expert in the correspondence practical-focused Master’s degree program is offered.

Choosing Science: A Mixed-Methods Study of Factors Predicting Latino and Latina High School Students' Decisions to Pursue Science Degrees

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, Rachel S.

Latino/as are an increasingly large subset of the United States population; however, they continue to be underrepresented in science careers. Because of this increase, research regarding Latino/as has improved, but there are still many gaps in regards to gender-specific predictors to pursue science careers. To address this lack of literature, the purpose of this study is to extend previous research and to develop a model of variables that significantly contribute to science career choice among Latino and Latina students when they graduate from high school. In particular the study addressed the following research questions: (1) What are the differences in science outcomes for Latino and Latina students? (2) What are the differences in factors involved in science outcomes for Latino and Latina students? (3) For Latino and Latina students what are the differences in the factors that predict students' choice to pursue a science degree and/or high scores on the Future Plans in Science Scale? (4) What are the differences in how Latino and Latina students experience science, which account for high achieving students to choose to pursue a science major? This study utilized an explanatory mixed-method approach to examine how cognitive, institutional, and motivational factors may be interrelated and play a role in Latino/as choice to pursue science. The first phase of the study incorporated the collection of survey and database information from 12th grade students at two Southern California high schools. The second phase of the study utilized follow-up focus group interviews to explore the specific differential experiences and views of Latino and Latina students. The results of the study demonstrated multiple significant predictors. Science self-concept and views towards science outside of school were the most significant predictors of students' choice to pursue science. Male students also had major predictors of Spanish proficiency, teacher encouragement, religious views

"Publish SCI Papers or No Degree": Practices of Chinese Doctoral Supervisors in Response to the Publication Pressure on Science Students

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yongyan

2016-01-01

Publishing English papers in journals listed in Science Citation Index (SCI) has become a requirement for degree conferment for doctoral science students at many universities in China. The publication requirement engenders high pressure for doctoral students and their supervisors and shapes the politics of the relationship between the two parties.…

Distance Education in Dental Hygiene Bachelor of Science Degree Completion Programs: As Perceived by Students and Faculty

Science.gov (United States)

Tsokris, Maureen

2010-01-01

This study investigated student and faculty perceptions of their experiences with online learning in dental hygiene Bachelor of Science degree completion programs on the dimensions of: quality of learning, connectedness to the learning environment, technology factors and student satisfaction. The experiences of dental hygiene students who took…

Astronautics Degrees for Space Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Gruntman, M.; Brodsky, R.; Erwin, D.; Kunc, J.

The Astronautics Program (http://astronautics.usc.edu) of the University of Southern California (USC) offers a full set of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Aerospace Engineering with emphasis in Astronautics. The Bachelor of Science degree program in Astronautics combines basic science and engineering classes with specialized astronautics classes. The Master of Science degree program in Astronautics offers classes in various areas of space technology. The Certificate in Astronautics targets practicing engineers and scientists who enter space-related fields and/or who want to obtain training in specific space-related areas. Many specialized graduate classes are taught by adjunct faculty working at the leading space companies. The Master of Science degree and Certificate are available through the USC Distance Education Network (DEN). Today, the Internet allows us to reach students anywhere in the world through webcasting. The majority of our graduate students, as well as those pursuing the Certificate, work full time as engineers in the space industry and government research and development centers. The new world of distance learning presents new challenges and opens new opportunities. We show how the transformation of distance learning and particularly the introduction of webcasting transform organization of the program and class delivery. We will describe in detail the academic focus of the program, student reach, and structure of program components. Program development is illustrated by the student enrollment dynamics and related industrial trends; the lessons learned emphasize the importance of feedback from the students and from the space industry.

Developing international alumni activities in Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences : Case Business Management degree programme

OpenAIRE

Honkaniemi, Meri

2014-01-01

My thesis focuses on international alumni activities in Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences. My aim was to find development ideas and recommendations for the international side of the alumni activities. I intended to offer realistic suggestions enough in order to make them work in practice too. I put also my effort on finding recommendations for Business Management programme, because I wanted to make sure that international alumni activities get attention in degree programme level too. ...

The climate regime before and after Copenhagen: science, policy, and the two-degrees target

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aykut, S.C.; Dahan, A.

2011-01-01

The article discusses the political results of the Copenhagen Conference and evolutions in the international climate arena including geopolitical shifts, new issues on the agenda and a changing cartography of the main actors. As recent attacks on the climate regime concern both its political governance and the peculiar relationship between science and politics that developed through its main institutions (IPCC and the Conference of the Parties), we retrace in a first part the construction of the climate arena and in a second part the framing of the problem between climate science, expertise, and politics. Drawing on this historical sketch, we suggest the years 2000 were characterized by a convergence of top-down approaches in climate expertise and policies, structuring action and discourse around quantified reduction targets, temperature and concentration thresholds, and carbon budgets. The bottom-up character of the voluntary reduction commitments in the Copenhagen Accord is a serious setback to this approach. A central figure in this context is the threshold of 'dangerous warming' of two degrees. The Copenhagen Accord - endorsed in the Cancun compromise - elevates this figure to an official target of the U.N. negotiation process, thereby accentuating the tension between a newly assumed 'Real politic' and an alarming expertise. The article analyzes the construction of the two-degrees target and the role it plays in the climate regime. We conclude by discussing several contributions to the Post-Copenhagen debate. (authors)

Master degree in different nuclear sciences; Sudan Academy of Sciences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasan, A.M.A.

2013-01-01

Sudan Academy of Sciences has enriched the professional and research fields with a considerable number of qualified staff in medical physics, radiation protection, nuclear sciences and technologies. These programs have great interest due to the increased market demand, introduction of these fields in the university syllabus, and the appreciated funds from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Arab Atomic Energy Agency via training and expert missions. (author)

Astronautics degrees for the space industry

Science.gov (United States)

Gruntman, M.; Brodsky, R. F.; Erwin, D. A.; Kunc, J. A.

2004-01-01

The Astronautics Program (http://astronautics.usc.edu) of the University of Southern California (USC) offers a full set of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Aerospace Engineering with emphasis in Astronautics. The Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree programs in Astronautics combine basic science and engineering classes with specialized classes in space technology. The Certificate in Astronautics targets practicing engineers and scientists who enter space-related fields and/or who want to obtain training in specific space-related areas. Many specialized graduate classes are taught by adjunct faculty working at the leading space companies. The Master of Science degree and Certificate are available entirely through the USC Distance Education Network (DEN). Today, the Internet allows us to reach students anywhere in the world through webcasting. The majority of our graduate students, as well as those pursuing the Certificate, work full time as engineers in the space industry and government research and development centers while earning their degrees. The new world of distance learning presents new challenges and opens new opportunities. Distance learning, and particularly the introduction of webcasting, transform the organization of the graduate program and class delivery. We describe in detail the program's academic focus, student reach, and structure of program components. Program development is illustrated by the student enrollment dynamics and related industrial trends; the lessons learned emphasize the importance of feedback from the students and from the space industry.

Planning and implementing an honors degree in environmental science curricula: a case study from the University of Delaware, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Levia, Delphis

2015-04-01

Environmental degradation is undermining the sustainability of our planet. The multi-faceted nature of environmental stressors, which inherently couples human-environment interactions across space and time, necessitates that we train environmental scientists holistically within an interdisciplinary framework. Recruiting top-notch honors students to major in the environmental sciences is a critical step to ensure that we have the human capital to tackle complicated environmental problems successfully. Planning and implementing an honors degree is no trivial task. Based upon a recently completed and implemented set of programmatic revisions*, this poster showcases a successful example of an honors curriculum in environmental science to recruit and educate dynamic thinkers capable of improving the quality of our environment. The interdisciplinary environmental science program at the University of Delaware emphasizes the cross-cutting among earth's spheres through a core set of courses which employ a quantitative approach which is supplemented by several environmental policy courses. The core is coupled with six different thematic concentrations (students choose one) which permit the student to delve into a particular area of environmental science. The honors component of the degree consists of twelve additional credits. These credits are met through a specially designed introductory environmental course, a field experience requiring data collection, analysis, and write-up, a capstone course, and one other environmentally related course. The environmental sciences honors curriculum outlined in this poster may serve as a useful guide to others wishing to establish an honors program of their own in environmental science to recruit and prepare the next generation to mitigate environmental degradation. -------------- * Please note that the planning process for the environmental programs was and is the collective effort of many dedicated people. Current members of the

The Relationship between Learning Styles and Information Seeking Behavior in Master Degree Students of Medical Sciences in Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Parsaeian

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Learning styles influence the methods and ways of obtaining information and lead to the variety of information seeking behaviors from the searchers. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between learning styles and information seeking behavior in master degree students of medical science in Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional analytic study. The population of the study was 601 master degree students of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd in 2013-2015. They were all freshmen. The sample size of 234 students was determined using Cochran formula. Data were collected by two questionnaires (Kolb questionnaire and researcher-made seeking behavior questionnaire. The validity of questionnaires was confirmed by a panel of experts and their reliability was confirmed by Cronbach`s alpha. Data analysis was done by inferential statistics and statistical software SPSS (version 18. Measuring the significant relationship between learning styles and information seeking behavior was done with Pierson correlation coefficient. The significant difference between learning styles and information seeking behavior in terms of gender and faculty was examined by Fisher`s test. Results: Learning styles had effect on information seeking behavior; also correlation coefficients between the learning styles and information seeking behavior had significant difference, but there was no difference in terms of faculty. Conclution: Recognition of learning styles and including it into designing of information systems may increase system`s interactivity that it may lead to have better and faster accessibility to information resources.

Where are the women? Campus climate and the degree aspirations of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs

Science.gov (United States)

Schulz, Phyllis

Women remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at all levels of higher education, which has become a concern in the competitive global marketplace. Using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, this dissertation sought to learn more about how the campus climate and self-concept influence the degree aspirations of female undergraduate students majoring in STEM programs. Using the Beginning Post-Secondary dataset, regression analyses showed that a student's initial degree aspirations, SAT scores, and interactions with faculty were all positively related to their degree aspirations three years later. Interviews with seven current STEM undergraduates confirmed the importance of interaction with faculty and suggested undergraduate research and classroom experiences also play a role in the degree aspirations of STEM students. Three of the seven students interviewed began their undergraduate educations as non-STEM majors, suggesting that the traditional STEM pipeline may no longer be the norm. These findings suggest that both future research and current practitioners should focus on undergraduate STEM classroom and research experiences. Additionally, the characteristics of students who switch into STEM majors should be explored so that we may continue to expand the number of students pursuing STEM degrees.

Degree-regular triangulations of torus and Klein bottle

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Proceedings – Mathematical Sciences; Volume 115; Issue 3 ... A triangulation of a connected closed surface is called degree-regular if each of its vertices have the same degree. ... In [5], Datta and Nilakantan have classified all the degree-regular triangulations of closed surfaces on at most 11 vertices.

Learning Survival Models with On-Line Simulation Activities in the Actuarial Science Degree

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Fernandez-Morales

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to describe an on-line survival laboratory designed to enhance teaching and learning in the Statistics courses of the Actuarial Science Degree of the Uni-versity of Málaga. The objective of the on-line survival lab is to help students through a guided program of simulation activities with the understanding of the most important statistical concepts of the stochastic modeling of human survival, from an Actuarial point of view. The graphical interactive simulator is implemented as Java applets for the web version, and as a Javascript animation for a lite iPhone/iPod touch version. Finally, the results of a survey carried out at the end of the course are discussed to have a preliminary assessment of the students’ satisfaction with the resources, and their perception about the usefulness for their learning process.

Linear analysis of degree correlations in complex networks

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2016-11-02

Nov 2, 2016 ... 4College of Science, Qi Lu University of Technology, Jinan 250353, Shandong, China ... cal methods used usually to describe the degree correlation in the ... Most social networks show assorta- .... a clear but only qualitative description of the degree ... is difficult to give quantitative relation between DCC.

Does a bachelor’s degree pay off?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Neugebauer, Martin; Weiss, Felix

Academic education is generally rewarded by employers, but what happens to graduates if they are trained for two years less and have to compete with vocationally trained labor market entrants in a similar field of study? Focusing on Germany, we analyze labor market entries of individuals eligible...... for higher education, who either opted for newly introduced short bachelor’s degrees, or for well-established vocational degrees. Based on Microcensus data, we find that bachelor’s degrees from classical universities are associated with higher earnings and more prestigious jobs than initial vocational...... training degrees, and with higher prestige (but similar earnings) than further vocational degrees. However, bachelor’s degrees from universities are also related to higher risks of unemployment or fixed-term employment. Universities of applied sciences, which combine academic and practical training, offer...

Diet - clear liquid

Science.gov (United States)

... Group. Clear liquid diet. In: Morrison. Manual of Clinical Nutrition Management. Updated 2013. bscn2k15.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/9/2/12924787/manual_of_clinical_nutrition2013.pdf . Accessed August 20, 2016. Schattner MA, ...

Early Engagement in Course-Based Research Increases Graduation Rates and Completion of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Degrees.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodenbusch, Stacia E; Hernandez, Paul R; Simmons, Sarah L; Dolan, Erin L

2016-01-01

National efforts to transform undergraduate biology education call for research experiences to be an integral component of learning for all students. Course-based undergraduate research experiences, or CUREs, have been championed for engaging students in research at a scale that is not possible through apprenticeships in faculty research laboratories. Yet there are few if any studies that examine the long-term effects of participating in CUREs on desired student outcomes, such as graduating from college and completing a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major. One CURE program, the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI), has engaged thousands of first-year undergraduates over the past decade. Using propensity score-matching to control for student-level differences, we tested the effect of participating in FRI on students' probability of graduating with a STEM degree, probability of graduating within 6 yr, and grade point average (GPA) at graduation. Students who completed all three semesters of FRI were significantly more likely than their non-FRI peers to earn a STEM degree and graduate within 6 yr. FRI had no significant effect on students' GPAs at graduation. The effects were similar for diverse students. These results provide the most robust and best-controlled evidence to date to support calls for early involvement of undergraduates in research. © 2016 S. Rodenbusch et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

How Much Does It Cost Institutions to Produce Stem Degrees? Data Brief. The Price and Cost of Science Degrees Series

Science.gov (United States)

Delta Cost Project at American Institutes for Research, 2013

2013-01-01

This AIR Data Brief breaks down the "cost per degree" estimates for 28 disciplines, including those in the STEM fields, which among the most expensive degrees to produce. The brief points to ways colleges can change their tuition structure to finance STEM degrees more affordably. This data brief is the fourth of four in the series. (See…

Relationship among science teacher personality characteristics and degree of teacher classroom implementation after in-service workshop

Science.gov (United States)

Sechler, Phares Lochiel Coleman

State departments of public instruction require that teachers periodically update their licenses throughout their teaching careers. Various professional development events such as in-service workshops, university offerings, and special innovative programs provide opportunities for novice and experienced teachers to grow professionally. The "Team Science" workshop was designed from models supported by research that described guidelines for successful workshop strategies. In evaluating the workshop, the question was asked "Why did not all teachers implement the ideas from the workshop in their science classrooms?" This study investigates the possible relationship between teacher personality characteristics and implementation of technology innovations. Team Science was an extensive workshop program planned to develop science teachers' expertise in using computer and video technology to teach in physical science, chemistry, and physics classrooms in rural school in North Carolina. Upon evaluating the four-year effort, it was found that the 23 participants implemented the technological strategies at various levels. At the higher end of the range of technology use, some teachers exhibited complete integration of the computers and interfacing devices into both the laboratory work and the classroom inquiry. At the lower end of the range, some teachers used the technology very little. The resulting question emerged from the data collected: Do specific teacher personality characteristics (independent variables) correlate with the degree of implementation (dependent variable) of the innovative ideas and tools used in the teacher's science classroom after the in-service workshop? To determine if there were any significant personality traits, each teacher was given five personality tests. The tests were Hunt's Conceptual Development Test, the Paragraph Completion Test; James Rest's Defining Issues Test; Simmons Personal Survey, an emotional tendency test; the Myers-Briggs Type

[Roles and competences of nurses with postgraduate master degree in nursing science in everyday practice. Multicentre descriptive survey].

Science.gov (United States)

Dante, Angelo; Occoffer, Elisa Maria; Miniussi, Claudia; Margetic, Helga; Palese, Alvisa; Saiani, Luisa

2014-01-01

Roles and competences of nurses with postgraduate master degree in nursing science in everyday practice. Multicentre descriptive survey. Few information are available on the role and activities of Italian nurses with Laurea Magistrale (postgraduate master degree in nursing science). To describe the implementation of the advanced competences acquired after Laurea Magistrale by nurses, as well as changes in their professional career. A multicenter descriptive study on 7 consecutive cohorts (from 2004/2005 to 2011/2012) of nurses of 3 universities of northern Italy was conducted. Data on managerial, teaching, research and clinical competences and changes in the professional role were collected with semi-structured questionnaires. 232/285 graduates completed the questionnaire; 216 (88.8%) used their managerial competences, 178 (76.7%) educational competences, 122 (52.6%) clinical competences and 115 (49.5%) research competences. Eigthy graduates (34.4%) changed their professional roles, occupying managerial positions (from 89 to 212, +123, 14.5%) and in the education field (from 33 to 44 +11, 4.8%) while the number of nurses with a clinical role decreased (from 110 to 65, -45, -19.4%). The role changes occured mainly after three years from graduation (p = 0.006) with significant differences across areas (p = 0.018). Until recently the main field of occupation of Laureati magistrali was in management but the changing needs of the organizations require a major focus on the clinical competences. The characteristics of contexts that favour or prevent the implementation of the new compentences and the upgrade of the roles should be studied.

THE PROCESS OF OBTAINING THE DEGREE DOCTOR IN ECONOMICS IN CUBA, A DECISIVE CHALLENGE FOR DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC SCIENCES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Castro-Tato

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In Cuba and other countries of Latin America are thousands of professionals graduated in the economic sciences that are working as specialists, officials and directive in companies, organisms and entities of the central administration of the state, as well as professors and investigators in universities and centers and institutes of scientific investigations. Many of them have developed diverse study, organized in masters courses, and want to continue their professional development in order to obtaining of doctor's scientific grade, but many of them ignore the form and the roads to be able to reach this purpose. Doctor`s degree in specialties of economics sciences is possible to obtain in Cuba. It is generally achieved in time shared with the applicant's habitual work, usually in one period between 3 and 5 years, by programs of study of curricular doctorate or through topics framed in investigation projects approved by the Ministry of Sciences, Technology and Environment, which is directed with academic rigor by the National Commission of Scientific Grades and by means of the guide of each applicant's individual program, by a professional of prestige that shows doctor's grade who acts as tutor. The  central objective of the present work is to explain the main characteristics of the process to carry out the doctorate studies in economic sciences in Cuba, the requirements and the main roads to carry out them with the elaboration of the grade thesis and its defense in the Permanent National Tribunal of Scientific Grades of each specialty of the economic sciences, as well as some considerations regarding the elements that cannot be outside in the design of the investigation. 

International Degree Mobility in Library andInformation Science

OpenAIRE

Hillebrand, Vera; Greifeneder, Elke

2017-01-01

This study explores patterns of the geographical mobility for researchers in Library and Information Science and shows that there are clear patterns towards the United States in particular, and more general to countries offering an English language education.

Understanding the Prevalence of Geo-Like Degree Programs at Minority Serving Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

McDaris, J. R.; Manduca, C. A.; Larsen, K.

2014-12-01

Over the decade 2002-12, the percentage of students from underrepresented minorities (URM) graduating with geoscience degrees has increased by 50%. In 2012, of the nearly 6,000 geoscience Bachelor's degrees, 8% were awarded to students from URM. But that same year across all of STEM, 18% of Bachelors went to these students, and URM made up 30% of the US population overall. Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) play an important role in increasing the diversity of geoscience graduates where there are appropriate degree programs or pathways to programs. To better understand opportunities at these institutions, the InTeGrate project collected information on degree programs at MSIs. A summer 2013 survey of websites for three types of MSIs confirmed that, while stand-alone Geology, Geoscience, or Environmental Science departments are present, there are a larger number of degree programs that include elements of geoscience or related disciplines (geography, GIS, etc.) offered in interdisciplinary departments (e.g. Natural Sciences and Math) or cognate science departments (Physics, Engineering, etc.). Approximately one-third of Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and one-fifth of Historically Black Colleges and Universities offer at least one degree that includes elements of geoscience. The most common programs were Geology and Environmental Science (94 and 88 degrees respectively), but 21 other types of program were also found. To better profile the nature of these programs, 11 interviews were conducted focusing on strategies for attracting, supporting, and preparing minority students for the workforce. In conjunction with the February 2014 Broadening Access to the Earth and Environmental Sciences workshop, an additional 6 MSI profiles were obtained as well as 22 profiles from non-MSIs. Several common strategies emerge: Proactive marketing and outreach to local high schools and two-year colleges Community building, mentoring and advising, academic support

Insights for undergraduates seeking an advanced degree in wildlife and fisheries sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Kaemingk, Mark A.; Dembkowski, Daniel J.; Meyer, Hilary A.; Gigliotti, Larry M.

2013-01-01

In today's job market, having a successful career in the fisheries and wildlife sciences is becoming more dependent on obtaining an advanced degree. As a result, competition for getting accepted into a graduate program is fierce. Our objective for this study was to provide prospective graduate students some insights as to what qualifications or attributes would best prepare them for obtaining a graduate position (M.S.) and to excel once they are enrolled in a graduate program. A survey was sent to 50 universities within the National Association of University Fisheries and Wildlife Programs (NAUFWP) where both faculty and undergraduate students were asked questions relating to graduate school. Faculty rated the importance of various criteria and attributes of graduate school, and students answered the questions according to how they believed faculty members would respond. Overall, undergraduate students shared many of the same graduate school viewpoints as those held by faculty members. However, viewpoints differed on some topics related to admittance and the most important accomplishment of a graduate student while enrolled in a graduate program. These results indicate that undergraduate students may be better prepared for graduate school—and they may understand how to be successful once they are enrolled in a program—than was initially thought.

Theses in Archaeology for the Degrees of Doctor and Candidate of Historical Sciences Defended at the Sh. Marjani Institute of History, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, in 2013

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khuzin Fayaz Sh.

2013-12-01

Full Text Available An overview of the theses in Archaeology defended in 2013 at the Institute of History named after Sh. Marjani, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, is presented in the article. Three theses were submitted for the conferment of Doctor’s Degree (I.L. Izmailov, Yu.A. Zeleneyev, A.G. Sitdikov, and seven – for the conferment of Candidate’s Degree (M.L. Pereskokov, M.M. Zubareva, I.V. Molchanov, R.V. Matveyev, M.D. Kalmenov, K.M. Kireeyva, A.V. Lyganov. One thesis was defended specialized in Russian History, which is undoubtedly of interest to archaeologists engaged in Bulgar studies (Sh. R. Mingazov. A brief outline of the content of the submitted theses is offered; basic problems tackled in them are characterized. The latter are predominantly concentrated around issues of ethnogenesis, history and culture of the population of the Volga river region and adjacent territories during the Middle Ages and preceding periods: the Bonze Age and the Early Iron Age.

Religion as a Support Factor for Women of Color Pursuing Science Degrees: Implications for Science Teacher Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Ceglie, Robert

2013-02-01

This study explores the influence of religion as a support factor for a group of Latina and African-American women majoring in science. The current project is a part of a larger study that investigated persistence factors of underrepresented woman who were enrolled as science majors at United States colleges and universities. This paper focuses on one theme that emerged among six participants who disclosed how religion was a significant influence on their persistence in science fields. The strength and support offered by religious values is certainly not specific to science content; however, the support received from their beliefs highlights a potential area for further exploration. Given the importance of increasing participation by students from diverse backgrounds into science fields, it is critical to recognize how some of these differences may be the key factors influencing the way these students look at the world. This study offers evidence that science educators need to consider what role religious beliefs have for students who may be considering science or science education as a future career, particularly for those students from underrepresented groups.

Degrees of systematic thoroughness: A text analysis of student technical science writing

Science.gov (United States)

Esch, Catherine Julia

This dissertation investigates student technical science writing and use of evidence. Student writers attended a writing-intensive undergraduate university oceanography course where they were required to write a technical paper drawing from an instructor-designed software program, Our Dynamic Planet. This software includes multiple interactive geological data sets relevant to plate tectonics. Through qualitative text analysis of students science writing, two research questions frame the study asking: How are the papers textually structured? Are there distinctions between high- and low-rated papers? General and specific text characteristics within three critical sections of the technical paper are identified and analyzed (Observations, Interpretations, Conclusions). Specific text characteristics consist of typical types of figures displayed in the papers, and typical statements within each paper section. Data gathering consisted of collecting 15 student papers which constitute the population of study. An analytical method was designed to manage and analyze the text characteristics. It has three stages: identifying coding categories, re-formulating the categories, and configuring categories. Three important elements emerged that identified notable distinctions in paper quality: data display and use, narration of complex geological feature relationships, and overall organization of text structure. An inter-rater coding concordance check was conducted, and showed high concordance ratios for the coding of each section: Observations = 0.95; Interpretations = 0.93; and Conclusions = 0.87. These categories collectively reveal a larger pattern of general differences in the paper quality levels (high, low, medium). This variation in the quality of papers demonstrates degrees of systematic thoroughness, which is defined as how systematically each student engages in the tasks of the assignment, and how thoroughly and consistently the student follows through on that systematic

Perceptions and difficulties in the use of participative methodologies and formative evaluation in science of physical activity degree

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Javier Castejón Oliva

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents the process of adapting teaching skills within the framework of the European Higher Education Area, particularly with the introduction of Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Science from Universidad Autónoma of Madrid. The objective is to analyze the perceptions and difficulties of the teachers and students on participatory methodologies and formative evaluation systems. Data sources are from documentary analysis of the tutorials for the subjects, individual interviews with the teachers (n=4 and group interviews with the students (n=12. The results show inconsistencies between what is proposed and implemented by the teachers, and how students perceive.

Factors influencing a student's decision to pursue a communications degree in Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javier Sierra Sánchez

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This paper analyzes the factors that influence secondary school students’ choice of higher education options in Spain today and explores the implications and benefits of establishing provider-client relationships between universities and students.Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative approach using questionnaires to demonstrate the hypothesis and achieve the objectives. We have prepared a questionnaire via telematic LimeSurvey application consisting of twenty-four closed questions.Findings: Results depict that the leading criteria for Spanish students interested in pursuing studies in communication sciences were a university’s reputation and excellence and the quality of its educational programmes. In terms of sources of information related to universities and their degree programmes, Spanish communication sciences students placed the highest value on direct and experiential sources. Spanish students interested in pursuing degrees in communication sciences preferred public universities over private universities.Research limitations: It is a descriptive paper. The sample could have been larger and have covered the entire universe of communication schools in Spain.Practical implications: Gain in-depth insight into the academic, cultural, and sociodemographic characteristics of students who choose to pursue an undergraduate degree in communications sciences in Spain.Ascertain which sources of information proved to be the most valuable to prospective students in choosing a university and degree programme and the other factors that influenced their choices by means of a survey involving first-year undergraduate communication sciences students. Use the results of this survey to rank the criteria used by students when choosing a university and degree programme. Gain a clearer picture of how parents and friends influence a student’s choice of degree programmes and universities.Social implications: Knowing the factors of choice

[Models, methods, clinical contents in the specialized degree in nursing sciences].

Science.gov (United States)

Zannini, Lucia

2003-01-01

The document presented is the result of a consensus conference where nurses involved in teaching, direct care and management discussed with professionals and experts of other disciplines on the role of the clinical teaching at specialistic level. Nursing education in fact recently underwent a re-organization therefore after the degree (first level) there is a second level (Specialistic degree and PhD) first and second level master courses. The main question of the consensus conference was if there is a role and what are the contents of clinical nursing to be taught at specialistic level. A consensus was reached on the importance of not separating the teaching of the methods from the contents of care, to allow the production of new knowledge relevant for patients' care. A nurse with a specialistic degree should be able to plan and implement innovative models of care based on scientific knowledge; to recognise unexpected and rapidly evolving problems; to plan and implement, in collaboration with other professionals, complex educational interventions; study and explore principles and theories of helping relationship. The differences in contents and methods of clinical teaching between master and specialistic degree need to be further discussed and explored.

Early Engagement in Course-Based Research Increases Graduation Rates and Completion of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Degrees

Science.gov (United States)

Rodenbusch, Stacia E.; Hernandez, Paul R.; Simmons, Sarah L.; Dolan, Erin L.

2016-01-01

National efforts to transform undergraduate biology education call for research experiences to be an integral component of learning for all students. Course-based undergraduate research experiences, or CUREs, have been championed for engaging students in research at a scale that is not possible through apprenticeships in faculty research laboratories. Yet there are few if any studies that examine the long-term effects of participating in CUREs on desired student outcomes, such as graduating from college and completing a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major. One CURE program, the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI), has engaged thousands of first-year undergraduates over the past decade. Using propensity score–matching to control for student-level differences, we tested the effect of participating in FRI on students’ probability of graduating with a STEM degree, probability of graduating within 6 yr, and grade point average (GPA) at graduation. Students who completed all three semesters of FRI were significantly more likely than their non-FRI peers to earn a STEM degree and graduate within 6 yr. FRI had no significant effect on students’ GPAs at graduation. The effects were similar for diverse students. These results provide the most robust and best-controlled evidence to date to support calls for early involvement of undergraduates in research. PMID:27252296

Earth Science Education in Morocco

Science.gov (United States)

Bouabdelli, Mohamed

1999-05-01

The earth sciences are taught in twelve universities in Morocco and in three other institutions. In addition there are three more earth science research institutions. Earth science teaching has been taking place since 1957. The degree system is a four-year degree, split into two two-year blocks and geology is taught within the geology-biology programme for the first part of the degree. 'Classical' geology is taught in most universities, although applied geology degrees are also on offer in some universities. Recently-formed technical universities offer a more innovative approach to Earth Science Education. Teaching is in French, although school education is in Arabic. There is a need for a reform of the curriculum, although a lead is being taken by the technical universities. A new geological mapping programme promises new geological and mining discoveries in the country and prospects of employment for geology graduates.

Georgia Power Company's college degree program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coggin, C.L.

1988-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe Georgia Power Company's on-site college degree program for nuclear power plant personnel. In February 1986, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a policy statement concerning engineering expertise on shift (Generic Letter 86-04), which appeared in Volume 50, Number 208 of the October 28, 1985 Federal Register. One of the options available to nuclear power plant personnel to meet the requirement was the combined senior reactor operator/shift technical adviser position. One of the methods for meeting the option included a bachelor's degree in engineering technology for an accredited institution, including course work in the physical, mathematical, or engineering sciences

Degree-based graph construction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Hyunju; Toroczkai, Zoltan; Erdos, Peter L; Miklos, Istvan; Szekely, Laszlo A

2009-01-01

Degree-based graph construction is a ubiquitous problem in network modelling (Newman et al 2006 The Structure and Dynamics of Networks (Princeton Studies in Complexity) (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press), Boccaletti et al 2006 Phys. Rep. 424 175), ranging from social sciences to chemical compounds and biochemical reaction networks in the cell. This problem includes existence, enumeration, exhaustive construction and sampling questions with aspects that are still open today. Here we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a sequence of nonnegative integers to be realized as a simple graph's degree sequence, such that a given (but otherwise arbitrary) set of connections from an arbitrarily given node is avoided. We then use this result to present a swap-free algorithm that builds all simple graphs realizing a given degree sequence. In a wider context, we show that our result provides a greedy construction method to build all the f-factor subgraphs (Tutte 1952 Can. J. Math. 4 314) embedded within K n setmn S k , where K n is the complete graph and S k is a star graph centred on one of the nodes. (fast track communication)

Actively Encouraging Learning and Degree Persistence in Advanced Astrophysics Courses

Science.gov (United States)

McIntosh, Daniel H.

2018-01-01

The need to grow and diversify the STEM workforce remains a critical national challenge. Less than 40% of college students interested in STEM achieve a bachelor's degree. These numbers are even more dire for women and URMs, underscoring a serious concern about the country's ability to remain competitive in science and tech. A major factor is persistent performance gaps in rigorous 'gateway' and advanced STEM courses for majors from diverse backgrounds leading to discouragement, a sense of exclusion, and high dropout rates. Education research has clearly demonstrated that interactive-engagement (`active learning') strategies increase performance, boost confidence, and help build positive 'identity' in STEM. Likewise, the evidence shows that traditional science education practices do not help most students gain a genuine understanding of concepts nor the necessary skill set to succeed in their disciplines. Yet, lecture-heavy courses continue to dominate the higher-ed curriculum, thus, reinforcing the tired notion that only a small percentage of 'special' students have the inherent ability to achieve a STEM degree. In short, very capable students with less experience and confidence in science, who belong to groups that traditionally are less identified with STEM careers, are effectively and efficiently 'weeded out' by traditional education practices. I will share specific examples for how I successfully incorporate active learning in advanced astrophysics courses to encourage students from all backgrounds to synthesize complex ideas, build bedrock conceptual frameworks, gain technical communication skills, and achieve mastery learning outcomes all necessary to successfully complete rigorous degrees like astrophysics. By creating an inclusive and active learning experience in junior-level extragalactic and stellar interiors/atmospheres courses, I am helping students gain fluency in their chosen major and the ability to 'think like a scientist', both critical to

Degrees of Closure and Economic Success in the Norwegian Labour Market: Field of Study and Non-Western Immigrant Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Drange, Ida

2016-01-01

This article compares outcomes in the Norwegian labour market for non-Western immigrants and majority colleagues with professional or master's degrees within three different fields of study: health science, social science and natural science. Professions have a higher degree of occupational closure, which may entail that non-Western immigrants…

Representing the nature of science in a science textbook: Exploring author-editor-publisher interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Digiuseppe, Maurizio

Current reforms in elementary and secondary science education call for students and teachers to develop more informed views of the nature of science---a process in which learning materials like science textbooks play a significant role. This dissertation reports on a case study of the development of representations of the nature of science in one unit of a senior high school chemistry textbook by the book's author, editor, and publisher. The study examines the multiple discourses that arose as the developers reflected on their personal and shared understandings of the nature of science; squared these understandings with mandated curricula, the educational needs of chemistry students and teachers, and the exigencies of large-scale commercial textbook publishing; and developed and incorporated into the textbook representations of the nature of science they believed were the most suitable. Analyses of the data in this study indicate that a number of factors significantly influenced the development of representations of the nature of science, including representational accuracy (the degree to which suggested representations of the nature of science conformed to what the developers believed were contemporary understandings of the nature of science), representational consistency (the degree to which similar representations of the nature of science in different parts of the textbook conveyed the same meaning), representational appropriateness (the age-, grade-, and reading-level suitability of the suggested nature of science representations), representational alignment (the degree to which suggested representations of the nature of science addressed the requirements of mandated curricula), representational marketability (the degree to which textbook developers believed suggested representations of the nature of science would affect sales of the textbook in the marketplace), and a number of "Workplace Resources" factors such as the availability of time, relevant expertise

Degree-degree correlations in random graphs with heavy-tailed degrees

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hofstad, van der R.W.; Litvak, N.

2014-01-01

Mixing patterns in large self-organizing networks, such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, social, and biological networks are often characterized by degree-degree dependencies between neighboring nodes. In assortative networks, the degree-degree dependencies are positive (nodes with similar

Degree-Degree Dependencies in Random Graphs with Heavy-Tailed Degrees

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Hofstad, Remco; Litvak, Nelly

2014-01-01

Mixing patterns in large self-organizing networks, such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, social, and biological networks are often characterized by degree-degree dependencies between neighboring nodes. In assortative networks, the degree-degree dependencies are positive (nodes with similar

A Project to Develop an Associate of Science Degree Curriculum in Renewable Energy Resources and Applications in Agriculture. Final Report, July 1, 1980-June 30, 1981.

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Keith; Fielding, Marvin R.

A project was conducted at State Fair Community College (SFCC) in Sedalia, Missouri, to develop an associate of science degree curriculum in renewable energy resources and their application in agriculture. A pilot study, designed to verify and rate the importance of 138 competencies in fuel alcohol production and to ascertain employment…

Teaching Translational Research to Medical Students: The New York University School of Medicine's Master's of Science in Clinical Investigation Dual‐Degree Program

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Pillinger, Michael; Plottel, Claudia S.; Galeano, Claudia; Maddalo, Scott; Hochman, Judith S.; Cronstein, Bruce N.; Gold‐von Simson, Gabrielle

2015-01-01

Abstract To develop the next generation of translational investigators, New York University School of Medicine (NYUSOM) and the NYU‐NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation Clinical and Translational Science Institute (NYU‐HHC CTSI) developed the Master's of Science in Clinical Investigation dual‐degree (MD/MSCI) program. This 5‐year program dedicates 1 year to coursework and biomedical research, followed by a medical school/research overlap year, to prepare students for academic research careers. This paper details the MD/MSCI program's curriculum and approach to mentorship, describes the research/professional interests of students, and reports student productivity. In the first 4 years of the program (2010–2014) 20 students were matriculated; 7 (35%) were women, and 12 (60%) research projects were in surgical specialties. To date, 14 students have applied to residency, and half pursued surgical residency programs. Our students have produced 68 accepted abstracts, 15 abstracts in submission, 38 accepted papers, and 24 papers in submission. Despite the time‐limited nature of this program, additional training in research design and implementation has promoted a high level of productivity. We conclude that dual‐degree training in medicine and translational research is feasible for medical students and allows for meaningful participation in valuable projects. Follow‐up is warranted to evaluate the academic trajectory of these students. PMID:26365704

Teaching Translational Research to Medical Students: The New York University School of Medicine's Master's of Science in Clinical Investigation Dual-Degree Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillman, Jennifer; Pillinger, Michael; Plottel, Claudia S; Galeano, Claudia; Maddalo, Scott; Hochman, Judith S; Cronstein, Bruce N; Gold-von Simson, Gabrielle

2015-12-01

To develop the next generation of translational investigators, New York University School of Medicine (NYUSOM) and the NYU-NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation Clinical and Translational Science Institute (NYU-HHC CTSI) developed the Master's of Science in Clinical Investigation dual-degree (MD/MSCI) program. This 5-year program dedicates 1 year to coursework and biomedical research, followed by a medical school/research overlap year, to prepare students for academic research careers. This paper details the MD/MSCI program's curriculum and approach to mentorship, describes the research/professional interests of students, and reports student productivity. In the first 4 years of the program (2010-2014) 20 students were matriculated; 7 (35%) were women, and 12 (60%) research projects were in surgical specialties. To date, 14 students have applied to residency, and half pursued surgical residency programs. Our students have produced 68 accepted abstracts, 15 abstracts in submission, 38 accepted papers, and 24 papers in submission. Despite the time-limited nature of this program, additional training in research design and implementation has promoted a high level of productivity. We conclude that dual-degree training in medicine and translational research is feasible for medical students and allows for meaningful participation in valuable projects. Follow-up is warranted to evaluate the academic trajectory of these students. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The climate regime before and after Copenhagen: science, policy, and the two-degrees target; Le regime climatique avant et apres Copenhague: sciences, politiques et l'objectif des deux degres

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aykut, S.C. [EHESS, Centre Alexandre Koyre, Paris (France); Dahan, A. [CNRS, Centre Alexandre Koyre, Paris (France)

2011-04-15

The article discusses the political results of the Copenhagen Conference and evolutions in the international climate arena including geopolitical shifts, new issues on the agenda and a changing cartography of the main actors. As recent attacks on the climate regime concern both its political governance and the peculiar relationship between science and politics that developed through its main institutions (IPCC and the Conference of the Parties), we retrace in a first part the construction of the climate arena and in a second part the framing of the problem between climate science, expertise, and politics. Drawing on this historical sketch, we suggest the years 2000 were characterized by a convergence of top-down approaches in climate expertise and policies, structuring action and discourse around quantified reduction targets, temperature and concentration thresholds, and carbon budgets. The bottom-up character of the voluntary reduction commitments in the Copenhagen Accord is a serious setback to this approach. A central figure in this context is the threshold of 'dangerous warming' of two degrees. The Copenhagen Accord - endorsed in the Cancun compromise - elevates this figure to an official target of the U.N. negotiation process, thereby accentuating the tension between a newly assumed 'Real politic' and an alarming expertise. The article analyzes the construction of the two-degrees target and the role it plays in the climate regime. We conclude by discussing several contributions to the Post-Copenhagen debate. (authors)

The Pedagogy of Science Teachers from Non-Natural Science Backgrounds

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Woods, Shaneka

2017-01-01

This is a descriptive, exploratory, qualitative, collective case study that explores the pedagogical practices of science teachers who do not hold natural science degrees. The intent of this study is to support the creation of alternative pathways for recruiting and retaining high-quality secondary science teachers in K-12 education. The…

Humanities Degrees on the Rise. Data Points: Volume 5, Issue 20

Science.gov (United States)

American Association of Community Colleges, 2017

2017-01-01

In fall 2015, U.S community colleges enrolled about 7.2 million for-credit students. During the same year, community colleges awarded 806,766 associate degrees and 516,820 certificates. The new Humanities Indicators report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences shows a significant increase in associate degrees awarded in the humanities,…

Perspectives of Science Communication Training Held by Lecturers of Biotechnology and Science Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Edmondston, Joanne; Dawson, Vaille

2014-01-01

Science communication training for undergraduate science students has been recommended to improve future scientists' ability to constructively engage with the public. This study examined biotechnology lecturers' and science communication lecturers' views of science communication training and its possible inclusion in a biotechnology degree course…

On the General Equation of the Second Degree

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

IAS Admin

On the General Equation of the Second Degree. Keywords. Conics, eigenvalues, eigenvec- tors, pairs of lines. S Kesavan. S Kesavan works at the. Institute for Mathematical. Sciences, Chennai. His area of interest is partial differential equations with specialization in elliptic problems connected to homogenization, control.

Associate Degree in Nursing-to-Bachelor of Science in Nursing Graduates' Education and Their Perceived Ability to Keep Patients Safe.

Science.gov (United States)

Anbari, Allison Brandt; Vogelsmeier, Amy

2018-05-01

Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN)-to-Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs are designed to advance the ADN-prepared RNs' clinical reasoning and analytical skills. However, little is known about exactly how their BSN education may improve their clinical practice, specifically in the area of patient safety. During semi-structured one-to-one interviews, ADN-to-BSN graduates were asked about their educational process and the perceived affect their education made on their ability to keep patients safe. Content analysis were used to identify emerging themes and categories. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) an unaltered approach to keeping patients safe, (b) experience as an ADN matters, and (c) BSN degree as a stepping stone. The call to increase the number of BSN-prepared nurses at the bedside is supported in the evidence and noteworthy of pursuit. However, as ADN-to-BSN programs increase in numbers to meet this demand, the outcomes of graduates need to be considered. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(5):300-303.]. Copyright 2018, SLACK Incorporated.

Discerning Quality Evaluation in Online Graduate Degree Programs in Agricultural Sciences and Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Downs, Holly A.

2011-01-01

Enormous demands for online degrees in higher education have increased the pressure on universities to launch web courses and degrees quickly and, at times, without properly attending to the quality of these ventures. There is scarce research that defines which quality indicators are used to assess cyberlearning environments, how different…

Religion as a Support Factor for Women of Color Pursuing Science Degrees: Implications for Science Teacher Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Ceglie, Robert

2013-01-01

This study explores the influence of religion as a support factor for a group of Latina and African-American women majoring in science. The current project is a part of a larger study that investigated persistence factors of underrepresented woman who were enrolled as science majors at United States colleges and universities. This paper focuses on…

Degree and connectivity of the Internet's scale-free topology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Lian-Ming; Wu Xiang-Sheng; Deng Xiao-Heng; Yu Jian-Ping

2011-01-01

This paper theoretically and empirically studies the degree and connectivity of the Internet's scale-free topology at an autonomous system (AS) level. The basic features of scale-free networks influence the normalization constant of degree distribution p(k). It develops a new mathematic model for describing the power-law relationships of Internet topology. From this model we theoretically obtain formulas to calculate the average degree, the ratios of the k min -degree (minimum degree) nodes and the k max -degree (maximum degree) nodes, and the fraction of the degrees (or links) in the hands of the richer (top best-connected) nodes. It finds that the average degree is larger for a smaller power-law exponent λ and a larger minimum or maximum degree. The ratio of the k min -degree nodes is larger for larger λ and smaller k min or k max . The ratio of the k max -degree ones is larger for smaller λ and k max or larger k min . The richer nodes hold most of the total degrees of Internet AS-level topology. In addition, it is revealed that the increased rate of the average degree or the ratio of the k min -degree nodes has power-law decay with the increase of k min . The ratio of the k max -degree nodes has a power-law decay with the increase of k max , and the fraction of the degrees in the hands of the richer 27% nodes is about 73% (the ‘73/27 rule’). Finally, empirically calculations are made, based on the empirical data extracted from the Border Gateway Protocol, of the average degree, ratio and fraction using this method and other methods, and find that this method is rigorous and effective for Internet AS-level topology. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

Impact of Texas high school science teacher credentials on student performance in high school science

Science.gov (United States)

George, Anna Ray Bayless

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between the credentials held by science teachers who taught at a school that administered the Science Texas Assessment on Knowledge and Skills (Science TAKS), the state standardized exam in science, at grade 11 and student performance on a state standardized exam in science administered in grade 11. Years of teaching experience, teacher certification type(s), highest degree level held, teacher and school demographic information, and the percentage of students who met the passing standard on the Science TAKS were obtained through a public records request to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC). Analysis was performed through the use of canonical correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis indicate that a larger percentage of students met the passing standard on the Science TAKS state attended schools in which a large portion of the high school science teachers held post baccalaureate degrees, elementary and physical science certifications, and had 11-20 years of teaching experience.

[Public health competencies and contents in Spanish university degree programs of physical therapy, occupational therapy, environmental science, dentistry and veterinary science].

Science.gov (United States)

Davó-Blanes, M Carmen; Vives-Cases, Carmen; Alvarez-Dardet, Carlos; Segura-Benedicto A, Andreu; Bosch Llonch, Fèlix; G Benavides, Fernando

2014-01-01

To identify the basic competencies and contents related to public health to be included in degree programs according to the perspective of lecturers from various Spanish universities. In the context of the Second Workshop on Public Health Contents in Degree Programs (Mahon, 19 to 20 September 2012), 20 lecturers from different Spanish universities were distributed in five working groups. The lecturers had been selected from the instructional guides on public health and epidemiology published on the web sites of the Rectors' Conference of Spanish Universities. Each group worked on a degree program and the results were discussed in plenary sessions. The activities and competencies related to the three basic functions of public health were identified in all degree programs. Most of the professional competencies identified were related to the function of «assessment of population health needs». The contents proposed by the working groups related to epidemiology, basic concepts in public health, public health intervention, health management, and health policy. The main common topics among the degrees concerned the first three contents. Public health professional competencies and contents were identified in the degree programs examined. These results may serve as a starting point for a more detailed review of public health programs across degree levels and the search for a consensus on the common content that should be included in each of them. Copyright © 2013 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Psychology Degrees: Employment, Wage, and Career Trajectory Consequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajecki, D W; Borden, Victor M H

2011-07-01

Psychology is a very popular undergraduate major. Examining wage data from a range of degree holders reveals much about the expected career trajectories of those with psychology degrees. First, regarding baccalaureates, psychology and other liberal arts graduates-compared with those from certain preprofessional and technical undergraduate programs-generally fall in relatively low tiers of salary levels at both starting and later career points. Salary levels among baccalaureate alumni groups correlate with averaged measures of salary satisfaction, repeated job seeking, and perceptions of underemployment. These patterns seem to stem from the specific occupational categories (job titles) entered by graduates in psychology compared with other graduates, calling into question the employability advantage of so-called generic liberal arts skills. Second, psychology master's degree holders also generally fall in a low tier of salary among their science, engineering, and health counterparts. Third, psychology college faculty (including instructors) fall in low tiers of salary compared with their colleagues from other academic fields. Such broadly based indications of the relative economic disadvantages of psychology degrees have implications for career counseling in the field. © The Author(s) 2011.

Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth System Science (MS PHD'S) Beyond the PhD Professional Development Program: A Pilot Project

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, A.; Jearld, A.; Williamson Whitney, V.; Huggans, M.; Ricciardi, L.; Thomas, S. H.; Jansma, P. E.

2012-12-01

In 2011 the Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth System Science (MS PHD'S)® initiative launched its newest activity entitled the MS PHD'S "Beyond the PhD (B-PhD) Professional Development Program." This exciting new program was designed to facilitate the development of a new community of underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral candidates and recent doctorate degree recipients in Earth system science (ESS)-related fields. The MS PHD'S B-PhD provides customized support and advocacy for MS PHD'S B-PhD participants in order to facilitate smoother and informed transitions from graduate school, to postdoctoral and tenure-track positions, as well as other "first" jobs in government, industry, and non-profit organizations. In November 2011 the first cohort of MS PHD'S B-PhD participants engaged in intensive sessions on the following topics: "Toolkits for Success for Academia, Business/Industry, Federal Government and Non-Profits", "Defining Short, Mid and Long Term Career Goals", "Accessing and Refining Skill Sets and Other Door Openers", "International Preparation and Opportunities", "Paying it Forward/Lifting as You Climb", and "Customized Strategies for Next Steps". This pilot event, which was hosted by the University of Texas at Arlington's (UTA) College of Science, also provided opportunities for participants to serve as guest lecturers in the UTA's Colleges of Science and Engineering and included one-on-one discussions with MS PHD'S B-PhD mentors and guest speakers who are well established within their individual ESS fields. Insights regarding opportunities, challenges and obstacles commonly faced by URMs within the ESS fields, as well as strategies for success were shared by MS PHD'S B-PhD mentors and guest speakers. Survey results indicate that MS PHD'S B-PhD participants appreciated not only the material covered during this pilot activity, but also appreciated the opportunity to become part of a community of young URM ESS

Undergraduate Perceptions of Value: Degree Skills and Career Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Galloway, Kyle W.

2017-01-01

Recent data suggests that of the UK students graduating with a degree in chemistry in 2015, only 18.9% continued to employment as "Science Professionals". While this shows the wide range of employment that is available for chemistry graduates, it also highlights the need for them to have relevant transferable skills, rather than just the…

The 360 Degree Fulldome Production "Clockwork Ocean"

Science.gov (United States)

Baschek, B.; Heinsohn, R.; Opitz, D.; Fischer, T.; Baschek, T.

2016-02-01

The investigation of submesoscale eddies and fronts is one of the leading oceanographic topics at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2016. In order to observe these small and short-lived phenomena, planes equipped with high-resolution cameras and fast vessels were deployed during the Submesoscale Experiments (SubEx) leading to some of the first high-resolution observations of these eddies. In a future experiment, a zeppelin will be used the first time in marine sciences. The relevance of submesoscale processes for the oceans and the work of the eddy hunters is described in the fascinating 9-minute long 360 degree fulldome production Clockwork Ocean. The fully animated movie is introduced in this presentation taking the observer from the bioluminescence in the deep ocean to a view of our blue planet from space. The immersive media is used to combine fascination for a yet unknown environment with scientific education of a broad audience. Detailed background information is available at the parallax website www.clockwork-ocean.com. The Film is also available for Virtual Reality glasses and smartphones to reach a broader distribution. A unique Mobile Dome with an area of 70 m² and seats for 40 people is used for science education at events, festivals, for politicians and school classes. The spectators are also invited to participate in the experiments by presenting 360 degree footage of the measurements. The premiere of Clockwork Ocean was in July 2015 in Hamburg, Germany and will be worldwide available in English and German as of fall 2015. Clockwork Ocean is a film of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht produced by Daniel Opitz and Ralph Heinsohn.

About | College of Engineering & Applied Science

Science.gov (United States)

; Applied Science Powerful Ideas. Proven Results. Search for: Go This site All UWM Search Site Menu Skip to Degree Completion Program Graduate Programs Master of Science Programs Concentration in Biomedical Engineering Concentration on Ergonomics M.S. Program in Computer Science Interdisciplinary Concentration on

Sea Surface Height Deviation, Aviso, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aviso Sea Surface Height Deviation is the deviation from the mean geoid as measured from 1993 - 1995. This is Science Quality data.

Degree-degree correlations in directed networks with heavy-tailed degrees

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Hoorn, W.L.F.; Litvak, Nelli

2013-01-01

In network theory, Pearson's correlation coefficients are most commonly used to measure the degree assortativity of a network. We investigate the behavior of these coefficients in the setting of directed networks with heavy-tailed degree sequences. We prove that for graphs where the in- and

Sea Surface Height, Absolute, Aviso, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Aviso Absolute Sea Surface Height is the Sea Surface Height Deviation plus the long term mean dynamic height. This is Science Quality data.

The First Hydrology (Geoscience) Degree at a Tribal College or University: Salish Kootenai College

Science.gov (United States)

Lesser, G.; Berthelote, A. R.

2010-12-01

A new Hydrology Degree Program was developed at Salish and Kootenai College in western Montana. This program will begin to address the fact that our nation only awards 20 to 30 Geoscience degrees annually to Native American students. Previously absent from SKC and the other 36 Tribal Colleges or Universities (TCU) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related programs are specific Geoscience disciplines, particularly those focusing on hydrological and water based sciences. Though 23 TCU’s offer some classes to supplement their environmental science or natural resource programs. This program is timely and essential for addressing the concerns that Native Americans have who maintain sovereignty over approximately 20% of our nation’s fresh water resources which are becoming more stressed each year. The overall objective of this new SKC Hydrology degree program is to produce students who are able to “give voice” to the perspectives of Native peoples on natural resources and particularly water-related issues, including water rights, agriculture, environmental health (related to water), beliefs and spirituality related to water, and sustainability of water resources. It will provide the opportunity for interdisciplinary study in physical, chemical, and biological water resources and their management. Students will gain theoretical, conceptual, computational, and practical knowledge/experiences in quantifying, monitoring, qualifying, and managing today’s water resource challenges with particular emphasis on Tribal lands. Completion of the Associate of Science Degree will provide the student with the necessary skills to work as a hydrology- water quality- or geo-technician within the Reservation area, the U. S. Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Reclamation, the United States Geological Society, and other earth science disciplines. The Bachelor’s Degree program provides students with a broad-based theoretical

Degree-degree dependencies in directed networks with heavy-tailed degrees

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Hoorn, W.L.F.; Litvak, Nelly

2015-01-01

In network theory, Pearson’s correlation coefficients are most commonly used to measure the degree assortativity of a network. We investigate the behavior of these coefficients in the setting of directed networks with heavy-tailed degree sequences. We prove that for graphs where the in- and

Fostering completion of the doctor of philosophy degree through scholarly collegial support.

Science.gov (United States)

Pancheri, Karen; Fowler, Debra L; Wiggs, Carol M; Schultz, Rebecca; Lewis, Patricia; Nurse, Rachelle

2013-07-01

The doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree in nursing science prepares nurses to be scientists through a rigorous program of scholarship and research. Nurses who complete this degree are recognized globally as researchers who are expected to pursue a career of intellectual inquiry. Today, the internationally small cohort of PhD-prepared nurses contributes empirically to the generation and development of nursing science. There is currently a shortage of doctorally prepared nurses to meet the increased demands for researchers and educators in schools of nursing and experts in patient care. The Institute of Medicine has recommended doubling the number of doctorally prepared nurses by 2020 and has emphasized that nurses achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved educational system that promotes seamless academic progression. However, in the United States, the overall PhD completion rate is only 57%. This article reports on the process undertaken by a collegial support group of students in a PhD in nursing science program who encouraged each other's progress through the dissertation process within a calendar year. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

The Increasingly Important Role of Science Competency Beliefs for Science Learning in Girls

Science.gov (United States)

Vincent-Ruz, Paulette; Schunn, Christian D.

2017-01-01

The number of women studying STEM careers and pursuing graduate degrees has not changed in the last decade (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2015; Science & Engineering Degree Attainment: 2004-2014). Most prior research to explain this problem has focused on the topics of identity, access, pedagogy, and choice (Brotman &…

Perceptions of Community of Associate Degree Nurse Learners in an RN-to-BSN Online Program

Science.gov (United States)

Rebar, Cherie R.

2010-01-01

Registered Nurses (RNs), when educated in an Associate Degree (AD) program, learn in a face-to-face environment. Today's preferred standard of education for RNs is to achieve a minimum of a Bachelor's degree. For convenience while they continue working, numerous AD-prepared nurses seek online education to complete their Bachelor of Science in…

Six degrees the science of a connected age

CERN Document Server

Watts, Duncan J

2004-01-01

The pioneering young scientist whose work on the structure of small worlds has triggered an avalanche of interest in networks. In this remarkable book, Duncan Watts, one of the principal architects of network theory, sets out to explain the innovative research that he and other scientists are spearheading to create a blueprint of our connected planet. Whether they bind computers, economies, or terrorist organizations, networks are everywhere in the real world, yet only recently have scientists attempted to explain their mysterious workings. From epidemics of disease to outbreaks of market madness, from people searching for information to firms surviving crisis and change, from the structure of personal relationships to the technological and social choices of entire societies, Watts weaves together a network of discoveries across an array of disciplines to tell the story of an explosive new field of knowledge, the people who are building it, and his own peculiar path in forging this new science.

Latinos in science: Identifying factors that influence the low percentage of Latino representation in the sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Miranda, Susan Jennifer

A mixed methods approach was used to identify factors that influence the underrepresentation of Latinos in the domain of science. The researcher investigated the role of family influences, academic preparation, and personal motivations to determine science-related career choices by Latinos. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted using information from Latinos gathered from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS: 88) administered by the National Center for Education Statistics. For the present study, data were analyzed using participants' responses as high school seniors, college students, and post-baccalaureates. Students responded to questions on school, work, parental academic influences, personal aspirations, and self-perception. To provide more insight into the experiences of Latinos in science and support the statistical analyses, nine students majoring in science in a private, urban university located in the northeastern part of the country were interviewed. Eleven variables related to parents' academic support and students' perceptions of parental support were taken together as predictors for two separate criteria from the survey. These results identified parents' level of education and the importance of academics to parents in their teen's college choice as significant predictors in determining college major in science. When the criterion was degree in science, the significant predictor was the frequency parents contacted high school as volunteers. Student interviews supported this information, demonstrating the importance of parental support in attaining a degree in science. Academic preparation was also analyzed. Students' reasons for taking science classes in high school was a significant predictor for science major; significant predictors for science degree were the emphasis placed on objectives in math and science classes and number of courses in biology and physics. Student interviews supported this information and

Handbook of information science

CERN Document Server

Stock, Wolfgang G

2013-01-01

Dealing with information is one of the vital skills in thetwenty-first century. It takes a fair degree of information savvy to create, represent and supply information as well as to search for and retrieve relevant knowledge. This Handbook is a basic work of information science, providing a comprehensive overview of the current state of information retrieval and knowledge representation. It addresses readers from all professions and scientific disciplines, but particularly scholars, practitioners and students of Information Science, Library Science, Computer Science, Information Management, an

Understanding Science and Technology Interactions Through Ocean Science Exploration: A Summer Course for Science Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Baldauf, J.; Denton, J.

2003-12-01

In order to replenish the national supply of science and mathematics educators, the National Science Foundation has supported the formation of the Center for Applications of Information Technology in the Teaching and Learning of Science (ITS) at Texas A&M University. The center staff and affiliated faculty work to change in fundamental ways the culture and relationships among scientists, educational researchers, and teachers. ITS is a partnership among the colleges of education, science, geosciences, agriculture and life science at Texas A&M University. Participants (teachers and graduate students) investigate how science is done and how science is taught and learned; how that learning is assessed, and how scholarly networks among all engaged in this work can be encouraged. While the center can offer graduate degrees most students apply as non-degree seekers. ITS participants are schooled on classroom technology applications, experience working on project teams, and access very current research work being conducted by scientists. ITS offers a certificate program consisting of two summer sessions over two years that results in 12 hours of graduate credit that can be applied to a degree. Interdisciplinary project teams spend three intense weeks connecting current research to classroom practices. During the past summer with the beginning of the two-year sequence, a course was implemented that introduced secondary teachers to Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) contributions to major earth science themes, using core and logging data, engineering (technology) tools and processes. Information Technology classroom applications were enhanced through hands-on laboratory exercises, web resources and online databases. The course was structured around the following objectives. 1. Distinguish the purpose and goals of the Ocean Drilling Program from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program and describe the comparable science themes (ocean circulation, marine sedimentation, climate history

Proceedings – Mathematical Sciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

... Journals; Proceedings – Mathematical Sciences; Volume 118; Issue 4. An Optimal Version of an Inequality Involving the Third Symmetric Means. Wen Jiajin Yuan Jun Yuan Shufeng. Volume 118 Issue 4 November ... Keywords. Third symmetric mean of degree; optimal values; inequality; descending dimension method.

Understanding the factors that influence high science achievers' academic choices and intent to pursue or opt out of the hard sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Quihuis, Gisell

Drawing on Eccles and her colleagues' Expectancy-Value model of academic behavior and choice, this dissertation study set out to serve three purposes: (1) to understand how high achieving high school students who aspire to science college degrees compare, in terms of motivational beliefs and social experiences, with other high achievers who do not aspire to science college degrees; (2) to understand why some high school students who excel in the hard sciences are unsure about pursuing a science degree in college; and (3) to examine whether gender differences in motivational beliefs and social experiences found in previous research on math (see Eccles 1984) exist for science among high achieving high school students. Survey and interview data showed that gender differences previously found in Eccles' research on math exist for science among a select group of high achieving high school students. Yet, these gender differences did not explain students' aspirations for science. Motivation, classroom perceptions, science engagement, as well as other science-related experiences at home and school, including parent and teacher influences, were also important factors associated with students' aspirations for science. Results and implications for this study are encouraging because they suggest that both parents and educators can help more high achievers become interested in science. Parents can expose their children, male and female alike, to science at home early on in their childhood and teachers can help students sustain and further develop an interest in science at school. In this manner, both parents and teachers can work together as a team to encourage more high achievers to aspire to science degrees in their future. Lastly, it is important to note that this study found Eccles' model of motivation and choice helpful in understanding not only gender differences in math and the hard sciences, but also aspiration differences that cut across gender among students

Optimal satisfaction degree in energy harvesting cognitive radio networks

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zan; Liu, Bo-Yang; Si, Jiang-Bo; Zhou, Fu-Hui

2015-12-01

A cognitive radio (CR) network with energy harvesting (EH) is considered to improve both spectrum efficiency and energy efficiency. A hidden Markov model (HMM) is used to characterize the imperfect spectrum sensing process. In order to maximize the whole satisfaction degree (WSD) of the cognitive radio network, a tradeoff between the average throughput of the secondary user (SU) and the interference to the primary user (PU) is analyzed. We formulate the satisfaction degree optimization problem as a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem. The satisfaction degree optimization problem is solved by using differential evolution (DE) algorithm. The proposed optimization problem allows the network to adaptively achieve the optimal solution based on its required quality of service (Qos). Numerical results are given to verify our analysis. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61301179), the Doctorial Programs Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 20110203110011), and the 111 Project (Grant No. B08038).

The Reality and Prospects of the Academic Degree in Russia

Science.gov (United States)

Laptev, V. V.; Pisareva, S. A.; Triapitsyna, A. P.

2014-01-01

With the move toward mass higher education in Russia, academic degrees have lost much of their prestige. It is now necessary to look more closely at the reasons for this devaluation, to explore ways to optimize the training of researchers in graduate school programs, and to integrate Russia's system of science training into the European system.…

Feminist pedagogy: a framework for nursing education?

Science.gov (United States)

Hezekiah, J

1993-02-01

This article describes the feminist pedagogical strategies used in a nursing course in the post-RN Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) program, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. A variety of concepts that have direct relevance for nurses were discussed within small groups. These settings provided the venue for an examination of the issues that nurses, as primarily female, face in a patriarchal Muslim society and an androcentric health care system. Emphasis is on the process used in terms of feminist pedagogical practices and its relationship to feminist theory and critical pedagogy. The five process goals suggested by Schniedewind (1983) formed the basis for an exploration of this relationship through an analysis of the content and practices used in the course. It is demonstrated that the teaching practices advocated by feminist pedagogy hold much promise for nursing education to empower nurses and to make an impact on the health care system.

Magnetic field control of 90 Degree-Sign , 180 Degree-Sign , and 360 Degree-Sign domain wall resistance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Majidi, Roya, E-mail: royamajidi@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Lavizan, 16788-15811 Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2012-10-01

In the present work, we have compared the resistance of the 90 Degree-Sign , 180 Degree-Sign , and 360 Degree-Sign domain walls in the presence of external magnetic field. The calculations are based on the Boltzmann transport equation within the relaxation time approximation. One-dimensional Neel-type domain walls between two domains whose magnetization differs by angle of 90 Degree-Sign , 180 Degree-Sign , and 360 Degree-Sign are considered. The results indicate that the resistance of the 360 Degree-Sign DW is more considerable than that of the 90 Degree-Sign and 180 Degree-Sign DWs. It is also found that the domain wall resistance can be controlled by applying transverse magnetic field. Increasing the strength of the external magnetic field enhances the domain wall resistance. In providing spintronic devices based on magnetic nanomaterials, considering and controlling the effect of domain wall on resistivity are essential.

Representing Nature of Science in a Science Textbook: Exploring author-editor-publisher interactions

Science.gov (United States)

DiGiuseppe, Maurice

2014-05-01

Current reforms in elementary and secondary science education call for students and teachers to develop more informed views of the nature of science (NOS)-a process in which science textbooks play a significant role. This paper reports on a case study of the development of representations of the NOS in a senior high school chemistry textbook by the book's author, editor, and publisher. The study examines the multiple discourses that arose as the developers reflected on their personal and shared understandings of NOS; squared these with mandated curricula, the educational needs of chemistry students and teachers, and the exigencies of large-scale commercial textbook publishing. As a result, the team developed and incorporated, in the textbook, representations of NOS they believed were the most pedagogically suitable. Analysis of the data in this study indicates that a number of factors significantly influenced the development of representations of NOS, including representational accuracy (the degree to which representations of NOS conformed to informed views of the NOS), representational consistency (the degree to which representations of NOS in different parts of the book conveyed the same meaning), representational appropriateness (the age-, grade-, and reading-level appropriateness of the NOS representations), representational alignment (the degree to which NOS representations aligned with mandated curriculum), representational marketability (the degree to which NOS representations would affect sales of the textbook), and 'Workplace Resources' factors including availability of time, relevant expertise, and opportunities for professional development.

Perceived Mathematical Ability under Challenge: A Longitudinal Perspective on Sex Segregation among STEM Degree Fields

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samantha eNix

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Students’ perceptions of their mathematics ability vary by gender and seem to influence science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM degree choice. Related, students’ perceptions during academic difficulty are increasingly studied in educational psychology, suggesting a link between such perceptions and task persistence. Despite interest in examining the gender disparities in STEM, these concepts have not been considered in tandem. We investigate how perceived ability under challenge – in particular in mathematics domains – influences entry into the most sex-segregated and mathematics-intensive undergraduate degrees: physics, engineering, mathematics, and computer science (PEMC. Using nationally representative Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS data, we estimate the influence of perceived ability under challenging conditions on advanced high school science course taking, selection of an intended STEM major, and specific major type two years after high school. Demonstrating the importance of specificity when discussing how gender influences STEM career pathways, the intersecting effects of gender and perceived ability under mathematics challenge were distinct for each scientific major category. Perceived ability under challenge in secondary school varied by gender, and was highly predictive of selecting PEMC and health sciences majors. Notably, women’s 12th grade perceptions of their ability under mathematics challenge increased the probability that they would select PEMC majors, increasing women's probability of selecting PEMC over and above biology. In addition, gender moderated the effect of growth mindset on students’ selection of health science majors. The implications of these results are discussed, with particular attention to access to advanced scientific coursework in high school and interventions aimed at enhancing young women’s perceptions of their ability to facilitate their pathways to scientific degrees.

Can citizen science enhance public understanding of science?

Science.gov (United States)

Bonney, Rick; Phillips, Tina B; Ballard, Heidi L; Enck, Jody W

2016-01-01

Over the past 20 years, thousands of citizen science projects engaging millions of participants in collecting and/or processing data have sprung up around the world. Here we review documented outcomes from four categories of citizen science projects which are defined by the nature of the activities in which their participants engage - Data Collection, Data Processing, Curriculum-based, and Community Science. We find strong evidence that scientific outcomes of citizen science are well documented, particularly for Data Collection and Data Processing projects. We find limited but growing evidence that citizen science projects achieve participant gains in knowledge about science knowledge and process, increase public awareness of the diversity of scientific research, and provide deeper meaning to participants' hobbies. We also find some evidence that citizen science can contribute positively to social well-being by influencing the questions that are being addressed and by giving people a voice in local environmental decision making. While not all citizen science projects are intended to achieve a greater degree of public understanding of science, social change, or improved science -society relationships, those projects that do require effort and resources in four main categories: (1) project design, (2) outcomes measurement, (3) engagement of new audiences, and (4) new directions for research. © The Author(s) 2015.

A Modularity Degree Based Heuristic Community Detection Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongming Chen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A community in a complex network can be seen as a subgroup of nodes that are densely connected. Discovery of community structures is a basic problem of research and can be used in various areas, such as biology, computer science, and sociology. Existing community detection methods usually try to expand or collapse the nodes partitions in order to optimize a given quality function. These optimization function based methods share the same drawback of inefficiency. Here we propose a heuristic algorithm (MDBH algorithm based on network structure which employs modularity degree as a measure function. Experiments on both synthetic benchmarks and real-world networks show that our algorithm gives competitive accuracy with previous modularity optimization methods, even though it has less computational complexity. Furthermore, due to the use of modularity degree, our algorithm naturally improves the resolution limit in community detection.

Studying Computer Science in a Multidisciplinary Degree Programme: Freshman Students' Orientation, Knowledge, and Background

Science.gov (United States)

Kautz, Karlheinz; Kofoed, Uffe

2004-01-01

Teachers at universities are facing an increasing disparity in students' prior IT knowledge and, at the same time, experience a growing disengagement of the students with regard to involvement in study activities. As computer science teachers in a joint programme in computer science and business administration, we made a number of similar…

Wind, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Meridional

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Remote Sensing Inc. distributes science quality wind velocity data from the SeaWinds instrument onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is a microwave...

Wind, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Modulus

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Remote Sensing Inc. distributes science quality wind velocity data from the SeaWinds instrument onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is a microwave...

Ekman Upwelling, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality Ekman current (in zonal, meridional, and modulus sets) and Ekman upwelling data. This data begins with wind velocity...

Research Labs | College of Engineering & Applied Science

Science.gov (United States)

Engineering Multimedia Software Laboratory Computer Science Nanotechnology for Sustainable Energy and Engineering Concentration on Ergonomics M.S. Program in Computer Science Interdisciplinary Concentration on Energy Doctoral Programs in Engineering Non-Degree Candidate Departments Biomedical Engineering

A Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Hampton University

Science.gov (United States)

Paterson, W. R.; McCormick, M. P.; Russell, J. M.; Anderson, J.; Kireev, S.; Loughman, R. P.; Smith, W. L.

2006-12-01

With this presentation we discuss the status of plans for a Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Hampton University. Hampton University is a privately endowed, non-profit, non-sectarian, co-educational, and historically black university with 38 baccalaureate, 14 masters, and 4 doctoral degree programs. The graduate program in physics currently offers advanced degrees with concentration in Atmospheric Science. The 10 students now enrolled benefit substantially from the research experience and infrastructure resident in the university's Center for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS), which is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Promoting a greater diversity of participants in geosciences is an important objective for CAS. To accomplish this, we require reliable pipelines of students into the program. One such pipeline is our undergraduate minor in Space, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences (SEAS minor). This minor concentraton of study is contributing to awareness of geosciences on the Hampton University campus, and beyond, as our students matriculate and join the workforce, or pursue higher degrees. However, the current graduate program, with its emphasis on physics, is not necessarily optimal for atmospheric scientists, and it limits our ability to recruit students who do not have a physics degree. To increase the base of candidate students, we have proposed creation of a Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, which could attract students from a broader range of academic disciplines. The revised curriculum would provide for greater concentration in atmospheric and planetary sciences, yet maintain a degree of flexibility to allow for coursework in physics or other areas to meet the needs of individual students. The department would offer the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, and maintain the SEAS minor. The university's administration and faculty have approved our plan for this new department pending authorization by the university's board of trustees, which will

Wind, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Meridional

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) distributes science quality wind velocity data from the SeaWinds instrument onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is a...

Wind, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Zonal

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) distributes science quality wind velocity data from the SeaWinds instrument onboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite. SeaWinds is a...

Cyclic efforts to improve completion rates of masters’ degree students in nursing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lizeth Roets

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Supervisors at Higher Education Institutions are challenged to shorten throughput of Master’s degree students in nursing as researchers are needed to improve the art and science of the nursing profession. Globally the completion time for a postgraduate degree in the health sciences varies between 4.7 and 5.5 years. The purpose of the study was to describe strategies that were implemented to shorten completion time and attrition rate of postgraduate students. A cyclic technical, scientific collaborative mode within an action research methodology was used to identify factors impeding completion time in this study. Contrary to other studies, supervision was not an inhibiting factor in this study. Physical, technical, academic and financial aspects were identified by postgraduate students through questionnaires and informal discussion groups with supervisors as well as progress reports. Strategies were implemented to address these. Following implementation of all strategies, 42% of the postgraduate students in the School of Nursing completed their Master’s degree within two years. This implies a 34% improvement. Although the completion rate improved it was still unsatisfactory and new challenges were identified during the second cycle, for example, the number of inexperienced supervisors increased and they needed mentoring. Speed mentoring is a possible solution to the problem.

The system Cu-Rh-S at 900 degrees, 700 degrees, 540 degrees and 500 degrees C

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karup-Møller, Sven; Makovicky, E.

2007-01-01

Phase relations in the dry condensed system Cu-Rh-S were determined at 900, 700, 540 and 500 degrees C. At 900 degrees C, the system contains digenite, four rhodium sulfides (Rh17S15, Rh3S4, Rh2S3 and RhS similar to 3), three ternary sulfides (CuRh2S4, CuxRhS3+x and a fibrous sulfide in the range...

Bulletin of Materials Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Bulletin of Materials Science; Volume 35; Issue 5 .... Influence of different heat treatment programs on properties of sol–gel ... The strong preferred c-axis orientation is lost due to cadmium doping and degree ... Electrical transport and EPR investigations: A comparative study for d.c. conduction mechanism in ...

Prevalence of substance abuse among regular degree health science students in Sheba University College in Mekelle Town, Tigray - Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagos, Esietu Gebregazabher; Asfeha, Gebrekidan Gebregzabher; Berihu, Birhane Alem

2016-01-01

Substance abuse (SA) refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. The most common substances which are usually abused are alcohol and tobacco. Herein, we assessed the prevalence of SA among regular degree health science students of the Sheba University College (SUC). A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 1076 SUC students using self-administered structured questionnaire. The simple sampling technique was used to select students. Descriptive statistics, bivariate, and multivariate analysis were done. The overall prevalence of "ever used substance" for at least one was 45.5%. The most commonly used drugs in descending order were alcohol (25.1%), cigarette (11.4%), and khat (9.2%). Male participants, urban setting, peer pressure, personal pleasure, and academic dissatisfaction and pocket money were highly associated with SA. This study showed a lower magnitude (45.6% ever use and 21% still using) of SA among students' compared to other studies. Even if a considerable decrease in SA among study subjects, the creation of awareness and health education should be continued to fully combat the problem of abuse.

Perceived mathematical ability under challenge: a longitudinal perspective on sex segregation among STEM degree fields.

Science.gov (United States)

Nix, Samantha; Perez-Felkner, Lara; Thomas, Kirby

2015-01-01

Students' perceptions of their mathematics ability vary by gender and seem to influence science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degree choice. Related, students' perceptions during academic difficulty are increasingly studied in educational psychology, suggesting a link between such perceptions and task persistence. Despite interest in examining the gender disparities in STEM, these concepts have not been considered in tandem. In this manuscript, we investigate how perceived ability under challenge-in particular in mathematics domains-influences entry into the most sex-segregated and mathematics-intensive undergraduate degrees: physics, engineering, mathematics, and computer science (PEMC). Using nationally representative Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS) data, we estimate the influence of perceived ability under challenging conditions on advanced high school science course taking, selection of an intended STEM major, and specific major type 2 years after high school. Demonstrating the importance of specificity when discussing how gender influences STEM career pathways, the intersecting effects of gender and perceived ability under mathematics challenge were distinct for each scientific major category. Perceived ability under challenge in secondary school varied by gender, and was highly predictive of selecting PEMC and health sciences majors. Notably, women's 12th grade perceptions of their ability under mathematics challenge increased their probability of selecting PEMC majors over and above biology. In addition, gender moderated the effect of growth mindset on students' selection of health science majors. Perceptions of ability under challenge in general and verbal domains also influenced retention in and declaration of certain STEM majors. The implications of these results are discussed, with particular attention to access to advanced scientific coursework in high school and interventions aimed at enhancing young women's perceptions of

Perceived mathematical ability under challenge: a longitudinal perspective on sex segregation among STEM degree fields

Science.gov (United States)

Nix, Samantha; Perez-Felkner, Lara; Thomas, Kirby

2015-01-01

Students' perceptions of their mathematics ability vary by gender and seem to influence science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degree choice. Related, students' perceptions during academic difficulty are increasingly studied in educational psychology, suggesting a link between such perceptions and task persistence. Despite interest in examining the gender disparities in STEM, these concepts have not been considered in tandem. In this manuscript, we investigate how perceived ability under challenge—in particular in mathematics domains—influences entry into the most sex-segregated and mathematics-intensive undergraduate degrees: physics, engineering, mathematics, and computer science (PEMC). Using nationally representative Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS) data, we estimate the influence of perceived ability under challenging conditions on advanced high school science course taking, selection of an intended STEM major, and specific major type 2 years after high school. Demonstrating the importance of specificity when discussing how gender influences STEM career pathways, the intersecting effects of gender and perceived ability under mathematics challenge were distinct for each scientific major category. Perceived ability under challenge in secondary school varied by gender, and was highly predictive of selecting PEMC and health sciences majors. Notably, women's 12th grade perceptions of their ability under mathematics challenge increased their probability of selecting PEMC majors over and above biology. In addition, gender moderated the effect of growth mindset on students' selection of health science majors. Perceptions of ability under challenge in general and verbal domains also influenced retention in and declaration of certain STEM majors. The implications of these results are discussed, with particular attention to access to advanced scientific coursework in high school and interventions aimed at enhancing young women

Teaching Scientists to Communicate: Evidence-Based Assessment for Undergraduate Science Education

Science.gov (United States)

Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy; Kuchel, Louise

2015-01-01

Communication skills are one of five nationally recognised learning outcomes for an Australian Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree. Previous evidence indicates that communication skills taught in Australian undergraduate science degrees are not developed sufficiently to meet the requirements of the modern-day workplace--a problem faced in the UK and…

When Graduate Degrees Prostitute the Educational Process: Degrees Gone Wild

Science.gov (United States)

Lumadue, Richard T.

2006-01-01

Graduate degrees prostitute the educational process when they are sold to consumers by unaccredited degree/diploma mills as being equivalent to legitimate, bona-fide degrees awarded by accredited graduate schools. This article carefully analyzes the serious problems of bogus degrees and their association with the religious higher education…

Results of a Master's degree program for high-school teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Cocke, W. J.

1993-05-01

Starting in the summer of 1990, the Astronomy Department at the University of Arizona began a 3-year summer program for upgrading the skills of high-school and middle-school science teachers. The program granted Master's degrees in Astronomy to the 33 teachers that completed the program this past summer. The teachers received tuition waivers and stipends to cover living expenses. The funding came mostly from the National Science Foundation, but the University of Arizona cost-shared at the 15% level. About half of the teachers were from Arizona, and the rest came from out-of-state. Although minorities were encouraged to apply, we had few minority applicants, and there were no Afro-Americans and only one Hispanic in the program. The content of the courses was heavily slanted towards mathematics and the physical sciences. The math level went up to vector calculus and linear partial differential equations, and there was a heavy emphasis on physics and astrophysics. Astronomy turned out to be a good umbrella under which to strengthen the teachers' knowledge of the physical sciences. One of the weak points in the program was the pace at which we introduced new material to the teachers. The summer sessions were short and very intense, and the teachers often found themselves with insufficient time to digest the information. This was offset to some degree by the high rate of cooperative learning that the teachers exhibited. The program seems to have been a great success, and the teachers report that their higher level of understanding is very useful to them in the classroom, and the astronomy content provided an excellent source of new demonstrations and projects. We present the results of a final survey, in which we ask the teachers to summarize their thoughts about the program and its effectiveness.

Co-Articulating the Value of a Liberal Arts Degree with Students

Science.gov (United States)

Cushing, Pamela

2012-01-01

While most scholars and higher education professionals believe in the intrinsic value of a liberal arts degree, high school students and their parents often have a different bias as they seek to determine where to invest themselves and their resources. Anyone who has taught in or recruited for the social sciences or humanities will recognize the…

Learning based on library automation in mobile devices: The video production by students of Universidade Federal do Cariri Library Science Undergraduate Degree

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Vernon VIEIRA

Full Text Available Abstract The video production for learning has been evident over the last few years especially when it involves aspects of the application of hardware and software for automation spaces. In Librarianship Undergraduate Degrees the need for practical learning focused on the knowledge of the requirements for library automation demand on teacher to develop an educational content to enable the student to learn through videos in order to increase the knowledge about information technology. Thus, discusses the possibilities of learning through mobile devices in education reporting an experience that took place with students who entered in March, 2015 (2015.1 Bachelor Degree in Library Science from the Universidade Federal do Cariri (Federal University of Cariri in state of Ceará, Brazil. The literature review includes articles publicated in scientific journals and conference proceedings and books in English, Portuguese and Spanish on the subject. The methodology with quantitative and qualitative approach includes an exploratory study, where the data collection was used online survey to find out the experience of the elaboration of library automation videos by students who studied in that course. The learning experience using mobile devices for recording of technological environments of libraries allowed them to be produced 25 videos that contemplated aspects of library automation having these actively participated in production of the video and its publication on the Internet.

The master degree: A critical transition in STEM doctoral education

Science.gov (United States)

Lange, Sheila Edwards

The need to broaden participation in the nation's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate and graduate programs is currently a matter of national urgency. The small number of women and underrepresented minorities (URM) earning doctoral degrees in STEM is particularly troubling given significant increases in the number of students earning master's degrees since 1990. In the decade between 1990 and 2000, the total number of master's recipients increased by 42%. During this same time period, the number of women earning master's degrees increased by 56%, African Americans increased by 132%, American Indians by 101%, Hispanics by 146%, and Asian Americans by 117% (Syverson, 2003). Growth in underrepresented group education at the master's level raises questions about the relationship between master's and doctoral education. Secondary data analysis of the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) was used to examine institutional pathways to the doctorate in STEM disciplines and transitions from master's to doctoral programs by race and gender. While the study revealed no significant gender differences in pathways, compared to White and Asian American students, URM students take significantly different pathways to the doctorate. URM students are significantly more likely to earn the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees at three different institutions. Their path is significantly more likely to include earning a master's degree en route to the doctorate. Further, URM students are more likely to experience transition between the master's and doctoral degrees, and the transitions are not limited to those who earn master's degrees at master's-only institutions. These findings suggest that earning a master's degree is more often a stepping stone to the doctorate for URM students. Master's degree programs, therefore, have the potential to be a valuable resource for policymakers and graduate programs seeking to increase the diversity of URM students

Second-degree discrete Painleve equations conceal first-degree ones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramani, A; Grammaticos, B; Joshi, N

2010-01-01

We examine various second-degree difference equations which have been proposed over the years and according to their authors' claims should be integrable. This study is motivated by the fact that we consider that second-degree discrete systems cannot be integrable due to the proliferation of the images (and pre-images) of the initial point. We show that in the present cases no contradiction exists. In all cases examined, we show that there exists an underlying integrable first-degree mapping which allows us to obtain an appropriate solution of the second-degree one.

Double nursing degree: potentialities and challenges of an international student academic experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Nora, Carlise Rigon Dalla; Schaefer, Rafaela; Schveitzer, Mariana Cabral; Zoboli, Elma Lourdes Campos Pavone; Vieira, Margarida Maria

2018-01-01

Objective To share the experience of a Double Nursing degree promoted between the Nursing School of the Universidade de São Paulo and the Health Sciences Institute of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, reflecting on the potentialities and challenges of this opportunity for graduate students. Method This is an experience report presented in chronological order and of a descriptive nature. The double degree in Nursing was accomplished over a period of 6 months in a different institution from the institution of origin. Results Among the activities developed during the Double Degree are: participating in examining boards, congresses, seminars, courses, meetings, lectures, colloquium, classes, research groups and technical visits to health services. A table presents and describes the main benefits of the experience experienced by the authors. Conclusion When well-planned and well-developed, a double degree can promote personal, cultural and professional development of the students, favoring internationalization and contributing to the qualification of graduate programs.

A study of the lived experiences of African American women STEM doctoral degree completers

Science.gov (United States)

Squires, Stephanie Michelle

This study examined the lived experiences of African American women (AAW) who completed doctoral degrees in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) discipline in the United States. This study sought to fill the gap in the literature by examining how AAW described and made meaning of lived STEM educational experiences during doctoral degree completion in the context of the intersection of being African American and a woman. This study utilized a theoretical perspective based upon three theories: (a) critical race theory as a framework to gather AAW's narratives about STEM doctorate education, (b) Black feminist thought as a framework to view the intersection of being African American and a woman in the United States, and (c) the science identity model as a framework to view how women of color successfully complete scientific graduate degrees. Participants revealed that being an African American and a woman in a STEM doctoral program often complicated an already difficult process of completing the doctoral degree. The participants described the educational experience as challenging, particularly the writing of the dissertation. The challenges that the participants faced were due to various factors such as difficult advisor/advisee relationships, tedious writing and revision processes, politics, and lack of information regarding the doctoral degree process. The findings suggested that AAW participants confronted intrinsic bias while completing STEM doctoral degrees, which led to isolation and feelings of being an impostor---or feelings of not belonging in scientific studies. The findings also indicated that the women in this study ascribed success in dissertation writing and degree completion to one or more of the following attributes: (a) having a clear plan, (b) taking ownership of the writing process, (c) having an engaged advisor, (d) learning the writing style of the advisor, (e) understanding the temperament of the advisor, (f) personal will

Assessing the Science Knowledge of University Students: Perils, Pitfalls and Possibilities

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Susan M.

2014-01-01

Science content knowledge is internationally regarded as a fundamentally important learning outcome for graduates of bachelor level science degrees: the Science Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) recently adopted in Australia as a nationally agreed framework include "Science Knowledge" as TLO 2. Science knowledge is commonly assessed…

Timely Post-Graduate Degree Completion: A Case Study of Jamshoro Education City

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jagul Huma Lashari

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study identifies the status of postgraduate students at the master degree level regarding their degree completion in the three public sector universities at Jamshoro Education City. The status is identified by analyzing enrolment of the postgraduate and comparing it with rate of their degree completion. In addition, the paper also discusses their characteristics which lead them towards the degree completion. For this paper, enrolment of the postgraduate students at the master level is compared with the degree completion rate of 2008 academic session only. The result shows the obvious difference between enrolment and rate of the degree completion. In total 417 postgraduate students were enrolled in 2008 session, however, only 60 (14% of students have completed their postgraduate degrees. Those who have completed their degrees, with respect to universities 6% students belong to US (University of Sindh, 22% belong to MUET (Mehran University of Engineering & Technology and 8% students belong to LUMHS (Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences. The demographical data of the postgraduate students has also shown some variations like gender, age, employment, and financial resources. In addition, the research requirements also vary for different postgraduate students. The research requirements include lab based, field based and library based resources. The characteristics of the postgraduate students of three public sector universities including financial resources, employment status, and working organization also show differences with each-other in terms of the degree completion.

Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project: A Requirement for the MS in Sustainability Degree

Science.gov (United States)

Jiji, Latif M.; Schonfeld, Irvin Sam; Smith, George A.

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to describe experience gained with a required six-credit year-long course, the Capstone Interdisciplinary Team Project, a key component of the Master of Science (MS) in Sustainability degree at the City College of New York. A common feature of sustainability problems is their interdisciplinary nature. Solutions to…

Polynomial degree reduction in the discrete L2-norm equals best Euclidean approximation of h-Bézier coefficients

KAUST Repository

Ait-Haddou, Rachid

2015-06-04

We show that the best degree reduction of a given polynomial P from degree n to m with respect to the discrete (Formula presented.)-norm is equivalent to the best Euclidean distance of the vector of h-Bézier coefficients of P from the vector of degree raised h-Bézier coefficients of polynomials of degree m. Moreover, we demonstrate the adequacy of h-Bézier curves for approaching the problem of weighted discrete least squares approximation. Applications to discrete orthogonal polynomials are also presented. © 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Globalisation and science education: Rethinking science education reforms

Science.gov (United States)

Carter, Lyn

2005-05-01

Like Lemke (J Res Sci Teach 38:296-316, 2001), I believe that science education has not looked enough at the impact of the changing theoretical and global landscape by which it is produced and shaped. Lemke makes a sound argument for science education to look beyond its own discourses toward those like cultural studies and politics, and to which I would add globalisation theory and relevant educational studies. Hence, in this study I draw together a range of investigations to argue that globalisation is indeed implicated in the discourses of science education, even if it remains underacknowledged and undertheorized. Establishing this relationship is important because it provides different frames of reference from which to investigate many of science education's current concerns, including those new forces that now have a direct impact on science classrooms. For example, one important question to investigate is the degree to which current science education improvement discourses are the consequences of quality research into science teaching and learning, or represent national and local responses to global economic restructuring and the imperatives of the supranational institutions that are largely beyond the control of science education. Developing globalisation as a theoretical construct to help formulate new questions and methods to examine these questions can provide science education with opportunities to expand the conceptual and analytical frameworks of much of its present and future scholarship.

The (In)Visibility of Gender Knowledge in the Physical Activity and Sport Science Degree in Spain

Science.gov (United States)

Serra, Pedrona; Soler, Susanna; Prat, Maria; Vizcarra, María Teresa; Garay, Beatriz; Flintoff, Anne

2018-01-01

This paper draws on research that aimed to explore the construction of gender relations in sport and physical education (PE) through a national study of Spanish university degree curricula. Spain is a useful case study through which to explore gender knowledge within sport and PE degrees, because, unlike many other countries, it has a common,…

Broadening the Participation of Native Americans in Earth Science

Science.gov (United States)

Bueno Watts, Nievita

Climate change is not a thing of the future. Indigenous people are being affected by climate changes now. Native American Earth scientists could help Native communities deal with both climate change and environmental pollution issues, but are noticeably lacking in Earth Science degree programs. The Earth Sciences produce the lowest percentage of minority scientists when compared with other science and engineering fields. Twenty semi-structured interviews were gathered from American Indian/ Alaska Native Earth Scientists and program directors who work directly with Native students to broaden participation in the field. Data was analyzed using qualitative methods and constant comparison analysis. Barriers Native students faced in this field are discussed, as well as supports which go the furthest in assisting achievement of higher education goals. Program directors give insight into building pathways and programs to encourage Native student participation and success in Earth Science degree programs. Factors which impede obtaining a college degree include financial barriers, pressures from familial obligations, and health issues. Factors which impede the decision to study Earth Science include unfamiliarity with geoscience as a field of study and career choice, the uninviting nature of Earth Science as a profession, and curriculum that is irrelevant to the practical needs of Native communities or courses which are inaccessible geographically. Factors which impede progress that are embedded in Earth Science programs include educational preparation, academic information and counseling and the prevalence of a Western scientific perspective to the exclusion of all other perspectives. Intradepartmental relationships also pose barriers to the success of some students, particularly those who are non-traditional students (53%) or women (80%). Factors which support degree completion include financial assistance, mentors and mentoring, and research experiences. Earth scientists

Opportunities for learning about animal welfare from online courses to graduate degrees.

Science.gov (United States)

Siegford, Janice M; Cottee, Stephanie Yue; Widowski, Tina M

2010-01-01

Knowledge of animal welfare has become essential for veterinarians. However, there is no clear consensus about how to provide veterinarians and students with this critical information. The challenges associated with finding qualified instructors and fitting additional courses into an already full curriculum mean that options for learning about animal welfare beyond the veterinary school classroom must be explored. Online courses can be excellent ways for veterinary students and graduate veterinarians to become familiar with current animal-welfare science, assessment schemes, and regulations while removing geographical barriers and scheduling difficulties. Faculty at Michigan State University have created an online animal-welfare course with lecture material from experts in welfare-related social and scientific fields that provides an overview of the underlying concepts as well as opportunities to practice assessing welfare. However, to develop expertise in animal welfare, veterinarians need more than a single course. Graduate degrees can be a way of obtaining additional knowledge and scientific expertise. Traditional thesis-based graduate programs in animal-welfare science are available in animal-science departments and veterinary colleges throughout North America and offer students in-depth research experience in specific areas or species of interest. Alternatively, the University of Guelph offers a year-long Master of Science degree in which students complete a series of courses with a specialization in animal behavior and welfare along with a focused research project and paper. In summary, a range of options exist that can be tailored to provide graduate veterinarians and veterinary students with credible education regarding animal welfare beyond the veterinary curriculum.

Instructional leadership in elementary science: How are school leaders positioned to lead in a next generation science standards era?

Science.gov (United States)

Winn, Kathleen Mary

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are the newest K-12 science content standards created by a coalition of educators, scientists, and researchers available for adoption by states and schools. Principals are important actors during policy implementation especially since principals are charged with assuming the role of an instructional leader for their teachers in all subject areas. Science poses a unique challenge to the elementary curricular landscape because traditionally, elementary teachers report low levels of self-efficacy in the subject. Support in this area therefore becomes important for a successful integration of a new science education agenda. This study analyzed self-reported survey data from public elementary principals (N=667) to address the following three research questions: (1) What type of science backgrounds do elementary principals have? (2) What indicators predict if elementary principals will engage in instructional leadership behaviors in science? (3) Does self-efficacy mediate the relationship between science background and a capacity for instructional leadership in science? The survey data were analyzed quantitatively. Descriptive statistics address the first research question and inferential statistics (hierarchal regression analysis and a mediation analysis) answer the second and third research questions.The sample data show that about 21% of elementary principals have a formal science degree and 26% have a degree in a STEM field. Most principals have not had recent experience teaching science, nor were they every exclusively a science teacher. The analyses suggests that demographic, experiential, and self-efficacy variables predict instructional leadership practices in science.

How Is Science Being Taught? Measuring Evidence-Based Teaching Practices across Undergraduate Science Departments

Science.gov (United States)

Drinkwater, Michael J.; Matthews, Kelly E.; Seiler, Jacob

2017-01-01

While there is a wealth of research evidencing the benefits of active-learning approaches, the extent to which these teaching practices are adopted in the sciences is not well known. The aim of this study is to establish an evidential baseline of teaching practices across a bachelor of science degree program at a large research-intensive Australian university. Our purpose is to contribute to knowledge on the adoption levels of evidence-based teaching practices by faculty within a science degree program and inform our science curriculum review in practical terms. We used the Teaching Practices Inventory (TPI) to measure the use of evidence-based teaching approaches in 129 courses (units of study) across 13 departments. We compared the results with those from a Canadian institution to identify areas in need of improvement at our institution. We applied a regression analysis to the data and found that the adoption of evidence-based teaching practices differs by discipline and is higher in first-year classes at our institution. The study demonstrates that the TPI can be used in different institutional contexts and provides data that can inform practice and policy. PMID:28232589

Pursuit of STEM: Factors shaping degree completion for African American females in STEM

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkins, Ashlee N.

The primary purpose of the study was to examine secondary data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman and College Senior Surveys to investigate factors shaping degree aspirations for African American female undergraduates partaking in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze the data and identify relationships between independent variables in relation to the dependent variable. The findings of the study reveal four key variables that were predictive of degree completion for African American females in STEM. Father's education, SAT composite, highest degree planned, and self-perception were positive predictors for females; while independent variable overall sense of community among students remained a negative predictor. Lastly implications for education and recommendations for future research were discussed.

African-American males in computer science---Examining the pipeline for clogs

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, Daryl Bryant

The literature on African-American males (AAM) begins with a statement to the effect that "Today young Black men are more likely to be killed or sent to prison than to graduate from college." Why are the numbers of African-American male college graduates decreasing? Why are those enrolled in college not majoring in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines? This research explored why African-American males are not filling the well-recognized industry need for Computer Scientist/Technologists by choosing college tracks to these careers. The literature on STEM disciplines focuses largely on women in STEM, as opposed to minorities, and within minorities, there is a noticeable research gap in addressing the needs and opportunities available to African-American males. The primary goal of this study was therefore to examine the computer science "pipeline" from the African-American male perspective. The method included a "Computer Science Degree Self-Efficacy Scale" be distributed to five groups of African-American male students, to include: (1) fourth graders, (2) eighth graders, (3) eleventh graders, (4) underclass undergraduate computer science majors, and (5) upperclass undergraduate computer science majors. In addition to a 30-question self-efficacy test, subjects from each group were asked to participate in a group discussion about "African-American males in computer science." The audio record of each group meeting provides qualitative data for the study. The hypotheses include the following: (1) There is no significant difference in "Computer Science Degree" self-efficacy between fourth and eighth graders. (2) There is no significant difference in "Computer Science Degree" self-efficacy between eighth and eleventh graders. (3) There is no significant difference in "Computer Science Degree" self-efficacy between eleventh graders and lower-level computer science majors. (4) There is no significant difference in "Computer Science Degree

Degrees of Truthfulness in Accepted Scientific Claims.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed Hassan Mabrouk

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false EN-MY X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Abstract: Sciences adopt different methodologies in deriving claims and establishing theories. As a result, two accepted claims or theories belonging to two different sciences may not necessarily carry the same degree of truthfulness. Examining the different methodologies of deriving claims in the sciences of ʿaqīdah (Islamic Creed, fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence and physics, the study shows that ʿaqīdah provides a holistic understanding of the universe. Physics falls short of interpreting physical phenomena unless these phenomena are looked at through the ʿaqīdah holistic view. Left to itself, error may creep into laws of physics due to the methodology of conducting the physical experiments, misinterpreting the experimental results, or accepting invalid assumptions. As for fiqh, it is found that apart from apparent errors, fiqh views cannot be falsified. It is, therefore, useful to consider ʿaqīdah as a master science which would permit all other sciences to live in harmony.

Design and Assessment of an Associate Degree-Level Plant Operations Technical Education Program

Science.gov (United States)

Selwitz, Jason Lawrence

2017-01-01

Research was undertaken to develop and evaluate an associate degree-level technical education program in Plant Operations oriented towards training students in applied science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills and knowledge relevant to a spectrum of processing industries. This work focuses on four aspects of the curriculum…

Report on enhancing young scholars in science and technology the Center for Excellence in Education

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-09-30

The present stock and flow of highly talented young persons engaged in the global discovery and application of science and technology are critical to the future pace of innovation. Historically, the world`s largest reservoirs of scientists and engineers have been in the Western economies. Overtime, however, Asia has begun to build equivalent pools of scientists and engineers among their university graduates. According to 1993 data from the National Science Foundation and the UNESCO World Science Report, Germany leads all economies with a 67% ratio of science and engineering degrees to total first university degrees compared to the United States with a distant fifth place at 32% behind Italy, Mexico and Poland. If the nation is to keep its scientific and technological prowess, it must capture its very best talent in the science and technology fields. The question is then raised as to the source within the United States of the science and technology talent pool. While between 1978 and 1991 there was an overall decline in male participation in undergraduate (-9%) and graduate degrees (-12%), the number of women receiving undergraduate (+8%) and graduate degrees (+34%) rose dramatically. These numbers are encouraging for women`s participation overall, however, women earn only a small percentage of physical science and engineering degrees. Why are there so few women in mathematics, engineering, and the physical sciences? The answers are complex and begin early in a woman`s exposure to science and mathematics. This report presents results on a study of careers of alumni from the Research Science Institute. Investigations were concerned with the timing of decision processes concerned with the sciences and math and factors that influenced people to turn away from or proceed with careers in science and math.

Reflux and Belching After 270 Degree Versus 360 Degree Laparoscopic Posterior Fundoplication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Broeders, Joris A.; Bredenoord, Albert J.; Hazebroek, Eric J.; Broeders, Ivo A.; Gooszen, Hein G.; Smout, André J.

2012-01-01

Objective: To investigate differences in effects of 270 degrees (270 degrees LPF) and 360 degrees laparoscopic posterior fundoplication (360 degrees LPF) on reflux characteristics and belching. Background: Three hundred sixty degrees LPF greatly reduces the ability of the stomach to vent ingested

Assessing the Life Science Knowledge of Students and Teachers Represented by the K-8 National Science Standards

Science.gov (United States)

Sadler, Philip M.; Coyle, Harold; Cook Smith, Nancy; Miller, Jaimie; Mintzes, Joel; Tanner, Kimberly; Murray, John

2013-01-01

We report on the development of an item test bank and associated instruments based on the National Research Council (NRC) K-8 life sciences content standards. Utilizing hundreds of studies in the science education research literature on student misconceptions, we constructed 476 unique multiple-choice items that measure the degree to which test…

Prevalence of substance abuse among regular degree health science students in Sheba University College in Mekelle Town, Tigray - Ethiopia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esietu Gebregazabher Hagos

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Substance abuse (SA refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. The most common substances which are usually abused are alcohol and tobacco. Herein, we assessed the prevalence of SA among regular degree health science students of the Sheba University College (SUC. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 1076 SUC students using self-administered structured questionnaire. The simple sampling technique was used to select students. Descriptive statistics, bivariate, and multivariate analysis were done. Results: The overall prevalence of “ever used substance” for at least one was 45.5%. The most commonly used drugs in descending order were alcohol (25.1%, cigarette (11.4%, and khat (9.2%. Male participants, urban setting, peer pressure, personal pleasure, and academic dissatisfaction and pocket money were highly associated with SA. Conclusion: This study showed a lower magnitude (45.6% ever use and 21% still using of SA among students' compared to other studies. Even if a considerable decrease in SA among study subjects, the creation of awareness and health education should be continued to fully combat the problem of abuse.

Newspaper space for science (Portuguese original version

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta M. Kanashiro

2006-02-01

Full Text Available In recent years, courses, events and incentive programs for scientific journalism and the divulgation of science have proliferated in Brazil. Part of this context is “Sunday is science day, history of a supplement from the post-war years”, a book published this year that is based on the Master’s degree research of Bernardo Esteves, a journalist specialized in science.

Should Research Thesis be a Prerequisite for Doctor of Medicine Degree? A Cross-sectional Study at Jordan University of Science and Technology

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Aisha Gharaibeh

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Background: University based research is an integral part of many prestigious medical schools worldwide. The benefits of student-conducted research have long been highlighted in the literature. This article aims to identify the insights of medical students concerning research training, including perceived hurdles in the way of conducting research, and the utility of a research thesis in acquiring a Doctor of Medicine degree.Methods: A total of 808 medical students at Jordan University of Science and Technology were selected by random sampling with a confidence level of 95%. A survey was constructed by a group of students through literature review and group discussions. The survey utilized polar and Likert scale questions to collect data from the students. Statistical inferences were then obtained through analysis of means and one sample t-test of the hypothesis.Results: A total of 687 students filled out the survey (85%. Analysis shows that respondents have a strong and positive attitude towards research. The respondents with past research experience constituted 14.3% of those surveyed. Those respondents identified the barriers faced by them during their experience. The students showed high degree of agreement that a research thesis should be a prerequisite for graduation with statistical significance of p-value ≤0.05.Conclusion: Modifying the curriculum to include research methodology is recommended, and developing it to incorporate a thesis as a requirement for graduation may be advised upon further review.

Next gen PhD a guide to career paths in science

CERN Document Server

Sinche, Melanie V

2016-01-01

For decades, top scientists in colleges and universities pursued a clear path to success: enroll in a prestigious graduate program, conduct research, publish papers, complete the PhD, pursue postdoctoral work. With perseverance and a bit of luck, a tenure-track professorship awaited at the end. In today s academic job market, this scenario represents the exception. As the number of newly conferred science PhDs keeps rising, the number of tenured professorships remains stubbornly stagnant. Only 14 percent of those with PhDs in science occupy tenure-track positions five years after completing their degree. Next Gen PhD provides a frank and up-to-date assessment of the current career landscape facing science PhDs. Nonfaculty careers once considered Plan B are now preferred by the majority of degree holders, says Melanie Sinche. An upper-level science degree is a prized asset in the eyes of many employers, and a majority of science PhDs build rewarding careers both inside and outside the university. A certified ...

Wind Stress, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Zonal

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Stress, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Curl

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Stress, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Meridional

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Stress, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Modulus

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality wind stress data in zonal, meridional, modulus, and wind stress curl sets. This data begins with wind velocity...

Likelihood of women vs. men to receive bachelor's degrees in physics at Stanford, 1900-1929.

Science.gov (United States)

Nero, Anthony

2005-04-01

Work by K. Tolley indicates that girls in mid to late 19th century U.S. high schools were more likely to study mathematics and natural philosophy (i.e., physics and astronomy) than were boys (who pursued the classics).* She also found that after the turn of the century women were more likely than men to receive bachelor's degrees in math and biological sciences at Stanford, but her sampling of every fifth year yielded too few data to be conclusive about physics. Reexamination of graduation lists at Stanford, yielding data for each year from 1900 to 1929, shows that, while absolute numbers were small, women were as likely as men to receive bachelor's degrees in physics during the first decade of the century, in the second decade they were notably more likely, and in the third their likelihood decreased substantially, while that of men rose to exceed that of women. (Women were much more likely to receive bachelor's degrees in math, exceeding the likelihood for men by an order of magnitude during the second and third decades.) *K. Tolley, The Science Education of American Girls: A Historical Perspective (Routledge, N.Y.), 2003.

Chlorophyll-a, Orbview-2 SeaWiFS, 0.04167 degrees, Alaska, Science Quality

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NASA GSFC Ocean Color Web distributes science-quality chlorophyll-a concentration data from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) on the Orbview-2...

A Mathematical Sciences Program at an Upper-Division Campus.

Science.gov (United States)

Swetz, Frank J.

1978-01-01

The conception, objectives, contents, and limitations of a degree program in the mathematical sciences at Pennsylvania State University, Capitol Campus, are discussed. Career goals that may be pursued include: managerial, science, education, actuarial, and computer. (MP)

College of Engineering & Applied Science

Science.gov (United States)

Computational Mechanics Laboratory Environmental Engineering Laboratory Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory Engineering Concentration on Ergonomics M.S. Program in Computer Science Interdisciplinary Concentration on Energy Doctoral Programs in Engineering Non-Degree Candidate Departments Biomedical Engineering

Effectiveness of short-term numerical weather prediction in predicting growing degree days and meteorological conditions for apple scab appearance

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Lalic, B.; Francia, M.; Eitzinger, Josef; Podrascanin, Z.; Arsenic, I.

2016-01-01

Roč. 23, č. 1 (2016), s. 50-56 ISSN 1350-4827 Institutional support: RVO:86652079 Keywords : venturia-inaequalis * temperature * equation * schemes * model * numerical weather prediction * disease prediction * verification * apple scab * growing degree days Subject RIV: DG - Athmosphere Sciences, Meteorology OBOR OECD: Meteorology and atmospheric sciences Impact factor: 1.411, year: 2016

The Degree Cycle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wood, Johanna

2016-01-01

, empirical data relevant to the development of the degree adverb function is presented and possible relevant constructions identified. It is argued that the degree adverb function of that possibly occurs later than the historical dictionaries indicate. The degree adverb function of this is challenging...

The simulation method in learning interpersonal communication competence--experiences of masters' degree students of health sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Saaranen, Terhi; Vaajoki, Anne; Kellomäki, Marjaana; Hyvärinen, Marja-Leena

2015-02-01

This article describes the experiences of master students of nursing science in learning interpersonal communication competence through the simulation method. The exercises reflected challenging interactive situations in the field of health care. Few studies have been published on using the simulation method in the communication education of teachers, managers, and experts in this field. The aim of this study is to produce information which can be utilised in developing the simulation method to promote the interpersonal communication competence of master-level students of health sciences. This study used the qualitative, descriptive research method. At the Department of Nursing Science, the University of Eastern Finland, students major in nursing science specialise in nursing leadership and management, preventive nursing science, or nurse teacher education. Students from all three specialties taking the Challenging Situations in Speech Communication course participated (n=47). Essays on meaningful learning experiences collected using the critical incident technique, underwent content analysis. Planning of teaching, carrying out different stages of the simulation exercise, participant roles, and students' personal factors were central to learning interpersonal communication competence. Simulation is a valuable method in developing the interpersonal communication competence of students of health sciences at the masters' level. The methods used in the simulation teaching of emergency care are not necessarily applicable as such to communication education. The role of teacher is essential to supervising students' learning in simulation exercises. In the future, it is important to construct questions that help students to reflect specifically on communication. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gendered Pathways: How Mathematics Ability Beliefs Shape Secondary and Postsecondary Course and Degree Field Choices

Science.gov (United States)

Perez-Felkner, Lara; Nix, Samantha; Thomas, Kirby

2017-01-01

Do mathematics ability beliefs explain gender gaps in the physical science, engineering, mathematics, and computer science fields (PEMC) and other science fields? We leverage U.S. nationally representative longitudinal data to estimate gendered differences in girls' and boys' perceptions of mathematics ability with the most difficult or challenging material. Our analyses examine the potentially interacting effects of gender and these ability beliefs on students' pathways to scientific careers. Specifically, we study how beliefs about ability with challenging mathematics influence girls' and boys' choices to pursue PEMC degrees, evaluating educational milestones over a 6-year period: advanced science course completion in secondary school and postsecondary major retention and selection. Our findings indicate even at the same levels of observed ability, girls' mathematics ability beliefs under challenge are markedly lower than those of boys. These beliefs matter over time, potentially tripling girls' chances of majoring in PEMC sciences, over and above biological science fields, all else being equal. Implications and potential interventions are discussed. PMID:28428762

Academic Standards for Developing, Implementing, Evaluating, and Improving Information Science and Technology Baccalaureate Degrees

Science.gov (United States)

Shields-Bryant, Elayne

2006-01-01

The unprecedented growth, development and implementation of information technology (IT) driven by e-commerce and other technological advances have resulted in an increased demand of technology skilled workers (Reichgelt, Zhang, & Price, 2002; United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005). In response to degree-dependent…

Scientists Interacting With University Science Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Spector, B. S.

2004-12-01

Scientists with limited time to devote to educating the public about their work will get the greatest multiplier effect for their investment of time by successfully interacting with university science educators. These university professors are the smallest and least publicized group of professionals in the chain of people working to create science literate citizens. They connect to all aspects of formal and informal education, influencing everything from what and how youngsters and adults learn science to legislative rulings. They commonly teach methods of teaching science to undergraduates aspiring to teach in K-12 settings and experienced teachers. They serve as agents for change to improve science education inside schools and at the state level K-16, including what science content courses are acceptable for teacher licensure. University science educators are most often housed in a College of Education or Department of Education. Significant differences in culture exist in the world in which marine scientists function and that in which university science educators function, even when they are in the same university. Subsequently, communication and building relationships between the groups is often difficult. Barriers stem from not understanding each other's roles and responsibilities; and different reward systems, assumptions about teaching and learning, use of language, approaches to research, etc. This presentation will provide suggestions to mitigate the barriers and enable scientists to leverage the multiplier effect saving much time and energy while ensuring the authenticity of their message is maintained. Likelihood that a scientist's message will retain its authenticity stems from criteria for a university science education position. These professors have undergraduate degrees in a natural science (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics, geology), and usually a master's degree in one of the sciences, a combination of natural sciences, or a master's including

Global and Domestic Trends ``Imperil'' Future U.S. Science Workforce

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

The U.S. science and engineering workforce of the future ``is imperiled'' by increased global competition for talent and by flat or reduced domestic student interest in the physical sciences and other areas, according to a 19 November report by the U.S. National Science Board (NSB). Citing U.S. census data, the report indicates that the percentage of the foreign-born who are filling U.S. science and engineering occupations has risen sharply, from 14% in 1990 to 22% in 2000. Awards of doctorates to the foreign-born jumped from 24% to 28%, while those with master's degrees increased from 19% to 29%, and the bachelor's degree share rose from 11% to 17%. The census data reflects immigration patterns and the numbers of foreign specialists working in the U.S. with visas.

Reform in medical and health sciences educational system: a Delphi study of faculty members' views at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Salehi, A; Harris, N; Lotfi, F; Hashemi, N; Kojouri, J; Amini, M

2014-04-03

Despite the strengths in the Iranian medical and health sciences educational system, areas in need of improvement have been noted. The purpose of this study was to understand the views of faculty members at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences about current and future needs for medical and health sciences education, with the goal of improving the quality of the educational system. The data were collected using a Delphi consensus method. Analysis of the findings identified the following key themes among the factors likely to contribute to medical and health sciences education and training: adding and/or increasing student numbers in higher degrees in preference to associate degrees; providing more interactive, student-centred teaching methods; improving the educational content with more practical and research-based courses tailored to society's needs; and an emphasis on outcome-based student evaluation techniques. These changes aim to respond to health trends in society and enhance the close relationship between medical education and the needs of the Iranian society.

Assessment of Examinations in Computer Science Doctoral Education

Science.gov (United States)

Straub, Jeremy

2014-01-01

This article surveys the examination requirements for attaining degree candidate (candidacy) status in computer science doctoral programs at all of the computer science doctoral granting institutions in the United States. It presents a framework for program examination requirement categorization, and categorizes these programs by the type or types…

The WIYN One Degree Imager - Status and Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Boroson, Todd A.

2013-06-01

A preliminary version of the WIYN One Degree Imager (ODI) has been commissioned and put into scientific operation. ODI was designed to take advantage of the excellent image quality and wide field of view of the WIYN 3.5m telescope. It will do this by covering a one square degree focal plane with orthogonal transfer array (OTA) detectors, which have the capability to correct for image motion during the exposure in regions approximately the size of the isokinetic patch. The partial ODI (pODI) differs from the complete ODI in two ways - only 13 of the 64 OTAs populate the focal plane, and only coherent image motion correction is enabled. However, this implementation has allowed the commissioning of the instrument with all subsystems except the additional detectors in place. The 13 OTAs are configured as a 24 X 24 arcminute “science field”, plus 4 outer OTAs, allowing the sampling of all radii within the one square degree field. pODI is now in use for science observations as we prepare to upgrade the focal plane. The performance of pODI is excellent. Image quality is site seeing limited, and, on good seeing nights, we can achieve images around 0.4 arcsec FWHM over the entire field. The guide signal, from selected regions in the outer OTAs, can be passed to the telescope exclusively, or the high frequency component can be applied as a global shift to the OTAs. We are still in the process of characterizing the gains from this coherent correction, but the detectors perform well in this mode. Data are immediately transferred to an archive at Indiana University, where they are pipeline-processed to remove instrumental signature. The OTA detectors perform adequately in terms of read noise, full well, sensitivity, and dark current. They show 2 anomalies: (1) regions in the circuitry outside the imaging area glow under certain circumstances, and (2) a low level degradation of charge transfer efficiency is present between the imaging area and the serial registers. We have

Incorporating Geographic Information Science in the BSc Environ-mental Science Program in Botswana

Science.gov (United States)

Akinyemi, Felicia O.

2018-05-01

Critical human capacity in Geographic Information Science (GISc) is developed at the Botswana International University of Science and Technology, a specialized, research university. Strategies employed include GISc courses offered each semester to students from various programs, the conduct of field-based projects, enrolment in online courses, geo-spatial initiatives with external partners, and final year research projects utilizing geospatial technologies. A review is made of available GISc courses embedded in the Bachelor of Science Environmental Science program. GISc courses are incorporated in three Bachelor degree programs as distinct courses. Geospatial technologies are employed in several other courses. Student researches apply GIS and Remote Sensing methods to environmental and geological themes. The overarching goals are to equip students in various disciplines to utilize geospatial technologies, and enhance their spatial thinking and reasoning skills.

Statistics in the Workplace: A Survey of Use by Recent Graduates with Higher Degrees

Science.gov (United States)

Harraway, John A.; Barker, Richard J.

2005-01-01

A postal survey was conducted regarding statistical techniques, research methods and software used in the workplace by 913 graduates with PhD and Masters degrees in the biological sciences, psychology, business, economics, and statistics. The study identified gaps between topics and techniques learned at university and those used in the workplace,…

Improving Scientific Writing in Undergraduate Geosciences Degrees Through Peer Review

Science.gov (United States)

Day, E. A.; Collins, G. S.; Craig, L.

2016-12-01

In the British educational system, students specialise early. Often geoscience undergraduates have not taken a class that requires extended writing since they were sixteen years old. This can make it difficult for students to develop the written skills necessary for a geoscience degree, which often has assessments in the form of essays and reports. To improve both the writing and editing skills of our undergraduates we have introduced a peer review system, in which seniors review the work of first year students. At Imperial College London we set written coursework in every year of the degree. Communication is taught and assessed in many courses. There are two major modules with substantial written components that bookend the undergraduate degree at Imperial; the freshmen all write an assessed essay, while all seniors take 'Science Communication', a course that aims to prepare them for a range of possible careers. In the 2015-16 academic year we linked these courses by introducing a modified form of peer marking and instruction. Seniors had to complete reviews of draft first year essays for credit in Science Communication. These reviews are completed for the department 'journal' and introduce the first and fourth years to the nature of peer review. Seniors learn how to critically, but kindly, evaluate the work of other students, and are also prepared for potentially submitting their senior theses to journals. Reviews were managed by volunteer seniors, who acted as associate editors. They allocated anonymous reviewers and wrote decision letters, which were sent to the freshmen before their final assessed essay submission. Ultimately the fourth year reviews were formally assessed and graded by members of staff, as were the revised and resubmitted first year essays. Feedback for both courses has improved since the introduction of student reviews of essays. The markers of the freshman essay have also commented on the improvement in the standard of the writing and a

Chemistry teaching in the new degrees of Agricultural Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Arce, Augusto; Tarquis, Ana Maria; Castellanos, Maria Teresa; Requejo, Maria Isabel; Cartagena, Maria Carmen

2013-04-01

The academic year 2011-12 is the second one implementing Bologna process in ETSI at the subjects of Agricultural Chemistry I and Chemistry II in the new four Degrees: Graduate in Engineering and Agricultural Science, Food Engineering Graduate, Graduate Environmental and engineering Graduate in Biotechnology, for it has been necessary to design and implement new interactive methodologies in the teaching-learning process based on the use of the virtual platform of the UPM, implement new evaluation systems that promote continued participation active student and the development of educational materials to support the subjects of chemistry designed new degrees within the EEES. In addition to the above actions, an assessment test prior chemistry knowledge has been made to all students who enter into Agricultural Grades, improving laboratory practices and the comparative study of academic obtained by the students of the new grades in the subjects of chemistry during the year 2011-12 compared to the 2010-11 academic year. More than 15,000 data have showed a good correlation between the student's prior knowledge, the level test performed, test scores, the overall success rate of the course and the abandonment of the different degrees. Academic results show a higher percentage of students enrolled and presented on a greater number of passes on students enrolled in the 2011-12 academic year for students enrolled in the previous academic year. The improved results have influenced the actions taken and the level of knowledge with students entering. Finally, we propose possible solutions to fix these results in future courses, aiming to improve the degree of efficiency, success and significant absenteeism in the first year as it will condition the dropout rate of these new degrees. Acknowledgements: Proyecto de Innovación Educativa N° IE02054-11/12 UPM. 2012.

A Study of the FEPAC Accredited Graduate Forensic Science Programs' Curricula

Science.gov (United States)

Rushton, Catherine Genice

2016-01-01

The National Institute of Justice (1999) and the National Academy of Sciences (2009) recommended that forensic science training shift from on-the-job training to formal education; however, the reports cited inconsistencies in the curricula of the forensic science degree programs as an impediment to this. The Forensic Science Education Programs…

Degree distribution in discrete case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Li-Na; Chen, Bin; Yan, Zai-Zai

2011-01-01

Vertex degree of many network models and real-life networks is limited to non-negative integer. By means of measure and integral, the relation of the degree distribution and the cumulative degree distribution in discrete case is analyzed. The degree distribution, obtained by the differential of its cumulative, is only suitable for continuous case or discrete case with constant degree change. When degree change is not a constant but proportional to degree itself, power-law degree distribution and its cumulative have the same exponent and the mean value is finite for power-law exponent greater than 1. -- Highlights: → Degree change is the crux for using the cumulative degree distribution method. → It suits for discrete case with constant degree change. → If degree change is proportional to degree, power-law degree distribution and its cumulative have the same exponent. → In addition, the mean value is finite for power-law exponent greater than 1.

The Top 100 Business, Education, Engineering and Social Sciences Degrees Conferred on Hispanic Students

Science.gov (United States)

Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 2011

2011-01-01

Each year, "Diverse: Issues In Higher Education" publishes lists of the Top 100 producers of associate, bachelor's and graduate degrees awarded to minority students based on research conducted by Dr. Victor M. H. Borden, professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Indiana University Bloomington. This article presents lists of the top…

Availability and Overlap of Quality Computer Science Journal Holdings in Selected University Libraries in Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Zainab, A.N.; Ng, S.L.

2003-01-01

The study reveals the availability status of quality journals in the field of computer science held in the libraries of the University of Malaya, (UM), University of Science Malaysia (USM), University of Technology Malaysia (UTM), National University of Malaysia (UKM) and University Putra Malaysia (UPM). These universities are selected since they offer degree programmes in computer science. The study also investigates the degree of overlaps and unique titles in the five libraries. The Univers...

[Research in the Master's Degree program in Social Medicine].

Science.gov (United States)

Laurell, C; Mercer, H

1981-01-01

The authors report on research as part of the master's degree in social medicine at the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Xochimilco campus, Mexico. They discuss research within the curriculum design, instructional research, teaching staff and research, and research as a source of knowledge. They explain that in order to establish guidelines for research it is necessary to consider the health-disease process and medical practice within the economic and social framework and therefore subject to analysis by the social sciences. Finally, they summarize ongoing research in the fields of social epidemiology, medical practice and planning, and human resources.

How Is Science Being Taught? Measuring Evidence-Based Teaching Practices across Undergraduate Science Departments.

Science.gov (United States)

Drinkwater, Michael J; Matthews, Kelly E; Seiler, Jacob

2017-01-01

While there is a wealth of research evidencing the benefits of active-learning approaches, the extent to which these teaching practices are adopted in the sciences is not well known. The aim of this study is to establish an evidential baseline of teaching practices across a bachelor of science degree program at a large research-intensive Australian university. Our purpose is to contribute to knowledge on the adoption levels of evidence-based teaching practices by faculty within a science degree program and inform our science curriculum review in practical terms. We used the Teaching Practices Inventory (TPI) to measure the use of evidence-based teaching approaches in 129 courses (units of study) across 13 departments. We compared the results with those from a Canadian institution to identify areas in need of improvement at our institution. We applied a regression analysis to the data and found that the adoption of evidence-based teaching practices differs by discipline and is higher in first-year classes at our institution. The study demonstrates that the TPI can be used in different institutional contexts and provides data that can inform practice and policy. © 2017 M. J. Drinkwater et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Wind Diffusivity Current, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Meridional

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality Ekman current (in zonal, meridional, and modulus sets) and Ekman upwelling data. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Diffusivity Current, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Zonal

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality Ekman current (in zonal, meridional, and modulus sets) and Ekman upwelling data. This data begins with wind velocity...

Wind Diffusivity Current, QuikSCAT SeaWinds, 0.25 degrees, Global, Science Quality, Modulus

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NOAA CoastWatch distributes science quality Ekman current (in zonal, meridional, and modulus sets) and Ekman upwelling data. This data begins with wind velocity...

Promoting Shifts in Preservice Science Teachers' Thinking through Teaching and Action Research in Informal Science Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, Carolyn S.

2013-08-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of an integrated experiential learning and action research project on preservice science teachers' developing ideas about science teaching, learning, and action research itself. The qualitative, interpretive study examined the action research of 10 master's degree students who were involved in service learning with children in informal education settings. Results indicated that all of the participants enhanced their knowledge of children as diverse learners and the importance of prior knowledge in science learning. In-depth case studies for three of the participants indicated that two developed deeper understandings of science learners and learning. However, one participant was resistant to learning and gained more limited understandings.

Network science

CERN Document Server

Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo

2016-01-01

Networks are everywhere, from the Internet, to social networks, and the genetic networks that determine our biological existence. Illustrated throughout in full colour, this pioneering textbook, spanning a wide range of topics from physics to computer science, engineering, economics and the social sciences, introduces network science to an interdisciplinary audience. From the origins of the six degrees of separation to explaining why networks are robust to random failures, the author explores how viruses like Ebola and H1N1 spread, and why it is that our friends have more friends than we do. Using numerous real-world examples, this innovatively designed text includes clear delineation between undergraduate and graduate level material. The mathematical formulas and derivations are included within Advanced Topics sections, enabling use at a range of levels. Extensive online resources, including films and software for network analysis, make this a multifaceted companion for anyone with an interest in network sci...

JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Life Sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

1988-02-12

the [Leu]enkephalin pentapeptide Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Leu (i)and its [D-Ala2]analog Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-Phe-Leu ( la ), which is more resistant to proteinases, by...Biology and Genetics, Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences, Kiev] ltl!tra°+V ^° la ^ion ^dies were conducted for mini forms of the M13 bacteri- ophage...of fodder substrates (hay, soya millet,,oats, wheat, barley, bean, etc.) Various degrees of growth were obtained on the various fodder products

Library Science Education: A New Role for Academic Libraries

Science.gov (United States)

Wesley, Threasa L.

2018-01-01

Many individuals working in library and information organizations do not hold a master of library science (MLS) degree or other specialized library science credential. Recognizing that this professional gap could be addressed by diversified educational opportunities, the W. Frank Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights…

Citizen Science: Opportunities for Girls' Development of Science Identity

Science.gov (United States)

Brien, Sinead Carroll

Many students in the United States, particularly girls, have lost interest in science by the time they reach high school and do not pursue higher degrees or careers in science. Several science education researchers have found that the ways in which youth see themselves and position themselves in relation to science can influence whether they pursue science studies and careers. I suggest that participation in a citizen science program, which I define as a program in which girls interact with professional scientists and collect data that contributes to scientific research, could contribute to changing girls' perceptions of science and scientists, and promote their science identity work. I refer to science identity as self-recognition and recognition by others that one thinks scientifically and does scientific work. I examined a case study to document and analyze the relationship between girls' participation in a summer citizen science project and their development of science identity. I observed six girls between the ages of 16 and 18 during the Milkweed and Monarch Project, taking field notes on focal girls' interactions with other youth, adults, and the scientist, conducted highly-structured interviews both pre-and post- girls' program participation, and interviewed the project scientist and educator. I qualitatively analyzed field notes and interview responses for themes in girls' discussion of what it meant to think scientifically, roles they took on, and how they recognized themselves as thinking scientifically. I found that girls who saw themselves as thinking scientifically during the program seemed to demonstrate shifts in their science identity. The aspects of the citizen science program that seemed to most influence shifts in these girls' science identities were 1) the framing of the project work as "real science, 2) that it involved ecological field work, and 3) that it created a culture that valued data and scientific work. However, some of the girls only

Physiotherapy Students’ Attitudes to Basic Medical Sciences Courses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasaghi Gharamaleki B

2015-04-01

Full Text Available  Aims: Students’ attitude to the basic sciences courses has a considerable impact in their clinical practice. The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of undergraduate and graduate students to the Physiotherapy rather than basic science. Instrument & Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on 151 undergraduate and graduate schools of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Tehran and Iran University of Medical Sciences students using easy access sampling in October and November of 2012. To evaluate the attitude and the importance and effectiveness subscales the West questionnaire was used. Data were analyzed using SPSS 17 software using One-way ANOVA, independent T, and logistic regression tests. Findings: There was a significant difference between the sexes in response to items 1, 4, 7 and 8. The attitudes mean and the importance and effectiveness subscales were greater in women in the bachelor fifth and seventh semesters. The attitude and the importance of women were significantly more positive than men in Master degree students of the first semester, but there was no statistically significant difference between the sexes in the third semester of the Master degree students. Conclusion: Bachelor and Master students' positive attitudes toward physical science is affected by their gender and women pay more attention to learn treatment physiologically details, while men are more likely to emphasize on the results of the treatment. By increasing the presence of women in Master degrees their attitude get closer to men.

Public Communication of Science in Blogs: Recontextualizing Scientific Discourse for a Diversified Audience

Science.gov (United States)

Luzón, María José

2013-01-01

New media are having a significant impact on science communication, both on the way scientists communicate with peers and on the dissemination of science to the lay public. Science blogs, in particular, provide an open space for science communication, where a diverse audience (with different degrees of expertise) may have access to science…

Increasing Expertise in Earth Science Education through Master's Education

Science.gov (United States)

Huntoon, Jackie; Baltensperger, Brad

2012-01-01

The processes of developing and the results of testing a master's degree program designed to increase the number and quality of secondary-level earth science teachers are described in this paper. The master's program is intended to serve practicing secondary-level science and math teachers who lack subject-area endorsement in earth science. There…

Science and mathematics teachers of the future

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Michelsen, Claus; Nielsen, Jan Alexis; Petersen, Morten Rask

2008-01-01

This paper presents the project Science and Mathematics Teachers of the Future. The aim of the project is to develop and implement a graduate level equivalent degree program in mathematics and science instruction for in-service teachers of lower secondary education. This aim is achieved...... in the programme through involving the teachers in design, implementation and evaluation of innovative instructional sequences, which deals with a wide range of aspects of mathematics and science, e.g. modern science and the importance of science in society. In the program contemporary science and mathematics...... education research serves as a basis for the design and development of warranted practices with which the teachers may experiment in their classroom. We will focus on the outcomes of offering a program which is intimately tied to (i) contemporary science and mathematics education research, (ii) modern...

Engineering success: Persistence factors of African American doctoral recipients in engineering and applied science

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Tiffany Monique

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify factors that influence African Americans to pursue and complete doctoral degrees in engineering and applied science disciplines. Critical race theory (CRT), two models of doctoral student persistence, and graduate student persistence literature guided the conceptual framework of this study. In-depth and focus group interviews were conducted to learn the key factors that positively impacted the persistence of 19 African Americans who earned doctoral degrees in engineering and applied science. The following two factors were found to significantly contribute to the decision to pursue the doctorate: encouragement from others and participation in a research or internship program. Key factors impacting doctoral degree completion included: peer support, faculty adviser support, support from university administrators, and family support. In addition to identifying factors that influenced 19 African Americans to pursue and complete doctoral degrees in engineering and applied science, this study was about the importance of diversity and inclusion of multiple perspectives in education research and scholarship. To this end, the study served to promote and include the expert knowledge of African American doctoral degree recipients in engineering and applied science in the scholarly discourse on the issue of low participation rates of African Americans in engineering and applied science disciplines. Such knowledge will challenge traditional views on this issue and hopefully inspire new ways of addressing and remedying this issue. With African Americans and other minority populations growing at an exponential rate, people of color are quickly becoming the majority in key states across the nation. Therefore, it is imperative that all Americans have an opportunity to develop skills necessary to compete for professional positions in the science and engineering workforce. This mandate is required for the United States to maintain

The relevance of basic sciences in undergraduate medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynch, C; Grant, T; McLoughlin, P; Last, J

2016-02-01

Evolving and changing undergraduate medical curricula raise concerns that there will no longer be a place for basic sciences. National and international trends show that 5-year programmes with a pre-requisite for school chemistry are growing more prevalent. National reports in Ireland show a decline in the availability of school chemistry and physics. This observational cohort study considers if the basic sciences of physics, chemistry and biology should be a prerequisite to entering medical school, be part of the core medical curriculum or if they have a place in the practice of medicine. Comparisons of means, correlation and linear regression analysis assessed the degree of association between predictors (school and university basic sciences) and outcomes (year and degree GPA) for entrants to a 6-year Irish medical programme between 2006 and 2009 (n = 352). We found no statistically significant difference in medical programme performance between students with/without prior basic science knowledge. The Irish school exit exam and its components were mainly weak predictors of performance (-0.043 ≥ r ≤ 0.396). Success in year one of medicine, which includes a basic science curriculum, was indicative of later success (0.194 ≥ r (2) ≤ 0.534). University basic sciences were found to be more predictive than school sciences in undergraduate medical performance in our institution. The increasing emphasis of basic sciences in medical practice and the declining availability of school sciences should mandate medical schools in Ireland to consider how removing basic sciences from the curriculum might impact on future applicants.

Systematic Review: Bridging the Gap in RPN-to-RN Transitions.

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Suva, Grace; Sager, Shelley; Mina, Elaine Santa; Sinclair, Nancy; Lloyd, Monique; Bajnok, Irmajean; Xiao, Sarah

2015-07-01

To review the evidence examining the influences of successful education and professional role transition for registered practical nurses (RPNs) pursuing a baccalaureate degree in nursing (BScN) and registered nurse (RN) licensure through RPN-to-RN bridging programs. Systematic review of papers published between 1995 and 2014 that evaluated students' education and professional role transitions from RPN to RN. Thirty-nine papers were selected that observed or studied the change or transition in designation from RPN to RN, or its equivalent, through bridging programs and analyzed thematically according to Meleis, Sawyer, Im, Hilfinger Messias, and Schumacher's transition model. Personal, community, and social conditions related to preparation for entry, program enrolment, and postgraduate clinical integration influence successful education and professional role transitions for RPN-to-RN bridging students. Providing key transition supports may enhance the potential for successful student transition into and throughout a bridging program, but further research is necessary to enhance this understanding and to recommend best practices for optimizing students' success. The evidence from this review identifies facilitators and barriers to successful education and professional role transition for RPN-to-RN bridging students, and identifies important considerations for future research. © 2015 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Authentic Science Research Opportunities: How Do Undergraduate Students Begin Integration into a Science Community of Practice?

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Grant E.; Forrester, Jennifer H.; Jeffrey, Penny Shumaker; Ferzli, Miriam; Shea, Damian

2015-01-01

The goal of the study described was to understand the process and degree to which an undergraduate science research program for rising college freshmen achieved its stated objectives to integrate participants into a community of practice and to develop students' research identities.

360-degree videos: a new visualization technique for astrophysical simulations, applied to the Galactic Center

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Christopher

2018-01-01

360-degree videos are a new type of movie that renders over all 4π steradian. Video sharing sites such as YouTube now allow this unique content to be shared via virtual reality (VR) goggles, hand-held smartphones/tablets, and computers. Creating 360-degree videos from astrophysical simulations not only provide a new way to view these simulations due to their immersive nature, but also yield engaging content for outreach to the public. We present our 360-degree video of an astrophysical simulation of the Galactic center: a hydrodynamics calculation of the colliding and accreting winds of the 30 Wolf-Rayet stars orbiting within the central parsec. Viewing the movie, which renders column density, from the location of the supermassive black hole gives a unique and immersive perspective of the shocked wind material inspiraling and tidally stretching as it plummets toward the black hole. We also describe how to create such movies, discuss what type of content does and does not look appealing in 360-degree format, and briefly comment on what new science can be extracted from astrophysical simulations using 360-degree videos.

Career Fairs | College of Engineering & Applied Science

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Engineering Concentration on Ergonomics M.S. Program in Computer Science Interdisciplinary Concentration on Energy Doctoral Programs in Engineering Non-Degree Candidate Departments Biomedical Engineering Biomedical Engineering Industry Advisory Council Civil & Environmental Engineering Civil &

Designing and conducting MD/MPH dual degree program in the Medical School of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Salehi, Alireza; Hashemi, Neda; Saber, Mahboobeh; Imanieh, Mohammad Hadi

2015-07-01

Many studies have focused on the need of health systems to educated physicians in the clinical prevention, research methodology, epidemiology and health care management and emphasize the important role of this training in the public health promotion. On this basis, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) has established MD/MPH dual degree program since the year 2012. In the current study, Delphi technique was used. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied in the Delphi process. The Delphi team members including experts with extensive experience in teaching, research and administration in the field of educational management and health/medical education reached consensus in almost 86% of the questionnaire items through three Delphi rounds. MD/MPH program for SUMS was designed based on the items agreed and thematic analysis used in these rounds. The goals, values, mission and program requirements including the period, the entrance condition, and the number of units, and certification were determined. Accordingly, the courses of the program are presented in parallel with the MD education period. MPH courses consist of 35 units including 16 obligatory and 15 voluntary ones. Designing MD/MPH program in SUMS based on the existent models in the universities in different countries, compatible with educational program of this university and needs of national health system in Iran, can be a beneficial measure towards promoting the students' knowledge and theoretical/practical skills in both individual and social level. Performing some additional research to assess the MD/MPH program and some cohort studies to evaluate the effect of this program on the students' future professional life is recommended.

Science Education in Egypt and Other Arab Countries in Africa and West Asia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassan, Farkhonda

1997-01-01

Examines science education in Egypt and the Arab states, focusing on the status of science and technology at the pre-university level and higher education, the science and technology structural component in the higher education system, student enrollment at the B.S. level, distribution of B.S degrees by sex, science and technology graduates, M.S.…

Comparison of two-stage thermophilic (68 degrees C/55 degrees C) anaerobic digestion with one-stage thermophilic (55 degrees C) digestion of cattle manure.

Science.gov (United States)

Nielsen, H B; Mladenovska, Z; Westermann, P; Ahring, B K

2004-05-05

A two-stage 68 degrees C/55 degrees C anaerobic degradation process for treatment of cattle manure was studied. In batch experiments, an increase of the specific methane yield, ranging from 24% to 56%, was obtained when cattle manure and its fractions (fibers and liquid) were pretreated at 68 degrees C for periods of 36, 108, and 168 h, and subsequently digested at 55 degrees C. In a lab-scale experiment, the performance of a two-stage reactor system, consisting of a digester operating at 68 degrees C with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 3 days, connected to a 55 degrees C reactor with 12-day HRT, was compared with a conventional single-stage reactor running at 55 degrees C with 15-days HRT. When an organic loading of 3 g volatile solids (VS) per liter per day was applied, the two-stage setup had a 6% to 8% higher specific methane yield and a 9% more effective VS-removal than the conventional single-stage reactor. The 68 degrees C reactor generated 7% to 9% of the total amount of methane of the two-stage system and maintained a volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration of 4.0 to 4.4 g acetate per liter. Population size and activity of aceticlastic methanogens, syntrophic bacteria, and hydrolytic/fermentative bacteria were significantly lower in the 68 degrees C reactor than in the 55 degrees C reactors. The density levels of methanogens utilizing H2/CO2 or formate were, however, in the same range for all reactors, although the degradation of these substrates was significantly lower in the 68 degrees C reactor than in the 55 degrees C reactors. Temporal temperature gradient electrophoresis profiles (TTGE) of the 68 degrees C reactor demonstrated a stable bacterial community along with a less divergent community of archaeal species. Copyright 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[Environmental Hazards Assessment Program annual report, June 1992--June 1993]. Proposal for a new program leading to the Master of Science degree in environmental studies to be offered jointly by the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of Charleston, South Carolina

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-12-01

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the University of Charleston, South Carolina (UCSC) propose to offer the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Studies. The proposed starting date is August 1994. The purpose of this interdisciplinary program is to offer nationally and internationally recognized graduate level training in the areas of environmental policy, science, and health risk assessment. Special emphasis will be placed on human health. Included in this proposal are a needs assessment for environmental science professionals along with employment projections and salary expectations. The Environmental Science program is described and its relationship to other programs within MUSC and UCSC, as well as its relation to similar programs at other institutions are examined. Enrollment is discussed, admission requirements and standards outlined, and the curriculum is described. Academic and physical resources are examined and estimated costs are given.

Materials Science & Engineering | Classification | College of Engineering &

Science.gov (United States)

Biomedical Engineering Concentration on Ergonomics M.S. Program in Computer Science Interdisciplinary Concentration on Energy Doctoral Programs in Engineering Non-Degree Candidate Departments Biomedical Engineering Biomedical Engineering Industry Advisory Council Civil & Environmental Engineering Civil &

The Utility of a Physics Education in Science Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Drew

2016-03-01

In order for regulators to create successful policies on technical issues, ranging from environmental protection to distribution of national Grant money, the scientific community must play an integral role in the legislative process. Through a summer-long internship with the Science, Space, and Technology Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, I have learned that skills developed while pursuing an undergraduate degree in physics are very valuable in the policy realm. My physics education provided me the necessary tools to bridge the goals of the scientific and political communities. The need for effective comprehension and communication of technical subjects provides an important opportunity for individuals with physics degrees to make substantial contributions to government policy. Science policy should be encouraged as one of the many career pathways for physics students. Society of Physics Students, John and Jane Mather Foundation for Science and the Arts.

The impact of the degree of application of e-commerce on operational performance among Taiwans high-tech manufacturers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi-Chan Chung

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This study probes the correlation of types of operational strategy, degrees of organisational learning, types of organisational culture, the degree of the application of e-commerce, and operational performance among high-tech firms in Taiwan. The data was collected by questionnaires distributed via mail to senior supervisors at high-tech firms in six industries at three Taiwanese science parks. The results showed that a higher degree of e-commerce application leads to a significant and positive effect on operational performance. This study suggests that, in order to upgrade operational performance, firms should enhance their organisational learning and e-commerce, along with their rational, hierarchical, consensual, and developmental cultures, and the execution of prospector and defender strategies.

Why do different people choose different university degrees? Motivation and the choice of degree

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anya eSkatova

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Different people choose which undergraduate degree to study at the university for different reasons. To date, there have been limited attempts to identify individual differences in motivation that drive the undergraduate degree choice. We identified that people choose university degrees for four reasons: career concerns (Career, intrinsic interest (Interest in the subject, an opportunity to help others (Helping and because they are looking for an easy option into higher education (Loafing. We investigated whether these motivation apply to the choice of undergraduate degree in two samples: (1 undergraduate (N = 989 and (2 prospective (N = 896 students. We developed the Motivations Influencing Course Choice (MICC questionnaire to measure these motivations. Scales of Helping, Career, Loafing and Interest showed good psychometric properties, showed validity with respect to general life goals and personality traits, and predicted actual and prospective degree choices. We demonstrated that medical degrees were chosen due to a mixture of Helping and Career, while engineering degrees were associated with Career and low interest in the degree. The choice of art and humanities degrees was driven by Interest and low concern about future career, accompanied with high Loafing. We also demonstrated gender differences: females were high in Helping (both samples and Interest (only in undergraduate sample motivation, while males scored higher in Career (only in undergraduate sample and Loafing (both samples. The findings can feed into both theoretical accounts of proximal motivation as well as help to improve degree programmes at universities and provide better career advice.

Why do different people choose different university degrees? Motivation and the choice of degree.

Science.gov (United States)

Skatova, Anya; Ferguson, Eamonn

2014-01-01

Different people choose undergraduate degrees to study at university for different reasons. To date, there have been limited attempts to identify individual differences in motivation that drive undergraduate degree choice. We identified that people choose university degrees for four reasons: career concerns (Career), intrinsic interest in the subject (Interest), an opportunity to help others (Helping) and because they are looking for an easy option to get into higher education (Loafing). We investigated whether these motivations apply to the choice of undergraduate degree in two samples: (1) undergraduate (N = 989) and (2) prospective (N = 896) students. We developed the Motivations Influencing Course Choice (MICC) questionnaire to measure these motivations. Scales of Helping, Career, Loafing, and Interest showed good psychometric properties, showed validity with respect to general life goals and personality traits, and predicted actual and prospective degree choices. We demonstrated that medical degrees were chosen due to a mixture of Helping and Career, while engineering degrees were associated with Career and low Interest in the degree. The choice of arts and humanities degrees was driven by Interest and low concern about future career, accompanied with high Loafing. We also demonstrated gender differences: females were high in Helping (both samples) and Interest (only in the undergraduate sample) motivation, while males scored higher in Career (only in the undergraduate sample) and Loafing (both samples). The findings can feed into both theoretical accounts of proximal motivation as well as provide help to improve degree programmes at universities and support better career advice.

Robotics as an integration subject in the computer science university studies. The experience of the University of Almeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuela Berenguel Soria

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This work presents a global view of the role of robotics in computer science studies, mainly in university degrees. The main motivation of the use of robotics in these studies deals with the following issues: robotics permits to put in practice many computer science fundamental topics, it is a multidisciplinary area which allows to complete the basic knowledge of any computer science student, it facilitates the practice and learning of basic competences of any engineer (for instance, teamwork, and there is a wide market looking for people with robotics knowledge. These ideas are discussed from our own experience in the University of Almeria acquired through the studies of Computer Science Technical Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Computer Science Degree and Computer Science Postgraduate.

Assessing a Science Graduate School Recruitment Symposium.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Espada, Wilson; Díaz-Muñoz, Greetchen; Feliú-Mójer, Mónica; Flores-Otero, Jacqueline; Fortis-Santiago, Yaihara; Guerrero-Medina, Giovanna; López-Casillas, Marcos; Colón-Ramos, Daniel A; Fernández-Repollet, Emma

2015-12-01

Ciencia Puerto Rico, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting science, research and scientific education among Latinos, organized an educational symposium to provide college science majors the tools, opportunities and advice to pursue graduate degrees and succeed in the STEM disciplines. In this article we share our experiences and lessons learned, for others interested in developing large-scale events to recruit underrepresented minorities to STEM and in evaluating the effectiveness of these efforts.

Science Teachers' and Senior Secondary Schools Students' Perceptions of Earth and Environmental Science Topics

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Vaille; Carson, Katherine

2013-01-01

This article presents an evaluation of a new upper secondary Earth and Environmental Science (EES) course in Western Australia. Twenty-seven EES teachers were interviewed and 243 students were surveyed about the degree of difficulty, relevance and interest of EES topics in the course. The impact of the course on students' views about EES topics…

Importance of small-degree nodes in assortative networks with degree-weight correlations

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Sijuan; Feng, Ling; Monterola, Christopher Pineda; Lai, Choy Heng

2017-10-01

It has been known that assortative network structure plays an important role in spreading dynamics for unweighted networks. Yet its influence on weighted networks is not clear, in particular when weight is strongly correlated with the degrees of the nodes as we empirically observed in Twitter. Here we use the self-consistent probability method and revised nonperturbative heterogenous mean-field theory method to investigate this influence on both susceptible-infective-recovered (SIR) and susceptible-infective-susceptible (SIS) spreading dynamics. Both our simulation and theoretical results show that while the critical threshold is not significantly influenced by the assortativity, the prevalence in the supercritical regime shows a crossover under different degree-weight correlations. In particular, unlike the case of random mixing networks, in assortative networks, the negative degree-weight correlation leads to higher prevalence in their spreading beyond the critical transmissivity than that of the positively correlated. In addition, the previously observed inhibition effect on spreading velocity by assortative structure is not apparent in negatively degree-weight correlated networks, while it is enhanced for that of the positively correlated. Detailed investigation into the degree distribution of the infected nodes reveals that small-degree nodes play essential roles in the supercritical phase of both SIR and SIS spreadings. Our results have direct implications in understanding viral information spreading over online social networks and epidemic spreading over contact networks.

Social Cognitive Predictors of Interest in Research Among Life Sciences Academics

Science.gov (United States)

Sawitri, Dian R.; Nurtjahjanti, Harlina; Prasetyo, Anggun R.

2018-02-01

Research interest is the degree to which an individual is interested in conducting research-related activities. Nowadays, Indonesian higher education academics are expected to be research productive, especially those in life sciences. However, what predicts interest in research among life sciences academics is rarely known. We surveyed 240 life sciences academics (64.6% female, mean age = 31.91 years) from several higher degree institutions in Indonesia, using interest in research, research self-efficacy, and research outcome expectations questionnaires. We used social cognitive career theory which proposes that individual’s interests are the results of the interaction between one’s self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations overtime. Structural equation modelling demonstrated that research self-efficacy was directly and indirectly associated with interest in research via research outcome expectations. Understanding the social cognitive predictors of interest in research contributes to an understanding of the associations between research self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interest in research. Recommendations for life sciences academics, faculties, and higher education institutions are discussed.

Four Decades of Systems Science Teaching and Research in the USA at Portland State University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wayne Wakeland

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Systems science is defined in general fashion, and a brief background is provided that lists some of the systems science-related societies, conferences, journals, research institutes, and educational programs. The Systems Science Graduate Program at Portland State University in Portland, OR, USA, is described in detail, including its history, curriculum, students, faculty, and degrees granted. Dissertation topics are summarized via word diagrams created from dissertation titles over the years. MS degrees, student placement, and undergraduate courses are also mentioned, and future plans for the program are described including its support for sustainability education.

Towson University's Professional Science Master's Program in Applied Physics: The first 5 years

Science.gov (United States)

Kolagani, Rajeswari

It is a well-established fact that the scientific knowledge and skills acquired in the process of obtaining a degree in physics meet the needs of a variety of positions in multiple science and technology sectors. However, in addition to scientific competence, challenging careers often call for skills in advanced communication, leadership and team functions. The professional science master's degree, which has been nick-named as the `Science MBA', aims at providing science graduates an edge both in terms of employability and earning levels by imparting such skills. Our Professional Science Master's Program in Applied Physics is designed to develop these `plus' skills through multiple avenues. In addition to advanced courses in Applied Physics, the curriculum includes graduate courses in project management, business and technical writing, together with research and internship components. I will discuss our experience and lessons learned over the 5 years since the inception of the program in 2010. The author acknowledges support from the Elkins Professorship of the University System of Maryland.

Career Services | College of Engineering & Applied Science

Science.gov (United States)

@ 10:00 am - 2:00 pm Wisconsin Room, UWM Student Union Register today! Engineering Careers Careers in Engineering Concentration on Ergonomics M.S. Program in Computer Science Interdisciplinary Concentration on Energy Doctoral Programs in Engineering Non-Degree Candidate Departments Biomedical Engineering

Performance and microbial community composition dynamics of aerobic granular sludge from sequencing batch bubble column reactors operated at 20 degrees C, 30 degrees C, and 35 degrees C.

Science.gov (United States)

Ebrahimi, Sirous; Gabus, Sébastien; Rohrbach-Brandt, Emmanuelle; Hosseini, Maryam; Rossi, Pierre; Maillard, Julien; Holliger, Christof

2010-07-01

Two bubble column sequencing batch reactors fed with an artificial wastewater were operated at 20 degrees C, 30 degrees C, and 35 degrees C. In a first stage, stable granules were obtained at 20 degrees C, whereas fluffy structures were observed at 30 degrees C. Molecular analysis revealed high abundance of the operational taxonomic unit 208 (OTU 208) affiliating with filamentous bacteria Leptothrix spp. at 30 degrees C, an OTU much less abundant at 20 degrees C. The granular sludge obtained at 20 degrees C was used for the second stage during which one reactor was maintained at 20 degrees C and the second operated at 30 degrees C and 35 degrees C after prior gradual increase of temperature. Aerobic granular sludge with similar physical properties developed in both reactors but it had different nutrient elimination performances and microbial communities. At 20 degrees C, acetate was consumed during anaerobic feeding, and biological phosphorous removal was observed when Rhodocyclaceae-affiliating OTU 214 was present. At 30 degrees C and 35 degrees C, acetate was mainly consumed during aeration and phosphorous removal was insignificant. OTU 214 was almost absent but the Gammaproteobacteria-affiliating OTU 239 was more abundant than at 20 degrees C. Aerobic granular sludge at all temperatures contained abundantly the OTUs 224 and 289 affiliating with Sphingomonadaceae indicating that this bacterial family played an important role in maintaining stable granular structures.

Exposing the Science in Citizen Science: Fitness to Purpose and Intentional Design.

Science.gov (United States)

Parrish, Julia K; Burgess, Hillary; Weltzin, Jake F; Fortson, Lucy; Wiggins, Andrea; Simmons, Brooke

2018-05-21

Citizen science is a growing phenomenon. With millions of people involved and billions of in-kind dollars contributed annually, this broad extent, fine grain approach to data collection should be garnering enthusiastic support in the mainstream science and higher education communities. However, many academic researchers demonstrate distinct biases against the use of citizen science as a source of rigorous information. To engage the public in scientific research, and the research community in the practice of citizen science, a mutual understanding is needed of accepted quality standards in science, and the corresponding specifics of project design and implementation when working with a broad public base. We define a science-based typology focused on the degree to which projects deliver the type(s) and quality of data/work needed to produce valid scientific outcomes directly useful in science and natural resource management. Where project intent includes direct contribution to science and the public is actively involved either virtually or hands-on, we examine the measures of quality assurance (methods to increase data quality during the design and implementation phases of a project) and quality control (post hoc methods to increase the quality of scientific outcomes). We suggest that high quality science can be produced with massive, largely one-off, participation if data collection is simple and quality control includes algorithm voting, statistical pruning and/or computational modeling. Small to mid-scale projects engaging participants in repeated, often complex, sampling can advance quality through expert-led training and well-designed materials, and through independent verification. Both approaches - simplification at scale and complexity with care - generate more robust science outcomes.

Science classroom inquiry (SCI simulations: a novel method to scaffold science learning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melanie E Peffer

Full Text Available Science education is progressively more focused on employing inquiry-based learning methods in the classroom and increasing scientific literacy among students. However, due to time and resource constraints, many classroom science activities and laboratory experiments focus on simple inquiry, with a step-by-step approach to reach predetermined outcomes. The science classroom inquiry (SCI simulations were designed to give students real life, authentic science experiences within the confines of a typical classroom. The SCI simulations allow students to engage with a science problem in a meaningful, inquiry-based manner. Three discrete SCI simulations were created as website applications for use with middle school and high school students. For each simulation, students were tasked with solving a scientific problem through investigation and hypothesis testing. After completion of the simulation, 67% of students reported a change in how they perceived authentic science practices, specifically related to the complex and dynamic nature of scientific research and how scientists approach problems. Moreover, 80% of the students who did not report a change in how they viewed the practice of science indicated that the simulation confirmed or strengthened their prior understanding. Additionally, we found a statistically significant positive correlation between students' self-reported changes in understanding of authentic science practices and the degree to which each simulation benefitted learning. Since SCI simulations were effective in promoting both student learning and student understanding of authentic science practices with both middle and high school students, we propose that SCI simulations are a valuable and versatile technology that can be used to educate and inspire a wide range of science students on the real-world complexities inherent in scientific study.

Science classroom inquiry (SCI) simulations: a novel method to scaffold science learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Peffer, Melanie E; Beckler, Matthew L; Schunn, Christian; Renken, Maggie; Revak, Amanda

2015-01-01

Science education is progressively more focused on employing inquiry-based learning methods in the classroom and increasing scientific literacy among students. However, due to time and resource constraints, many classroom science activities and laboratory experiments focus on simple inquiry, with a step-by-step approach to reach predetermined outcomes. The science classroom inquiry (SCI) simulations were designed to give students real life, authentic science experiences within the confines of a typical classroom. The SCI simulations allow students to engage with a science problem in a meaningful, inquiry-based manner. Three discrete SCI simulations were created as website applications for use with middle school and high school students. For each simulation, students were tasked with solving a scientific problem through investigation and hypothesis testing. After completion of the simulation, 67% of students reported a change in how they perceived authentic science practices, specifically related to the complex and dynamic nature of scientific research and how scientists approach problems. Moreover, 80% of the students who did not report a change in how they viewed the practice of science indicated that the simulation confirmed or strengthened their prior understanding. Additionally, we found a statistically significant positive correlation between students' self-reported changes in understanding of authentic science practices and the degree to which each simulation benefitted learning. Since SCI simulations were effective in promoting both student learning and student understanding of authentic science practices with both middle and high school students, we propose that SCI simulations are a valuable and versatile technology that can be used to educate and inspire a wide range of science students on the real-world complexities inherent in scientific study.

A comparative analysis of Science-Technology-Society standards in elementary, middle and high school state science curriculum frameworks

Science.gov (United States)

Tobias, Karen Marie

An analysis of curriculum frameworks from the fifty states to ascertain the compliance with the National Science Education Standards for integrating Science-Technology-Society (STS) themes is reported within this dissertation. Science standards for all fifty states were analyzed to determine if the STS criteria were integrated at the elementary, middle, and high school levels of education. The analysis determined the compliance level for each state, then compared each educational level to see if the compliance was similar across the levels. Compliance is important because research shows that using STS themes in the science classroom increases the student's understanding of the concepts, increases the student's problem solving skills, increases the student's self-efficacy with respect to science, and students instructed using STS themes score well on science high stakes tests. The two hypotheses for this study are: (1) There is no significant difference in the degree of compliance to Science-Technology-Society themes (derived from National Science Education Standards) between the elementary, middle, and high school levels. (2) There is no significant difference in the degree of compliance to Science-Technology-Society themes (derived from National Science Education Standards) between the elementary, middle, and high school level when examined individually. The Analysis of Variance F ratio was used to determine the variance between and within the three educational levels. This analysis addressed hypothesis one. The Analysis of Variance results refused to reject the null hypothesis, meaning there is significant difference in the compliance to STS themes between the elementary, middle and high school educational levels. The Chi-Square test was the statistical analysis used to compare the educational levels for each individual criterion. This analysis addressed hypothesis two. The Chi-Squared results showed that none of the states were equally compliant with each

The Howard University Program in Atmospheric Sciences (HUPAS): A Program Exemplifying Diversity and Opportunity

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Vernon R.; Joseph, Everette; Smith, Sonya; Yu, Tsann-wang

2012-01-01

This paper discusses experiences and lessons learned from developing an interdisciplinary graduate program (IDP) during the last 10 y: The Howard University Graduate Program in Atmospheric Sciences (HUPAS). HUPAS is the first advanced degree program in the atmospheric sciences, or related fields such as meteorology and earth system sciences,…

Ignatius of Loyola on medical education. Or: Should today's Jesuits continue to run health sciences schools?

Science.gov (United States)

Welie, Jos V M

2003-01-01

There are present 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States, which together offer more than 50 health sciences degree programs. But as the Society's membership is shrinking and the financial risks involved in sponsoring health sciences education are rising, the question arises whether the Society should continue to sponsor health sciences degree programs. In fact, at least eight Jesuit health sciences schools have already closed their doors. This paper attempts to contribute to the resolution of this urgent question by reexamining Ignatius own views on health sciences education and, more specifically, his prohibition of the Society's sponsoring medical education. It concludes on the basis of an historical analysis of Ignatius' views that there is insufficient support for today's Jesuits to maintain their engagement in medical and health care education.

EnQuest | College of Engineering & Applied Science

Science.gov (United States)

engineering camp, in which high school girls explore careers in engineering. It is held at the University of Engineering Concentration on Ergonomics M.S. Program in Computer Science Interdisciplinary Concentration on Energy Doctoral Programs in Engineering Non-Degree Candidate Departments Biomedical Engineering

From apprentice to master of science in engineering - an educational experiment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wandahl, Søren; Ussing, Lene Faber

2012-01-01

As a consequence of the Bologna Process Danish higher educational system has fully adopted the 3+2 system. Access to Master of Science programmes is now granted to either Bachelor of Science or Professional Bachelor degree holders. The latter is known for admitting people with vocational...... qualifications. Hence, it is now possible for a person to go through apprenticeship, and later entering an Architectural Technology and Construction Management education, and finally, ending with a Master of science degree. Now in its fourth year of allowing MSc students with such background, it is possible...... skills and practical knowledge. The main success is that candidates have entered the job market with high success. Data has been collected through interviews and surveys with graduates, teachers and coordinators within the new master programme in construction management at Aalborg University in Denmark...

Teaching Scientists to Communicate: Evidence-based assessment for undergraduate science education

Science.gov (United States)

Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy; Kuchel, Louise

2015-07-01

Communication skills are one of five nationally recognised learning outcomes for an Australian Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree. Previous evidence indicates that communication skills taught in Australian undergraduate science degrees are not developed sufficiently to meet the requirements of the modern-day workplace-a problem faced in the UK and USA also. Curriculum development in this area, however, hinges on first evaluating how communication skills are taught currently as a base from which to make effective changes. This study aimed to quantify the current standard of communication education within BSc degrees at Australian research-intensive universities. A detailed evidential baseline for not only what but also how communication skills are being taught was established. We quantified which communication skills were taught and assessed explicitly, implicitly, or were absent in a range of undergraduate science assessment tasks (n = 35) from four research-intensive Australian universities. Results indicate that 10 of the 12 core science communication skills used for evaluation were absent from more than 50% of assessment tasks and 77.14% of all assessment tasks taught less than 5 core communication skills explicitly. The design of assessment tasks significantly affected whether communication skills were taught explicitly. Prominent trends were that communication skills in tasks aimed at non-scientific audiences were taught more explicitly than in tasks aimed at scientific audiences, and the majority of group and multimedia tasks taught communication elements more explicitly than individual, or written and oral tasks. Implications for science communication in the BSc and further research are discussed.

Vertex Degrees and Isomorphic Properties in Complement of an m-Polar Fuzzy Graph

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ch. Ramprasad

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Computational intelligence and computer science rely on graph theory to solve combinatorial problems. Normal product and tensor product of an m-polar fuzzy graph have been introduced in this article. Degrees of vertices in various product graphs, like Cartesian product, composition, tensor product, and normal product, have been computed. Complement and μ-complement of an m-polar fuzzy graph are defined and some properties are studied. An application of an m-polar fuzzy graph is also presented in this article.

Let's Turn Things on Their Head--Teaching Counterintuitive Science

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, David

2017-01-01

Teaching science through counterintuitive events is an effective way of engaging students in exploring science; such events motivate and involve students in solving problems with a high degree of creativity and critical thinking. This can push students into a seeking explanation mode, setting the stage for discovery. In this article, the author…

An exploration of middle school science teachers' understandings and teaching practice of science as inquiry

Science.gov (United States)

Castle, Margaret Ann

A number of reports have raised a concern that the U.S. is not meeting the demands of 21st century skill preparation of students, teachers, and practitioners in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). In 2005 and 2006 five reports were released indicating a need for improvement in science and mathematics education in the U.S. The reports were: Keeping America Competitive: Five Strategies To Improve Mathematics and Science Education (Coble & Allen, 2005); National Defense Education and Innovation Initiative: Meeting America's Economic and Security Challenges in the 21st Century (The Association of American Universities, 2006); Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (National Academies Press, 2007); Tapping America's Potential: The Education for Innovation Initiative (Business Roundtable Taskforce , 2005); and Waiting for Sputnik: Basic Research and Strategic Competition (Lewis, 2005). Consensus of data in these reports indicates that the U.S., as compared to other industrialized nations, does not fare very well in science achievement and STEM degree attainment. For example, on the 2003 Program for International Assessment (PISA), 15-year-old students in the U.S. ranked 28th in math and 24th in science literacy (Kuenzi, Matthews, & Mangon, 2006). Furthermore, the U.S. ranked 20th among all nations in the proportion of 24-year-olds who earned degrees in natural sciences or engineering (Kuenzi, 2008). As a result, if the U.S. is to remain scientifically and technologically competitive in the world, it is necessary to increase our efforts to incorporate scientific practices associated with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics into the science classroom. Middle school is a critical point in students' science education and it is in middle school that they begin to dislike science. Research indicates that when students learn science through inquiry their interest in and

HRD Degrees.

Science.gov (United States)

Geber, Beverly

1987-01-01

The author describes the growing movement toward accreditation for human resources development professionals. She covers the issue of diversity, undergraduate versus graduate degrees, and future trends. (CH)

Co-authorship of Iranian Researchers in Science, Social Science, Art and Humanities Citation Indexes in the Web of Science between 2000 and 2006

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farideh Osareh

2010-09-01

Full Text Available The present study determines the co-authorship factor in the Iranian scientific output between 2000 and 2006 as reflected in the science, social science art and humanities citation indexes made available through the Web of Science database. Webometric indicators were used. The data were extracted in plain text from WOS, analyzed using HistCite software and counted in MS Office Excel program. Of the Total of 25320 documents indexed, 24480 documents were in Science Citation Index, 783 in Social Citation Index and 57 in Art and Humanities index. The findings indicated that co-authorship factor in the period studied had been on the rise. The highest participation rate belonged to the documents with two or three authors. General coauthorship factor was 0.59. The year 2006 had the highest coauthorship factor (0.62 while the year 2000 had the least (0.55. Bradford and Lotka laws were applied to the data sets. The Lotka’s Law only held true for the science citation index. The Bradford’s Law, however, held true for all indexes. In all citation indexes, the United States with 1865 documents (7.38 had the highest degree of coauthorship in Iranian scientific output.

Convenience store sales forecasting - art before science?

OpenAIRE

Wood, SM; Browne, S

2006-01-01

The science of store location decision making and sales forecasting has received a huge degree of attention throughout retail management and retail geography research. This literature has focused on the conceptualisation of techniques for determining the optimal location and sales, primarily of the food supermarket.

HadISST (1-degree)/HadISST (1-degree)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Monthly version of HadISST sea surface temperature component (1-degree). See Rayner, N. A., Parker, D. E., Horton, E. B., Folland, C. K., Alexander, L. V., Rowell,...

Perception of Science Standards' Effectiveness and Their Implementation by Science Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Klieger, Aviva; Yakobovitch, Anat

2011-06-01

The introduction of standards into the education system poses numerous challenges and difficulties. As with any change, plans should be made for teachers to understand and implement the standards. This study examined science teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the standards for teaching and learning, and the extent and ease/difficulty of implementing science standards in different grades. The research used a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods. The research tools were questionnaires that were administered to elementary school science teachers. The majority of the teachers perceived the standards in science as effective for teaching and learning and only a small minority viewed them as restricting their pedagogical autonomy. Differences were found in the extent of implementation of the different standards and between different grades. The teachers perceived a different degree of difficulty in the implementation of the different standards. The standards experienced as easiest to implement were in the field of biology and materials, whereas the standards in earth sciences and the universe and technology were most difficult to implement, and are also those evaluated by the teachers as being implemented to the least extent. Exposure of teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of standards and the implementation of the standards may aid policymakers in future planning of teachers' professional development for the implementation of standards.

Qualifications of Food Science and Technology/Engineering professionals at the entrance in the job market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virginia Giannou

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The qualifications of Food Science and Technology/Engineering (FST/E professionals were examined by a web-based survey conducted in 15 countries (14 EU and Turkey. The analysis of the responses showed that 65% of the respondents had a higher education (HE degree (BSc 29%, MSc 28%, and PhD 8%, and 20% carried out extracurricular training before entering in the job market. The main fields of study were Food Science and Technology/Engineering, followed by Agriculture, Nutrition and Health, Safety/Hygiene, and Chemical Engineering in all three levels of HE degrees. Differences in the level of degree between genders were not observed, although a higher percentage of female respondents (36% of all female respondents reported no higher qualification degree, compared to male respondents (33% of all male respondents. On the contrary, female respondents prevailed in extracurricular studies, compared to male ones. Gender, however, was a differentiating factor as far as the field of studies was concerned with female respondents prevailing in Nutrition and Health and male in Agriculture.A considerable percentage of the respondents acquired either a ΗΕ degree or had extracurricular training while working in the 1st job. Extracurricular training both before entering the job market and during work at the 1st workplace comprised mainly the topics Safety and Hygiene, Management, followed by Sensory Science, FST/E and Nutrition and Health. In addition, Marketing Science/Consumer Behaviour was also one of the main topics of company or other training during work at the 1st workplace.   

Science self-efficacy of African Americans enrolled in freshman level physical science courses in two historically black institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Prihoda, Belinda Ann

2011-12-01

Science education must be a priority for citizens to function and be productive in a global, technological society. African Americans receive fewer science degrees in proportion to the Caucasian population. The primary purposes of this study were to determine the difference between the pretest and posttest science self-efficacy scores of African-American nonscience majors, the difference between the pretest and posttest science self-efficacy scores of African-American science majors, the relationship between science self-efficacy and course grade, the relationship between gender and science self-efficacy score, and the relationship between science self-efficacy score and course withdrawal. This study utilized a Likert survey instrument. All participants were enrolled in freshman level courses in the physical sciences at a historically black institution: a college or university. Participants completed the pretest survey within two weeks after the 12th class day of the semester. Initially, 458 participants completed the pretest survey. The posttest was administered within two weeks before the final exam. Only 245 participants completed the posttest survey. Results indicate that there is a difference in science self-efficacy of science majors and nonscience majors. There was no significant difference between the pretest and posttest science self-efficacy scores of African-American science majors and nonscience majors. There was no significant relationship between science self-efficacy and course grade, gender and science self-efficacy score, and course withdrawal and science self-efficacy score.

Set our Master's degrees free

Science.gov (United States)

Padman, Rachael

2010-04-01

Making UK undergraduate physics degrees longer must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Back in the early 1990s the standard three-year Bachelor's physics degree (four years in Scotland) was under pressure at both ends. The A-level curriculum - one of the requirements for entry onto a degree course - was being increasingly modularized, and dumbed down. Physics students were arriving at university less well prepared than in the past and there was an increasing awareness that graduates of five-year continental degree courses were better equipped for a professional scientific career than those in the UK. At the same time, local education authorities in the UK were required to provide full funding for a first degree, whether for three or four years.

Cognitive dissonance of science and religion in pre-service elementary school teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Malloy, Robert Earl, Sr.

Throughout history science and religion have been in conflict. Many of the theories of science do not agree with the religious beliefs of pre-service teachers. Those teachers who will be teaching in the science classroom, must be able to present science without prejudice of personal religious beliefs. Are pre-service teachers prepared for science/religion conflicts? How much conflict do pre-service teachers have between science and religion? This study suggests that pre-service teachers may have a high degree of conflict between science and religion, and that they have received no educational experience on how to deal with this conflict. Such conflict poses a potential problem when presenting science in the classroom, in that non-science information may not be separated from the science presented.

The Effects of Moderate- and High-Fidelity Patient Simulator Use on Critical Thinking in Associate Degree Nursing Students

Science.gov (United States)

Vieck, Jana

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of moderate- and high-fidelity patient simulator use on the critical thinking skills of associate degree nursing students. This quantitative study used a quasi-experimental design and the Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT) to evaluate the critical thinking skills of third semester nursing…

Research Centers & Consortia | College of Engineering & Applied Science

Science.gov (United States)

Academics Admission Student Life Research Schools & Colleges Libraries Athletics Centers & ; Applied Science Powerful Ideas. Proven Results. Search for: Go This site All UWM Search Site Menu Skip to content Academics Undergraduate Programs Majors Minors Integrated Bachelor/Master Degree Applied Computing

Opposite Degree Algorithm and Its Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao-Guang Yue

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The opposite (Opposite Degree, referred to as OD algorithm is an intelligent algorithm proposed by Yue Xiaoguang et al. Opposite degree algorithm is mainly based on the concept of opposite degree, combined with the idea of design of neural network and genetic algorithm and clustering analysis algorithm. The OD algorithm is divided into two sub algorithms, namely: opposite degree - numerical computation (OD-NC algorithm and opposite degree - Classification computation (OD-CC algorithm.

College and University Earth System Science Education for the 21st Century (ESSE 21)

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, D. R.; Ruzek, M.; Schweizer, D.

2002-12-01

The NASA/USRA Cooperative University-based Program in Earth System Science Education (ESSE), initiated over a decade ago through NASA support, has led in the creation of a nationwide collaborative effort to bring Earth system science into the undergraduate classroom. Forty-five ESSE institutions now offer over 120 Earth system courses each year, reaching thousands of students annually with interdisciplinary content. Through the course offerings by faculty from different disciplines and the organizational infrastructure of colleges and universities emphasizing cross disciplinary curricula, programs, degrees and departments, the ESSE Program has led in systemic change in the offering of a holistic view of Earth system science in the classroom. Building on this successful experience and collaborative infrastructure within and among colleges, universities and NASA partners, an expanded program called ESSE 21 is being supported by NASA to extend the legacy established during the last decade. Through its expanded focus including partnerships with under represented colleges and universities, the Program seeks to further develop broadly based educational resources, including shared courses, electronic learning materials and degree programs that will extend Earth system science concepts in both undergraduate and graduate classrooms and laboratories. These resources emphasizing fundamentals of Earth system science advance the nation's broader agenda for improving science, technology, engineering and mathematics competency. Overall the thrust within the classrooms of colleges and universities is critical to extending and solidifying courses of study in Earth system and global change science. ESSE 21 solicits proposals from undergraduate institutions to create or adopt undergraduate and graduate level Earth system science content in courses, curricula and degree programs. The goal for all is to effect systemic change through developing Earth system science learning materials

On the relationship between degree of hand-preference and degree of language lateralization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Somers, Metten; Ophoff, Roel A; Boks, Marco P; Fleer, Willemien; de Visser, Kees C L; Kahn, René S; Sommer, Iris E; Aukes, M.F.

2015-01-01

Language lateralization and hand-preference show inter-individual variation in the degree of lateralization to the left- or right, but their relation is not fully understood. Disentangling this relation could aid elucidating the mechanisms underlying these traits. The relation between degree of

Student and Faculty Outcomes of Undergraduate Science Research Projects by Geographically Dispersed Students

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Lawton; Kennepohl, Dietmar

2013-01-01

Senior undergraduate research projects are important components of most undergraduate science degrees. The delivery of such projects in a distance education format is challenging. Athabasca University (AU) science project courses allow distance education students to complete research project courses by working with research supervisors in their…

Diploma to degree 1976 to 1993

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Price, Richard

2009-01-01

The debate on degree education for radiographers began in earnest in the mid-1970s. Initially the debate hinged around whether a degree education was necessary for radiographers. One argument was that it was felt that a degree would separate academic and clinical training but eventually when degrees were introduced practical skills were assessed formally for the first time; something that had not been achieved with the Diploma of the College of Radiographers (DCR). The DCR itself became a barrier to degree education as the College of Radiographers (CoR) insisted that it was the only qualification recognised for state registration and as such would have to remain embedded as a distinct qualification within a degree. A major breakthrough came when the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) recognised the DCR at the same level as an ordinary degree. Around the same time the CoR published its Degree Rationale which announced a change in policy by not insisting that the DCR was sacrosanct. Developments followed rapidly and the first honours degree in radiography was validated in 1989 despite opposition from scientific officers at the Department of Health. Degrees were approved for state registration and radiography became a graduate profession by 1993 following years of debate and after overcoming opposition from both within and external to the profession.

WFIRST: Science from Deep Field Surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Koekemoer, Anton; Foley, Ryan; WFIRST Deep Field Working Group

2018-01-01

WFIRST will enable deep field imaging across much larger areas than those previously obtained with Hubble, opening up completely new areas of parameter space for extragalactic deep fields including cosmology, supernova and galaxy evolution science. The instantaneous field of view of the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) is about 0.3 square degrees, which would for example yield an Ultra Deep Field (UDF) reaching similar depths at visible and near-infrared wavelengths to that obtained with Hubble, over an area about 100-200 times larger, for a comparable investment in time. Moreover, wider fields on scales of 10-20 square degrees could achieve depths comparable to large HST surveys at medium depths such as GOODS and CANDELS, and would enable multi-epoch supernova science that could be matched in area to LSST Deep Drilling fields or other large survey areas. Such fields may benefit from being placed on locations in the sky that have ancillary multi-band imaging or spectroscopy from other facilities, from the ground or in space. The WFIRST Deep Fields Working Group has been examining the science considerations for various types of deep fields that may be obtained with WFIRST, and present here a summary of the various properties of different locations in the sky that may be considered for future deep fields with WFIRST.

What the Heck is Science Policy and Who Really Does It?

Science.gov (United States)

Flatten, Amy

2006-04-01

The objective of this discussion is to provide graduate students and others with insights regarding careers in science policy--how a scientific graduate degree can lead to opportunities beyond the laboratory, combining scientific expertise with diverse interests such as business, international affairs and national security. The topics covered will include: 1) an overview of the U.S. Government bodies and other stakeholders involved in science policy development; 2) case studies to exemplify the ``process'' of science policy formulation; and 3) where/how one might explore a career in science policy. The speaker served from 1999-2004 with White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Undergraduate Biotechnology Students' Views of Science Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Edmondston, Joanne Elisabeth; Dawson, Vaille; Schibeci, Renato

2010-01-01

Despite rapid growth of the biotechnology industry worldwide, a number of public concerns about the application of biotechnology and its regulation remain. In response to these concerns, greater emphasis has been placed on promoting biotechnologists' public engagement. As tertiary science degree programmes form the foundation of the biotechnology…

Fracture toughness testing of V-4Cr-4Ti at 25{degrees}C and -196{degrees}C

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, H.X.; Kurtz, R.J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA (United States)

1996-10-01

Measurements of the fracture toughness of the production-scale heat (832665) of V-4Cr-4Ti have been performed at 25{degrees}C and {minus}196{degrees}C using compact tension (CT) specimens. Test specimens were vacuum annealed at either 1000{degrees}C for 1 hour (HT1) or 1050{degrees}C for two hours (HT2). Specimens given the HT1 treatment were annealed after final machining, whereas the HT2 specimens received the 1050{degrees}C anneal at Teledyne Wah Chang prior to final machining. Following machining HT2 specimens were then vacuum annealed at 180{degrees}C for two hours to remove hydrogen. Specimens treated using HT1 had a partially recrystallized microstructure and those treated using HT2 had a fully recrystallized microstructure. The fracture toughness at 25{degrees}C was determined by J-integral tests and at {minus}196{degrees}C by ASTM E 399 type tests. Toughness values obtained at {minus}196{degrees}C were converted to J-integral values for comparison to the 25{degrees}C data. The 25{degrees}C fracture toughness was very high with none of the specimens giving valid results per ASTM criteria. Specimens fractured by microvoid coalescence. The fracture toughness at {minus}196{degrees}C was much lower than that at 25{degrees}C and the fracture surface showed predominantly cleavage features. The present results show a transition from ductile to brittle behavior with decreasing test temperature which is not observed from one-third scale Charpy impact tests. The fracture toughness at {minus}196{degrees}C was still quite high, however, at about 75 kJ/m{sup 2}. Delaminations in planes normal to the thickness direction were seen at both test temperatures. Fracture surfaces inside the delaminations exhibited nearly 100% cleavage facets. The cause of the brittle delaminations was not determined, but will be a subject for further investigation.

The Howard University Program in Atmospheric Sciences: A Program Exemplifying Diversity and Excellence

Science.gov (United States)

Morria, V. R.; Demoz, B.; Joseph, E.

2017-12-01

The Howard University Graduate Program in Atmospheric Sciences (HUPAS) is the first advanced degree program in the atmospheric sciences instituted at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) or at a Minority-Serving Institution (MSI). MSI in this context refers to academic institutions whose histories are grounded in serving minority students from their inception, rather than institutions whose student body demographics have evolved along with the "browning of America" and now meet recent Federal criteria for "minority-serving". HUPAS began in 1996 when initiatives within the Howard University Graduate School overlapped with the motivations of investigators within a NASA-funded University research center for starting a sustainable interdisciplinary program. After twenty years, the results have been the production of greater institutional depth and breadth of research in the geosciences and significant production of minority scientists contributing to the atmospheric sciences enterprise in various sectors. This presentation will highlight the development of the Howard University graduate program in atmospheric sciences, its impact on the national statistics for the production of underrepresented minority (URM) advanced degree holders in the atmospheric sciences, and some of the program's contributions to the diversity in geosciences and the National pipeline of talent from underrepresented groups. Over the past decade, Howard University is leading producer of African American and Hispanic female doctorates in atmospheric sciences - producing nearly half of all degree holders in the Nation. Specific examples of successful partnerships between this program and federal funding agencies such as NASA and NOAA which have been critical in the development process will also be highlighted. Finally, some of the student recruitment and retention strategies that have enabled the success of this program and statistics of student graduation will also be shared and

Understanding the Gender Gap in Science and Engineering: Evidence from the Chilean College Admissions Tests

Science.gov (United States)

Gándara, Fernanda; Silva, Monica

2016-01-01

This study seeks to develop a better understanding of the underrepresentation of women in science and engineering by analyzing the gender gaps (a) in the interest in pursuing a science degree and (b) on science achievement. We use national-level college admissions data to examine gender differences and to explore the association between these…

Successful recruiting strategies for geoscience degrees and careers at the two-year college: An example from Metropolitan Community College - Kansas City

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, B.

2012-12-01

The overwhelming majority of students at 2-year colleges take geoscience courses (e.g. physical geology or physical geography) to fulfill part of the general education requirements of the Associates in Arts degree or General Education certificates for transfer to a 4-year school. It is common in community college earth science programs to have a relatively small number of students continuing on to major in geoscience programs at their transfer 4-year institution. To increase interest and retention in geosciences courses, we have developed a two prong approach - one aimed at students looking to transfer to a 4-year institution and the other aimed at students in the often overlooked career and technical education (CTE) programs. In the case of transfer students, we employ a "high touch" approach in introductory Physical Geology courses. This includes raising awareness of geoscience related careers combined with faculty mentor and advisor activities for students who express interest in science on their admission forms or in discussions of potential careers in science in first-year experience courses. Faculty mentorships have been very effective, not only in recruiting students to consider careers in geology, but also in advising a curriculum for students necessary to be successful upon transfer to a 4-year institution (such as completing college level chemistry, physics, and calculus courses prior to transfer). The second approach focuses on students pursuing certificates and degrees in CTE energy-related programs (such as HVAC, industrial engineering technology, electrician, and utility linemen). To increase awareness of vocational related geoscience careers, many of which require a good foundation in the vocational training students are currently pursing, we developed a foundation energy course - Energy and the Environment - which fulfills both the science general education component of the AA degree for students looking to transfer as well as CTE students. The

Comparison of two-stage thermophilic (68 degrees C/55 degrees C) anaerobic digestion with one-stage thermophilic (55 degrees C) digestion of cattle manure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, H.B.; Mladenovska, Zuzana; Westermann, Peter

2004-01-01

A two-stage 68degreesC/55degreesC anaerobic degradation process for treatment of cattle manure was studied. In batch experiments, an increase of the specific methane yield, ranging from 24% to 56%, was obtained when cattle manure and its fractions (fibers and liquid) were pretreated at 68degrees......, was compared with a conventional single-stage reactor running at 55degreesC with 15-days HRT. When an organic loading of 3 g volatile solids (VS) per liter per day was applied, the two-stage setup had a 6% to 8% higher specific methane yield and a 9% more effective VS-removal than the conventional single......-stage reactor. The 68degreesC reactor generated 7% to 9% of the total amount of methane of the two-stage system and maintained a volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration of 4.0 to 4.4 g acetate per liter. Population size and activity of aceticlastic methanogens, syntrophic bacteria, and hydrolytic...

An Event to Encourage High School Students to Pursue College Degrees in Physics and Math

Science.gov (United States)

Bukiet, Bruce; Thomas, Gordon

2003-04-01

We discuss a Math and Physics Day for high school students and teachers, with hands-on activities and seminars involving mathematics and physics. Participants also learn about careers for those who go on to major in physics and mathematics in college. The New York State Section of the APS has provided generous support for this workshop through its Outreach grant program. Approximately a dozen high schools and 100 students attend each year. The program, which runs from 9:15 AM until 2:15 PM, includes an introduction to undergraduate degree programs in Mathematics, Statistics, Optics, Actuarial Science and Applied Physics, a group physics experiment/contest, brief talks over lunch by speakers from industry who have degrees in Math or Physics, and an afternoon seminar. Teachers earn Professional Development credit.

STREAMS - Supporting Underrepresented Groups in Earth Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Carvalho-Knighton, K.; Johnson, A.

2009-12-01

In Fall 2008, STREAMS (Supporting Talented and Remarkable Environmental And Marine Science students) Scholarship initiative began at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, the only public university in Pinellas County. STREAMS is a partnership between the University of South Florida St. Petersburg’s (USFSP) Environmental Science and Policy Program and University of South Florida’s (USF) College of Marine Science. The STREAMS Student Scholarship Program has facilitated increased recruitment, retention, and graduation of USFSP environmental science and USF marine science majors. The STREAMS program has increased opportunities for minorities and women to obtain undergraduate and graduate degrees, gain valuable research experience and engage in professional development activities. STREAMS scholars have benefited from being mentored by USFSP and USF faculty and as well as MSPhDs students and NSF Florida-Georgia LSAMP Bridge to Doctorate graduate fellows. In addition, STREAMS has facilitated activities designed to prepare student participants for successful Earth system science-related careers. We will elucidate the need for this initiative and vision for the collaboration.

SHADES, FOLDS AND INCITEMENTS BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND PEDAGOGY THE DEGREE IN BIOLOGY FROM THE NATIONAL PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Liliana Cano Aparicio

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This document reflects an investigative exercise developed from elements of the toolbox of the History Group of the Pedagogical Practice and Foucauldian perspective, in this case from a source tracking and records the relationship between biology and pedagogy problematized Degree in biology from the National Pedagogical University. This relationship emerged with force, shock, nuances, resistors which gave some insight trifold and different times. Also, this paper problematizes from a Bachelor tensions, folds, demonstrations and struggles that occur when entering or science disciplines in connection with pedagogy. Furthermore, some singular relations practices of knowledge, power, subjectivity different denoting a creative practice, politics and aesthetics of Bachelor’s degree in biology.

Community centrality and social science research.

Science.gov (United States)

Allman, Dan

2015-12-01

Community centrality is a growing requirement of social science. The field's research practices are increasingly expected to conform to prescribed relationships with the people studied. Expectations about community centrality influence scholarly activities. These expectations can pressure social scientists to adhere to models of community involvement that are immediate and that include community-based co-investigators, advisory boards, and liaisons. In this context, disregarding community centrality can be interpreted as failure. This paper considers evolving norms about the centrality of community in social science. It problematises community inclusion and discusses concerns about the impact of community centrality on incremental theory development, academic integrity, freedom of speech, and the value of liberal versus communitarian knowledge. Through the application of a constructivist approach, this paper argues that social science in which community is omitted or on the periphery is not failed science, because not all social science requires a community base to make a genuine and valuable contribution. The utility of community centrality is not necessarily universal across all social science pursuits. The practices of knowing within social science disciplines may be difficult to transfer to a community. These practices of knowing require degrees of specialisation and interest that not all communities may want or have.

Curriculum Development for Quantitative Skills in Degree Programs: A Cross-Institutional Study Situated in the Life Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Matthews, Kelly E.; Belward, Shaun; Coady, Carmel; Rylands, Leanne; Simbag, Vilma

2016-01-01

Higher education policies are increasingly focused on graduate learning outcomes, which infer an emphasis on, and deep understanding of, curriculum development across degree programs. As disciplinary influences are known to shape teaching and learning activities, research situated in disciplinary contexts is useful to further an understanding of…

Degree of proximity in the construction of social representations: the case of intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Miguel, Isabel; Valentim, Joaquim Pires; Carugati, Felice

2012-11-01

The present article is devoted to the empirical endeavor of studying the effect of the degree of proximity, defined by specific socio-educational insertions, on the organization of social representations of intelligence. A questionnaire was answered by a sample of 752 participants belonging to five different social categories with different degrees of proximity and knowledge about intelligence: mothers, fathers, mother-teachers and non-parent students (psychology and science students). The questionnaire included different topics, namely concerning the concept of intelligence, its development and the effectiveness of teaching procedures. Results show that the principles organizing the contents of representations are linked to the personal involvement in intelligence, on which subjects more or less implied take different positions. Results produced suggest, therefore, that the content of representations is directly linked to the activation of social roles and the salience of the object, reflecting the functional character that the organization of representations has to specific social dynamics.

The Kilo-Degree Survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jong, J. T. A.; Kuijken, K.; Applegate, D.; Begeman, K.; Belikov, A.; Blake, C.; Bout, J.; Boxhoorn, D.; Buddelmeijer, H.; Buddendiek, A.; Cacciato, M.; Capaccioli, M.; Choi, A.; Cordes, O.; Covone, G.; Dall'Ora, M.; Edge, A.; Erben, T.; Franse, J.; Getman, F.; Grado, A.; Harnois-Deraps, J.; Helmich, E.; Herbonnet, R.; Heymans, C.; Hildebrandt, H.; Hoekstra, H.; Huang, Z.; Irisarri, N.; Joachimi, B.; Köhlinger, F.; Kitching, T.; La Barbera, F.; Lacerda, P.; McFarland, J.; Miller, L.; Nakajima, R.; Napolitano, N. R.; Paolillo, M.; Peacock, J.; Pila-Diez, B.; Puddu, E.; Radovich, M.; Rifatto, A.; Schneider, P.; Schrabback, T.; Sifon, C.; Sikkema, G.; Simon, P.; Sutherland, W.; Tudorica, A.; Valentijn, E.; van der Burg, R.; van Uitert, E.; van Waerbeke, L.; Velander, M.; Kleijn, G. V.; Viola, M.; Vriend, W.-J.

2013-01-01

The Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), a 1500-square-degree optical imaging survey with the recently commissioned OmegaCAM wide-field imager on the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), is described. KiDS will image two fields in u-,g-,r- and i-bands and, together with the VIKING survey, produce nine-band (u- to

Symposium Symmetries in Science XIII

CERN Document Server

Gruber, Bruno J; Yoshinaga, Naotaka; Symmetries in Science XI

2005-01-01

This book is a collection of reviews and essays about the recent developments in the area of Symmetries and applications of Group Theory. Contributions have been written mostly at the graduate level but some are accessible to advanced undergraduates. The book is of interest to a wide audience and covers a broad range of topics with a strong degree of thematical unity. The book is part of a Series of books on Symmetries in Science and may be compared to the published Proceedings of the Colloquia on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics. Here, however, prevails a distinguished character for presenting extended reviews on present applications to Science, not restricted to Theoretical Physics.

Prediction of Basic Math Course Failure Rate in the Physics, Meteorology, Mathematics, Actuarial Sciences and Pharmacy Degree Programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Rojas-Torres

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper summarizes a study conducted in 2013 with the purpose of predicting the failure rate of math courses taken by Pharmacy, Mathematics, Actuarial Science, Physics and Meteorology students at Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR. Using the Logistics Regression statistical techniques applied to the 2010 cohort, failure rates were predicted of students in the aforementioned programs in one of their Math introductory courses (Calculus 101 for Physics and Meteorology, Math Principles for Mathematics and Actuarial Science and Applied Differential Equations for Pharmacy. For these models, the UCR admission average, the student’s genre, and the average correct answers in the Quantitative Skills Test were used as predictor variables. The most important variable for all models was the Quantitative Skills Test, and the model with the highest correct classification rate was the Logistics Regression. For the estimated Physics-Meteorology, Pharmacy and Mathematics-Actuarial Science models, correct classifications were 89.8%, 73.6%, and 93.9%, respectively.

Lab coats in Hollywood science, scientists, and cinema

CERN Document Server

Kirby, David A

2013-01-01

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968, is perhaps the most scientifically accurate film ever produced. The film presented such a plausible, realistic vision of space flight that many moon hoax proponents believe that Kubrick staged the 1969 moon landing using the same studios and techniques. Kubrick’s scientific verisimilitude in 2001 came courtesy of his science consultants—including two former NASA scientists—and the more than sixty-five companies, research organizations, and government agencies that offered technical advice. Although most filmmakers don’t consult experts as extensively as Kubrick did, films ranging from A Beautiful Mind and Contact to Finding Nemo and The Hulk have achieved some degree of scientific credibility because of science consultants. In Lab Coats in Hollywood, David Kirby examines the interaction of science and cinema: how science consultants make movie science plausible, how filmmakers negotiate scientific accuracy within production constraints, and ...

Best Practices for Implementing Inquiry-Based Science Instruction for English Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Erica

This applied dissertation was designed to provide better access to current information to link literacy and science. Students frequently used literacy skills to gather information and communicate understanding of scientific concepts to others. Science became applicable through the tools associated with literacy. There was a need for instruction that integrated language development with science content. This research focused on revealing the instructional trends of English language learners science teachers in the United Arab Emirates. The researcher introduced the questionnaire surveys in the form of a professional development session. The participants were asked to complete the questionnaire concurrently with the descriptive presentation of each component of the sheltered instruction observation protocol (SIOP) model. Completing the SIOP Checklist Survey provided data on the type of constructivist strategies (best practices) teachers were utilizing and to what degree of fidelity the strategies were being implemented. Teachers were encouraged to continue to use these services for curriculum enrichment and as an additional source for future lesson plans. An analysis of the data revealed authentic learning as the most common best practice used with the most fidelity by teachers. The demographic subgroup, teaching location, was the only subgroup to show statistical evidence of an association between teaching location and the use of problem-based learning techniques in the classroom. Among factors that influenced the degree of teacher fidelity, teachers' expectation for student achievement had a moderate degree of association between the use of scaffolding techniques and co-operative learning.

Afican Health Sciences Vol 9 No 2.pmd

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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Intra-household differences in health seeking behaviour for orphans ... 1 Department of Psychiatry, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, ... closing the gap between orphans and non-orphans. This ... the degree to which the NGO support had translated into ... in Makulubita sub-county and 195 children (an equal.

Two-Way Communication between Scientists and the Public: A View from Science Communication Trainers in North America

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Shupei; Oshita, Tsuyoshi; AbiGhannam, Niveen; Dudo, Anthony; Besley, John C.; Koh, Hyeseung E.

2017-01-01

The current study explores the degree to which two-way communication is applied in science communication contexts in North America, based on the experiences of science communication trainers. Interviews with 24 science communication trainers suggest that scientists rarely focus on applying two-way communication tactics, such as listening to their…

Professional preferences of students in physical education and sport sciences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jerónimo García Fernández

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The actual context has enhanced job opportunities in the field of sport in order to respond to the current market demand. Thus, Physical Education and Sport Science graduates who begin to do differents jobs to the traditional ones but relate to their study field. The aim of this study was to guess which are the job preferences of the students of Physical Education and Sport Science of Seville University by gender and age doing the second cycle of their college degree and determine if there are significant differences. A descriptive analysis was carried out, using a questionnaire based on several researches, it was related to professional opportunities in sport sciences. The sample was of 118 students which represented 40.7% of the overall registered students. Results shown that sport management is the most preferable professional opportunity for women and men of the total sample, following in second place by teaching in secondary school for people older than 25 years of both sexes and teaching in primary school for the younger than 25 years. These findings announce changes in occupational trends in sports, to be taken into account in the framework of the European higher education (Degree of Science in Sport and Physical Activity, own US Masters and Official, lifelong learning programs....

An introduction to "nudge science".

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White, Ronald F

2018-01-01

Let's begin by addressing the most obvious question: given the vast number of books published on political science every year, why would the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences (APLS) and its journal Politics and the Life Sciences expend time, energy, and resources publishing a multiple-author analysis of a series of books that contain little (if anything) about the life sciences, Darwin, or evolution? The answer is that Cass R. Sunstein's recent research on "nudge science" provides an excellent opportunity for APLS to expand its commitment to interdisciplinarity, especially its long-standing interest in behavioral economics. Sunstein, a prolific author, has written many books and scholarly articles defending "libertarian paternalism." Libertarian critics have long argued that the conjunction of "libertarian" and "paternalism" is oxymoronic and that the "liberty principle" or the "principle of autonomy" excludes paternalistic intervention on behalf of rational, competent adults. Over the years, with varying degrees of success, Sunstein has addressed many, if not most, lines of criticism emanating from the political left and right. Like many scholars, his views have evolved over time based on that criticism. This introductory essay will focus on some of the more enduring elements of the conceptual framework and issues that underlie nudge science in the larger context of behavioral economics, including choice architecture, political bans and mandates, political nudges, ethics, and paternalistic intervention.

Student Perceptions of Communication Skills in Undergraduate Science at an Australian Research-Intensive University

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Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy D.; Matthews, Kelly E.

2017-01-01

Higher education institutions globally are acknowledging the need to teach communication skills. This study used the Science Student Skills Inventory to gain insight into how science students perceive the development of communication skills across the degree programme. Responses were obtained from 635 undergraduate students enrolled in a Bachelor…

Outcomes of torsional microcoaxial phacoemulsification performed by 12-degree and 22-degree bent tips.

Science.gov (United States)

Helvacioglu, Firat; Yeter, Celal; Tunc, Zeki; Sencan, Sadik

2013-08-01

To compare the safety and efficacy of Ozil Intelligent Phaco torsional microcoaxial phacoemulsification surgeries performed with 12-degree and 22-degree bent tips using the Infiniti Vision System. Maltepe University School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology, Istanbul, Turkey. Comparative case series. Eyes were assigned to 2.2 mm microcoaxial phacoemulsification using the torsional mode with a 22-degree bent tip (Group 1) or a 12-degree bent tip (Group 2). The primary outcome measures were ultrasound time (UST), cumulative dissipated energy (CDE), longitudinal and torsional ultrasound (US) amplitudes, mean surgical time, mean volume of balanced salt solution used, and surgical complications. Both groups included 45 eyes. The mean UST, CDE, longitudinal US amplitude, and torsional US amplitude were 65 seconds ± 27.23 (SD), 11.53 ± 6.99, 0.22 ± 0.26, and 42.86 ± 15.64, respectively, in Group 1 and 84 ± 45.04 seconds, 16.68 ± 10.66, 0.48 ± 0.68, and 46.27 ± 14.74, respectively, in Group 2. The mean UST, CDE, and longitudinal amplitudes were significantly lower in Group 1 (P=.003, P=.008, and P=.022, respectively). The mean volume of balanced salt solution was 73.33 ± 28.58 cc in Group 1 and 82.08 ± 26.21 cc in Group 2 (P=.134). Torsional phacoemulsification performed with 22-degree bent tips provided more effective lens removal than 12-degree bent tips, with a lower UST and CDE. Copyright © 2013 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessment of power output in jump tests for applicants to a sports sciences degree.

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Lara, A J; Abián, J; Alegre, L M; Jiménez, L; Aguado, X

2006-09-01

Our study aimed: 1) to describe the jump performance in a population of male applicants to a Faculty of Sports Sciences, 2) to apply different power equations from the literature to assess their accuracy, and 3) to develop a new regression equation from this population. The push off phases of the counter-movement jumps (CMJ) on a force platform of 161 applicants (age: 19+/-2.9 years; weight: 70.4+/-8.3 kg) to a Spanish Faculty of Sports Sciences were recorded and subsequently analyzed. Their hands had to be placed on the hips and the knee angle during the counter movement was not controlled. Each subject had 2 trials to reach a minimum of 29 cm of jump height, and when 2 jumps were performed the best trial was analyzed. Multiple regression analysis was performed to develop a new regression equation. Mean jump height was 34.6+/-4.3 cm, peak vertical force 1 663.9+/-291.1 N and peak power 3524.4+/-562 W. All the equations underestimated power, from 74% (Lewis) to 8% (Sayers). However, there were high and significant correlations between peak power measured on the force platform, and those assessed by the equations. The results of the present study support the development of power equations for specific populations, to achieve more accurate assessments. The power equation from this study [Power = (62.5 x jump height (cm)) + (50.3 x body mass (kg)) 2184.7] can be used accurately in populations of male physical education students.

Integrating Inquiry-Based Science and Education Methods Courses in a "Science Semester" for Future Elementary Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Madsen, J.; Fifield, S.; Allen, D.; Brickhouse, N.; Dagher, Z.; Ford, D.; Shipman, H.

2001-05-01

In this NSF-funded project we will adapt problem-based learning (PBL) and other inquiry-based approaches to create an integrated science and education methods curriculum ("science semester") for elementary teacher education majors. Our goal is to foster integrated understandings of science and pedagogy that future elementary teachers need to effectively use inquiry-based approaches in their classrooms. This project responds to calls to improve science education for all students by making preservice teachers' experiences in undergraduate science courses more consistent with reforms at the K-12 level. The involved faculty teach three science courses (biology, earth science, physical science) and an elementary science education methods course that are degree requirements for elementary teacher education majors. Presently, students take the courses in variable sequences and at widely scattered times. Too many students fail to appreciate the value of science courses to their future careers as teachers, and when they reach the methods course in the junior year they often retain little of the science content studied earlier. These episodic encounters with science make it difficult for students to learn the content, and to translate their understandings of science into effective, inquiry-based teaching strategies. To encourage integrated understandings of science concepts and pedagogy we will coordinate the science and methods courses in a junior-year science semester. Traditional subject matter boundaries will be crossed to stress shared themes that teachers must understand to teach standards-based elementary science. We will adapt exemplary approaches that support both learning science and learning how to teach science. Students will work collaboratively on multidisciplinary PBL activities that place science concepts in authentic contexts and build learning skills. "Lecture" meetings will be large group active learning sessions that help students understand difficult

Families of Smooth Rational Curves of Small Degree on the Fano Variety of Degree 5 of Main Series

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M. S. Omelkova

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we consider some families of smooth rational curves of degree 2, 3 and 4 on a smooth Fano threefold X which is a linear section of the Grassmanian G(1, 4 under the Pl¨ucker embedding. We prove that these families are irreducible. The proof of the irreducibility of the families of curves of degree d is based on the study of degeneration of a rational curve of degree d into a curve which decomposes into an irreducible rational curve of degree d−1 and a projective line intersecting transversally at a point. We prove that the Hilbert scheme of curves of degree d on X is smooth at the point corresponding to such a reducible curve. Then calculations in the framework of deformation theory show that such a curve varies into a smooth rational curve of degree d. Thus, the set of reducible curves of degree d of the above type lies in the closure of a unique component of the Hilbert scheme of smooth rational curves of degree d on X. From this fact and the irreducibility of the Hilbert scheme of smooth rational curves of degree d on the Grassmannian G(1, 4 one deduces the irreducibility of the Hilbert scheme of smooth rational curves of degree d on a general Fano threefold X.

The Implementation and Growth of an International Online Forensic Science Graduate Program at the University of Florida

Science.gov (United States)

Grundmann, Oliver; Wielbo, Donna; Tebbett, Ian

2010-01-01

Forensic science education has evolved as an interdisciplinary science that includes medicine, chemistry, biology, and criminal justice. Therefore, multiple paths can lead to a career in forensic science. A formal education usually requires the student to attend a college or university to obtain a bachelor's or master's degree. In many cases,…

Science school and culture school: improving the efficiency of high school science teaching in a system of mass science education.

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Charlton, Bruce G

2006-01-01

Educational expansion in western countries has been achieved mainly by adding years to full-time education; however, this process has probably reduced efficiency. Sooner or later, efficiency must improve, with a greater educational attainment per year. Future societies will probably wish more people to study science throughout high school (aged c. 11-19 years) and the first college degree. 'Science' may be defined as any abstract, systematic and research-based discipline: including mathematics, statistics and the natural sciences, economics, music theory, linguistics, and the conceptual or quantitative social sciences. Since formal teaching is usually necessary to learn science, science education should be regarded as the core function of high schools. One standard way to improve efficiency is the 'division of labour', with increased specialization of function. Modern schools are already specialized: teachers are specialized according to age-group taught, subject matter expertise, and administrative responsibilities. School students are stratified by age and academic aptitude. I propose a further institutional division of school function between science education, and cultural education (including education in arts, sports, ethics, social interaction and good citizenship). Existing schools might split into 'science school' and 'culture school', reflected in distinct buildings and zones, separate administrative structures, and the recruitment of differently-specialized teaching personnel. Science school would be distinguished by its focus on education in disciplines which promote abstract systematic cognition. All students would spend some part of each day (how much would depend on their aptitude and motivation) in the 'science school'; experiencing a traditional-style, didactic, disciplined and rigorous academic education. The remainder of the students' time at school would be spent in the cultural division, which would focus on broader aspects, and aim to generate

A comprehensive program of nuclear engineering and science education

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bereznai, G.; Lewis, B.

2014-01-01

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology offers undergraduate degrees in nuclear engineering, nuclear power, health physics and radiation science, graduate degrees (masters as well as doctorate) in nuclear engineering, and graduate diplomas that encompass a wide range of nuclear engineering and technology topics. Professional development programs tailored to specific utility needs are also offered, and the sharing of course material between the professional development and university education courses has strengthened both approaches to ensuring the high qualification levels required of professionals in the nuclear industry. (author)

Women of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: A Qualitative Exploration into Factors of Success

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Olund, Jeanine K.

2012-01-01

Although the number of women entering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines has increased in recent years, overall there are still more men than women completing four-year degrees in these fields, especially in physics, engineering, and computer science. At higher levels of education and within the workplace, the…

Graduate Education in the Social Sciences. Report of Master Plan Committee R.

Science.gov (United States)

Illinois State Board of Higher Education, Springfield. Master Plan Committee.

This report analyzes data on the current (1965-67) production of, and future need for, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in the social sciences in Illinois. While in 1966-67 Illinois produced approximately 8% of all such degrees nationwide, in 1965-66 60% of its M.A.'s and 75% of its Ph.D.'s were graduates of nonpublic institutions, primarily the Univ. of…

Virtual displays for 360-degree video

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Gilbert, Stephen; Boonsuk, Wutthigrai; Kelly, Jonathan W.

2012-03-01

In this paper we describe a novel approach for comparing users' spatial cognition when using different depictions of 360- degree video on a traditional 2D display. By using virtual cameras within a game engine and texture mapping of these camera feeds to an arbitrary shape, we were able to offer users a 360-degree interface composed of four 90-degree views, two 180-degree views, or one 360-degree view of the same interactive environment. An example experiment is described using these interfaces. This technique for creating alternative displays of wide-angle video facilitates the exploration of how compressed or fish-eye distortions affect spatial perception of the environment and can benefit the creation of interfaces for surveillance and remote system teleoperation.

Persistent Issues in Library and Information Science Education in Africa.

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Alemna, A. A.

1994-01-01

Discusses issues relating to library and information science education in Africa. Topics include a historical background; professional recognition; standards; student recruitment; physical facilities; relevance of the curricula; financial constraints; research degrees; continuing education; paraprofessional library staff training; employment…

Examining Teachers' Hurdles to `Science for All'

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Southerland, Sherry; Gallard, Alejandro; Callihan, Laurie

2011-11-01

The goal of this research is to identify science teachers' beliefs and conceptions that play an important role in shaping their understandings of and attempts to enact inclusive science teaching practices. We examined the work products, both informal (online discussions, email exchanges) and formal (papers, unit plans, peer reviews), of 14 teachers enrolled in a master's degree course focused on diversity in science teaching and learning. These emerging understandings were member-checked via a series of interviews with a subset of these teachers. Our analysis was conducted in two stages: (1) describing the difficulties the teachers identified for themselves in their attempts to teach science to a wide range of students in their classes and (2) analyzing these self-identified barriers for underlying beliefs and conceptions that serve to prohibit or allow for the teachers' understanding and enactment of equitable science instruction. The teachers' self-identified barriers were grouped into three categories: students, broader social infrastructure, and self. The more fundamental barriers identified included teacher beliefs about the ethnocentrism of the mainstream, essentialism/individualism, and beliefs about the meritocracy of schooling. The implications of these hurdles for science teacher education are discussed.

MS PHD'S PDP: Vision, Design, Implementation, and Outcomes of a Minority-Focused Earth System Sciences Program

Science.gov (United States)

Habtes, S. Y.; Mayo, M.; Ithier-Guzman, W.; Pyrtle, A. J.; Williamson Whitney, V.

2007-05-01

As minorities are predicted to comprise at least 33% of the US population by the year 2010, their representation in the STEM fields, including the ocean sciences, is still poorly established. In order to advance the goal of better decision making, the Ocean Sciences community must achieve greater levels of diversity in membership. To achieve this objective of greater diversity in the sciences, the Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth System Science® Professional Development Program (MS PHD'S PDP), which was launched in 2003, is supported via grants from NASA's Office of Earth Science, and NSF's Directorate for Geosciences. The MS PHD'S PDP is designed to provide professional and mentoring experiences that facilitate the advancement of minorities committed to achieving outstanding Earth System Science careers. The MS PHD'S PDP is structured in three phases, connected by engagement in a virtual community, continuous peer and mentor to mentee interactions, and the professional support necessary for ensuring the educational success of the student participants. Since the pilot program in 2003, the MSPHD'S PDP, housed at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science, has produced 4 cohorts of students. Seventy-five have completed the program; of those 6 have earned their doctoral degrees. Of the 45 current participants 10 are graduate students in Marine Science and 15 are still undergraduates, the remaining 10 participants are graduate students in other STEM fields. Since the implementation of the MSPHD'S PDP a total of 87 students and 33 scientist mentors have become part of the MSPHD'S virtual community, helping to improve the learning environment for current and future participants as well as build a community of minority students that encourages each other to pursue their academic degrees.

Assessment of Numeracy in Sports and Exercise Science Students at an Australian University

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Green, Simon; McGlynn, Susan; Stuart, Deidre; Fahey, Paul; Pettigrew, Jim; Clothier, Peter

2018-01-01

The effect of high school study of mathematics on numeracy performance of sports and exercise science (SES) students is not clear. To investigate this further, we tested the numeracy skills of 401 students enrolled in a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree in SES using a multiple-choice survey consisting of four background questions and 39 numeracy…

360-degree videos: a new visualization technique for astrophysical simulations

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Russell, Christopher M. P.

2017-11-01

360-degree videos are a new type of movie that renders over all 4π steradian. Video sharing sites such as YouTube now allow this unique content to be shared via virtual reality (VR) goggles, hand-held smartphones/tablets, and computers. Creating 360° videos from astrophysical simulations is not only a new way to view these simulations as you are immersed in them, but is also a way to create engaging content for outreach to the public. We present what we believe is the first 360° video of an astrophysical simulation: a hydrodynamics calculation of the central parsec of the Galactic centre. We also describe how to create such movies, and briefly comment on what new science can be extracted from astrophysical simulations using 360° videos.

Measuring Direct Teaching Costs: Does an Undergraduate Business Degree Cost More to Produce than a Nonbusiness Degree?

Science.gov (United States)

Barth, Michael M.; Karagiannidis, Iordanis

2016-01-01

Many universities have implemented tuition differentials for certain undergraduate degree programs, citing higher degree costs or higher demand. However, most college accounting systems are unsuited for measuring cost differentials by degree program. This research outlines a method that can convert commonly available financial data to a more…

Women and girls in science education: Female teachers' and students' perspectives on gender and science

Science.gov (United States)

Crotty, Ann

Science is a part of all students' education, PreK-12. Preparing students for a more scientifically and technologically complex world requires the best possible education including the deliberate inclusion and full contributions of all students, especially an underrepresented group: females in science. In the United States, as elsewhere in the world, the participation of girls and women in science education and professional careers in science is limited, particularly in the physical sciences (National Academy of Sciences [NAS], 2006). The goal of this research study is to gain a better understanding of the perspectives and perceptions of girls and women, both science educators and students, related to gender and participation in science at the time of an important course: high school chemistry. There is a rich body of research literature in science education that addresses gender studies post---high school, but less research that recognizes the affective voices of practicing female science teachers and students at the high school level (Bianchini, Cavazos, & Helms, 2000; Brown & Gilligan, 1992; Gilligan, 1982). Similarly, little is known with regard to how female students and teachers navigate their educational, personal, and professional experiences in science, or how they overcome impediments that pose limits on their participation in science, particularly the physical sciences. This exploratory study focuses on capturing voices (Brown & Gilligan, 1992; Gilligan, 1982) of high school chemistry students and teachers from selected urban and suburban learning communities in public schools in the Capital Region of New York State. Through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, this qualitative study explores the intersection of the students' and teachers' experiences with regard to the following questions: (1) How do female chemistry teachers view the role gender has played in their professional and personal lives as they have pursued education, degree status, and

Labeling schemes for bounded degree graphs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adjiashvili, David; Rotbart, Noy Galil

2014-01-01

We investigate adjacency labeling schemes for graphs of bounded degree Δ = O(1). In particular, we present an optimal (up to an additive constant) log n + O(1) adjacency labeling scheme for bounded degree trees. The latter scheme is derived from a labeling scheme for bounded degree outerplanar...... graphs. Our results complement a similar bound recently obtained for bounded depth trees [Fraigniaud and Korman, SODA 2010], and may provide new insights for closing the long standing gap for adjacency in trees [Alstrup and Rauhe, FOCS 2002]. We also provide improved labeling schemes for bounded degree...

A Graduate Academic Program in Medical Information Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Blois, Marsden S., Jr.; Wasserman, Anthony I.

A graduate academic program in medical information science has been established at the University of California, San Francisco, for the education of scientists capable of performing research and development in information technology in the health care setting. This interdisciplinary program, leading to a Doctor of Philosophy degree, consists of an…

Recruiting Women into Computer Science and Information Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Broad, Steven; McGee, Meredith

2014-01-01

While many technical disciplines have reached or are moving toward gender parity in the number of bachelors degrees in those fields, the percentage of women graduating in computer science remains stubbornly low. Many recent efforts to address this situation have focused on retention of undergraduate majors or graduate students, recruiting…

Anthropogenic Climate Change in Undergraduate Marine and Environmental Science Programs in the United States

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Vlietstra, Lucy S.; Mrakovcich, Karina L.; Futch, Victoria C.; Stutzman, Brooke S.

2016-01-01

To develop a context for program-level design decisions pertaining to anthropogenic climate change, the authors studied the prevalence of courses focused on human-induced climate change in undergraduate marine science and environmental science degree programs in the United States. Of the 86 institutions and 125 programs the authors examined, 37%…

Lessons Learned: Creating an Online Business Degree from a Successful On-Campus Business Degree

Science.gov (United States)

Cordeiro, William P.; Muraoka, Dennis

2015-01-01

The horse has left the barn. Distance education is here to stay and the number of degree programs offered online is growing rapidly. California State University Channel Islands (CI) admitted its first students in 2002, and the undergraduate and graduate degrees in business were among its first program offerings. From its inception, the…

Cooling hyperthermic firefighters by immersing forearms and hands in 10 degrees C and 20 degrees C water.

Science.gov (United States)

Giesbrecht, Gordon G; Jamieson, Christopher; Cahill, Farrell

2007-06-01

Firefighters experience significant heat stress while working with heavy gear in a hot, humid environment. This study compared the cooling effectiveness of immersing the forearms and hands in 10 and 20 degrees C water. Six men (33 +/- 10 yr; 180 +/- 4 cm; 78 +/- 9 kg; 19 +/- 5% body fat) wore firefighter 'turn-out gear' (heavy clothing and breathing apparatus weighing 27 kg) in a protocol including three 20-min exercise bouts (step test, 78 W, 40 degrees C air, 40% RH) each followed by a 20-min rest/cooling (21 degrees C air); i.e., 60 min of exercise, 60 min of cooling. Turn-out gear was removed during rest/cooling periods and subjects either rested (Control), immersed their hands in 10 or 20 degrees C water (H-10, H-20), or immersed their hands and forearms in 10 or 20 degrees C water (HF-10, HF-20). In 20 degrees C water, hand immersion did not reduce core temperature compared with Control; however, including forearm immersion decreased core temperature below Control values after both the second and final exercise periods (p hand immersion produced a lower core temperature (0.8 degrees C above baseline) than all other conditions (1.1 to 1.4 degrees C above baseline) after the final exercise period (p Hand and forearm immersion in cool water is simple, reduces heat strain, and may increase work performance in a hot, humid environment. With 20 degrees C water, forearms should be immersed with the hands to be effective. At lower water temperatures, forearm and/or hand immersion will be effective, although forearm immersion will decrease core temperature further.

Best practices for measuring students' attitudes toward learning science.

Science.gov (United States)

Lovelace, Matthew; Brickman, Peggy

2013-01-01

Science educators often characterize the degree to which tests measure different facets of college students' learning, such as knowing, applying, and problem solving. A casual survey of scholarship of teaching and learning research studies reveals that many educators also measure how students' attitudes influence their learning. Students' science attitudes refer to their positive or negative feelings and predispositions to learn science. Science educators use attitude measures, in conjunction with learning measures, to inform the conclusions they draw about the efficacy of their instructional interventions. The measurement of students' attitudes poses similar but distinct challenges as compared with measurement of learning, such as determining validity and reliability of instruments and selecting appropriate methods for conducting statistical analyses. In this review, we will describe techniques commonly used to quantify students' attitudes toward science. We will also discuss best practices for the analysis and interpretation of attitude data.

Can there be science without philosophy?

Science.gov (United States)

Nathan, Marco J; Brancaccio, Diego; Zoccali, Carmine

2016-12-01

Over the last few decades, philosophy has gained an increasingly bad reputation among working scientists. Prominent researchers have suggested, in various forms and degrees of mockery, that philosophy has little or nothing positive to contribute to science. This essay provides a response to these allegations. We begin by examining, and ultimately questioning, an influential argument purporting to undermine the significance of a philosophical approach to science. Next, we offer some biomedical examples where philosophical speculation plays a prominent role. We conclude by arguing that, when understood in the appropriate context, philosophical reflection is an important-indeed, integral-ingredient of healthy scientific inquiry. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved.

Science Identity in Informal Education

Science.gov (United States)

Schon, Jennifer A.

The national drive to increase the number of students pursuing Science Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers has brought science identity into focus for educators, with the need to determine what encourages students to pursue and persist in STEM careers. Science identity, the degree to which students think someone like them could be a scientist is a potential indicator of students pursuing and persisting in STEM related fields. Science identity, as defined by Carlone and Johnson (2007) consists of three constructs: competence, performance, and recognition. Students need to feel like they are good at science, can perform it well, and that others recognize them for these achievements in order to develop a science identity. These constructs can be bolstered by student visitation to informal education centers. Informal education centers, such as outdoor science schools, museums, and various learning centers can have a positive impact on how students view themselves as scientists by exposing them to novel and unique learning opportunities unavailable in their school. Specifically, the University of Idaho's McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) focuses on providing K-12 students with the opportunity to learn about science with a place-based, hands-on, inquiry-based curriculum that hopes to foster science identity development. To understand the constructs that lead to science identity formation and the impact the MOSS program has on science identity development, several questions were explored examining how students define the constructs and if the MOSS program impacted how they rate themselves within each construct. A mixed-method research approach was used consisting of focus group interviews with students and pre, post, one-month posttests for visiting students to look at change in science identity over time. Results from confirmatory factor analysis indicate that the instrument created is a good fit for examining science identity and the associated

Pathways to a Four-Year Degree: Determinants of Degree Completion among Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Cabrera, Alberto F.; Burkum, Kurt R.; La Nasa, Steven M.

The High School Sophomore Cohort of 1980 followed nine different pathways to a 4-year college degree. These paths were formed by a combination of different levels of academic preparation secured in high school and the first type of postsecondary institution attended. The pathway most likely to lead to a 4-year degree is one defined by acquiring…

The needs of the science teachers of Shenyang area, Northeast China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Chao

Purpose of the study. The purpose of this research was to survey those individuals teaching science in the middle schools of the Shenyang area, Northeast China. Specifically, the study attempted to differentiate between rural and nonrural teachers with respect to demographic differences, problem areas, instructional activities, and perceived needs. Procedure. A 100-item survey was used to collect data for this study. The sample consisted of 224 science teachers (Rural 114, nonrural 110) who taught at least science class in 1996--97 academic year in a middle school of Shenyang area, Northeast China. Frequencies and percentages presented the needs of the teachers. The differences between rural and nonrural groups were analyzed by Chi Square statistics. Findings. Almost three quarters (74.9%) of returns were younger than 41, and 43.9% of returns held no degree. Significant differences were fond between rural and nonrural groups according to age, classroom experience, school enrollment, lab activities, motivating students to learn science, using science test data bank, peer tutoring and evaluating your own instructional effectiveness as a science teacher. Rural and nonrural teachers shared 10 of 14 greatest needs. Conclusions. Teacher in-service program designers need to establish academic training programs which lead to entry level degrees and certificates and improve young teacher's instructional skills. Increased efforts should be given to meet the perceived needs addressed in this study in order to improve teachers' teaching and students' learning. Lack of person energy or motivation and program fail to meet teachers' needs were considered as barriers of attending inservice programs.

From third degree to third generation interrogation strategies: putting science into the art of criminal interviewing

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-01

tacitly suggest that a confession is the fastest and best way to end the interrogation .73 71 Ibid...Kelly, and Miller found approximately 45 percent of civilian interrogators use it as well.292 Because this percentage suggests the technique is...TO THIRD-GENERATION INTERROGATION STRATEGIES: PUTTING SCIENCE INTO THE ART OF CRIMINAL INTERVIEWING by Desmond S. O’Neill March 2017

Spiral and Project-Based Learning with Peer Assessment in a Computer Science Project Management Course

Science.gov (United States)

Jaime, Arturo; Blanco, José Miguel; Domínguez, César; Sánchez, Ana; Heras, Jónathan; Usandizaga, Imanol

2016-01-01

Different learning methods such as project-based learning, spiral learning and peer assessment have been implemented in science disciplines with different outcomes. This paper presents a proposal for a project management course in the context of a computer science degree. Our proposal combines three well-known methods: project-based learning,…

Of responsible research-Exploring the science-society dialogue in undergraduate training within the life sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Maria Strecht; Quintanilha, Alexandre

2017-01-02

We explore the integration of societal issues in undergraduate training within the life sciences. Skills in thinking about science, scientific knowledge production and the place of science in society are crucial in the context of the idea of responsible research and innovation. This idea became institutionalized and it is currently well-present in the scientific agenda. Developing abilities in this regard seems particularly relevant to training in the life sciences, as new developments in this area somehow evoke the involvement of all of us citizens, our engagement to debate and take part in processes of change. The present analysis draws from the implementation of a curricular unit focused on science-society dialogue, an optional course included in the Biochemistry Degree study plan offered at the University of Porto. This curricular unit was designed to be mostly an exploratory activity for the students, enabling them to undertake in-depth study in areas/topics of their specific interest. Mapping topics from students' final papers provided a means of analysis and became a useful tool in the exploratory collaborative construction of the course. We discuss both the relevance and the opportunity of thinking and questioning the science-society dialogue. As part of undergraduate training, this pedagogical practice was deemed successful. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(1):46-52, 2017. © 2016 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

A six degree of freedom nanomanipulator design based on carbon nanotube bundles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Artyukhov, Vasilii I

2010-01-01

Scanning probe imaging and manipulation of matter is of crucial importance for nanoscale science and technology. However, its resolution and ability to manipulate matter at the atomic scale is limited by rather poor control over the fine structure of the probe. In the present paper, a strategy is proposed to construct a molecular nanomanipulator from ultrathin single-walled carbon nanotubes. Covalent modification of a nanotube cap at predetermined atomic sites makes the nanotube act as a support for a functional 'tooltip' molecule. Then, a small bundle of nanotubes (three or four) with aligned ends can act as an extremely high aspect ratio parallel nanomanipulator for a suspended molecule, where protraction or retraction of individual nanotubes results in controlled tilting of the tooltip in two dimensions. Together with the usual scanning probe microscopy three degrees of freedom and augmented with rotation of the system as a whole, the design offers six degrees of freedom for imaging and manipulation of matter with the precision and freedom so much needed for advanced nanotechnology. A similar design might be possible to implement with other high aspect ratio nanostructures, such as oxide nanowires.

Science and Technology and Economic Development

OpenAIRE

Lamberte, Mario B.

1988-01-01

Dealing with science and technology and economic development, this paper describes the relationship between technological capability and the degree of economic development. It analyzes the structure of the Philippine economy and the structural changes that have taken place since the 1970. It also investigates the impact of economic developments and technological advances in other countries on the Philippine economy. A discussion on possible research collaboration among PIDS, DOST and regional...

CURRENT DIRECTIONS OF RESEARCH IN INFORMATION- COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE FIELD OF PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCE.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O.N. Spirin

2010-11-01

Full Text Available In the publication modern research areas of information-communication technologies in pedagogical science are identified. The basic requirements of the new passport for the specialty 13.00.10 - Information and Communication Technologies in Education are described. On this specialty the defence of the degree of doctor and candidate of pedagogical science may be carried out.

The Graduate School of Climate Sciences, University of Bern

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, L.

2012-04-01

students in an ongoing research project and gives them the opportunity to collaborate with experienced scientists in a team. Alternatively, a short thesis (30 ECTS) may be combined with an internship (30 ECTS) at another university, in the private sector or in the administration. A bachelor degree in any field of science at university level (B.A. for specialisation in economics or history) or an equivalent degree is required for admission to the M.Sc. programme. The teaching language is English. The Ph.D. in Climate Sciences is research oriented and consists mainly of 3 to 4 years full time work in a project within one of the institutes involved in the Graduate School of Climate Sciences. The Ph.D. programme is research oriented and has a compulsory module of 12 ECTS credits containing workshops (professional skills), a summer school, an international conference, colloquia, seminars and optionally lectures. The compulsory module gives the Ph.D. students the opportunity to build up their own network in the local and international research community. The Ph.D. thesis is usually written in the form of research articles in international peer reviewed journals. A M.Sc. or an equivalent academic degree is conditional for admission to the Ph.D. programme.

Supporting new science teachers in pursuing socially just science education

Science.gov (United States)

Ruggirello, Rachel; Flohr, Linda

2017-10-01

This forum explores contradictions that arose within the partnership between Teach for America (TFA) and a university teacher education program. TFA is an alternate route teacher preparation program that places individuals into K-12 classrooms in low-income school districts after participating in an intense summer training program and provides them with ongoing support. This forum is a conversation about the challenges we faced as new science teachers in the TFA program and in the Peace Corps program. We both entered the teaching field with science degrees and very little formal education in science education. In these programs we worked in a community very different from the one we had experienced as students. These experiences allow us to address many of the issues that were discussed in the original paper, namely teaching in an unfamiliar community amid challenges that many teachers face in the first few years of teaching. We consider how these challenges may be amplified for teachers who come to teaching through an alternate route and may not have as much pedagogical training as a more traditional teacher education program provides. The forum expands on the ideas presented in the original paper to consider the importance of perspectives on socially just science education. There is often a disconnect between what is taught in teacher education programs and what teachers actually experience in urban classrooms and this can be amplified when the training received through alternate route provides a different framework as well. This forum urges universities and alternate route programs to continue to find ways to authentically partner using practical strategies that bring together the philosophies and goals of all stakeholders in order to better prepare teachers to partner with their students to achieve their science learning goals.

The future in Agricultural Engineering: news degrees in the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)

Science.gov (United States)

Cartagena, M. Carmen; Tarquis, A. M.; Vázquez, J.; Serrano, A.; Arce, A.

2010-05-01

The Bologna process is to improve the quality of education, mobility, diversity and the competitiveness and involves three fundamental changes: transform of the structure of titles, changing in methods of teaching and implementation of the systems of quality assurance. Engineer Agronomist at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) has been offered as a degree of five years with a total of 400 credits and seven optional orientations: Crop Production, Plant and Breeding Protection, Environment, Agricultural Economics, Animal Production, Rural Engineering and Food Technology. Actually, the Bologna plan creates three new degrees: Engineering and Science Agronomic, Food Engineering and Agro-Environmental Engineering, with 240 ECTS each one of them and with specific professional characteristics. The changes that involve the introduction of these new degrees is perhaps the largest occurred never at the Spanish university system, not only by the drastic transformation in the structure of titles, but also by the new changes that lie ahead in teaching methods. Among others we will comment the following ones: -A year decreased duration of studies and therefore incorporation into the market. - Elimination of the seven current guidelines to create three specific qualifications of degree. -Decrease of optional subjects and increase in credits for the basic subjects. - Inclusion of business practices. - Increase in the number of credits of final project. - Changes in methodologies and a higher involvement of teachers and students in the education.

Physics to a degree

CERN Document Server

Thomas, EG

2014-01-01

Physics to a Degree provides an extensive collection of problems suitable for self-study or tutorial and group work at the level of an undergraduate physics course. This novel set of exercises draws together the core elements of an undergraduate physics degree and provides students with the problem solving skills needed for general physics' examinations and for real-life situations encountered by the professional physicist. Topics include force, momentum, gravitation, Bernoulli's Theorem, magnetic fields, blackbody radiation, relativistic travel, mechanics near the speed of light, radioactive

Can Low-Cost Support Programmes with Coaching Accelerate Doctoral Completion in Health Science Faculty Academics?

Science.gov (United States)

Geber, Hilary; Bentley, Alison

2012-01-01

Career development for full-time Health Sciences academics through to doctoral studies is a monumental task. Many academics have difficulty completing their studies in the minimum time as well as publishing after obtaining their degree. As this problem is particularly acute in the Health Sciences, the PhD Acceleration Programme in Health Sciences…

Critical Science Instrument Alignment of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM)

Science.gov (United States)

Rohrbach, Scott O.; Kubalak, David A.; Gracey, Renee M.; Sabatke, Derek S.; Howard, Joseph M.; Telfer, Randal C.; Zielinski, Thomas P.

2016-01-01

This paper describes the critical instrument alignment terms associated with the six-degree of freedom alignment of each the Science Instrument (SI) in the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), including focus, pupil shear, pupil clocking, and boresight. We present the test methods used during cryogenic-vacuum tests to directly measure the performance of each parameter, the requirements levied on each, and the impact of any violations of these requirements at the instrument and Observatory level.

Introduction to nonlinear science

CERN Document Server

Nicolis, G

1995-01-01

One of the most unexpected results in science in recent years is that quite ordinary systems obeying simple laws can give rise to complex, nonlinear or chaotic, behavior. In this book, the author presents a unified treatment of the concepts and tools needed to analyze nonlinear phenomena and to outline some representative applications drawn from the physical, engineering, and biological sciences. Some of the interesting topics covered include: dynamical systems with a finite number of degrees of freedom, linear stability analysis of fixed points, nonlinear behavior of fixed points, bifurcation analysis, spatially distributed systems, broken symmetries, pattern formation, and chaotic dynamics. The author makes a special effort to provide a logical connection between ordinary dynamical systems and spatially extended systems, and to balance the emphasis on chaotic behavior and more classical nonlinear behavior. He also develops a statistical approach to complex systems and compares it to traditional deterministi...

Astrometric studies of the regions BD + 17 degree 4946, BD -5 degree 3071, and Ross 730-1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russell, J.; Gatewood, G.

1975-01-01

Positions, proper motions, and absolute parallaxes were found for 46 stars in the regions of BD +17 degree4946, BD -5 degree3071, and Ross 730-1. BD +17 degree4946 showed some evidence of irregular variations in position and magnitude. The residuals for Ross 730-1 were used in a preliminary study to test for an appropriate weighting system; a weak weighting system was indicated. (auth)

Exact sampling of graphs with prescribed degree correlations

Science.gov (United States)

Bassler, Kevin E.; Del Genio, Charo I.; Erdős, Péter L.; Miklós, István; Toroczkai, Zoltán

2015-08-01

Many real-world networks exhibit correlations between the node degrees. For instance, in social networks nodes tend to connect to nodes of similar degree and conversely, in biological and technological networks, high-degree nodes tend to be linked with low-degree nodes. Degree correlations also affect the dynamics of processes supported by a network structure, such as the spread of opinions or epidemics. The proper modelling of these systems, i.e., without uncontrolled biases, requires the sampling of networks with a specified set of constraints. We present a solution to the sampling problem when the constraints imposed are the degree correlations. In particular, we develop an exact method to construct and sample graphs with a specified joint-degree matrix, which is a matrix providing the number of edges between all the sets of nodes of a given degree, for all degrees, thus completely specifying all pairwise degree correlations, and additionally, the degree sequence itself. Our algorithm always produces independent samples without backtracking. The complexity of the graph construction algorithm is {O}({NM}) where N is the number of nodes and M is the number of edges.

How Multidisciplinary Are the Multidisciplinary Journals Science and Nature?

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon, Gregg E A; Carley, Stephen; Porter, Alan L

2016-01-01

Interest in cross-disciplinary research knowledge interchange runs high. Review processes at funding agencies, such as the U.S. National Science Foundation, consider plans to disseminate research across disciplinary bounds. Publication in the leading multidisciplinary journals, Nature and Science, may signify the epitome of successful interdisciplinary integration of research knowledge and cross-disciplinary dissemination of findings. But how interdisciplinary are they? The journals are multidisciplinary, but do the individual articles themselves draw upon multiple fields of knowledge and does their influence span disciplines? This research compares articles in three fields (Cell Biology, Physical Chemistry, and Cognitive Science) published in a leading disciplinary journal in each field to those published in Nature and Science. We find comparable degrees of interdisciplinary integration and only modest differences in cross-disciplinary diffusion. That said, though the rate of out-of-field diffusion might be comparable, the sheer reach of Nature and Science, indicated by their potent Journal Impact Factors, means that the diffusion of knowledge therein can far exceed that of leading disciplinary journals in some fields (such as Physical Chemistry and Cognitive Science in our samples).

Multi-degree-of-freedom motion error measurement in an ultra precision machine using laser encoder - Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Cha Bum; Lee, Sun Kyu [Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2013-01-15

Recently, in accordance with the increasing market demand for ultra precision technology, a high precision multi-degree-of-freedom displacement measurement technology has become important for industrial applications such as the field of manufacturing and inspection because those physical quantities, linear and angular displacements, are key parameters for keeping and improving quality control of a production system. A number of instruments capable of precise multi-degree-of-freedom measurements have been built and some novel techniques have been introduced. The current state-of-art techniques for multi-degree-of-freedom motion error measurement in a linear stage using laser encoder-implemented system are reviewed. First, we summarize the basic principles behind the measurement technology of the motion error in a stage and simple encoder system. Next, the basic design principles of practical laser encoder system are discussed using the experience of past and existing cases to refer to the important points and the major scientific results. The current trends in the field are significantly discussed, including the novel techniques under construction and advanced technologies. Lastly, the future of multi-functional laser encoder-implemented system, highlighting the kinds of new science upcoming in the next few years, is discussed.

Multi-degree-of-freedom motion error measurement in an ultra precision machine using laser encoder - Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Cha Bum; Lee, Sun Kyu

2013-01-01

Recently, in accordance with the increasing market demand for ultra precision technology, a high precision multi-degree-of-freedom displacement measurement technology has become important for industrial applications such as the field of manufacturing and inspection because those physical quantities, linear and angular displacements, are key parameters for keeping and improving quality control of a production system. A number of instruments capable of precise multi-degree-of-freedom measurements have been built and some novel techniques have been introduced. The current state-of-art techniques for multi-degree-of-freedom motion error measurement in a linear stage using laser encoder-implemented system are reviewed. First, we summarize the basic principles behind the measurement technology of the motion error in a stage and simple encoder system. Next, the basic design principles of practical laser encoder system are discussed using the experience of past and existing cases to refer to the important points and the major scientific results. The current trends in the field are significantly discussed, including the novel techniques under construction and advanced technologies. Lastly, the future of multi-functional laser encoder-implemented system, highlighting the kinds of new science upcoming in the next few years, is discussed.

Wind Energy Workforce Development: Engineering, Science, & Technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lesieutre, George A.; Stewart, Susan W.; Bridgen, Marc

2013-03-29

Broadly, this project involved the development and delivery of a new curriculum in wind energy engineering at the Pennsylvania State University; this includes enhancement of the Renewable Energy program at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. The new curricula at Penn State includes addition of wind energy-focused material in more than five existing courses in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering science and mechanics and energy engineering, as well as three new online graduate courses. The online graduate courses represent a stand-alone Graduate Certificate in Wind Energy, and provide the core of a Wind Energy Option in an online intercollege professional Masters degree in Renewable Energy and Sustainability Systems. The Pennsylvania College of Technology erected a 10 kilowatt Xzeres wind turbine that is dedicated to educating the renewable energy workforce. The entire construction process was incorporated into the Renewable Energy A.A.S. degree program, the Building Science and Sustainable Design B.S. program, and other construction-related coursework throughout the School of Construction and Design Technologies. Follow-on outcomes include additional non-credit opportunities as well as secondary school career readiness events, community outreach activities, and public awareness postings.

Qualifying in-service education of Science Teachers (QUEST)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Keld; Nielsen, Birgitte Lund; Pontoppidan, Birgitte

The Danish QUEST-project is a large-scale (450 teachers), long-term (4 years) professional development project for science teachers. The project aims at closing the gap between the present inconsequential practice in in-service education and recent research results documenting conditions for effe......The Danish QUEST-project is a large-scale (450 teachers), long-term (4 years) professional development project for science teachers. The project aims at closing the gap between the present inconsequential practice in in-service education and recent research results documenting conditions...... and peer involvement in collaborative practices in the school science teacher group is specifically addressed and targeted throughout the project. A special way of working (the QUEST-Rhythm) has been developed to increase the degree of teacher collaboration and networking over the 4 years. The accompanying...

Structure of Black Male Students Academic Achievement in Science

Science.gov (United States)

Rascoe, Barbara

Educational policies and practices have been largely unsuccessful in closing the achievement gap between Black and White students "Schwartz, 2001". This achievement gap is especially problematic for Black students in science "Maton, Hrabrowski, - Schmitt, 2000. Given the fact that the Black-White achievement gap is still an enigma, the purpose of this article is to address the Black female-Black male academic achievement gap in science majors. Addressing barriers that Black male students may experience as college science and engineering majors, this article presents marketing strategies relative to politics, emotional intelligence, and issues with respect to how science teaching, and Black male students' responses to it, are different. Many Black male students may need to experience a paradigm shift, which structures and enhances their science achievement. Paradigm shifts are necessary because exceptional academic ability and motivation are not enough to get Black males from their first year in a science, technology, education, and mathematics "STEM" major to a bachelor's degree in science and engineering. The conclusions focus on the balance of truth-slippery slopes concerning the confluence of science teachers' further ado and Black male students' theories, methods, and values that position their academic achievement in science and engineering majors.

ALICE Zero Degree Calorimeter

CERN Multimedia

De Marco, N

2013-01-01

Two identical sets of calorimeters are located on both sides with respect to the beam Interaction Point (IP), 112.5 m away from it. Each set of detectors consists of a neutron (ZN) and a proton (ZP) Zero Degree Calorimeter (ZDC), positioned on remotely controlled platforms. The ZN is placed at zero degree with respect to the LHC beam axis, between the two beam pipes, while the ZP is positioned externally to the outgoing beam pipe. The spectator protons are separated from the ion beams by means of the dipole magnet D1.

Importance of Health Science Education for Personal Fitness Trainers.

Science.gov (United States)

Malek, Moh H.; Nalbone, David P.; Berger, Dale E.; Coburn, Jared W.

2002-01-01

Examined the relationship between commonly used indicators of knowledge and actual knowledge in five areas among fitness trainers. Data from the Fitness Instructors Knowledge Assessment indicated that a bachelor's degree in the field of exercise science and possession of one of two specific certifications strongly predicted a trainer's knowledge,…

Superstitious Beliefs as Constraints in The Learning of Science ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper examines the nature, prevalence and effect of superstitious beliefs as constraints to the appropriate learning of science in our schools. Studies done on identification and analysis of types and degrees of superstitious beliefs have been reported as well as to how these beliefs inhibit the individual learner\\'s ...

Research Degrees as Professional Education?

Science.gov (United States)

Barnacle, Robyn; Dall'Alba, Gloria

2011-01-01

There is an increasing trend within higher education and, more specifically, in higher degrees by research, to treat a professional skills set as a desirable graduate outcome. The increasing value that is being placed on a professional skills set in large part reflects growing interest around the world in the role of research degrees in labour…

Policy for Robust Space-based Earth Science, Technology and Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Molly Elizabeth; Escobar, Vanessa Marie; Aschbacher, Josef; Milagro-Pérez, Maria Pilar; Doorn, Bradley; Macauley, Molly K.; Friedl, Lawrence

2013-01-01

Satellite remote sensing technology has contributed to the transformation of multiple earth science domains, putting space observations at the forefront of innovation in earth science. With new satellite missions being launched every year, new types of earth science data are being incorporated into science models and decision-making systems in a broad array of organizations. Policy guidance can influence the degree to which user needs influence mission design and when, and ensure that satellite missions serve both the scientific and user communities without becoming unfocused and overly expensive. By considering the needs of the user community early on in the mission-design process, agencies can ensure that satellites meet the needs of multiple constituencies. This paper describes the mission development process in NASA and ESA and compares and contrasts the successes and challenges faced by these agencies as they try to balance science and applications within their missions.

Increasing ocean sciences in K and 1st grade classrooms through ocean sciences curriculum aligned to A Framework for K-12 Science Education, and implementation support.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedemonte, S.; Weiss, E. L.

2016-02-01

Ocean and climate sciences are rarely introduced at the early elementary levels. Reasons for this vary, but include little direct attention at the national and state levels; lack of quality instructional materials; and, lack of teacher content knowledge. Recent recommendations by the National Research Council, "revise the Earth and Space sciences core ideas and grade band endpoints to include more attention to the ocean whenever possible" (NRC, 2012, p. 336) adopted in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), may increase the call for ocean and climate sciences to be addressed. In response to these recommendations' and the recognition that an understanding of some of the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) would be incomplete without an understanding of processes or phenomena unique to the ocean and ocean organisms; the ocean Literacy community have created documents that show the alignment of NGSS with the Ocean Literacy Principles and Fundamental Concepts (Ocean Literacy, 2013) as well as the Ocean Literacy Scope and Sequence for Grades K-12 (Ocean Literacy, 2010), providing a solid argument for how and to what degree ocean sciences should be part of the curriculum. However, the percentage of science education curricula focused on the ocean remains very low. This session will describe a new project, that draws on the expertise of curriculum developers, ocean literacy advocates, and researchers to meet the challenges of aligning ocean sciences curriculum to NGSS, and supporting its implementation. The desired outcomes of the proposed project are to provide a rigorous standards aligned curricula that addresses all of the Life Sciences, and some Earth and Space Sciences and Engineering Design Core Ideas for Grades K and 1; and provides teachers with the support they need to understand the content and begin implementation. The process and lessons learned will be shared.

[Undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the biological sciences in Chile (1985)].

Science.gov (United States)

Niemeyer, H

1986-01-01

A study group of scientists was convened by the Sociedad de Biología de Chile (Biological Society of Chile) and the Regional Program for Graduate Training in Biological Sciences, PNUD-Unesco, RLA 78/024, to assess undergraduate and graduate studies in life sciences in Chile. The group presented this report at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Society. Discussion centered on the features that should characterize the studies leading to the academic degrees of Licenciado (Licenciate), Magíster (Master) and Doctor (Ph. D) in Sciences, and also on the qualifications that the universities should satisfy in order to grant them. After analyzing the present situation of undergraduate and graduate studies in Biological Sciences in Chilean universities, the group made the following main suggestions: 1. It is recommended that Chilean universities agree on a 4-year plan for the Licenciado degree, without the requirement of a thesis. The importance of providing the students with good laboratory exercises and field experience and with the opportunity to perform short research projects is stressed. In addition, a sound theoretical training on mathematics, physics and chemistry in the education of a modern Biologist is important. Licenciate studies ought to be the basis for professional careers and the universities should offer to the Licenciados free access to their professional schools. 2. It is considered appropriate for Chile and its universities to develop graduate programs in those disciplines that have reached a level of excellence. To accomplish this aim, adequate finance of the universities is necessary to permit them to provide the essential facilities for doing research, and to create a wide system of fellowships for graduate students. Direct government support for research and graduate student fellowships is requested. 3. Research experience of the kind needed for the preparation of a doctoral thesis is recommended as the academic level appropriate for those engaged in

Measurement of the oxidation of spent fuel between 140/degree/ and 225/degree/C by thermogravimetric analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woodley, R.E.; Einziger, R.E.; Buchanan, H.C.

1988-09-01

A series of PWR spent fuel samples from Turkey Point Unit 3 have been oxidized at temperatures between 140/degree/ and 225/degree/C in air atmospheres with dew points between 14.5/degree/ and /minus/70/degree/C, using a thermogravimetric analysis system (TGA). Tests lasted between 400 and 2100 hours. At the conclusion of a test, the atmosphere was sampled to determine the release of fission gas during testing, and the fuel samples were analyzed for microstructural changes. It appears that the mechanism for oxidation of spent fuel to U/sub 3/O/sub 7/ takes place in two steps that occur somewhat simultaneously. Oxygen migrates along the grain boundaries, which are oxidized and enlarged. The grains oxidize by the inward progression of a layer of U/sub 4/O/sub 9/ saturated with oxygen. A simplified model of the mechanism, which considers oxygen diffusion through the product layer as the rate-controlling step, yields an activation energy of 27 /plus minus/ 4 kcal/mol. Moisture, between dew points of /minus/70/degree/ to +14.5/degree/C, i.e., water vapor partial pressures varying over four orders of magnitude, had no significant effect on the oxidation rate. 34 refs., 12 figs., 6 tabs

Clinical caring science as a scientific discipline.

Science.gov (United States)

Rehnsfeldt, Arne; Arman, Maria; Lindström, Unni Å

2017-09-01

Clinical caring science will be described from a theory of science perspective. The aim of this theoretical article to give a comprehensive overview of clinical caring science as a human science-based discipline grounded in a theory of science argumentation. Clinical caring science seeks idiographic or specific variations of the ontology, concepts and theories, formulated by caring science. The rationale is the insight that the research questions do not change when they are addressed in different contexts. The academic subject contains a concept order with ethos concepts, core and basic concepts and practice concepts that unites systematic caring science with clinical caring science. In accordance with a hermeneutic tradition, the idea of the caring act is based on the degree to which the theory base is hermeneutically appropriated by the caregiver. The better the ethos, essential concepts and theories are understood, the better the caring act can be understood. In order to understand the concept order related to clinical caring science, an example is given from an ongoing project in a disaster context. The concept order is an appropriate way of making sense of the essence of clinical caring science. The idea of the concept order is that concepts on all levels need to be united with each other. A research project in clinical caring science can start anywhere on the concept order, either in ethos, core concepts, basic concepts, practice concepts or in concrete clinical phenomena, as long as no parts are locked out of the concept order as an entity. If, for example, research on patient participation as a phenomenon is not related to core and basic concepts, there is a risqué that the research becomes meaningless. © 2016 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Santa Fe Alliance for Science: The First Eight Years

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenstein, Robert A.

2013-04-01

The Santa Fe Alliance for Science (SFAFS) was founded in May, 2005. SFAFS exists to provide assistance in K-14 math and science education in the greater Santa Fe area. It does this via extensive programs (1) in math and science tutoring at Santa Fe High School, Santa Fe Community College and to a lesser degree at other schools, (2) science fair advising and judging, (3) its ``Santa Fe Science Cafe for Young Thinkers'' series, (4) a program of professional enrichment for K-12 math and science teachers, and (5) a fledging math intervention program in middle school math. Well over 150 STEM professionals, working mostly as volunteers, have contributed since our beginning. Participation by students, parents and teachers has increased dramatically over the years, leading to much more positive views of math and science, especially among elementary school students and teachers. Support from the community and from local school districts has been very strong. I will present a brief status report on SFAFS activities, discuss some of the lessons learned along the way and describe briefly some ideas for the future. More information can be found at the SFAFS website, www.sfafs.org.

Preschool Teachers' Attitudes and Beliefs Toward Science

Science.gov (United States)

Lloyd, Sharon Henry

In the United States, a current initiative, Advancing Active STEM Education for Our Youngest Learners, aims to advance science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in early childhood. The purpose of this study was to understand preschool teachers' proficiency with science and address the problem of whether or not science learning opportunities are provided to young children based on teachers' attitudes and beliefs. A theoretical framework for establishing teachers' attitudes toward science developed by van Aalderen-Smeets, van der Molen, and Asma, along with Bandura's theory of self-efficacy were the foundations for this research. Research questions explored preschool teachers' attitudes and beliefs toward science in general and how they differed based on education level and years of preschool teaching experience. Descriptive comparative data were collected from 48 preschool teacher participants using an online format with a self-reported measure and were analyzed using nonparametric tests to describe differences between groups based on identified factors of teacher comfort, child benefit, and challenges. Results indicated that the participants believed that early childhood science is developmentally appropriate and that young children benefit from science instruction through improved school-readiness skills. Preschool teachers with a state credential or an associate's degree and more teaching experience had more teacher comfort toward science based on attitudes and beliefs surveyed. The data indicated participating preschool teachers experienced few challenges in teaching science. The study may support positive social change through increased awareness of strengths and weaknesses of preschool teachers for the development of effective science professional development. Science is a crucial component of school-readiness skills, laying a foundation for success in later grades.

Education to a bachelor degree in the field of radiation protection in Saxony

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahre, Peter; Glaeser, Lutz; Sussek, Christian; Konschak, Klaus

2008-01-01

In Saxony like in some other countries in Germany a special mode of education to a bachelor in the field of radiation protection exists. This so called 'dual' degree consists of a theoretical part at the Universities of Cooperative Education at Riesa and Karlsruhe and a practical part at the Nuclear Engineering and Analytics Rossendorf Inc. and at the Gamma-Service Irradiation Facility Ltd. This type of education was started in Saxony in 1992 at the Rossendorf Nuclear Engineering and Analytics Inc. together with the Rossendorf Research Center, the University of Cooperative Education in Karlsruhe. Since 1996 the University of Cooperative Education Riesa received responsibility for the first two years of the science-referred study phase. The so called 'dual' degree consists of a theoretical part at the University and a practical part at the Nuclear Engineering and Analytics Rossendorf Inc. resp. Gamma-Service Irradiation Facility Ltd. and takes three years. Each three months the students change between university and on-the job-training. Up to the year 2007 the final qualification was the diploma (in German: Diplom). Now the bachelor degree is introduced. In the paper the content of the education in Riesa and Karlsruhe (theoretical part) and Rossendorf and Radeberg (practical part) is described including some titles of dissertation submitted for a diploma or bachelor thesis. Some examples of use of the bachelor at the Nuclear Engineering and Analytics Rossendorf Inc. and at the Gamma-Service Irradiation Facility Ltd. are given too. (author)

A Gadamerian Phenomenological Study Examining the Meaning of Having a Bachelor's Degree Expressed by Associate Degree Nurses (ADN) Who Educationally Transitioned to a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing (BSN)

Science.gov (United States)

Sauld, Jill Pierpont

2017-01-01

Since the inception of associate degree nursing programs, professional nursing conversations and debate have grappled with reckoning differences between the associate degree in nursing (ADN) and the bachelor's degree in nursing (BSN). Research reporting better patient outcomes with more baccalaureate prepared nurses has been a driving force for…

An elective course in aromatherapy science.

Science.gov (United States)

Esposito, Emily R; Bystrek, Mary V; Klein, JoAnn S

2014-05-15

To evaluate the impact of an innovative team-taught elective course on second-year (P2) students' knowledge and skills relating to the relationship between aromatherapy and pharmacy. An Aromatherapy Science elective course was offered to P2 students in an accelerated doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree program and was designed to provide an elective course experience while focusing on active-learning skills such as group work, student-led presentations, and in-class activities. Lectures were designed to reinforce core curricular threads from the basic sciences within the pharmaceutical sciences department while highlighting key aromatherapy principles. Course evaluations, grades, and student self-assessments were used to evaluate student fulfillment and knowledge gained. Students agreed this hands-on course integrated pharmaceutical science experiences, enriched their pharmacy education, and provided knowledge to enhance their confidence in describing essential oil uses, drug interactions, and key aromatherapy clinical implications. Students agreed this course prepared them to identify essential oil therapeutic uses and potential essential oil-drug interactions, and interpret literature. The introduction of aromatherapy principles to pharmacy students will prepare a new generation of healthcare professionals on the role of alternative medicines.

Science Teachers' Pedagogical Discontentment: Its Sources and Potential for Change

Science.gov (United States)

Southerland, Sherry A.; Sowell, Scott; Enderle, Patrick

2011-01-01

This research explored science teachers' pedagogical discontentment and described its role in teachers' consideration of new teaching practices. Pedagogical discontentment is an expression of the degree to which one is discontented because one's teaching practices do not achieve one's teaching goals. Through a series of structured interviews…

China's rise as a major contributor to science and technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Yu; Zhang, Chunni; Lai, Qing

2014-07-01

In the past three decades, China has become a major contributor to science and technology. China now employs an increasingly large labor force of scientists and engineers at relatively high earnings and produces more science and engineering degrees than the United States at all levels, particularly bachelor's. China's research and development expenditure has been rising. Research output in China has been sharply increasing since 2002, making China the second largest producer of scientific papers after the United States. The quality of research by Chinese scientists has also been improving steadily. However, China's rise in science also faces serious difficulties, partly attributable to its rigid, top-down administrative system, with allegations of scientific misconduct trending upward.

Nuclear engineering enrollments and degrees, 1981

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Little, J.R.; Shirley, D.L.

1982-05-01

This report presents data on the number of students enrolled and the degrees awarded in academic year 1980-81 from 73 US institutions offering degree programs in nuclear engineering or nuclear options within other engineering fields. Presented here are historical data for the last decade, which provide information such as trends by degree level, foreign national student participation, female and minority student participation, and placement of graduates. Also included is a listing of the universities by type of program and number of students

Combined 30-degree bevel up and down technique against 0-degree phaco tip for phacoemulsification surgery of hard cataracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joshi RS

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Rajesh Subhash Joshi, Sonal Jayant Muley Department of Ophthalmology, Vasantrao Naik Government Medical College, Yavatmal, Maharashtra, India Purpose: To evaluate the effective phaco time (EPT, cumulative dissipated energy (CDE and nucleus emulsification time (NET as phaco parameters with 0- and 30-degree phaco tip. Patients and methods: This prospective, interventional and observational case series included 294 patients scheduled for cataract removal by phacoemulsification technique. Patients with nuclear cataracts of grade 4 and 5 nuclear opalescence of Lens Opacities Classification System III were included in the study. Patients were consecutively allocated to phaco chop technique with 0-degree (0-degree group, n=147 and combined bevel up and down position using 30-degree phaco tip (combined bevel up/down group, n=147. The 0-degree group had phacoemulsification with 0-degree phaco tip, while the 30-degree group had chopping of the nucleus with bevel down phaco tip and emulsification of nuclear fragments was accomplished with bevel up tip. EPT, CDE, NET and intraoperative complications were noted and compared between the groups using analysis of variance. Results: Average EPT, CDE and NET were lower in the 30-degree group than in the 0-degree group. However, no statistically significant difference was found in EPT (P=0.0733, CDE (P=0.0663 and NET (P=0.0633 between the two groups. No serious intraoperative complications were noted. The anterior chamber was maintained throughout the procedure in both groups. No patients had wound burn and miosis during the procedure. None of the patients developed bullous keratopathy, uveitis and cystoid macular edema during the follow-up period. Conclusion: Combined bevel up and down 30-degree tip can yield effective hard nucleus phacoemulsification. Bevel down tip of 30-degree helps in effective chopping and bevel up tip assists in emulsification of the nuclear fragments. Although combined bevel up and down 30

Variation in meroplankton along 78 degrees E Meridian

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Balachandran, T.; Peter, K.J.

Variations along the meridian 78 degrees E between 8 degrees N and 25 degrees S, based on 43 zooplankton samples were studied. Fish larvae exhibited fluctuations in abundance (26 to 57 specimens/IOSN haul) in the three zones studied (8 degrees N-5...

Mutation analysis of the candidate genes -, , and in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Refsgaard, Lena; Olesen, Morten Salling; Møller, Daniel Vega

2012-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a genetically determined heart disease characterized by fibrofatty infiltrations in the myocardium, right and/or left ventricular involvement, and ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Although ten genes have been associated with ARVC......, only about 40% of the patients have an identifiable disease-causing mutation. In the present study we aimed at investigating the involvement of the genes SCN1B-SCN4B, FHL1, and LMNA in the pathogenesis of ARVC. METHODS: Sixty-five unrelated patients (55 fulfilling ARVC criteria and 10 borderline cases...... of the variants was non-synonymous. No disease-causing mutations were identified. CONCLUSIONS: In our limited sized cohort the six studied candidate genes were not associated with ARVC....

An Application of Break-Even Analysis To Determine the Costs Associated with the Implementation of an Off-Campus Bachelor Degree Completion Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Satterlee, Brian

This paper applies the management science tool of break-even analysis to determine the costs of implementing an off-campus bachelor degree completion program at a four-year private liberal arts college. The first section describes break-even analysis which, in this application, is calculated by dividing the total annual cost for a cohort of…

If You Build It, Will They Come? Tales of Developing a New Degree Program in Actuarial Science

Science.gov (United States)

Marano, Lisa E.

2014-01-01

In 2007, the B.S. in Applied Mathematics program consisting of five concentrations, including Actuarial Science, began at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and we graduated our first class (of one) that December. We describe our program, some ideas to consider when planning your own program, and share some of the successes of our program…

Income-Based Disparities in Early Elementary School Science Achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Curran, F. Chris

2017-01-01

This study documents gaps in kindergarten and first-grade science achievement by family income and explores the degree to which such gaps can be accounted for by student race/ethnicity, out-of-school activities, parental education, and school fixed effects. In doing so, it expands on prior research that documents disparate rates of science…

Preparing Graduate Students as Science Communicators

Science.gov (United States)

Knudson, K.; Gutstein, J.

2012-12-01

our courses, opting for master's degrees to pursue science communications-related positions. One received a prestigious fellowship in science communication and media. Yet, while we are successful with students, our programs are not without challenges. Our Translating Research interdisciplinary curriculum that encourages students' exploration of non-academic career options can create problems with faculty advisors in the current environment of graduate education; Carnegie scholars and other researchers argue that the traditional master-apprentice system requires a thorough overhaul to address high attrition rates and low rates of academic employment. Secondly, we situated our communications training within our environmental research institute and outside of any graduate program's degree requirements. While this gives access to motivated graduate students and creates enriching interactions within the course context, it presents problems with campus recognition and institutionalization. We are identifying new pathways and exploring the creation of a certificate program through our University Extension. Graduate student perception can also be an issue. Our courses tend to attract a particular kind of graduate student: female, early in her academic career, in the sciences, and interested in a career outside of academia. Attracting more male graduate students to science communication remains a challenge.

How Adult Online Graduates Portray Their Degree

Science.gov (United States)

Hagan, Eric J.

2013-01-01

This qualitative case study investigated how adult graduates of online Bachelor's degree programs describe the online aspect of their degree. Online education is promoted as a method for adult students to access the benefits of a college degree. Therefore, it is important for prospective online students, higher education institutions and…

Career Paths for Physics Degree Recipients

Science.gov (United States)

Mulvey, Patrick

Physics degree holders have a diverse set of career opportunities open to them. So what are these opportunities? Where are they employed? How much do they earn? What skills will they need? Physics degrees make up a small proportion of the degrees conferred in the US but they play an important role in meeting workforce needs at many levels. This talk will give an overview of the employment outcomes of physics bachelors, masters and PhDs. It will discuss the diverse set fields they work in and the skills they use.

An Exploration of the Use of Eye-Gaze Tracking to Study Problem-Solving on Standardized Science Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Tai, Robert H.; Loehr, John F.; Brigham, Frederick J.

2006-01-01

This pilot study investigated the capacity of eye-gaze tracking to identify differences in problem-solving behaviours within a group of individuals who possessed varying degrees of knowledge and expertise in three disciplines of science (biology, chemistry and physics). The six participants, all pre-service science teachers, completed an 18-item…

A culturally appropriate program that works: Native Americans in Marine and Space Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Vergun, J. R.

2001-05-01

For more than ten years, the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University has carried out the Native Americans in Marine and Space Sciences (NAMSS) Program. Its long-term goal is to increase the number of American Indian and Native Alaskan undergraduates in science who complete degrees, continue to graduate school and enter the professional scientific work force. Ninety-eight percent of NAMSS students have earned BS degrees and almost forty percent have continued in graduate school. These are impressive results considering the high national drop-out rate for Native American studentsaround 70% according to the Chronicle of Higher Education (26 May 1993, page A29). Most often, Native students wishing to earn degrees in science find few programs that fit with their traditional sense of place and community. Most programs are narrowly focused and do not support or nurture Native views of interrelationship of all things. While Western science's recent ecological systems thinking approach more closely resembles the traditional Native view, Traditional Ecological Knowledge is often perceived as anecdotal or storytelling and not real science. This is a problem for Native students who are strongly underrepresented in the U.S. scientific community as a whole and nearly absent from the marine sciences. Undergraduates from this group are without scientific career models or mentors from their ethnic group and experience difficulty establishing contacts with majority scientists. They have limited access to opportunities to explore career possibilities in the sciences through research participation. Once on campus they have difficulty establishing a sense of belonging in the University community and do not have an organized way to enter into the scientific activities that initially attracted them. Representation of Native Americans in the ranks of U.S. scientists will not be increased without special efforts to retain them as undergraduates and to recruit

Competency-Based Business Degree. Issue Brief

Science.gov (United States)

Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, 2014

2014-01-01

In January 2015, thirteen Washington community colleges launched an online, competency-based business transfer degree--the first in the state's community and technical college system. This issue brief provides answers to commonly asked questions about the new competency-based degree.

Abstraction ability as an indicator of success for learning computing science?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bennedsen, Jens; Caspersen, Michael Edelgaard

2008-01-01

Computing scientists generally agree that abstract thinking is a crucial component for practicing computer science. We report on a three-year longitudinal study to confirm the hypothesis that general abstraction ability has a positive impact on performance in computing science. Abstraction ability...... is operationalized as stages of cognitive development for which validated tests exist. Performance in computing science is operationalized as grade in the final assessment of ten courses of a bachelor's degree programme in computing science. The validity of the operationalizations is discussed. We have investigated...... the positive impact overall, for two groupings of courses (a content-based grouping and a grouping based on SOLO levels of the courses' intended learning outcome), and for each individual course. Surprisingly, our study shows that there is hardly any correlation between stage of cognitive development...

Actuator with Multi Degrees of Freedom(Actuator)

OpenAIRE

矢野, 智昭; Tomoaki, YANO; 産業技術総合研究所

2006-01-01

The advantages, problems and the recent developments of the actuator with multi degrees of freedom are presented. At first, the advantages of the actuator with multi degrees of freedom are described. Next, the problems needed to solve for practical use are presented. The recent applications of the actuator with multi degrees of freedom are also reviewed.

Lens positioner with five degrees of freedom

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kobierecki, M.W.; Rienecker, F. Jr.

1978-01-01

A device for positioning lenses precisely with five degrees of freedom (three translations and two angular rotations). The unique features of the device are its compact design, large clear aperture, and high degree of positioning accuracy combined with five degrees of freedom in axis motion. Thus, the device provides precision and flexibility in positioning of optical components

The Experimental Teaching Reform in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for Undergraduate Students in Peking University Health Science Center

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiaohan; Sun, Luyang; Zhao, Ying; Yi, Xia; Zhu, Bin; Wang, Pu; Lin, Hong; Ni, Juhua

2015-01-01

Since 2010, second-year undergraduate students of an eight-year training program leading to a Doctor of Medicine degree or Doctor of Philosophy degree in Peking University Health Science Center (PKUHSC) have been required to enter the "Innovative talent training project." During that time, the students joined a research lab and…

High degree modes and instrumental effects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Korzennik, S G [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States); Rabello-Soares, M C; Schou, J [Stanford University, Stanford, CA (United States)], E-mail: skorzennik@cfa.harvard.edu

2008-10-15

Full-disk observations taken with the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, or the upgraded Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG) instruments, have enough spatial resolution to resolve modes up to {iota} = 1000 if not {iota} = 1500. The inclusion of such high-degree modes (i.e., {iota} {<=} 1000) improves dramatically inferences near the surface. Unfortunately, observational and instrumental effects cause the characterization of high degree modes to be quite complicated. Indeed, the characteristics of the solar acoustic spectrum are such that, for a given order, mode lifetimes get shorter and spatial leaks get closer in frequency as the degree of a mode increases. A direct consequence of this property is that individual modes are resolved only at low and intermediate degrees. At high degrees the individual modes blend into ridges and the power distribution of the ridge defines the ridge central frequency, masking the underlying mode frequency. An accurate model of the amplitude of the peaks that contribute to the ridge power distribution is needed to recover the underlying mode frequency from fitting the ridge. We present a detailed discussion of the modeling of the ridge power distribution, and the contribution of the various observational and instrumental effects on the spatial leakage, in the context of the MDI instrument. We have constructed a physically motivated model (rather than an ad hoc correction scheme) that results in a methodology that can produce unbiased estimates of high-degree modes. This requires that the instrumental characteristics are well understood, a task that has turned out to pose a major challenge. We also present our latest results, where most of the known instrumental and observational effects that affect specifically high-degree modes were removed. These new results allow us to focus our attention on changes with solar activity. Finally, we present variations of mode

Meson degrees of freedom in nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delorme, J.

1982-01-01

A review is presented of the successes and shortcomings of the theory of meson degrees of freedom in nuclei with special emphasis on recent progress and on the necessity to bridge the gap with the degrees of freedom of QCD theory. (orig.)

Collaborative, Early-undergraduate-focused REU Programs at Savannah State University have been Vital to Growing a Demographically Diverse Ocean Science Community

Science.gov (United States)

Gilligan, M. R.; Cox, T. M.; Hintz, C. J.

2011-12-01

Formal support for undergraduates to participate in marine/ocean science research at Savannah State University (SSU), a historically-Black unit of the University System of Georgia, began in 1989 with funding from the National Science Foundation for an unsolicited proposal (OCE-8919102, 34,935). Today SSU, which has offered B.S degrees since 1979 and M.S. degrees since 2001 in Marine Sciences, is making major contributions nationally to demographic diversity in ocean sciences. 33% of Master's degrees in marine/ocean sciences earned by African Americans in the U.S. from 2004-2007 were earned at SSU. 10% of African American Master's and Doctoral students in marine/ ocean sciences in 2007 were either enrolled in the Master's program at SSU or were former SSU students enrolled in Doctoral programs elsewhere. Collaborative REU programs that focus on early (freshman and sophomore) undergraduate students have been a consistent and vital part of that success. In the most recent iteration of our summer REU program we used six of the best practices outlined in the literature to increase success and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields: early intervention, strong mentoring, research experience, career counseling, financial support, workshops and seminars. The early intervention with strong mentoring has proven successful in several metrics: retention in STEM majors (96%), progression to graduate school (50%), and continuation to later research experiences (75%). Research mentors include faculty at staff at SSU, the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary and Georgia Tech-Savannah. Formal collaborative and cooperative agreements, externally-funded grants, and contracts in support of student research training have proven to be critical in providing resources for growth and improvement marine science curricular options at the University. Since 1981 the program has had four formal partnerships and 36 funded grant awards

How Multidisciplinary Are the Multidisciplinary Journals Science and Nature?

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon, Gregg E. A.; Carley, Stephen; Porter, Alan L.

2016-01-01

Interest in cross-disciplinary research knowledge interchange runs high. Review processes at funding agencies, such as the U.S. National Science Foundation, consider plans to disseminate research across disciplinary bounds. Publication in the leading multidisciplinary journals, Nature and Science, may signify the epitome of successful interdisciplinary integration of research knowledge and cross-disciplinary dissemination of findings. But how interdisciplinary are they? The journals are multidisciplinary, but do the individual articles themselves draw upon multiple fields of knowledge and does their influence span disciplines? This research compares articles in three fields (Cell Biology, Physical Chemistry, and Cognitive Science) published in a leading disciplinary journal in each field to those published in Nature and Science. We find comparable degrees of interdisciplinary integration and only modest differences in cross-disciplinary diffusion. That said, though the rate of out-of-field diffusion might be comparable, the sheer reach of Nature and Science, indicated by their potent Journal Impact Factors, means that the diffusion of knowledge therein can far exceed that of leading disciplinary journals in some fields (such as Physical Chemistry and Cognitive Science in our samples). PMID:27043924

From Peripheral to Central, the Story of Melanie's Metamorphosis in an Urban Middle School Science Class

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Edna; Barton, Angela Calabrese

2008-01-01

Identity formation is a critical dimension of how and why students engage in science to varying degrees. In this paper, we use the lens of identity formation, and in particular identities in practice, to make sense of how and why Melanie, over the course of sixth grade, transformed from a marginalized member of the science class with a failing…

Students' self-regulation and teachers' influences in science: interplay between ethnicity and gender

Science.gov (United States)

Elstad, Eyvind; Turmo, Are

2010-11-01

The purpose of this study is to explore students' self-regulation and teachers' influence in science and to examine interplay between ethnicity and gender. Analysis of data from seven Oslo schools (1112 sampled students in the first year of high school) shows that the ethnic minority students reported using learning strategies in science more intensively than ethnic majority students and they had a stronger motivation to learn science. Ethnic majority students are defined here as students who were born in Norway and have at least one parent born in Norway. The study also shows that minority students generally evaluate their science teacher's influence on their learning more positively than the majority. The strongest interplay effects between gender and ethnicity are found in students' perceptions of the relevance of science, as well as their degree of negative responses to the pressure to learn science.

Astronomy Enrollments and Degrees: Results from the 2012 Survey of Astronomy Enrollments and Degrees. Focus On

Science.gov (United States)

Mulvey, Patrick; Nicholson, Starr

2014-01-01

Interest in astronomy degrees in the U.S. remains strong, with astronomy enrollments at or near all-time highs for the 2012-13 academic year. The total number of students taking an introductory astronomy course at a degree-granting physics or astronomy department is approaching 200,000. Enrollments in introductory astronomy courses have been…

Branding the bio/biomedical engineering degree.

Science.gov (United States)

Voigt, Herbert F

2011-01-01

The future challenges to medical and biological engineering, sometimes referred to as biomedical engineering or simply bioengineering, are many. Some of these are identifiable now and others will emerge from time to time as new technologies are introduced and harnessed. There is a fundamental issue regarding "Branding the bio/biomedical engineering degree" that requires a common understanding of what is meant by a B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering, or Biological Engineering. In this paper we address some of the issues involved in branding the Bio/Biomedical Engineering degree, with the aim of clarifying the Bio/Biomedical Engineering brand.

Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative: evolution of scientific investigations to applicable science

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soja, Amber J; Groisman, Pavel Ya

2012-01-01

The letters collected in this focus issue of Environmental Research Letters on ‘Environmental, socio-economic and climatic changes in Northern Eurasia and their feedbacks to the global Earth system’ represent the third special issue based on the results of research within the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI: http://neespi.org) program domain. Through the years, NEESPI researchers have presented a diverse array of articles that represent a variety of spatial scales and demonstrate the degree to which abrupt climatic and socio-economic changes are acting across Northern Eurasia and feed back to the global Earth system. (synthesis and review)

Information Science: Science or Social Science?

OpenAIRE

Sreeramana Aithal; Paul P.K.,; Bhuimali A.

2017-01-01

Collection, selection, processing, management, and dissemination of information are the main and ultimate role of Information Science and similar studies such as Information Studies, Information Management, Library Science, and Communication Science and so on. However, Information Science deals with some different characteristics than these subjects. Information Science is most interdisciplinary Science combines with so many knowledge clusters and domains. Information Science is a broad disci...

Undergraduate female science-related career choices: A phenomenological study

Science.gov (United States)

Curry, Kathy S.

This qualitative phenomenological study used a modified Groenewald's five steps method with semi-structured, recorded, and transcribed interviews to focus on the underrepresentation of females in science-related careers. The study explored the lived experiences of a purposive sample of 25 senior female college students attending a college in Macon, Georgia. Ten major themes emerged from the research study that included (a) journey to a science-related career; (b) realization of career interest; (c) family support (d) society's role; (e) professors' treatment of students; (f) lack of mentors and models; (g) gender and career success; (h) females and other disadvantages in science-related careers; (i) rewards of the journey; and (j) advice for the journey. The three minor themes identified were (a) decision-making; (b) career awareness; and (c) guidance. The key findings revealed that females pursuing a science degree or subsequent science-related career, shared their experience with other females interested in science as a career choice, dealt with barriers standing in the way of their personal goals, lack role models, and received little or no support from family and friends. The study findings may offer information to female college students interested in pursuing science-related careers and further foundational research on gender disparities in career choice.

[Evidence-based practice competence in undergraduate Nursing Degree students].

Science.gov (United States)

Ruzafa-Martínez, María; Molina-Salas, Yolanda; Ramos-Morcillo, Antonio Jesús

2016-01-01

Evidence-based practice (EBP) learning has become a key issue for nurses. An EPB subject was included in the 4(th) year in the new syllabus of the Nursing Degree at University of Murcia (UM). To know the competence level in EBP of undergraduate nursing students at UM and compare the results between all four years. Observational descriptive study with a cross-sectional approach. undergraduate nursing students from all four years at Nursing Degree at the Faculty of Social and Healthcare Science at UM in the year 2013-14. EBP evaluation of competence of the nursing students consisted of attitude, skills and knowledge on EBP. A validated questionnaire, the EBP-COQ, was used. The scale range is 1 point «lowest level» to 5 points «higher level».The SPSS 21.0 program has been used to carry out descriptive and bivariate analyses. 144 students were included, 76.4% was female, and the median age was 23 years, 84.7% attended more than 75% class hours. The mean differences in the questionnaire between first and fourth years were 0.58 points in attitude, 0.60 in skills, 1.6 in knowledge and 0.83 in global competence in EBP. Significant differences in mean scores between the fourth and the remaining years in the global competence in EBP were observed, as well as in the three dimensions (p <0.05). The undergraduate-nursing students studied here have acquired an appropriate competence level in EBP, with a gradual increase by year. The biggest increase was in the fourth year students. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Engaging Life-Sciences Students with Mathematical Models: Does Authenticity Help?

Science.gov (United States)

Poladian, Leon

2013-01-01

Compulsory mathematics service units for the life sciences present unique challenges: even students who learn some specific skills maintain a negative attitude to mathematics and do not see the relevance of the unit towards their degree. The focus on authentic content and the presentation and teaching of global or qualitative methods before…

Physical Chemistry for the Chemical and Biological Sciences (by Raymond Chang)

Science.gov (United States)

Pounds, Andrew

2001-05-01

This book does offer an alternative approach to physical chemistry that is particularly well suited for those who want to pursue a course of study more focused on the biological sciences. It could also be an excellent choice for schools that mainly serve preprofessional programs or for schools that have split physical chemistry tracks to independently serve the B.S. and B.A. degrees. Since the book focuses on single-variable mathematics, schools that require only one year of calculus for their chemistry degree could also think about adopting it. However, in general, the use of the text as a drop-in replacement for physical chemistry for the B.S. degree is questionable owing to its lack of focus on quantum mechanics and its implications for spectroscopy.

Climate Science: An Empirical Example of Postnormal Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Bray, Dennis; von Storch, Hans

1999-03-01

This paper addresses the views regarding the certainty and uncertainty of climate science knowledge held by contemporary climate scientists. More precisely, it addresses the extension of this knowledge into the social and political realms as per the definition of postnormal science. The data for the analysis is drawn from a response rate of approximately 40% from a survey questionnaire mailed to 1000 scientists in Germany, the United States, and Canada, and from a series of in-depth interviews with leading scientists in each country. The international nature of the sample allows for cross-cultural comparisons.With respect to the relative scientific discourse, similar assessments of the current state of knowledge are held by the respondents of each country. Almost all scientists agreed that the skill of contemporary models is limited. Minor differences were notable. Scientists from the United States were less convinced of the skills of the models than their German counterparts and, as would be expected under such circumstances, North American scientists perceived the need for societal and political responses to be less urgent than their German counterparts. The international consensus was, however, apparent regarding the utility of the knowledge to date: climate science has provided enough knowledge so that the initiation of abatement measures is warranted. However, consensus also existed regarding the current inability to explicitly specify detrimental effects that might result from climate change. This incompatibility between the state of knowledge and the calls for action suggests that, to some degree at least, scientific advice is a product of both scientific knowledge and normative judgment, suggesting a socioscientific construction of the climate change issue.

Data on ground-water quality for the Lovelock 1 degree by 2 degree quadrangle, western Nevada

Science.gov (United States)

Welch, Alan H.; Williams, Rhea P.

1987-01-01

Water quality data for groundwater has been compiled for the Lovelock 1 degree x 2 degree quadrangle which covers a portion of western Nevada. Chemical characteristics of the water are shown on a map (at a scale of 1:250,000) and on trilinear diagrams for the major ions. The data for the area are also presented in a table. (USGS)

Science dual enrollment: An examination of high school students' post-secondary aspirations

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Chelsia

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in science dual enrollment courses influenced African American high school students' post-secondary aspirations that will lead to college attendance. The investigation examined the relationship between African American students' learning experiences and how their self-efficacy and outcome expectations impact their goal setting. The goal was to determine the impact of the following variables on African American students' plan to pursue a bachelor's or advanced degree: (a) STEM exposure, (b) Algebra 1 achievement, (c) level of science class, and (d) receiving science college credit for dual enrollment course. The social cognitive career theory framed this body of research to explore how career and academic interests mature, are developed, and are translated into action. Science dual enrollment participation is a strategy for addressing the lack of African American presence in the STEM fields. The causal comparative ex post facto research design was used in this quantitative study. The researcher performed the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analysis of variance and Pearson's chi-square tests to analyze secondary data from the High School Longitudinal Study first follow-up student questionnaire. The results indicate that STEM exposure and early success in Algebra 1 have a statistically significant impact on African American students' ambition to pursue a bachelor's or advanced degree. According to the Pearson's chi-square and independent sample Kruskal-Wallis analyses, level of students' science class and receiving college credit for dual enrollment do not significantly influence African American students' postsecondary aspirations.

Using the Theme of Mass Extinctions to Teach Science to Non-Science Major College and University Students

Science.gov (United States)

Boness, D. A.

2013-12-01

The general public is heavily exposed to "news" and commentary---and arts and entertainment---that either inadvertently misrepresents science or even acts to undermine it. Climate change denial and evolution denial is well funded and pervasive. Even university-educated people get little exposure to the aims, methods, debates, and results of scientific inquiry because unless they earn degrees in science they typically only take one or two introductory science courses at the university level. This presentation reports the development of a new, non-science major Seattle University course on mass extinctions throughout earth history. Seattle University is an urban, Jesuit Catholic university. The topic of mass extinctions was chosen for several reasons: (1) To expose the students to a part of current science that has rich historical roots yet by necessity uses methods and reasoning from geology, geophysics, oceanography, physics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy. This multidisciplinary course provides some coverage of sciences that the student would not typically ever see beyond secondary school. (2) To enable the students to learn enough to follow some of the recent and current debates within science (e.g., mass extinctions by asteroid impact versus massive volcanism, ocean anoxia, and ocean acidification), with the students reading some of the actual literature, such as articles in Science, Nature, or Nature Geoscience. (3) To emphasize the importance of "deep time" as evolutionary biological processes interact with massive environmental change over time scales from hundreds of millions of years down to the seconds and hours of an asteroid or comet strike. (4) To show the effects of climate change in the past, present, and future, due to both natural and anthropogenic causes. (5) To help the student critically evaluate the extent to which their future involves a human-caused mass extinction.

The Gender-Equality Paradox in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Stoet, Gijsbert; Geary, David C

2018-04-01

The underrepresentation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a continual concern for social scientists and policymakers. Using an international database on adolescent achievement in science, mathematics, and reading ( N = 472,242), we showed that girls performed similarly to or better than boys in science in two of every three countries, and in nearly all countries, more girls appeared capable of college-level STEM study than had enrolled. Paradoxically, the sex differences in the magnitude of relative academic strengths and pursuit of STEM degrees rose with increases in national gender equality. The gap between boys' science achievement and girls' reading achievement relative to their mean academic performance was near universal. These sex differences in academic strengths and attitudes toward science correlated with the STEM graduation gap. A mediation analysis suggested that life-quality pressures in less gender-equal countries promote girls' and women's engagement with STEM subjects.

2017 Hans O. Mauksch Address: Using the Science of Learning to Improve Student Learning in Sociology Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Messineo, Melinda

2018-01-01

The 2017 Mauksch Address invites readers to consider how the field of sociology might benefit from greater inclusion of the science of learning into its pedagogy. Results from a survey of 92 teaching and learning experts in sociology reveal the degree to which the discipline's understanding of teaching and learning is informed by the science of…

Career Preparation and the Political Science Major: Evidence from Departments

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Todd A.; Knotts, H. Gibbs; Schiff, Jen

2012-01-01

We know little about the amount of career preparation offered to students in political science departments. This lack of information is particularly troubling given the state of the current job market and the growth of applied degree programs on university campuses. To address this issue, this article presents the results of a December 2010 survey…

Master's Level Graduate Training in Medical Physics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibbott, Geoffrey S.; Hendee, William R.

1980-01-01

Describes the master's degree program in medical physics developed at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Required courses for the program, and requirements for admission are included in the appendices. (HM)

A Study on the Prevalence and Correlates of Academic Dishonesty in Four Undergraduate Degree Programs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark Anthony Mujer Quintos

2017-02-01

Full Text Available With college students from four different disciplines representing the humanities as well as the natural, mathematical, and social sciences as respondents, this study determined the degree of prevalence and correlates of academic dishonesty among students. A survey questionnaire about the respondents’ personal characteristics and their frequency of engagement in academic dishonesty during one whole academic year (two semesters was used as the research instrument. A Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks test was used to determine which between cheating on examinations, quizzes and/or exercises and cheating on papers and/or projects was committed more often. Spearman’s Rank Correlation tests were conducted to determine significant correlations between the students’ characteristics and academic dishonesty. The study found that within an academic year, nine out of ten students have engaged in at least one act of academic dishonesty. Furthermore, students engaged in more types of academic cheating on papers/projects than on exams/quizzes/exercises. The most prevalent form of academic dishonesty was connivance through the sharing between students of answers and questions to an exam/quiz/exercise that a student has taken before and the others are just about to take. Cheating on papers/projects was committed more often than on exams/quizzes/exercises for all degree programs except for mathematical science students. Only two variables, (1 perception of one’s classmates’ and peers’ frequency of academic cheating and (2 frequency of academic cheating during high school, have moderately strong positive correlations with academic dishonesty. The attitude that academic cheating is never justified, on the other hand, was found to have a moderately strong negative correlation with academic dishonesty

Master in science communication: an overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donato Ramani

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Science, politics, industry, media, state-run and private organisations, private citizens: everyone has their own demands, their own heritage of knowledge, thoughts, opinions, aspirations, needs. Different worlds that interact, question one another, discuss; in one word: they communicate. It is a complicated process that requires professionals «who clearly understand the key aspects of the transmission of scientific knowledge to society through the different essential communication channels for multiple organizations». The purpose of this commentary is to cast some light upon the goals, the philosophy and the organisation behind some European and extra-European Master’s degrees in science communication. We have asked the directors of each of them to describe their founding elements, their origins, their specific features, their structure, their goals, the reasons why they were established and the evolution they have seen over their history.

Strategies for Pursuing a Master's Degree.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Cynthia M; McIntosh, Constance E; Mensik, Jennifer S

2016-01-01

Health care has become very complex and is in a constant state of change. As a result of the evolving change and increasing complexity, a more educated nursing workforce is needed (Dracup K. Master's nursing programs. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. 2015; Institute of Medicine. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. 2010). It is now becoming necessary for registered nurses to earn an advanced degree to work at the highest level of their practice authority (Dracup K. Master's nursing programs. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. 2015; Institute of Medicine. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. 2010.). Preparing to reenter college may be an overwhelming prospect for some registered nurses seeking an advanced degree. However, there are some simple strategies that may help sort out the many degree options, financial obligations, decisions about brick and mortar versus online learning, commitment to degree completion, and changing career paths. This article will provide the registered nurse valuable information that will assist in the exciting process of returning to college.

"Solidarity and Support": Feminist Memory Work Focus Groups with Working-Class Women Studying Social Science Degrees in Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Michell, Dee; Beddoe, Liz; Fraser, Heather; Jarldorn, Michele

2017-01-01

This paper reports on our use of a two-phased, feminist memory work in a project conducted with 11 women, social science students at an Australian university. We begin by describing government-led attempts to widen participation in Australian universities because 10 of the 11 women who participated in our project were from…

The degree of irreversibility in deterministic finite automata

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Axelsen, Holger Bock; Holzer, Markus; Kutrib, Martin

2016-01-01

the language, and show that the degree induces a strict infinite hierarchy of languages. We examine how the degree of irreversibility behaves under the usual language operations union, intersection, complement, concatenation, and Kleene star, showing tight bounds (some asymptotically) on the degree....

Occupational Biographical Decisions of U.S. Nursing Professionals for Doing a PhD.--Consequences for the Education in Nursing Science in Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Seltrecht, Astrid

2016-01-01

In Germany, nursing science has been developing since the early 1990s. Since then it is possible for nursing professionals (partly with, partly without prior 3-year vocational training) to do a bachelor's or master's degree in nursing science at universities of applied sciences. However, to do a Ph.D. they need to change to a university as in…

Time to Degree: A National View of the Time Enrolled and Elapsed for Associate and Bachelor's Degree Earners. (Signature Report No. 11)

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Doug; Dundar, Afet; Wakhungu, Phoebe Khasiala; Yuan, Xin; Nathan, Angel; Hwang, Youngsik

2016-01-01

This report examines time to degree completion for a cohort of students who earned an associate degree as their first and only postsecondary degree or a bachelor's degree as their first four-year degree between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015. Overall, the average time enrolled for associate and bachelor's degree earners was 3.3 years and 5.1…

Science and Theatre Education: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach of Scientific Ideas Addressed to Student Teachers of Early Childhood Education

Science.gov (United States)

Tselfes, Vasilis; Paroussi, Antigoni

2009-01-01

There is, in Greece, an ongoing attempt to breach the boundaries established between the different teaching-learning subjects of compulsory education. In this context, we are interested in exploring to what degree the teaching and learning of ideas from the sciences' "internal life" (Hacking, in: Pickering (ed) "Science as practice…

Science Fiction as a Prism for Understanding Geopolitics

Science.gov (United States)

2015-04-01

Graduation Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF OPERATIONAL ARTS AND SCIENCES Advisor: Dr. William L. Dulaney Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama...Leadford is from a financially strapped background, socialist in his political views, and of an emotional, romantic temperament, especially towards the...By the mid-1980s, Baen’s books were featuring a distinctive type of cover art , which although arguably gaudy and “tacky,” was nonetheless

The academic and nonacademic characteristics of science and nonscience majors in Yemeni high schools

Science.gov (United States)

Anaam, Mahyoub Ali

The purposes of this study were: (a) to identify the variables associated with selection of majors; (b) to determine the differences between science and nonscience majors in general, and high and low achievers in particular, with respect to attitudes toward science, integrated science process skills, and logical thinking abilities; and (c) to determine if a significant relationship exists between students' majors and their personality types and learning styles. Data were gathered from 188 twelfth grade male and female high school students in Yemen, who enrolled in science (45 males and 47 females) and art and literature (47 males and 49 females) tracks. Data were collected by the following instruments: Past math and science achievement (data source taken from school records), Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory (1985), Integrated Science Process Skills Test, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Attitude Toward Science in School Assessment, Group Assessment of Logical Thinking, Yemeni High School Students Questionnaire. The Logistic Regression Model and the Linear Discriminant Analysis identified several variables that are associated with selection of majors. Moreover, some of the characteristics of science and nonscience majors that were revealed by these models include the following: Science majors seem to have higher degrees of curiosity in science, high interest in science at high school level, high tendency to believe that their majors will help them to find a potential job in the future, and have had higher achievement in science subjects, and have rated their math teachers higher than did nonscience majors. In contrast, nonscience majors seem to have higher degrees of curiosity in nonscience subjects, higher interest in science at elementary school, higher anxiety during science lessons than did science majors. In addition, General Linear Models allow that science majors generally demonstrate more positive attitudes towards science than do nonscience majors and they

Science as a Model for Rational, Legitimate Government

Science.gov (United States)

Branscomb, Lewis

2009-05-01

Before WWII science was largely dependent on support through teaching, and a few foundations. In the last half century, thanks to the contribution of applied science to winning the second world war, government became a deep-pockets source of support for science. While many academic scientists were deeply suspicious of government as a sponsor, the research universities saw an opportunity to build their institutions around government support. Government saw science as a means for sustaining its military primacy. Thus a marriage was consummated by partners -- science and politics -- who needed each other, but for quite different and to some degree conflicting motives. In the U.S. democracy, the relationship between science and politics has never been easy. The search for truth in science and for legitimacy in politics both require systems for generating public trust, but these systems are not the same, and indeed they are often incompatible. The most profound area of mismatch between science and politics is found not in conflicts over what kinds of research are deserving of public funding, but rather in conflicts over the advice government receives from scientific and technical experts. It is no accident that democratic America fostered progress in science and technology. Both American democracy and modern science are products of the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on reason and openness rather than on prejudice and traditional authority. American democracy has always benefited from a pragmatic willingness to learn from experience, very much as science relies on experiment. Progress in science is based transparency and accountability; these are also basic principles of democratic government. If science is corrupted by government, government itself is in danger of becoming corrupt. In recent years we seemed to be going down that path. It is no accident that President Obama and media commentators speak often of the ``new pragmatism,'' or that he appointed exceptionally

Science Language Accommodation in Elementary School Read-Alouds

Science.gov (United States)

Glass, Rory; Oliveira, Alandeom W.

2014-03-01

This study examines the pedagogical functions of accommodation (i.e. provision of simplified science speech) in science read-aloud sessions facilitated by five elementary teachers. We conceive of read-alouds as communicative events wherein teachers, faced with the task of orally delivering a science text of relatively high linguistic complexity, open up an alternate channel of communication, namely oral discussion. By doing so, teachers grant students access to a simplified linguistic input, a strategy designed to promote student comprehension of the textual contents of children's science books. It was found that nearly half (46%) of the read-aloud time was allotted to discussions with an increased percentage of less sophisticated words and reduced use of more sophisticated vocabulary than found in the books through communicative strategies such as simplified rewording, simplified definition, and simplified questioning. Further, aloud reading of more linguistically complex books required longer periods of discussion and an increased degree of teacher oral input and accommodation. We also found evidence of reversed simplification (i.e. sophistication), leading to student uptake of scientific language. The main significance of this study is that it reveals that teacher talk serves two often competing pedagogical functions (accessible communication of scientific information to students and promotion of student acquisition of the specialized language of science). It also underscores the importance of giving analytical consideration to the simplification-sophistication dimension of science classroom discourse as well as the potential of computer-based analysis of classroom discourse to inform science teaching.

Action learning enhances professional development of research supervisors: an Australian health science exemplar.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Kierrynn; Brownie, Sonya; Doran, Frances; Evans, Sue; Hutchinson, Marie; Mozolic-Staunton, Beth; Provost, Stephen; van Aken, Rosalie

2012-03-01

The worldwide academic workforce is ageing. At the same time, health and human services workforces are expanding. The preparation of educators to fill gaps in expertise and to position the health sciences for future growth is an urgent need. The findings from a recent action learning project that aimed to enhance the professional growth and development of higher degree researcher student supervisors in a School of Health and Human Sciences are presented. Seven early career researchers and the facilitator met for two hours every two to three weeks over 4 months between April and July 2010, in a rural and regional university in New South Wales, Australia. The processes initiated were a combination of experiential knowledge, referral to relevant published reports, use of an effective supervision checklist, and critical conversations. Learning outcomes centered on higher degree management and supervision pedagogy, communities of practice, knowledge translation, and the establishment of a research culture. The contextual barriers and implications of the methodology and learning outcomes for the professional development of health and human science practitioners, researchers and educators is also discussed. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Characteristics of regents college nontraditional nuclear technology degrees

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeSain, G.W.

1989-01-01

In 1971, the Board of Regents of The University of The State of New York created Regents College Degrees to assess academic knowledge of working adults and award college degrees based on demonstrated knowledge rather than time spent in a college classroom. It was founded on a basic premise that seemed radical to some but which is now widely accepted: What a person knows is more important than how or where that knowledge was acquired. Regents College degrees, therefore, are a different concept of a college: one that is an assessing institution rather than a teaching institution. It has no campus and offers no courses. Students can combine college credits from a variety of different sources int an accredited degree program. Staff and faculty evaluate that credit according to the requirements of the particular degree program. When all requirements are met, the Board or Regents of The University of The State of New York confers the degree

Research report 1987-1989: Environmental Quality Laboratory and Environmental Engineering Science, W. M. Keck Laboratories

OpenAIRE

Brooks, Norman H.

1990-01-01

This research biennial report for 1987-89 covers the activities of both the Environmental Engineering Science program and the Environmental Quality Laboratory for the period October 1987-November 1989. Environmental Engineering Science is the degree-granting academic program housed in the Keck Laboratories, with associated research projects. The Environmental Quality Laboratory is a research center focusing on large scale problems of environmental quality and natural resources. All the facult...

China’s rise as a major contributor to science and technology

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Yu; Zhang, Chunni; Lai, Qing

2014-01-01

In the past three decades, China has become a major contributor to science and technology. China now employs an increasingly large labor force of scientists and engineers at relatively high earnings and produces more science and engineering degrees than the United States at all levels, particularly bachelor’s. China’s research and development expenditure has been rising. Research output in China has been sharply increasing since 2002, making China the second largest producer of scientific papers after the United States. The quality of research by Chinese scientists has also been improving steadily. However, China’s rise in science also faces serious difficulties, partly attributable to its rigid, top–down administrative system, with allegations of scientific misconduct trending upward. PMID:24979796

Should anthropology be part of cognitive science?

Science.gov (United States)

Beller, Sieghard; Bender, Andrea; Medin, Douglas L

2012-07-01

Anthropology and the other cognitive science (CS) subdisciplines currently maintain a troubled relationship. With a debate in topiCS we aim at exploring the prospects for improving this relationship, and our introduction is intended as a catalyst for this debate. In order to encourage a frank sharing of perspectives, our comments will be deliberately provocative. Several challenges for a successful rapprochement are identified, encompassing the diverging paths that CS and anthropology have taken in the past, the degree of compatibility between (1) CS and (2) anthropology with regard to methodology and (3) research strategies, (4) the importance of anthropology for CS, and (5) the need for disciplinary diversity. Given this set of challenges, a reconciliation seems unlikely to follow on the heels of good intentions alone. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Distance education in dental hygiene bachelor of science degree completion programs: As perceived by students and faculty

Science.gov (United States)

Tsokris, Maureen

This study investigated student and faculty perceptions of their experiences with online learning in dental hygiene Bachelor of Science degree completion programs on the dimensions of: quality of learning, connectedness to the learning environment, technology factors and student satisfaction. The experiences of dental hygiene students who took their core BS dental hygiene (BSDH) courses completely online were compared and contrasted with the perceptions of dental hygiene students who had taken a portion of the BSDH courses online and a portion in a traditional face-to-face classroom setting. Furthermore, this study compared and contrasted the perceptions of faculty on these same four dimensions based on the position held by the faculty member and the course format they are teaching in: online or a combination of online and a traditional face-to-face classroom setting. This study revealed several important differences and similarities between students who had taken their courses online and those who had taken a portion of the BSDH courses online and a portion in a traditional face-to-face classroom setting. The results showed students who had taken their courses online described factors related to the instructor as important to the quality of the learning experience such as: the experience and qualifications of the professor, the examples they provided and the instructors prompt response to questions. Students who had taken courses in both formats described factors related to the amount of effort they put into the course, their classmates' preparedness, the course materials and assignments as important to the quality of the learning experience. Although students who completed courses online reported difficulty participating in group activities, they were more positive regarding the level of interaction they experienced with their classmates online Findings indicated students who had taken their courses in both formats would have liked more opportunities to interact

CaTs Lab (CHAOS and Thermal Sciences Laboratory)

Science.gov (United States)

Teate, Anthony A.

2002-01-01

The CHAOS and Thermal Sciences Laboratory (CaTs) at James Madison University evolved into a noteworthy effort to increase minority representation in the sciences and mathematics. Serving ten students and faculty directly, and nearly 50 students indirectly, CaTs, through recruitment efforts, workshops, mentoring programs, tutorial services and research and computational laboratories, fulfilled its intent to initiate an academically enriched research program aimed at strengthening the academic and self-actualization skills of undergraduate students with potential to pursue doctoral study in the sciences. The stated goal of the program was to increase by 5% the number of enrolled mathematics and science students into the program. Success far exceeded the program goals by producing 100% graduation rate of all supported recipients during its tenure, with 30% of the students subsequently in pursuit of graduate degrees. Student retention in the program exceeded 90% and faculty participation exceeded the three members involved in mentoring and tutoring, gaining multi-disciplinary support. Aggressive marketing of the program resulted in several paid summer internships and commitments from NASA and an ongoing relationship with CHROME, a nationally recognized organization which focuses on developing minority students in the sciences and mathematics. Success of the program was only limited by the limited fiscal resources at NASA which resulted in phasing out of the program.

Earth and Space Science PhD Employment Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Giesler, J. L.

2001-05-01

A recent report by the American Geophysical Union and the American Geological Institute, "Earth and Space Science PhDs, Class of 1999" looked at employment trends of recent graduates. Demographically, our graduates are, as a population, older than those who graduated in any other physical science. While almost one-third of graduates are employed in a different subfield than that of their degree, more than 80% of Earth and space science PhDs secure initial employment in the geosciences. Graduates are finding employment in less than 6 months and the unemployment rate has dropped significantly below that of two years ago. The PhD classes of 1996, 1997, and 1998 had ~ 50% of their graduates taking postdoctoral appointments. In 1999, this declined to only 38% postdocs with an increase in permanent employment in both the education and government sectors. Perception of the job market is improving as well. Respondents are considerably happier than they were in 1996.

Design and Assessment of an Associate Degree-Level Plant Operations Technical Education Program

Science.gov (United States)

Selwitz, Jason Lawrence

Research was undertaken to develop and evaluate an associate degree-level technical education program in Plant Operations oriented towards training students in applied science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills and knowledge relevant to a spectrum of processing industries. This work focuses on four aspects of the curriculum and course development and evaluation research. First, the context of, and impetus for, what was formerly called vocational education, now referred to as technical or workforce education, is provided. Second, the research that was undertaken to design and evaluate an associate degree-level STEM workforce education program is described. Third, the adaptation of a student self-assessment of learning gains instrument is reviewed, and an analysis of the resulting data using an adapted logic model is provided, to evaluate the extent to which instructional approaches, in two process control/improvement-focused courses, were effective in meeting course-level intended learning outcomes. Finally, eight integrative multiscale exercises were designed from two example process systems, wastewater treatment and fast pyrolysis. The integrative exercises are intended for use as tools to accelerate the formation of an operator-technician's multiscale vision of systems, unit operations, underlying processes, and fundamental reactions relevant to multiple industries. Community and technical colleges serve a vital function in STEM education by training workers for medium- and high-skilled technical careers and providing employers the labor necessary to operate and maintain thriving business ventures. Through development of the curricular, course, and assessment-related instruments and tools, this research helps ensure associate degree-level technical education programs can engage in a continual process of program evaluation and improvement.

Nuclear Engineering Enrollments and Degrees Survey, 2005 Data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education

2006-01-01

This annual report details the number of nuclear engineering bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees awarded at a sampling of academic programs from 1998-2005. it also looks at nuclear engineering degrees by curriculum and the number of students enrolled in nuclear engineering degree programs at 30 U.S. universities in 2005

Scholarship in nursing: Degree-prepared nurses versus diploma ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

All but one (n = 18) nursing educators who obtained a degree as first qualification are educators in the private sector that include both universities as well as nursing colleges of private hospital groups. Data further revealed that most nurse educators and those in managerial positions were degree prepared. More degree ...

Health Physics Enrollments and Degrees Survey, 2005 Data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education

2006-01-01

This annual report details the number of health physics bachelor's, master's, and postdoctoral degrees awarded at a sampling of academic programs from 1998-2005. It also looks at health physics degrees by curriculum and the number of students enrolled in health physics degree programs at 30 U.S. universities in 2005

Health Physics Enrollments and Degrees Survey, 2004 Data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education

2005-01-01

This annual report details the number of health physics bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees awarded at a sampling of academic programs from 1998-2004. It also looks at health physics degrees by curriculum and the number of students enrolled in health physics degree programs at 28 U.S. universities in 2004

An examination of the association between demographic and educational factors and African American achievement in science

Science.gov (United States)

Cottledge, Michael Christopher

Objective of the Study: The objective of this research study was to investigate whether an association exists between teacher demographic factors (years of teaching experience and gender), 2 educational factors (certification type and certification pathway) and the percent passing rate of tenth grade African American male students on the 2010 science TAKS. Answers to the following questions were sought: 1. Is there an association between teacher demographic factors and the percent passing rate of their tenth grade African American male students on the 2010 science TAKS? 2. Is there an association between teacher educational factors and the percent passing rate of their tenth grade African American male students on the 2010 science TAKS? 3. Is there an association between teacher demographic factors, educational factors and the percent passing rate of their tenth grade African American male students on the 2010 science TAKS? Status of the Question: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), science and engineering jobs in the U.S. have increased steadily over recent years and by the year 2016 the number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) jobs will have grown by more than 21 percent. This increase in science and engineering jobs will double the growth rate of all other workforce sectors combined. The BLS also reports that qualified minority applicants needed to fill these positions will be few and far between. African Americans, Latinos, and other minorities constitute 24 percent of the U.S. population but only 13 percent of college graduates and just 10 percent of people with college degrees who work in science and engineering (Education Trust, 2009). Drawing on the above information, I proposed the following hypotheses to the research questions: H01: There will be no significant statistical association between the demographic factors teacher gender and years of teaching experience and the percent passing rate of their tenth grade African

Nuclear science education in Taiwan, 1956-1992

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung Chien

1993-01-01

The nuclear science education has been established in Taiwan at the College of Nuclear Science, National Tsing Hua University since 1956, the only one among 123 universities and colleges in Taiwan where nuclear-related education is offered. The Nuclear/Radiochemistry program, with nine faculty members, offers bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees in Nuclear Science. Lectures and lab classes of nuclear chemistry, radiochemistry, and allied branches in health physics, nuclear instruments, nuclear engineering, nuclear medicine, radiation biology, and environmental monitoring are given to the 17 undergraduate students and 33 postgraduate students currently registered. Support from the well-developed local nuclear power industry and government agencies is converged with rapid growth rate toward the Nuclear/Radiochemistry program; the 1992 annual research contracts for the program amounted over one million US dollars. Careerplacement program for graduates is developed to orientate them into the local nuclear power utilities as well as agricultural, medical, industrial, academic, and governmental sects where nuclear chemists and radiochemists at all levels are desperately needed. (author) 8 refs.; 3 figs.; 4 tabs

The third data release of the Kilo-Degree Survey and associated data products

Science.gov (United States)

de Jong, Jelte T. A.; Kleijn, Gijs A. Verdoes; Erben, Thomas; Hildebrandt, Hendrik; Kuijken, Konrad; Sikkema, Gert; Brescia, Massimo; Bilicki, Maciej; Napolitano, Nicola R.; Amaro, Valeria; Begeman, Kor G.; Boxhoorn, Danny R.; Buddelmeijer, Hugo; Cavuoti, Stefano; Getman, Fedor; Grado, Aniello; Helmich, Ewout; Huang, Zhuoyi; Irisarri, Nancy; La Barbera, Francesco; Longo, Giuseppe; McFarland, John P.; Nakajima, Reiko; Paolillo, Maurizio; Puddu, Emanuella; Radovich, Mario; Rifatto, Agatino; Tortora, Crescenzo; Valentijn, Edwin A.; Vellucci, Civita; Vriend, Willem-Jan; Amon, Alexandra; Blake, Chris; Choi, Ami; Conti, Ian Fenech; Gwyn, Stephen D. J.; Herbonnet, Ricardo; Heymans, Catherine; Hoekstra, Henk; Klaes, Dominik; Merten, Julian; Miller, Lance; Schneider, Peter; Viola, Massimo

2017-08-01

Context. The Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) is an ongoing optical wide-field imaging survey with the OmegaCAM camera at the VLT Survey Telescope. It aims to image 1500 square degrees in four filters (ugri). The core science driver is mapping the large-scale matter distribution in the Universe, using weak lensing shear and photometric redshift measurements. Further science cases include galaxy evolution, Milky Way structure, detection of high-redshift clusters, and finding rare sources such as strong lenses and quasars. Aims: Here we present the third public data release and several associated data products, adding further area, homogenized photometric calibration, photometric redshifts and weak lensing shear measurements to the first two releases. Methods: A dedicated pipeline embedded in the Astro-WISE information system is used for the production of the main release. Modifications with respect to earlier releases are described in detail. Photometric redshifts have been derived using both Bayesian template fitting, and machine-learning techniques. For the weak lensing measurements, optimized procedures based on the THELI data reduction and lensfit shear measurement packages are used. Results: In this third data release an additional 292 new survey tiles (≈300 deg2) stacked ugri images are made available, accompanied by weight maps, masks, and source lists. The multi-band catalogue, including homogenized photometry and photometric redshifts, covers the combined DR1, DR2 and DR3 footprint of 440 survey tiles (44 deg2). Limiting magnitudes are typically 24.3, 25.1, 24.9, 23.8 (5σ in a 2'' aperture) in ugri, respectively, and the typical r-band PSF size is less than 0.7''. The photometric homogenization scheme ensures accurate colours and an absolute calibration stable to ≈2% for gri and ≈3% in u. Separately released for the combined area of all KiDS releases to date are a weak lensing shear catalogue and photometric redshifts based on two different machine

High-Degree Neurons Feed Cortical Computations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicholas M Timme

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Recent work has shown that functional connectivity among cortical neurons is highly varied, with a small percentage of neurons having many more connections than others. Also, recent theoretical developments now make it possible to quantify how neurons modify information from the connections they receive. Therefore, it is now possible to investigate how information modification, or computation, depends on the number of connections a neuron receives (in-degree or sends out (out-degree. To do this, we recorded the simultaneous spiking activity of hundreds of neurons in cortico-hippocampal slice cultures using a high-density 512-electrode array. This preparation and recording method combination produced large numbers of neurons recorded at temporal and spatial resolutions that are not currently available in any in vivo recording system. We utilized transfer entropy (a well-established method for detecting linear and nonlinear interactions in time series and the partial information decomposition (a powerful, recently developed tool for dissecting multivariate information processing into distinct parts to quantify computation between neurons where information flows converged. We found that computations did not occur equally in all neurons throughout the networks. Surprisingly, neurons that computed large amounts of information tended to receive connections from high out-degree neurons. However, the in-degree of a neuron was not related to the amount of information it computed. To gain insight into these findings, we developed a simple feedforward network model. We found that a degree-modified Hebbian wiring rule best reproduced the pattern of computation and degree correlation results seen in the real data. Interestingly, this rule also maximized signal propagation in the presence of network-wide correlations, suggesting a mechanism by which cortex could deal with common random background input. These are the first results to show that the extent to

College science teachers' views of classroom inquiry

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Patrick L.; Abell, Sandra K.; Demir, Abdulkadir; Schmidt, Francis J.

2006-09-01

The purposes of this study were to (a) gain an understanding of the views of inquiry held by faculty members involved in undergraduate science teaching and (b) describe the challenges, constraints, and opportunities that they perceived in designing and teaching inquiry-based laboratories. Participants included 19 college professors, representing both life and physical science disciplines, from (a) 2-year community college, (b) small, private nonprofit liberal arts college, (c) public master's granting university, and (d) public doctoral/research extensive university. We collected data through semistructured interviews and applied an iterative data analysis process. College science faculty members held a full and open inquiry view, seeing classroom inquiry as time consuming, unstructured, and student directed. They believed that inquiry was more appropriate for upper level science majors than for introductory or nonscience majors. Although faculty members valued inquiry, they perceived limitations of time, class size, student motivation, and student ability. These limitations, coupled with their view of inquiry, constrained them from implementing inquiry-based laboratories. Our proposed inquiry continuum represents a broader view of inquiry that recognizes the interaction between two dimensions of inquiry: (a) the degree of inquiry and (b) the level of student directedness, and provides for a range of inquiry-based classroom activities.

Experimental stations as a tool to teach soil science at the University of Valencia

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Cerdà, Artemi

2010-05-01

This paper shows the strategies used at the University of Valencia (Department of Geography. Soil Erosion and Degradation Research Group) to teach soil science at the Geography and Enviromental Science Degrees. The use of the Montesa and El Teularet research stations contribute with a better knowledge on soil science for the students as they can see the measurements carried out in the field. Students visit the stations and contribute to measurements and sampling every season. The use of meteorological stations, erosion plots, soil moisture and soil temperatures probes, and sampling give the students the chances to understand the theoretical approach they use to have. This presentation will show how the students evolve, and how their knowledge in soil science is improved.

Astronomy Enrollments and Degrees: Results from the 2009 & 2010 Surveys of Physics & Astronomy Enrollments and Degrees. Focus On

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, Starr; Mulvey, Patrick

2011-01-01

The Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics conducts an annual census from October through February of all departments that offer degrees in astronomy (78) in the United States. Astronomy departments consist of stand-alone degree-granting departments (39) and departments that are administered along with a physics program…

Stylistic analysis of headlines in science journalism: A case study of New Scientist.

Science.gov (United States)

Molek-Kozakowska, Katarzyna

2017-11-01

This article explores science journalism in the context of the media competition for readers' attention. It offers a qualitative stylistic perspective on how popular journalism colonizes science communication. It examines a sample of 400 headlines collected over the period of 15 months from the ranking of five 'most-read' articles on the website of the international magazine New Scientist. Dominant lexical properties of the sample are first identified through frequency and keyness survey and then analysed qualitatively from the perspective of the stylistic projection of newsworthiness. The analysis illustrates various degrees of stylistic 'hybridity' in online popularization of scientific research. Stylistic patterns that celebrate, domesticate or personalize science coverage (characteristic of popular journalism) are intertwined with devices that foreground tentativeness, precision and informativeness (characteristic of science communication). The article reflects on the implications of including various proportions of academic and popular styles in science journalism.

Assessing the Life Science Knowledge of Students and Teachers Represented by the K–8 National Science Standards

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Sadler, Philip M.; Coyle, Harold; Smith, Nancy Cook; Miller, Jaimie; Mintzes, Joel; Tanner, Kimberly; Murray, John

2013-01-01

We report on the development of an item test bank and associated instruments based on the National Research Council (NRC) K–8 life sciences content standards. Utilizing hundreds of studies in the science education research literature on student misconceptions, we constructed 476 unique multiple-choice items that measure the degree to which test takers hold either a misconception or an accepted scientific view. Tested nationally with 30,594 students, following their study of life science, and their 353 teachers, these items reveal a range of interesting results, particularly student difficulties in mastering the NRC standards. Teachers also answered test items and demonstrated a high level of subject matter knowledge reflecting the standards of the grade level at which they teach, but exhibiting few misconceptions of their own. In addition, teachers predicted the difficulty of each item for their students and which of the wrong answers would be the most popular. Teachers were found to generally overestimate their own students’ performance and to have a high level of awareness of the particular misconceptions that their students hold on the K–4 standards, but a low level of awareness of misconceptions related to the 5–8 standards. PMID:24006402

Assessing the life science knowledge of students and teachers represented by the K-8 national science standards.

Science.gov (United States)

Sadler, Philip M; Coyle, Harold; Smith, Nancy Cook; Miller, Jaimie; Mintzes, Joel; Tanner, Kimberly; Murray, John

2013-01-01

We report on the development of an item test bank and associated instruments based on the National Research Council (NRC) K-8 life sciences content standards. Utilizing hundreds of studies in the science education research literature on student misconceptions, we constructed 476 unique multiple-choice items that measure the degree to which test takers hold either a misconception or an accepted scientific view. Tested nationally with 30,594 students, following their study of life science, and their 353 teachers, these items reveal a range of interesting results, particularly student difficulties in mastering the NRC standards. Teachers also answered test items and demonstrated a high level of subject matter knowledge reflecting the standards of the grade level at which they teach, but exhibiting few misconceptions of their own. In addition, teachers predicted the difficulty of each item for their students and which of the wrong answers would be the most popular. Teachers were found to generally overestimate their own students' performance and to have a high level of awareness of the particular misconceptions that their students hold on the K-4 standards, but a low level of awareness of misconceptions related to the 5-8 standards.

[Actigraphy in Bipolar Disorder and First Degree Relatives].

Science.gov (United States)

Andrade Carrillo, Rommel; Gómez Cano, Sujey; Palacio Ortiz, Juan David; García Valencia, Jenny

2015-01-01

Bipolar disorder is a disabling disease that involves a significant economic costs to the health system, making it is essential to investigate possible early predictors such as changes in sleep-wake cycle in high-risk populations. To review the available literature on alterations in the sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythm in patients with bipolar disorder and their first degree relatives. A literature search was performed in the data bases, Access Medicine, ClinicalKey, EMBASE, JAMA, Lilacs, OVID, Oxford Journals, ScienceDirect, SciELO, APA y PsycNET. Articles in both English and Spanish were reviewed, without limits by study type. Actigraphy is a non-invasive, useful method for assessing sleep-wake cycle disturbances in the active phases of bipolar disorder, and during euthymia periods. Actigraphy showed good sensitivity to predict true sleep, but low specificity, compared with polysomnography. Although studies in bipolar offspring and relatives are scarce, they show sleep changes similar to bipolar patients. Actigraphy may be a good screening tool of sleep/wake cycle in patients with bipolar disorders, because it is economic, non-invasive and sensitive. Longitudinal studies are required to evaluate its potential use as a risk marker. Copyright © 2014 Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Publicado por Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

The Lived Experience of Applied Science Graduates Who Complete the Applied Baccalaureate

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Kujawa, Tricia A.

2012-01-01

The enrollment and transfer behaviors of college students are diverse. As a result college students travel various pathways to the baccalaureate degree. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the lived experience of students who entered higher education through an associate of applied science (AAS) program and then…

Adolescent obesity and future college degree attainment.

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler-Brown, Angela G; Ngo, Long H; Phillips, Russell S; Wee, Christina C

2010-06-01

The current impact of adolescent obesity on educational attainment is not clear. The objectives of our study were to determine whether adolescent obesity is associated with college degree attainment and how this association may have changed over time. We used data from a contemporary national cohort of over 4,000 persons who were adolescents (aged 14-18) in 1997 to assess the relationship between adolescent obesity and education. To assess for changes in this relationship over time, we also analyzed an older, similarly structured cohort of over 3,000 persons who were adolescents (aged 16-18) in 1981. Our primary outcome was college degree completion. We found that in the older cohort (adolescents in 1979), there were no differences in college degree attainment by adolescent weight status before and after adjustment. However, unadjusted analysis of the contemporary cohort (adolescents in 1997) demonstrated that those who were normal weight as adolescents had a higher prevalence of college degree attainment at follow-up compared to obese adolescents (24% vs. 10%). After adjustment for socio-demographic variables (age, sex, race, height, parental income-to-poverty ratio, parental education, aptitude test scores), obese adolescents were less likely to have attained a college degree compared to normal weight peers (adjusted risk ratio 0.61 95% confidence interval 0.38-0.83). Expectations for a future college degree did not vary by weight status and did not explain this observation. In conclusion, adolescent obesity is associated with lower likelihood of college completion. This relationship was not observed in an older cohort of adolescents.

Quasi-monoenergetic neutron energy spectra for 246 and 389 MeV (7)Li(p,n) reactions at angles from 0 degrees to 300 degrees

CERN Document Server

Iwamoto, Y; Nakamura, T; Nakashima, H; Mares, V; Itoga, T; Matsumoto, T; Nakane, Y; Feldbaumer, E; Jaegerhofer, L; Pioch, C; Tamii, A; Satoh, D; Masuda, A; Sato, T; Iwase, H; Yashima, H; Nishiyama, J; Hagiwara, M; Hatanaka, K; Sakamoto, Y

2011-01-01

The authors measured the neutron energy spectra of a quasi-monoenergetic (7)Li(p,n) neutron source with 246 and 389 MeV protons set at seven angles (0 degrees, 2.5 degrees, 5 degrees, 10 degrees, 15 degrees, 20 degrees and 30 degrees), using a time-of-flight (TOF) method employing organic scintillators NE213 at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) of Osaka University. The energy spectra of the source neutrons were precisely deduced down to 2 MeV at 0 degrees and 10 MeV at other angles. The cross-sections of the peak neutron production reaction at 0 degrees were on the 35-40 mb line of other experimental data, and the peak neutron angular distribution agreed well with the Taddeucci formula. Neutron energy spectra below 100 MeV at all angles were comparable, but the shapes of the continuum above 150 MeV changed considerably with the angle. In order to consider the correction required to derive the response in the peak region from the measured total response for high-energy neutron monitors such as DAR...

A qualitative study of motivation in Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP) precollege students

Science.gov (United States)

Yatchmeneff, Michele

The dramatic underrepresentation of Alaska Natives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees and professions calls for rigorous research in how students access these fields. Research has shown that students who complete advanced mathematics and science courses while in high school are more academically prepared to pursue and succeed in STEM degree programs and professions. There is limited research on what motivates precollege students to become more academically prepared before they graduate from high school. In Alaska, Alaska Native precollege students regularly underperform on required State of Alaska mathematics and science exams when compared to non-Alaska Native students. Research also suggests that different things may motivate Alaska Native students than racial majority students. Therefore there is a need to better understand what motivates Alaska Native students to take and successfully complete advanced mathematics and science courses while in high school so that they are academically prepared to pursue and succeed in STEM degrees and professions. The Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP) is a longitudinal STEM educational enrichment program that works with Alaska Native students starting in middle school through doctoral degrees and further professional endeavors. Research suggests that Alaska Native students participating in ANSEP are completing STEM degrees at higher rates than before the program was available. ANSEP appears to be unique due to its longitudinal approach and the large numbers of Alaska Native precollege, university, and graduate students it supports. ANSEP provides precollege students with opportunities to take advanced high school and college-level mathematics and science courses and complete STEM related projects. Students work and live together on campus during the program components. Student outcome data suggests that ANSEP has been successful at motivating precollege participants to

Intending to stay: Positive images, attitudes, and classroom experiences as influences on students' intentions to persist in science and engineering majors

Science.gov (United States)

Wyer, Mary Beth

2000-10-01

Contemporary research on persistence in undergraduate education in science and engineering has focused primarily on identifying the structural, social, and psychological barriers to participation by students in underrepresented groups. As a result, there is a wealth of data to document why students leave their majors, but there is little direct empirical data to support prevailing presumptions about why students stay. Moreover, researchers have used widely differing definitions and measures of persistence, and they have seldom explored field differences. This study compared three ways of measuring persistence. These constituted three criterion variables: commitment to major, degree aspirations, and commitment to a science/engineering career. The study emphasized social factors that encourage students to persist, including four predictor variables---(1) positive images of scientists/engineers, (2) positive attitudes toward gender and racial equality, (3) positive classroom experiences, and (4) high levels of social integration. In addition, because researchers have repeatedly documented the degree to which women are more likely than men to drop out of science and engineering majors, the study examined the potential impact of gender in relation to these predictor variables. A survey was administered in the classroom to a total of 285 students enrolled in a required course for either a biological sciences and or an engineering major. Predictor variables were developed from standard scales, including the Images of Science/Scientists Scale, the Attitudes toward Women Scale, the Women in Science Scale, and the Perceptions of Prejudice Scale. Based on logistic regression models, results indicate that positive images of scientists and engineers was significantly related to improving the odds of students having a high commitment to major, high degree aspirations, and high commitment to career. There was also evidence that positive attitudes toward gender and racial equality

Factors that Influence Community College Students' Interest in Science Coursework

Science.gov (United States)

Sasway, Hope

There is a need for science education research that explores community college student, instructor, and course characteristics that influence student interest and motivation to study science. Increasing student enrollment and persistence in STEM is a national concern. Nearly half of all college graduates have passed through a community college at some point in their higher education. This study at a large, ethnically diverse, suburban community college showed that student interest tends to change over the course of a semester, and these changes are related to student, instructor, and course variables. The theoretical framework for this study was based upon Adult Learning Theory and research in motivation to learn science. Adult Learning Theory relies heavily on self-directed learning and concepts of andragogy, or the art and science of teaching adults. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods case study of student course interest utilized quantitative data from 639 pre-and post-surveys and a background and personal experience questionnaire. The four factors of the survey instrument (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) were related to motivation and interest by interviewing 12 students selected through maximum variation sampling in order to reach saturation. Qualitative data were collected and categorized by these factors with extrinsic and intrinsic themes emerging from personal and educational experiences. Analysis of covariance showed student characteristics that were significant included age and whether the student already held a post-secondary degree. Significant instructor characteristics included whether the instructor taught full- or part-time, taught high school, held a doctoral degree, and had pedagogical training. Significant course characteristics included whether the biology course was a major, elective, or service course; whether the course had a library assignment; and high attrition rate. The binary logistic regression model showed

Increasingly Global: Combining an International Business Degree with a Post-Degree Designation

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Rachel; Terry, Andy; Vibhakar, Ashvin

2006-01-01

In the increasingly complex and competitive global marketplace, many students seek to gain multiple skills and credentials that can aid them in their career goals. One such career strategy weds a general overarching comprehensive degree with a specific and targeted skill set. This paper provides a viable curriculum path for students who seek…

Academic computer science and gender: A naturalistic study investigating the causes of attrition

Science.gov (United States)

Declue, Timothy Hall

Far fewer women than men take computer science classes in high school, enroll in computer science programs in college, or complete advanced degrees in computer science. The computer science pipeline begins to shrink for women even before entering college, but it is at the college level that the "brain drain" is the most evident numerically, especially in the first class taken by most computer science majors called "Computer Science 1" or CS-I. The result, for both academia and industry, is a pronounced technological gender disparity in academic and industrial computer science. The study revealed the existence of several factors influencing success in CS-I. First, and most clearly, the effect of attribution processes seemed to be quite strong. These processes tend to work against success for females and in favor of success for males. Likewise, evidence was discovered which strengthens theories related to prior experience and the perception that computer science has a culture which is hostile to females. Two unanticipated themes related to the motivation and persistence of successful computer science majors. The findings did not support the belief that females have greater logistical problems in computer science than males, or that females tend to have a different programming style than males which adversely affects the females' ability to succeed in CS-I.

Roster of Astronomy Departments with Enrollment and Degree Data, 2012: Results from the 2012 Survey of Enrollments and Degrees. Focus On

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, Starr; Mulvey, Patrick J.

2013-01-01

The U.S. has experienced a sharp increase in the number of bachelor astronomy degrees awarded in recent years with about twice as many degrees now being awarded than a decade ago. There were 385 astronomy bachelor's degrees awarded in the 2011-12 academic year. The number of astronomy PhDs awarded in recent years is up about 50% from a decade…

Teaching bioethics: the tale of a "soft" science in a hard world.

Science.gov (United States)

Lovy, Andrew; Paskhover, Boris; Trachtman, Howard

2010-10-01

Although bioethics is considered essential to the practice of medicine, medical students often view it as a "soft" subject that is secondary in importance to the other courses in their basic science and clinical curriculum. This perspective may be a consequence of the heavy reliance on students' aptitude in the quantitative sciences as a criterion for entry into medical school and as a barometer of academic success after admission. It is exacerbated by the widespread impression that bioethics is imprecise and culturally relativistic. In an effort to redress this imbalance, we propose an approach to teaching bioethics to medical students which emphasizes that the intellectual basis and the degree of certainty of knowledge is comparable in all medical subjects ranging from basic science courses to clinical rotations to bioethics tutorials. Adopting these pedagogical steps may promote greater integration of the various elements-bioethics and clinical science-in the medical school curriculum.

Disciplinary Interflow of Library and Information Science in Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiung-fang Liang

2004-09-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the indexed papers dated from 1996 to 2002, included in the Taiwan Humanities Citation Index (THCI. The goal is to explore disciplinary interflow of Library & Information Science (LIS studies in Taiwan. The results show that the researchers of LIS mostly cooperate with researchers and scholars in the fields of social science and engineering & technology. In addition, LIS researchers focusing on “Library & Information Technology” and “Reader Services” frequently cooperate with researchers from other disciplines. With regard to their citation behaviors, LIS researchers frequently cite literatures of the Social Science, Engineering & Technology, and History. Especially, the major of cited literatures are written in Chinese and published 5 to 10 years earlier than the citing papers.The LIS research topic, “Administration and Management”, has the largest COC (citation outside category index and WCOC (weighted citation outside category index. As an LIS research topic, “Administration and Management” might have relatively higher degree of disciplinary interflow. [Article content in Chinese

Business Statistics and Management Science Online: Teaching Strategies and Assessment of Student Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Sebastianelli, Rose; Tamimi, Nabil

2011-01-01

Given the expected rise in the number of online business degrees, issues regarding quality and assessment in online courses will become increasingly important. The authors focus on the suitability of online delivery for quantitative business courses, specifically business statistics and management science. They use multiple approaches to assess…

Integration of Basic and Clinical Sciences: Faculty Perspectives at a U.S. Dental School.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Hoeven, Dharini; van der Hoeven, Ransome; Zhu, Liang; Busaidy, Kamal; Quock, Ryan L

2018-04-01

Although dental education has traditionally been organized into basic sciences education (first and second years) and clinical education (third and fourth years), there has been growing interest in ways to better integrate the two to more effectively educate students and prepare them for practice. Since 2012, The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston (UTSD) has made it a priority to improve integration of basic and clinical sciences, with a focus to this point on integrating the basic sciences. The aim of this study was to determine the perspectives of basic and clinical science faculty members regarding basic and clinical sciences integration and the degree of integration currently occurring. In October 2016, all 227 faculty members (15 basic scientists and 212 clinicians) were invited to participate in an online survey. Of the 212 clinicians, 84 completed the clinician educator survey (response rate 40%). All 15 basic scientists completed the basic science educator survey (response rate 100%). The majority of basic and clinical respondents affirmed the value of integration (93.3%, 97.6%, respectively) and reported regular integration in their teaching (80%, 86.9%). There were no significant differences between basic scientists and clinicians on perceived importance (p=0.457) and comfort with integration (p=0.240), but the basic scientists were more likely to integrate (p=0.039) and collaborate (p=0.021) than the clinicians. There were no significant differences between generalist and specialist clinicians on importance (p=0.474) and degree (p=0.972) of integration in teaching and intent to collaborate (p=0.864), but the specialists reported feeling more comfortable presenting basic science information (p=0.033). Protected faculty time for collaborative efforts and a repository of integrated basic science and clinical examples for use in teaching and faculty development were recommended to improve integration. Although questions might be raised about

The women in science and engineering scholars program

Science.gov (United States)

Falconer, Etta Z.; Guy, Lori Ann

1989-01-01

The Women in Science and Engineering Scholars Program provides scientifically talented women students, including those from groups underrepresented in the scientific and technical work force, with the opportunity to pursue undergraduate studies in science and engineering in the highly motivating and supportive environment of Spelman College. It also exposes students to research training at NASA Centers during the summer. The program provides an opportunity for students to increase their knowledge of career opportunities at NASA and to strengthen their motivation through exposure to NASA women scientists and engineers as role models. An extensive counseling and academic support component to maximize academic performance supplements the instructional and research components. The program is designed to increase the number of women scientists and engineers with graduate degrees, particularly those with an interest in a career with NASA.

Current Trends in Associate Degree Nursing Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Blackstone, Elaine Grant

This study was designed to ascertain current trends in associate degree nursing programs and to discover innovative ideas and techniques which could be applied to the existing program at Miami-Dade Community College (Florida). Data was compiled from interviews with representatives of ten associate degree nursing programs in six states. Information…

Library resources and services use for study by students of medical Sciences in Semnan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, 2006-7

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saeed Haji Aghajani

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Background and purpose: Today with growth of information, information sources are also growing in number and diversity. The users should welcome these changes and learn the skills which help with optional use of information resources and prevents confusion. This study is an attempt to evaluate student use of information resources and library services in Semnan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services.Methods: In this survey a questionnaire was used to collect the date. The questionnaire included question on demographic data such as the degree program of study, sex, living place and 15 items on study habits and library use. The last year students of 13 disciplines leading to Associate degree, Bachelors degree, and Professional doctoral degree (medicine were included in this study. The association of variables was tested with chi-square and fisher exact tests and to examine the correlation of variables Spearman correlation coefficient was used. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered significantResults: In this study 215 last year students participated. Of all participants 70.3% were female; 43.3% study for an associate degree, 47.4% studies for Bachelor’s degree and 9.3% studied for doctoral degree; 92.6% lived in dormitories. There is a significant association between use of library sources and the study program degree (r=0.191, P=0.005 and living place (P=0.026 Original English books are used scarcely. Use of English sources are associated with the degree the students studied for (r=0.137, P=0.045 and sex; using specialty journal is associated with program degree (r=0.160, P=0.013.Most students of doctoral degree (40%, bachelors degree (42.2%, and associate degree (32.3% did not use library as an educational setting. Male students (28.2% and students living in dormitories (24.6% “always” used library as main study place.Conclusions: Most of our students always or often preferred transcripts of instructors’ lecture over

Computer science education for medical informaticians.

Science.gov (United States)

Logan, Judith R; Price, Susan L

2004-03-18

The core curriculum in the education of medical informaticians remains a topic of concern and discussion. This paper reports on a survey of medical informaticians with Master's level credentials that asked about computer science (CS) topics or skills that they need in their employment. All subjects were graduates or "near-graduates" of a single medical informatics Master's program that they entered with widely varying educational backgrounds. The survey instrument was validated for face and content validity prior to use. All survey items were rated as having some degree of importance in the work of these professionals, with retrieval and analysis of data from databases, database design and web technologies deemed most important. Least important were networking skills and object-oriented design and concepts. These results are consistent with other work done in the field and suggest that strong emphasis on technical skills, particularly databases, data analysis, web technologies, computer programming and general computer science are part of the core curriculum for medical informatics.

Embedding Publication Skills in Science Research Training: A Writing Group Programme Based on Applied Linguistics Frameworks and Facilitated by a Scientist

Science.gov (United States)

Cargill, Margaret; Smernik, Ronald

2016-01-01

Few systematic efforts have been reported to develop higher degree by research student skills for writing publishable articles in science and technology fields. There is a need to address this lack in the light of the current importance of publication to science research students and the high supervisor workload entailed in repeated draft…

Science teachers in deaf education: A national survey of K-8 teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Cynthia

A survey was conducted with 67 science teachers who taught deaf children at the elementary school level. Teacher background variables, information about teacher preparation and certification, preferred teaching methods, communication methodologies, curriculum, and the use of technology were gathered. A purposeful, convenience sampling technique was employed. Utilizing a non-experimental, basic research design and survey methodology, the researcher reviewed both quantitative and qualitative data. The majority of science teachers in this survey at the elementary school level are female and hearing. More than half have deaf education masters degrees. Few have science degrees. The majority of teachers had less than 10 years teaching experience with deaf students. Sixty percent were highly qualified in science; only forty percent were certified in science. They were equally employed at either a state residential school or a public day school. Two-way chi-square analyses were carried out. Hearing teachers preferred to observe other teachers teaching science compared to deaf teachers chi2 (1, N = 67) = 5.39, p translanguaging than hearing teachers (chi2 (1, N = 67) = 4.54, p < .05). Hearing teachers used the computer more often in the classroom than deaf teachers (chi 2 (1, N = 67) = 4.65, p < .01). Hearing teachers had their students use the computer more regularly than deaf teachers (chi2 (1, N = 67) = 11.49, p < .01). Teachers who worked in residential schools compared to working in public schools attended more state department of education science workshops chi2 (1, N = 67) = 6.83, p < .01, attended national or state science meetings chi2 (1, N = 67) = 7.96, p < .01, were familiar with the Star Schools program chi2 (1, N=67) = 13.23, p < .01, and participated more in Star Schools programs chi 2 (1, N = 67) = 15.96, p < .01. Compared to hearing teachers, the deaf teachers used web-based science materials (chi2 (1, N = 67) = 4.65, p < .01), used codeswitching chi2 (1, N

Preservice science teachers' experiences with repeated, guided inquiry

Science.gov (United States)

Slack, Amy B.

The purpose of this study was to examine preservice science teachers' experiences with repeated scientific inquiry (SI) activities. The National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996) stress students should understand and possess the abilities to do SI. For students to meet these standards, science teachers must understand and be able to perform SI; however, previous research demonstrated that many teachers have naive understandings in this area. Teacher preparation programs provide an opportunity to facilitate the development of inquiry understandings and abilities. In this study, preservice science teachers had experiences with two inquiry activities that were repeated three times each. The research questions for this study were (a) How do preservice science teachers' describe their experiences with repeated, guided inquiry activities? (b) What are preservice science teachers' understandings and abilities of SI? This study was conducted at a large, urban university in the southeastern United States. The 5 participants had bachelor's degrees in science and were enrolled in a graduate science education methods course. The researcher was one of the course instructors but did not lead the activities. Case study methodology was used. Data was collected from a demographic survey, an open-ended questionnaire with follow-up interviews, the researcher's observations, participants' lab notes, personal interviews, and participants' journals. Data were coded and analyzed through chronological data matrices to identify patterns in participants' experiences. The five domains identified in this study were understandings of SI, abilities to conduct SI, personal feelings about the experience, science content knowledge, and classroom implications. Through analysis of themes identified within each domain, the four conclusions made about these preservice teachers' experiences with SI were that the experience increased their abilities to conduct inquiry

Requirements of British universities for higher medical degrees.

OpenAIRE

Johnson, R

1991-01-01

OBJECTIVE--To examine the requirements and opportunities for obtaining a doctor of medicine or master of surgery degree from a university in the United Kingdom other than the graduate's own, particularly in the case of foreign graduates. DESIGN--Review of regulations governing the award of doctor of medicine and master of surgery degrees in British universities. SETTING--All 19 universities in the United Kingdom offering clinical courses. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE--Availability of degrees to gradu...

Protograph LDPC Codes with Node Degrees at Least 3

Science.gov (United States)

Divsalar, Dariush; Jones, Christopher

2006-01-01

In this paper we present protograph codes with a small number of degree-3 nodes and one high degree node. The iterative decoding threshold for proposed rate 1/2 codes are lower, by about 0.2 dB, than the best known irregular LDPC codes with degree at least 3. The main motivation is to gain linear minimum distance to achieve low error floor. Also to construct rate-compatible protograph-based LDPC codes for fixed block length that simultaneously achieves low iterative decoding threshold and linear minimum distance. We start with a rate 1/2 protograph LDPC code with degree-3 nodes and one high degree node. Higher rate codes are obtained by connecting check nodes with degree-2 non-transmitted nodes. This is equivalent to constraint combining in the protograph. The condition where all constraints are combined corresponds to the highest rate code. This constraint must be connected to nodes of degree at least three for the graph to have linear minimum distance. Thus having node degree at least 3 for rate 1/2 guarantees linear minimum distance property to be preserved for higher rates. Through examples we show that the iterative decoding threshold as low as 0.544 dB can be achieved for small protographs with node degrees at least three. A family of low- to high-rate codes with minimum distance linearly increasing in block size and with capacity-approaching performance thresholds is presented. FPGA simulation results for a few example codes show that the proposed codes perform as predicted.

The Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute at Texas A&M University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudio A. Gariazzo

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute (NSSPI is a multidisciplinary organization at Texas A&M University and was the first U.S. academic institution focused on technical graduate education, research, and service related to the safeguarding of nuclear materials and the reduction of nuclear threats. NSSPI employs science, engineering, and policy expertise to: (1 conduct research and development to help detect, prevent, and reverse nuclear and radiological proliferation and guard against nuclear terrorism; (2 educate the next generation of nuclear security and nuclear nonproliferation leaders; (3 analyze the interrelationships between policy and technology in the field of nuclear security; and (4 serve as a public resource for knowledge and skills to reduce nuclear threats. Since 2006, over 31 Doctoral and 73 Master degrees were awarded through NSSPI-sponsored research. Forty-one of those degrees are Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering with a specialization in Nuclear Nonproliferation and 16 were Doctorate of Philosophy degrees with a specific focus on nuclear nonproliferation. Over 200 students from both technical and policy backgrounds have taken classes provided by NSSPI at Texas A&M. The model for creating safeguards and security experts, which has in large part been replicated worldwide, was established at Texas A&M by NSSPI faculty and staff. In addition to conventional classroom lectures, NSSPI faculty have provided practical experiences; advised students on valuable research projects that have contributed substantially to the overall nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards and security arenas; and engaged several similar academic and research institutes around the world in activities and research for the benefit of Texas A&M students. NSSPI has had an enormous impact on the nuclear nonproliferation workforce (across the international community in the past 8 years, and this paper is an attempt to summarize the activities

The Astronomy and Space Science Concept Inventory: Assessment Instruments Aligned with the K-12 National Science Standards

Science.gov (United States)

Sadler, Philip M.

2011-01-01

We report on the development of an item test bank and associated instruments based on those K-12 national standards which involve astronomy and space science. Utilizing hundreds of studies in the science education research literature on student misconceptions, we have constructed 211 unique items that measure the degree to which students abandon such ideas for accepted scientific views. Piloted nationally with 7599 students and their 88 teachers spanning grades 5-12, the items reveal a range of interesting results, particularly student difficulties in mastering the NRC Standards and AAAS Benchmarks. Teachers generally perform well on items covering the standards of the grade level at which they teach, exhibiting few misconceptions of their own. Teachers dramatically overestimate their students’ performance, perhaps because they are unaware of their students’ misconceptions. Examples are given showing how the developed instruments can be used to assess the effectiveness of instruction and to evaluate the impact of professional development activities for teachers.

The High School Environment and the Gender Gap in Science and Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Legewie, Joscha; DiPrete, Thomas A.

2014-01-01

Despite the striking reversal of the gender gap in education, women pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees at much lower rates than those of their male peers. This study extends existing explanations for these gender differences and examines the role of the high school context for plans to major in STEM fields.…

Structure and origin of the 85 degrees E ridge

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Ramana, M.V.; Subrahmanyam, V.; Chaubey, A.K.; Ramprasad, T.; Sarma, K.V.L.N.S.; Krishna, K.S.; Desa, M.; Murty, G.P.S.; Subrahmanyam, C

The submerged 85 degrees E Ridge in the Bay of Bengal trends approximately N-S between 19 degrees N and 6 degrees N latitudes. Off the southeast coast of Sri Lanka it takes an arcuate shape and seems to terminate with the northweard extension...

Shrinkage Degree in $L_{2}$ -Rescale Boosting for Regression.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Lin; Lin, Shaobo; Wang, Yao; Xu, Zongben

2017-08-01

L 2 -rescale boosting ( L 2 -RBoosting) is a variant of L 2 -Boosting, which can essentially improve the generalization performance of L 2 -Boosting. The key feature of L 2 -RBoosting lies in introducing a shrinkage degree to rescale the ensemble estimate in each iteration. Thus, the shrinkage degree determines the performance of L 2 -RBoosting. The aim of this paper is to develop a concrete analysis concerning how to determine the shrinkage degree in L 2 -RBoosting. We propose two feasible ways to select the shrinkage degree. The first one is to parameterize the shrinkage degree and the other one is to develop a data-driven approach. After rigorously analyzing the importance of the shrinkage degree in L 2 -RBoosting, we compare the pros and cons of the proposed methods. We find that although these approaches can reach the same learning rates, the structure of the final estimator of the parameterized approach is better, which sometimes yields a better generalization capability when the number of sample is finite. With this, we recommend to parameterize the shrinkage degree of L 2 -RBoosting. We also present an adaptive parameter-selection strategy for shrinkage degree and verify its feasibility through both theoretical analysis and numerical verification. The obtained results enhance the understanding of L 2 -RBoosting and give guidance on how to use it for regression tasks.

Investigation of Inquiry-based Science Pedagogy among Middle Level Science Teachers: A Qualitative Study

Science.gov (United States)

Weiland, Sunny Minelli

This study implemented a qualitative approach to examine the phenomenon of "inquiry-based science pedagogy or inquiry instruction" as it has been experienced by individuals. Data was collected through online open-ended surveys, focus groups, and teacher reported self-reflections to answer the research questions: 1) How do middle level science teachers conceptualize "inquiry-based instruction?" 2) What are preferred instructional strategies for implementation in middle level science classrooms? And 3) How do middle level science teachers perceive the connection between science instruction and student learning? The participants within this research study represent 33 percent of teachers in grades 5 through 9 within six school districts in northeastern Pennsylvania. Of the 12 consent forms originally obtained, 10 teachers completed all three phases of the data collection, including the online survey, participation in focus groups, and teacher self-reflection. 60 percent of the participants taught only science, and 40 percent taught all content areas. Of the ten participants, 50 percent were certified teachers of science and 50 percent were certified as teachers of elementary education. 70 percent of the research participants reflected having obtained a master's, with 60 percent of these degrees being received in areas of education, and 10 percent in the area of science. The research participants have a total of 85 collective years of experience as professional educators, with the average years of experience being 8.5 years. Analysis of data revealed three themes related to research question #1) How do middle-level science teachers conceptualize inquiry-based instruction? and sub-question #1) How do middle-level science teachers characterize effective instruction? The themes that capture the essence of teachers' formulation of inquiry-based instruction that emerged in this study were student centered, problem solving, and hands-on . Analysis of data revealed one theme

Maximizing the Spread of Influence via Generalized Degree Discount.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiaojie; Zhang, Xue; Zhao, Chengli; Yi, Dongyun

2016-01-01

It is a crucial and fundamental issue to identify a small subset of influential spreaders that can control the spreading process in networks. In previous studies, a degree-based heuristic called DegreeDiscount has been shown to effectively identify multiple influential spreaders and has severed as a benchmark method. However, the basic assumption of DegreeDiscount is not adequate, because it treats all the nodes equally without any differences. To consider a general situation in real world networks, a novel heuristic method named GeneralizedDegreeDiscount is proposed in this paper as an effective extension of original method. In our method, the status of a node is defined as a probability of not being influenced by any of its neighbors, and an index generalized discounted degree of one node is presented to measure the expected number of nodes it can influence. Then the spreaders are selected sequentially upon its generalized discounted degree in current network. Empirical experiments are conducted on four real networks, and the results show that the spreaders identified by our approach are more influential than several benchmark methods. Finally, we analyze the relationship between our method and three common degree-based methods.

Sciences for Exoplanets and Planetary Systems : web sites and E-learning

Science.gov (United States)

Roques, F.; Balança, C.; Bénilan, Y.; Griessmeier, J. M.; Marcq, E.; Navarro, T.; Renner, S.; Schneider, J.; Schott, C.

2015-10-01

The websites « Sciences pour les Exoplanètes et les Systèmes Planétaires » (SESP) and « Exoplanètes » have been created in the context of the LabEx ESEP (Laboratoire d'excellence Exploration Spatiale des Environnements Planétaires) [1]. They present planetary and exoplanetary sciences with courses, interactive tools, and a didactic catalogue connected to the Encyclopedia http://exoplanet.eu [2]. These resources are directed towards undergraduate level. They will be used as support for face-to-face courses and self-training. In the future, we will translate some contents into English and create e-learning degree courses.

Dirac's minimum degree condition restricted to claws

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Broersma, Haitze J.; Ryjacek, Z.; Schiermeyer, I.

1997-01-01

Let G be a graph on n 3 vertices. Dirac's minimum degree condition is the condition that all vertices of G have degree at least . This is a well-known sufficient condition for the existence of a Hamilton cycle in G. We give related sufficiency conditions for the existence of a Hamilton cycle or a

An analysis of program planning in schools with emerging excellence in science instructional design

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Karen Marie

Science educators agree on many of the program elements that characterize exemplary science instructional programs, but it has not been clear how the processes of planning and implementation lead to excellence in program design. This study focuses on two K--12 school clusters located in unified school districts and one K--12 school cluster spanning two non-unified districts that are in the midst of building new science programs. The clusters were selected for support by an organization of educators, scientists, and businesspersons because they were recognized as likely to produce good programs. The investigation centers on three research questions: (1) To what extent have schools engaged in science education reform achieved excellence? (2) How did schools engaged in science program improvement go about achieving their goals, and (3) What contextual factors are most closely related to the realization of quality program elements? The degree to which each program studied met indicators of quality suggested by the National Science Education Standards (NSES) are described according to an Innovation Configuration (IC) Chart. Using a Stream Diagnostic method of analysis, levels of practice were associated with contextual factors categorized as Social, Organizing, and Resource. Findings reveal the importance of a balanced and synchronized function of all components, including administrative commitment, teacher participation, and favorable logistical aspects. Individual reform projects were more likely to be successful if they included exemplary program elements and mechanisms for program managers to access district personnel and procedures needed to implement programs. A review of the cluster case histories also revealed the positive impact of cooperation between the funding organization and the project, the degree to which professional development is directly related to the new program, and the availability of resources and support for each exemplary program element.

Women with doctorates in science: Perceptions of facilitative factors and obstacles to their success

Science.gov (United States)

Guimond, Pamela S.

In the past thirty years there has been a significant increase in the number of women pursuing careers in the biological sciences, yet similar increases have not been seen in the physical sciences or engineering. Research suggests that societal, educational, and personal factors may be the cause. This study was designed to validate factors previously identified as being influential on the learning of science by women, as well as to discover factors not previously identified and to gain an understanding of the degree to which each of these factors is perceived to relate to their academic success. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used to identify factors that facilitated the success of or presented obstacles to women as they pursued doctoral degrees in physical science and engineering. Sixty-four women scientists completed surveys. Of these, twelve participated in telephone interviews. The data collected from these methodologies, when taken together, allowed for both a generalizability of results and in-depth understanding of the factors identified. Three major themes were identified. First was the importance of people in these women's lives. Second was each woman's expression of personality traits including passion, determination, and resilience. Third was the importance of support from a variety of sources. All of the scientists considered support necessary for their success. Implications for practice include: providing girls with a wide variety of experiences in mathematics and science, including both in-school and out-of-school activities; providing girls with role models and mentors; utilizing a variety of teaching strategies aimed at girls' preferred learning styles; providing a variety of kinds of support girls need to feel welcome and valued; developing in girls personal characteristics associated with the culture of science; minimizing the use of high-stakes exams; and maximizing schedule flexibility so women can combine scientific careers and

Science and the Detective: Selected Reading in Forensic Science

Science.gov (United States)

Kaye, Brian H.

1996-12-01

Who killed Napoleon? Were the witches of Salem high on LSD? What do maggots on a body tell us about the time of death? In his unique, engaging style, Brian Kaye tells the story of some spectacular cases in which forensic evidence played a key role. You'll also read about the fascinating ways in which scientific evidence can be used to establish guilt or innocence in today's courtroom. The use of voice analysis, methods for developing fingerprints and for uncovering art forgeries, and the examination of bullet wounds are just a few topics considered. In a special section on fraud, the author takes you into the world of counterfeit money. There's no solving crime without science. Written for everyone interested in whodunnits, this book explains the basis of the analytical techniques available for studying evidence in offenses ranging from doping in sports to first-degree murder.

A Degree Distribution Optimization Algorithm for Image Transmission

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Wei; Yang, Junjie

2016-09-01

Luby Transform (LT) code is the first practical implementation of digital fountain code. The coding behavior of LT code is mainly decided by the degree distribution which determines the relationship between source data and codewords. Two degree distributions are suggested by Luby. They work well in typical situations but not optimally in case of finite encoding symbols. In this work, the degree distribution optimization algorithm is proposed to explore the potential of LT code. Firstly selection scheme of sparse degrees for LT codes is introduced. Then probability distribution is optimized according to the selected degrees. In image transmission, bit stream is sensitive to the channel noise and even a single bit error may cause the loss of synchronization between the encoder and the decoder. Therefore the proposed algorithm is designed for image transmission situation. Moreover, optimal class partition is studied for image transmission with unequal error protection. The experimental results are quite promising. Compared with LT code with robust soliton distribution, the proposed algorithm improves the final quality of recovered images obviously with the same overhead.

Research productivity of Pakistan in medical sciences during the period 1996-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Meo, S A; Almasri, A A; Usmani, A M

2013-11-01

This study aimed to investigate the degree of research outcome in medical science subjects in Pakistan during the period 1996-2012. In this study, the research papers published in various global science journals during the period 1996-2012 were accessed. We recorded the total number of research documents having an affiliation with a Pakistan. The main source for information was Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science, Thomson Reuters and SCI-mago/Scopus. In global science, Pakistan contributed 58133 research papers in all science and social sciences both in ISI and non ISI indexed journals. However, in medical sciences the total number of research papers from Pakistan are 25604, citable documents 23874, citations 128061, mean citations per documents 6.45 and mean Hirsch index is 35.33. In Pakistan, the upward trend of articles published in global medical science was from the period 1996-2008. However, from 2008 the trend is markedly declined. Pakistan significantly improved its international ranking positions in research during the period 2000-2008. However, the upward trend of research papers published in global medical science could not be retained and from the year 2008 the trend started declining. This trend of research papers further declined in year 2012 compared to year 2011. It is suggested that, Pakistan must take strategic steps to enhance the research culture and increase the research and development expenditure in the country.

Factors Influencing Achievement in Undergraduate Social Science Research Methods Courses: A Mixed Methods Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Markle, Gail

2017-01-01

Undergraduate social science research methods courses tend to have higher than average rates of failure and withdrawal. Lack of success in these courses impedes students' progression through their degree programs and negatively impacts institutional retention and graduation rates. Grounded in adult learning theory, this mixed methods study…

The impact of maths support tutorials on mathematics confidence and academic performance in a cohort of HE Animal Science students.

Science.gov (United States)

van Veggel, Nieky; Amory, Jonathan

2014-01-01

Students embarking on a bioscience degree course, such as Animal Science, often do not have sufficient experience in mathematics. However, mathematics forms an essential and integral part of any bioscience degree and is essential to enhance employability. This paper presents the findings of a project looking at the effect of mathematics tutorials on a cohort of first year animal science and management students. The results of a questionnaire, focus group discussions and academic performance analysis indicate that small group tutorials enhance students' confidence in maths and improve students' academic performance. Furthermore, student feedback on the tutorial programme provides a deeper insight into student experiences and the value students assign to the tutorials.

Improving Science and IT Literacy by Providing Urban-Based Environmental Science Research Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Cuff, K. E.; Corazza, L.; Liang, J.

2007-12-01

A U.C. Berkeley-based outreach program known as Environmental Science Information Technology Activities has been in operation over the past four years. The primary aim of the program is to provide opportunities for grades 9 and 10 students in diverse East San Francisco Bay Area communities to develop deeper understandings of the nature and conduct of science, which will increase their capacity to enroll and perform successfully in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in the future. Design of the program has been informed by recent research that indicates a close relationship between educational activities that promote the perception of STEM as being relevant and the ability to foster development of deeper conceptual understandings among teens. Accordingly, ESITA includes an important student-led environmental science research project component, which provides participants with opportunities to engage in research investigations that are directly linked to relevant, real-world environmental problems and issues facing their communities. Analysis of evidence gleaned from questionnaires, interviews with participants and specific assessment/evaluation instruments indicates that ESITA program activities, including after-school meetings, summer and school year research projects, and conference preparations and presentations has provided students with high-quality inquiry science experiences that increased their knowledge of STEM and IT concepts, as well as their understanding of the nature of the scientific enterprise. In addition, the program has achieved a high degree of success in that it has: enhanced participants' intellectual self-confidence with regard to STEM; developed deeper appreciation of how scientific research can contribute to the maintenance of healthy local environments; developed a greater interest in participating in STEM-related courses of study and after school programs; and improved attitudes toward STEM. Overall

Epilogue: degrees of transparency

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hengeveld, K.

2011-01-01

In this epilogue the results of the analyses of four different languages in the preceding papers are compared. It is shown that the degrees of transparency of these languages can be represented on an implicational scale, and that the features themselves can be ranked on a transparency scale as well.

The essential research curriculum for doctor of pharmacy degree programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Mary W; Clay, Patrick G; Kennedy, W Klugh; Kennedy, Mary Jayne; Sifontis, Nicole M; Simonson, Dana; Sowinski, Kevin M; Taylor, William J; Teply, Robyn M; Vardeny, Orly; Welty, Timothy E

2010-09-01

In 2008, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy appointed the Task Force on Research in the Professional Curriculum to review and make recommendations on the essential research curriculum that should be part of doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree programs. The essential research curriculum provides all students with critical and analytical thinking and lifelong learning skills, which will apply to current and future practice and stimulate some students to pursue a career in this field. Eight key curricular competencies are as follows: identifying relevant problems and gaps in pharmacotherapeutic knowledge; generating a research hypothesis; designing a study to test the hypothesis; analyzing data results using appropriate statistical tests; interpreting and applying the results of a research study to practice; effectively communicating research and clinical findings to pharmacy, medical, and basic science audiences; interpreting and effectively communicating research and clinical findings to patients and caregivers; and applying regulatory and ethical principles when conducting research or using research results. Faculty are encouraged to use research-related examples across the curriculum in nonresearch courses and to employ interactive teaching methods to promote student engagement. Examples of successful strategies used by Pharm.D. degree programs to integrate research content into the curriculum are provided. Current pharmacy school curricula allow variable amounts of time for instructional content in research, which may or may not include hands-on experiences for students to develop research-related skills. Therefore, an important opportunity exists for schools to incorporate the essential research curriculum. Despite the challenges of implementing these recommendations, the essential research curriculum will position pharmacy school graduates to understand the importance of research and its applications to practice. This perspective is provided as an aid

Degrees of polarization for a quantum field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanchez-Soto, L L; Soederholm, J; Yustas, E C; Klimov, A B; Bjoerk, G

2006-01-01

Unpolarized light is invariant with respect to any SU(2) polarization transformation. Since this fully characterizes the set of density matrices representing unpolarized states, we introduce the degree of polarization of a quantum state as its distance to the set of unpolarized states. We discuss different candidates of distance, and show that they induce fundamentally different degrees of polarization

Science and Science Fiction

Science.gov (United States)

Oravetz, David

2005-01-01

This article is for teachers looking for new ways to motivate students, increase science comprehension, and understanding without using the old standard expository science textbook. This author suggests reading a science fiction novel in the science classroom as a way to engage students in learning. Using science fiction literature and language…

Degree Output in the South, 1975-76: Distribution by Race.

Science.gov (United States)

Mingle, James R.

The first systematic national count of degree output by race is presented for use by institutional curriculum planners to help give students the opportunity to make realistic choices in career planning. Included are summary tables of degree production by level (doctoral, master's, bachelor's, and first-professional degrees awarded); degree changes…

Making Sense of the Combined Degree Experience: The Example of Criminology Double Degrees