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Get PDFFront matter and editors\u27 introduction to The Writing Center Journal 41:3 (2023)
An Exploratory Study of Mindsets, Sense of Belonging, and Help-Seeking in the Writing Center
Get PDFIn this exploratory study, we took as our point of departure Lori Salem’s (2016) call to investigate the factors that affect students’ decisions to visit the writing center. Rather than exploring student decision-making through a sociological lens, as Salem does, we drew on insights from social psychology to understand students’ motivations. We explored two self-theories drawn from social psychology that are associated with students’ academic achievement and with students’ help-seeking: (1) implicit beliefs about intelligence or “mindsets”; and (2) sense of belonging. Using questions from previously validated scales, we measured first-year students’ mindsets and sense of belonging and tested the relationships between these self-theories and students’ visits to the writing center. We found correlations between students’ mindsets and their willingness to seek support, but the relationships differed between minoritized students and comparison students. Although the numbers are modest, we noted a difference in the relationship between sense of belonging and writing center visits for minoritized students. Our study suggests areas for future research, which has the potential to change the way that writing centers conduct outreach to students and has possible implications both for our marketing efforts and tutor training
Understanding Complex Socio-Environmental Systems with Spatial Agent-Based Models
Get PDFOur increasingly connected world is faced with complex socio-environmental problems (e.g., biodiversity loss, climate change, and food insecurity). Tackling these problems requires cross- disciplinary approaches that examine the problems based on synergistic spatial and system thinking. Spatial Agent-Based Models (SABMs) represent a powerful approach to understanding complex socio-environmental systems. However, research on SABMs and associated complex problem solving face grand challenges that must be overcome to effectively unleash the power of SABMs enabled by cyber-based geographic information science and systems (cyberGIS). This paper describes four such grand challenges —reproducibility, scalability, communication, and accessibility. Resolving these challenges will enable new spatial computing frontiers to model complex socio-environmental systems at unprecedented spatiotemporal scales for tackling associated real-world problems
Intradermal vaccination with a phytoglycogen nanoparticle and STING agonist induces cytotoxic T lymphocyte-mediated antitumor immunity
Get PDFA critical aspect of cancer vaccine development is the formulation with effective adjuvants. This study evaluated whether combining a cationic plant-derived nanoparticle adjuvant (Nano-11) with the clinically tested STING agonist ADU-S100 (MIW815) could stimulate anticancer immunity by intradermal vaccination. Nano-11 combined with ADU-S100 (NanoST) synergistically activated antigen-presenting cells, facilitating protein antigen cross-presentation in vitro and in vivo. Intradermal vaccination using ovalbumin (OVA) as a tumor antigen and combined with Nano-11 or NanoST prevented the development of murine B16-OVA melanoma and E.G7-OVA lymphoma tumors. The antitumor immunity was abolished by CD8+ T cell depletion but not by CD4+ T cell depletion. Therapeutic vaccination with NanoST increased mouse survival by inhibiting B16-OVA tumor growth, and this effect was further enhanced by PD-1 checkpoint blockade. Our study provides a strong rationale for developing NanoST as an adjuvant for intradermal vaccination and next-generation preventative and therapeutic cancer vaccines by STING-targeted activation
Synthesis and Energetic Characterization of Borane-Amines on High-Nitrogen Heterocycles
Get PDFBorane-amines have garnered attention over the last several decades in a variety of applications, ranging from hydrogen storage materials to hypergolic fuel systems. An investigation into the synthesis of borane-amines with high-nitrogen content heterocycles was undertaken in this work. Borane-amines were formed by the reaction of BH3·Me2S in tetrahydrofuran (THF) with the requisite nitrogen-containing heterocycle and isolated by placing the crude reaction mixture in hexanes to precipitate the product. X-ray crystallography, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), high resolution mass spectroscopy (HRMS), 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and 11B NMR were utilized for product characterization, while impact and friction sensitivity testing were conducted to identify sensitivity in the synthesized compounds. Most isolated borane-amines, except one, were found to decompose in the atmosphere and were more sensitive to mechanical stimuli than their starting materials; however, all synthesized compounds were found to be hypergolic in the presence of white fuming nitric acid (WFNA)
Nature of Occupational Incidents among Roofing Contractors: A Data Mining Approach
Get PDFGiven that roofing contractors in the construction industry have the highest fatality rate among specialty contractors, understanding the root cause of incidents among roofers is critical for improving safety outcomes. This study applied frequency analysis and decision tree data-mining techniques to analyze roofers’ fatal and non-fatal accident reports. The frequency analysis yielded insights into the leading cause of accidents, with fall to a lower level (83%) being the highest, followed by incidence sources relating to structures and surfaces (56%). The most common injuries experienced by roofing contractors were fractures (49%) and concussions (15%), especially for events occurring in residential buildings, maintenance and repair works, small projects (i.e., $50,000 or less), and on Mondays. According to the decision tree analysis, the most important factor for determining the nature of the injury is the nonfragile injured body part, followed by injury caused by coating works. The decision tree also produced decision rules that provide an easy interpretation of the underlying association between the factors leading to incidents. The decision tree models developed in this study can be used to predict the nature of potential injuries for strategically selecting the most effective injury-prevention strategies
Systematic Reviews in the Engineering Literature: A Scoping Review
Get PDFA systematic review is a specialized type of literature review used to collect and synthesize all the available evidence related to a research question. The methods for systematic reviews should be transparent and reproducible so that other researchers can use, replicate, and build upon the findings. Systematic reviews have been published for decades in medical literature where it is necessary to bring together all the studies related to a particular disease or condition for healthcare professionals to make evidence-based recommendations. Conducting systematic reviews has expanded to other disciplines, including education, business, and engineering. The authors of this study conducted a scoping review to investigate how prevalent systematic reviews are in engineering and to what extent engineering authors are following published reporting guidelines. To conduct this study, the authors searched the databases Compendex, Inspec, and ERIC and retrieved 11,588 records. After removing duplicates and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 3,066 articles remained in the final data set. The authors then used a checklist of bibliographic and quality-related items to extract data from each of these studies. The findings show that systematic reviews are a popular and rapidly growing methodology in engineering, internationally, but the quality of the studies, in terms of how authors construct and report their methods, is often low, resulting in many studies that are irreproducible and may fall short of the goal of gathering all the available evidence on a topic. The authors include recommendations for engineering authors, higher education administrators, and publishers
Warrior Women and Trans Warriors: Performing Masculinities in Twentieth-Century Latin American Literature
Get PDFLatin American literature has depicted warrior woman and trans warrior characters in armed conflicts, but literary critics have not paid much attention to their empowerment. They also have critiqued these characters using traditional gender binary concepts or have viewed their access to power as evil or abnormal. Warrior Women and Trans Warriors: Performing Masculinities in Twentieth-Century Latin American Literature introduces a new perspective by analyzing how one trans warrior and two warrior women from three canonical novels contest traditional codes of behavior and appearance. It examines Pintada in the Mexican novel Los de abajo (1915); doña Bárbara in the Venezuelan novel Doña Bárbara (1929); and Diadorim in the Brazilian novel Grande sertão: veredas (1956). Warrior Women and Trans Warriors focuses on how these three characters challenge conventional norms and empower themselves by giving orders, using weapons, fighting, competing with other characters, exposing traditional gender ideologies, and transgressing sartorial gender rules. Drawing on trans theory, intersectionality, gender performance theory, and masculinities studies, this book argues that performing masculinities allow these characters to occupy the place of the most-desired position of their contexts.https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/psrl/1033/thumbnail.jp
Evaluating the Potential Benefits of Implementing AASHTO Guide Specifications for the Analysis and Identification of Fracture Critical and System Redundant Members
Get PDFAn exploratory study was conducted for some bridges in the state of Indiana that evaluated the implementation potential of the AASHTO Guide Specifications for Internal Redundancy of Mechanically-Fastened Built-Up Steel Members (IRM Guide Specification) and the AASHTO Guide Specifications for the Analysis and Identification of Fracture Critical Members and System Redundant Members (SRM Guide Specification). The outcomes for the project included (1) determining if the application of the Guide Specifications on a wider scale would be beneficial to INDOT; (2) identifying which bridges or members were “truly” non-redundant in the selected bridges, thus allowing a more targeted inspection program that would minimize the risk associated with member failures; (3) developing a more targeted inspection program for the bridges eligible to be classified as IRMs and SRMs, and (4) proposing a strategy to move forward with a state-wide implementation plan to analyze other bridges presently classified as having NSTMs. This report addresses the bridge selection process used in determining the list of structures in the state of Indiana for IRM and SRM evaluation, as well as a detailed description of the IRM and SRM evaluation processes