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Applied Strength of Materials for Engineering Technology
Get PDFThis edition has been superseded. Please see the current 13th edition (updated January 2018): http://opus.ipfw.edu/mcetid_facpubs/56
Soybean Vein Necrosis Virus: A New Face to Soybean Diseases
No full textTied for 2nd Place Thesis Winnerhttp://opus.ipfw.edu/threemt2016/1002/thumbnail.jp
Carrie Schneider\u27s Reading Women: Contemporary Photographs from an Historical Perspective
No full textMathematical Practice and Human Cognition
Get PDFFrank Quinn (of Jaffe-Quinn fame, see [1]) worked out the basics of his own account of mathematical practice, an account that is informed by an analysis of contemporary mathematics and its pedagogy (see [2]). Taking this account as our starting point, we can characterize the current mathematical practice to acquire and work with new concepts as a cognitive adaptation strategy that, first, emerged to meet the challenges posed by the growing abstractness of its objects and which, second, proceeds according to the following three-pronged approach:
(i) sever as many ties to ordinary language as possible and limit ordinary language explanations to an absolute minimum;
(ii) introduce axiomatic definitions and bundle them up with a sufficient num- ber of examples, lemmata, propositions, etc. into small cognitive packages;
(iii) practice hard with one new cognitive package at a time.
Drawing on research in cognitive science, and especially in mathematics ed- ucation, I will then show how cognitive science provides supporting evidence for the effectiveness of this mathematical practice. Time permitting, I will then complement these findings from a phenomenological perspective by exhibiting a fruitful convergence between mathematics, cognitive science, and phenomeno- logical analysis.
[1] Jaffe, Arthur, Quinn, Frank. “Theoretical Mathematics: Towards a synthesis of mathematics and theoretical physics,” Bulletin of the American Mathemati- cal Society NS 29:1 (1993), 113. [2] Quinn, Frank. Contributions to a Science of Mathematics, manuscript (Oc- tober 2011), 98pp
Risk Perception in Light of Disruption of the Quotidian
No full textSherrie Steiner, assistant professor of sociology, along with several undergraduate students, presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the North Central Sociological Association in Chicago, Illinois. Steiner, Sierra Marsh (sophomore, sociology), Isaac Puffs (junior, sociology and psychology), and Jacob Wegner (junior, general studies with a sociology minor) prepared a presentation entitled “Risk Perception in Light of the Disruption of the Quotidian.” The presentation focused on how the perceived order of everyday life creates a sense of control and diminishes perceived risk
Perceptions of Intimate Relationships: When is it Abuse?
No full textCertain forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) (e.g., psychological aggression, female-perpetrated IPV) may be less likely than others (e.g., male-perpetrated physical aggression) to be considered “abusive.” Research on intimate partner violence (IPV) suggests it is common among young adults, with up to 45-78% experiencing IPV (Linder \u26 Collins, 2005; Smith, White, \u26 Holland, 2003). Similarly high rates of psychological aggression are reported, with some victims describing it as more harmful than physical IPV (Follingstad et al., 1990). Although IPV is common, data suggest it is not readily identified as abuse in all forms (e.g., female-perpetrated IPV) (Dardis et al., 2015). Undergraduates read two IPV scenarios based the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2; Strauss et al., 1996), a widely used measure of IPV. The scenarios depicted increasingly severe (a) physical and (b) psychological acts of IPV. Perpetrator-victim gender in the scenarios was varied across participants, half of whom will receive a brief definition of intimate partner abuse before the scenarios. Participants identified the point in each scenario where they believe the perpetrator’s behavior “crossed the line” and became “abusive.” We predicted that a history of IPV perpetration, maladaptive personality symptoms, accepting attitudes towards IPV, and violence in one’s family of origin would relate to higher thresholds for considering an aggressive act “abusive.” In our sample, a significantly higher proportion of women (33%) as compared to men (10%) reported that they had ever done something physically aggressive to their current or most recent romantic partner (X2 (1, N = 350) = 19.29, p \u3c .001). Significant gender differences also were found in the proportion of participants who said that they had been psychologically aggressive toward their partners [55% of men and 68% of women; X2 (1, N = 350) = 5.43, p \u3c .05]. Regression analyses predicting participants’ threshold ratings for the IPV scenarios were run separately for male and female participants; socially desirable responding was entered first as a covariate. The models predicting men’s and women’s thresholds for the male-perpetrator physical abuse scenario and those predicting women’s thresholds for the female-perpetrator physical and psychological abuse scenarios were significant. As expected, men with the highest thresholds for “abuse” (i.e., those who only considered severe acts of male physical aggression as abusive) scored high on a measure of narcissistic personality and reported more accepting attitudes toward women’s physical aggression, in particular. Contrary to prediction, men scoring high on a measure of antisocial personality had low thresholds for men’s physical “abuse.” Like men, women with accepting attitudes toward violence had the highest threshold ratings for the male-perpetrator, physical aggression scenarios. With regard to the female-perpetrator scenarios, female participants with the highest thresholds for women’s physical violence had more severe histories of IPV victimization, which was the opposite of our prediction. Women with high thresholds for women’s psychological aggression came from families with high rates of inter-parental violence. There was no difference in the average threshold ratings for participants who did versus did not read an official definition of “abuse” before presentation of the IPV scenarios. However, when participants were asked to rate the severity of each of the eight psychologically- and twelve physically-aggressive acts in the scenarios, differences did emerge, based on exposure to the “abuse” definition. Unexpectedly, women who read the definition tended to rate each aggression item as less severe than women who did not read the definition of abuse. The opposite was true for male participants, who, as expected, tended to rate the abusive acts as more severe, if they were provided the official definition of abuse. 33http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1010/thumbnail.jp
Comparison of Freshwater Mussel Communities from 1988 to 2015 in the Cedar Creek Watershed, Indiana
No full textOut of the 300 genera of freshwater mussels (Family: Unionidae) represented in North America, most species have exhibited declines in abundance and distribution largely due to anthropogenic impacts. We compared community composition, abundance and richness of mussels in Cedar Creek, Indiana in 2015 with those in 1988 and 2005. In 2015, five sites in Cedar Creek and seven sites in agricultural tributaries were surveyed. Additionally, one headwater stream in Hillsdale County, Michigan was surveyed as a high-quality reference site. At each 200 m long site, mussels were sampled with quadrats (sixteen per site) and visual searches. From each quadrat, a quart of sediment was retained for sediment analysis. Physicochemical measurements, habitat analyses, and water quality data were collected concurrently with surveys. Fishes were sampled using electrofishing to document the presence of fish host species. Out of thirteen sites sampled in 2015, only six had live mussels. Ten species and 84 individuals were identified and measured from these six sites. The reference and two Cedar Creek sites comprised almost 90% of the individuals found, with the furthest upstream Cedar Creek site having the greatest abundance (28). Only two agricultural drainage ditch sites that were located close to the main stem of Cedar Creek had mussels and only six individuals were found. Lampsilis siliquoidea occurred found at four sites in 2015 and was the most abundant and widespread species comprising 31% of the individuals found. The abundance of live mussels within four Cedar Creek main stem sites exhibited a progressive decline from 168 individuals in 1998 to 110 in 2005 to 56 in 2015. Additionally, since 1988, no live mussels have been recorded in Cedar Creek between Waterloo and Auburn, Indiana. To assess possible causes of declines, we will evaluate the relationships of instream habitat, physicochemical, and water chemistry variables with mussel abundance and species richness. A previous study in Cedar Creek found evidence of a lack of recruitment in L. siliquoidea populations. Therefore, declines in adult mussels may have resulted from the effects of deteriorating water and habitat quality on survival of larval and juvenile stages in Cedar Creek.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1023/thumbnail.jp
A Design with Purpose
No full textThe purpose of this project is to design a “Shared Space” that can be used as a multi-functional space for learning and collaborative activities. The users of this shared space include interior design students from the Latin University of Costa Rica and local interior design professionals. This “Shared Space” project is located in Santa Maria de Dota, Costa Rica, which is known for its coffee plantation and is a beautiful place to sit back to enjoy the wonderful natural surroundings. Unfortunately, deforestation has become a forefront issue in recent years in Santa Maria de Dota area that causes farmers to develop new ideas for coffee plantations in order to have more sun exposure for coffee plants. Local people in Santa Maria de Dota also have initiated a strategy of reducing water and energy consumption by using organic materials. This project is inspired by the concept of sustainability in the coffee industry and strategies of addressing the issue of deforestation. In this “Shared Space” facility, specific spaces for different activities are provided, such as a learning studio space for students, a place to meet and greet clients, spaces for collaboration with communities, offices for interior designers, and a place to showcase their design work. “Shared Space” fosters communication and collaboration between students, professionals, educators and communities. By integrating multiple functions, technologies, and interactions between team members, educators, and clients, a shared space can be used for collaboration among different levels of students in the service-learning model. Also these spaces can provide a more private space to support individual research. The design goal was to alleviate the issue of deforestation while providing a place for education and collaboration with the community. In order to be sustainable, it is important to incorporate recyclable materials and products in the design. Bamboos are used as the primary building material. Replacing timber is another approach to reduce deforestation. In addition, the design incorporates local products such as reusing defective coffee beans as wall partitions and reusing burlap bags left over from the coffee in attempt to keep the cost low for the Santa Maria de Dota economy. Another strategy to tackle deforestation in the design is to grow trees within “Shared Space” as decoration and replant them out in the community once they have outgrown the facility. The design approach has both purpose and impact of fostering education and community collaboration while promoting of designing a sustainable environment.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1011/thumbnail.jp
Soviet Espionage Before and During the Great Patriotic War
No full textIn its early years, Russian espionage had a primarily internal focus. The creation and evolution of intelligence organizations within the country show the changing Russian (and later, Soviet) attitude towards intelligence and counter-intelligence. Leading up to the Great Patriotic War, Soviet espionage began to shift its focus externally, forming large spy networks. Despite this changed focus, in WWII the Soviet Union faced issues such as lack of preparedness in equipment, technology, and personnel, especially at the beginning of the war. In addition, much of the intelligence received from the various networks and informants was disregarded as untrustworthy. The United States created the Venona program in response to the presence of Soviet espionage within the United States. This program aimed to intercept, analyze, and eventually break KGB communications. However, only a fraction of the intercepted communications were successfully broken. Venona also identified a number of mysteries that live on to this day, years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1021/thumbnail.jp