13251 research outputs found
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Affinity-Seeking: Student Desirability and Motivation in the Classroom
No full textAffinity-seeking research once provided teachers with effective strategies to create an overall better classroom environment. Over the last twenty years there has been no continuation of this research and the effectiveness of these strategies seemed to be agreed upon. The purpose of this study is to bring affinity-seeking research back into the modern era and see how motivation is affected for both in-person and online classes. This study is a contribution that adds to these strategies for effectiveness in both in-person and online classrooms
Role of Nitrogen in Assessing the Sustainability of Irrigated Areas: Case Study of Northern Mexico
No full textWorld’s food production relies on crops grown in irrigated land to feed an increasing population. In the long term, irrigation agriculture may cause environmental deterioration to the area (soil degradation, aquifer contamination) and its surroundings (greenhouse gas emission, eutrophication) to compromise crop production. Three irrigated areas in northern Mexico (Yaqui Valley, Delicias, Comarca Lagunera) were examined with respect to the challenges to achieve sustainability using reported values of nitrogen (N) along with the conventional aquifer depletion and water contamination parameters. N O emissions, measured in only the Yaqui Valley, amounted to up to 4.5% of applied N, and nitrate losses to about 18%. The water tables of these aquifers are dropping at rates of 0.4 m year (Delicias) to 1.5 m year (Comarca Lagunera). High NO concentrations in the Comarca Lagunera (66.2% of wells above 10 mg L NO –N) pose a threat to human health. Although lower than 10 mg L NO –N in most wells, NO levels in Delicias and Yaqui Valley are increasing with time, although more data are needed to confirm the trend. Overall, and although the efforts by farmers still focus on increasing crop yield, awareness of the advantage of implementing measures towards sustainability is on the rise. 2 3 3 3 3 −1 −1 − −1 −1
Publishing Accountability and Transparency in the Dance Field
No full textNavigating predatory publishers as an educator, course developer, author, and/or editor can be frustrating and sometimes complex. This article offers how to recognize, avoid, and check if one is being targeted directly or indirectly by predatory publishers. The authors share a literature review on the conditions of predatory publishing, interviews on how to identify predatory publishers with advice from experts Dr. Ann Cooper Albright, Dr. Matthew Henley, and Dr. Julie Mulvihill, and highlight red flags for recognizing predatory publishers in the digital age. The purpose of this article is to help establish a sense of accountability and transparency when it comes to dance research and publications. This article aims to demystify the publishing process by exploring the dance field’s susceptibility to predatory publishers, offering warning signs of dubious practices, and proposing next steps to an academic world traversing dance and the digital space
On Elliptic Curves
No full textAn elliptic curve over the rational numbers is given by the equation y2 = x3+Ax+B. In our thesis, we study elliptic curves. It is known that the set of rational points on the elliptic curve form a finitely generated abelian group induced by the secant-tangent addition law. We present an elementary proof of associativity using Maple. We also present a relatively concise proof of the Mordell-Weil Theorem
The Effects of Cigarette Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, and Use of Both Cigarettes and Alcohol on Chinese Older Adults’ Sleep: Results from a Longitudinal Study
No full textWe examined the effects of cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and use of both cigarettes and alcohol on changes in sleep quality and duration among Chinese older adults. Using four waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), we employed Cox two-state regression models to examine the changes in sleep quality and duration. The results showed the following: (1) Former users (cigarettes and/or alcohol), current alcohol users, current smokers, or users who used both cigarettes and alcohol all reported lower odds of worsening sleep quality (all p \u3c 0.01; except former users, which was p \u3c 0.05), compared with those who did not smoke and use alcohol at all. (2) Among older adults who maintained poorer sleep quality (from not good to not good), only users of both cigarettes and alcohol were less likely to experience this outcome (p \u3c 0.05). (3) Only former users and current smokers had higher odds of transitioning from recommended sleep duration of 7–8 h daily into the non-recommended range (all p \u3c 0.05), compared with older adults who did not use cigarettes and alcohol. Chinese older adults may be more adaptive to the cultural norms and traditions of cigarette and alcohol uses. Further research efforts with experimental data are warranted to examine the impact of cigarettes and alcohol on Chinese older adults’ sleep
Agency, identity development, and subjective well-being, among undergraduate students at a central united states university
No full textIn Vitro Digestibility of Forages Incubated with Equine Fecal Inoculum Stored Under Varying Conditions
No full textThis study evaluated the in vitro effect on digestibility of forages when incubated with microbial inoculum formed from equine feces stored under varying conditions. Fecal material was stored at four storage conditions of 12˚C for 6 hours, 12˚C for 12 hours, 23˚C for 6 hours and 23˚C for 12 hours under aerobic conditions. Stored fecal material was used to form microbial inoculum for use in an ANKOM Daisy II Incubator. Nine different forage samples were digested in the ANKOM Daisy II Incubator to evaluate interactions between storage condition of microbial inoculum and chemical composition of digested forage samples. Forage samples chosen covered a wide range of crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) values to determine if forage quality had an effect. Dry matter digestibility (DMD) was determined after incubation. An ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to analyze variation among storage conditions, forage samples, and replicates. Significant differences were observed among forages and replicates (P0.05) were observed among the interactions between storage conditions and forage samples. Results show fecal material stored at 12˚C or 23˚C for 6 or 12 hours provides no difference when used for the formation of microbial inoculum. Further research is needed to determine how the microbial population within a fecal sample change when exposed to aerobic conditions for varying amounts of temperature and time
Closing the performance gap between siamese networks for dissimilarity image classification and convolutional neural networks
No full textIn this paper, we examine two strategies for boosting the performance of ensembles of Siamese networks (SNNs) for image classification using two loss functions (Triplet and Binary Cross Entropy) and two methods for building the dissimilarity spaces (FULLY and DEEPER). With FULLY, the distance between a pattern and a prototype is calculated by comparing two images using the fully connected layer of the Siamese network. With DEEPER, each pattern is described using a deeper layer combined with dimensionality reduction. The basic design of the SNNs takes advantage of supervised k-means clustering for building the dissimilarity spaces that train a set of support vector machines, which are then combined by sum rule for a final decision. The robustness and versatility of this approach are demonstrated on several cross-domain image data sets, including a portrait data set, two bioimage and two animal vocalization data sets. Results show that the strategies employed in this work to increase the performance of dissimilarity image classification using SNN are closing the gap with standalone CNNs. Moreover, when our best system is combined with an ensemble of CNNs, the resulting performance is superior to an ensemble of CNNs, demonstrating that our new strategy is extracting additional informatio
NICU Experiences of Adoptive Parents & Desired Preparation
No full textParents who have newborns admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) have multiple experiences and emotions. Additional social and emotional layers are experienced by adoptive couples when the infant they wish to adopt needs specialized care. This research study was completed to find out what adoptive parents experience in the NICU and what preparation would have been helpful. The method included semi-structured, open-ended interviews with seven couples who adopted a newborn at a Midwestern adoption agency within the past three years and had a NICU experience. The results described adoptive couples’ experiences on the unit, bonding and attachment, fears and stressors experienced, coping, experiences with the birth family, preparation desired, and unexpected findings. Education of hospital staff regarding the impact of the NICU experience on adoptive parents could assist these professionals in providing psychosocial care to the adoption triad. In addition, policies should be created to clearly define what medical information can be given to adoptive parents so they can feel informed and valued