1925 research outputs found
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Christianity and integration among African students in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States of America
Get PDFThis study aimed to examine African students' integration process in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the role the church played in the process. A grounded theory approach was adopted. Fifteen (15) African international graduate students at Northern Arizona University were interviewed to tell their stories of their integration and the role the church played in the process.Earlier research on the integration of African students focused on the problems that prevent African students from integrating into society. This study focused on how they integrate and the role that the church played in the process. The study found that many of the African students in Flagstaff integrated into society. Individuals (both Africans already in Flagstaff and community members) were the main stakeholders in the integration of the African students.
Similarly, the church provided support to African students, making available a van for the students and providing them with toiletries during the Covid-19 lockdown period. Furthermore, the church helped the students maintain and keep their faith and beliefs. The students also engaged in the church's activities by joining the worship team, sound engineering team, and screen projection team. This was a way that the African students also impacted the church
Stories and experiences of adult learners with multiple life-role responsibilities in the early 21st century
No full textAdult learners in the early 21st century are no longer the fringe group they once were because their numbers and their significance are both on the rise. Thus, the time is right to reframe our understanding about how adult learners of today perceive their experiences of going
to school while also managing their other life-role responsibilities. Using this intended focus as a
guide, this study sought to gain a better understanding of what it was like for the participants to
experience this phenomenon by discovering, analyzing, and interpreting the lived experiences
and perceptions they elected to share. Hermeneutic phenomenology was used as the research
approach because it is a reliable choice when the goal is to analyze and interpret the experiences
and perceptions of individuals involved in the same phenomenon in order to arrive at a common
understanding of their combined experiences; an understanding this study calls the all-encompassing
essence of experience. Interviews were used to collect the data, and a simplified
textual data analysis process was created specifically for this study to analyze and interpret the
data for its deeper meaning. The final result of the data analysis process was an all-encompassing
essence of experience that centered on how all the participants expressed their perceptions in
terms of their sense of desire, endurance, and purpose. These attributes were at the core of their
collective experiences, and they potentially could be at the core of the experiences of other adult
learners as well given the prevalence of these attributes found in the data collected for this study.
Keywords: adult learner, hermeneutic phenomenology, life-role responsibilities, lived experienc
Debris Flow Hazard Modeling with GIS and Remote Sensing in Southern California
No full textDebris flows are important processes for transporting sediment and large debris in mountain streams, but have proven deadly for residents of Southern California. Wildfire drastically increases the probability of debris flow occurrence because vegetation is burned off while the soil is baked, accelerating runoff and impeding infiltration. Large populations often reside downstream of mountain washes where these flows occur, putting them at risk. With larger, more destructive wildfires, and more extreme precipitation patterns, this risk is increasing. Case studies of debris flows following the Thomas, Holy, Woolsey, and Station fires offer lessons on how to better manage risk and respond to these dangers. Variables likely to contribute to debris flow occurrence within watersheds of the burn scars were analyzed with GIS and ordinary least squares regression modeling to determine whether debris flow hazard models relied upon by local governments were appropriate. Variables found to be statistically significant correlate strongly with those used by the USGS Western Preliminary Hazard Assessment Model, indicating its robustness in Southern California. However, reliability could be improved by including forecasted precipitation intensities for a storm by GIS analysts at the local level rather than utilizing model storm precipitation. Local government’s ability to effectively manage risk depends on debris flow hazard modeling capabilities, communication with the public, and coordination of emergency response by various government agencies. By implementing better policy in these areas, human life and property can be better protected when debris flows inevitably occur in Southern California again
The impact of the Title I principal’s leadership style on the climate of the school
No full textPrincipals have become one of the most significant factors that affect student achievement, next to classroom teachers, and the overall success of the school. Principals of Title I schools have the added challenge of serving children from low-income families. Research was conducted to determine the impact that the leadership style of the Title I elementary school’s principal has on the climate of the school. The leadership styles that were examined in this study were transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and distributive leadership. Participants of this qualitative phenomenological study include fifteen classroom teachers from two different school sites from the same suburban school district. Participants were asked twelve open-ended questions about their experience with principals’ leadership and the impact those principals had on the climate of their school. It was concluded that transformational leadership and distributive leadership had a positive impact on the climate of the Title I elementary schools. During the interview process with regard to transformational and distributive leadership the following themes emerged: positive, collaboration, openness, teamwork, empowering, committees, unified, and valued. Transactional leadership was found to have a negative impact on the climate of the Title I elementary school except for when verbal praise was used. The following themes emerged during the interview process with regard to transactional leadership: principals’ failure to consider outside factors, the negative effects of competition and unclear rules, and potential positive effects of verbal praise
Innovation in augmenting hip and ankle performance during walking
Get PDFThis thesis considers two topics: hip assistance using a powered exoskeleton, and ankle assistance using a passive ankle-foot orthosis during walking. Part A introduces a lightweight bilateral hip exoskeleton used for improving gait function. Part B introduces an adjustable ankle foot orthosis to assist with ankle correction.Exoskeletons are wearable robotic devices that can assist with a variety of tasks, such as load carrying, walking, or rehabilitation. In Part A, I introduce an ultra-lightweight hip exoskeleton aimed at assisting individuals with Cerebral Palsy and other gait impairments during rehabilitation or gait training exercises. This thesis presents the mechanical design and validation of the exoskeleton. The final mechanical design of the hip exoskeleton was derived through several prototypes, and verified for specific engineering requirements: weight, torque application, range of motion, and user comfort. A summary of the hip exoskeleton control system is briefly discussed.
Ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are devices commonly utilized for gait correction. AFOs are boot-like structures that encase the foot and lower leg to provide extra support and stability to the user during everyday tasks. Current market AFOs are extremely rigid, making walking difficult for individuals due to reduced ankle movement. Part B of this thesis introduces an adjustable AFO to help individuals increase their ankle motion while also aiding ankle power during stance and swing phases of the gait cycle. The final design of the AFO was derived through a single prototype, and validated for specific engineering requirements: weight, spring stiffness, modification ability, range of motion, and comfort
Understanding place in Sedona, Arizona, through tourism, spirituality, and planning
No full textSedona, Arizona, attracts many tourists seeking spiritual renewal through the city’s reputation as a spiritual center or nexus of energy. Marketing by the city and various businesses in Sedona characterize the city as a “spiritual Mecca” that is the “perfect place for spiritual and personal enrichment of the body and soul.” Intersecting planning, spirituality, and tourism can yield insights into how place is produced and understood in Sedona and advance studies of place and spirituality more generally. An investigation into Sedona’s tourism culture is explored through a review of tourism studies, place and planning literature, and interviews with business owners, tourists, city employees, and locals. Findings will show how place is produced through an interconnection of actors, networks, and systems of power, while providing a relational ontology of place that negotiates across scales and between individual and collective understandings of place
Leading Change through User Experience: How End Users Are Changing the Library
Get PDFCline Library is centrally located on the Northern Arizona University (NAU) campus in Flagstaff, Arizona. The library has a staff of sixty-two, and an additional forty-six student staff. According to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, NAU
is classified as “R2: Doctoral Universities—Higher Research Activity.” Founded in 1899 with twenty-three students, NAU is now a public university with over 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students who learn on campus and online, across the state and beyond. NAU has built a reputation for research and scientific discovery, and over 1,000 undergraduates present at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. From the beginning, NAU placed students at the center, and students are the driving force behind what Cline Library does.
Through a strategic planning process now underway, users and staff imagine the future for Cline Library as a people-focused experiential learning environment, which
is dynamic, is proactive to user needs, and promotes both individual discovery and creative collaboration. The library’s newly crafted mission and vision state
Space Weathering of FeS Induced Via Pulsed Laser Irradiation
No full textData set for the article: Prince, B. S., Magnuson, M. P., Chaves, L. C., Thompson, M. S., & Loeffler, M. J. ( 2020). Space weathering of FeS induced via pulsed laser irradiation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 125, e2019JE006242. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JE00624
Data from "Sputtering of Water Ice by keV Electrons at 60 K"
No full textFor full article see: Meier, R. M., & Loeffler, M. J. (2019). Sputtering of Water Ice by keV Electrons at 60 K. Surface Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susc.2019.12150
Modelling variation in wood stiffness of Pinus ponderosa using static bending and acoustic measurements [data file]
No full textWood removed in Southwestern US forest restoration treatments currently has limited markets and thus low value. One important property of wood in structural products is its stiffness (measured as modulus of elasticity), which is known to vary systematically within trees. Directly measuring wood stiffness is expensive, time consuming and destructive. Therefore, we tested samples of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum Engelm.) from northern Arizona destructively in bending and also non-destructively using acoustic velocity (AV) methods. In total, we tested multiple pith-to-bark small clear (2.54 × 2.54 × 40.64 cm) samples from up to four heights in 103 trees. We first measured the standing-tree AV of sample trees, then the AV of small clear samples, and finally measured wood stiffness using three point static bending tests. We found that a Michaelis–Menten curve was a good fit to the radial profile of wood stiffness, with a steep increase outward from the pith that approached an asymptote. The AV of small clear samples, coupled with measured volumetric density values, approximated the static modulus of elasticity values with high accuracy (r2 =0.86). At the stand level, a model predicting standing tree AV from tree morphology fit the data well (r2 =0.77). Results indicate that southwestern ponderosa pine contains outerwood with relatively high stiffness that could be suitable for structural products. However, when assessed using wood stiffness, the trees take a long time to reach maturity (∼50 years) and thus the corewood proportion is large. AV measurements are a good way to assess variability within and among stands and thus could be employed to segregate the resource by expected stiffness values. Segregation could help identify stands not suitable for structural uses and direct them toward more appropriate products