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The Holtalanders
No full textThe Holtalanders is a story cycle is set in the Viking era and follows the inhabitants of Holta Island. Where many works of Viking fiction focus on the seafaring warrior that defines the epoch, The Holtalanders is concerned with the folks found in the margins of the sagas: women, slaves, eunuchs, misfits, children and the elderly. Beyond the raiding and pillaging for which they are known, beyond the longships and the erroneous horned helmets, those living during the Norse medieval age were subsistence-level farmers and fishermen tied to the cycles of nature. In these pages, the author explores what it meant to live, love, and struggle during this intense period in history
Families in Poverty: Additive and Qualitative Influence of Risk on Parenting
Get PDFCo-occurrence of risk for impoverished families is common, but less is known about how compounded risk influences parenting behavior. Mothers (n = 167) and their two-year-old children were visited at home and engaged in a game aimed to elicit everyday parenting behavior. Mothers endorsed experience of sociodemographic and psychosocial risks. Two unique cumulative risk indices were created from these variables. Regression analyses assessed the relation between the risk indices and positive and negative parenting behavior. Latent class analysis examines classes of risk experience on the same indicators. Results show psychosocial risk experience is associated with both parenting factors, while sociodemographic risk experience was only associated with negative parenting. Similarly, latent class analysis suggested a four-class model, in which positive parenting differed between classes marked by sociodemographic, but not psychosocial, risk. Such comparisons show that all risk is not the same, and suggestions for intervention efforts and future studies are given
Detecting Convergence Zone Paths in Acoustic Model Outputs Using Machine Learning
Get PDFSound propagated underwater can possibly travel according to several different patterns. One such pattern, convergence zone (CZ), is the main focus of this thesis. This thesis presents an ArcGIS-based tool to easily choose specific points in the Atlantic Ocean based on latitude and longitude, then gather data about the propagation of sound at that point. In addition to this, a mini-app that generates machine learning datasets was created. It easily allows for one to label thousands of images in a short amount of time. A thousand CZ and a thousand non-CZ images were used to train a machine learning algorithm based on neural networks. The TensorFlow software library was used. To the best of our knowledge, this research work is the first attempt to detect a particular type of underwater sound propagation path from an image using machine learning. The algorithm can recognize CZ in images with 96% accuracy
Machine Learning Model Selection for Predicting Global Bathymetry
Get PDFThis work is concerned with the viability of Machine Learning (ML) in training models for predicting global bathymetry, and whether there is a best fit model for predicting that bathymetry. The desired result is an investigation of the ability for ML to be used in future prediction models and to experiment with multiple trained models to determine an optimum selection. Ocean features were aggregated from a set of external studies and placed into two minute spatial grids representing the earth\u27s oceans. A set of regression models, classification models, and a novel classification model were then fit to this data and analyzed. The novel classification model is optimized by selecting the best performing model in a geospatial area. This optimization increases prediction accuracy for test purposes by approximately 3%. These models were trained using bathymetry data from the ETOPO2v2 dataset. Analysis and validation for each model also used bathymetry from the ETOPO dataset, and subsequent metrics were produced and reported. Results demonstrate that ocean features can potentially be used to build a prediction model for bathymetry with the inclusion of accurate data and intelligent model selection. Based on the results in this work, evidence supports that no single model will best predict all Global bathymetry
Nanomaterial Composites Based on Potassium Hexaniobate, Perovskites, and Iron Triazole Spin Crossover Complexes
Get PDFDevelopment of novel materials with sought after properties has been the forefront in the field of nanomaterials. Hybrid nanomaterial architectures, or nanocomposites, is an important subgroup within the material chemistry umbrella. One such example of nanocomposite systems is peapod-like structures that are composed of 0D nanoparticles (“peas”) and 2D nanosheets (“pods”). Nanopeapods may display unique properties that were not attainable within individual components. BaTiO3 nanoparticles can be produced using solvothermal methods (20 h) in the presence of Ba(NO3)2, titanium (IV) butoxide, and oleic acid as the surfactant. Synthesis parameters were modified to allow for both oleic acid and oleylamine to be present within solvothermal synthesis. The resulting nanopeapods had dimension between 0.1 – 1 μm with an average of 27 ± 14 particles within each scroll.
Nanomaterials that exhibit spin-crossover (SCO) type behavior have also been explored significantly due to its ability to be a molecular switch. Depending on the type of ligand used in its fabrication and the size of the SCO compound produced, the energy requirement for spin state transition can decrease. Here, a study is presented on the fabrication of 0D [Fe(Htrz)2(trz)](BF4)] nanocubes using adaptions of reverse micelle methods using Tergitol NP-9 as the surfactant. Resulting nanocubes obtained had dimensions of 50 nm. Clear evidence of decrease in energy requirements is seen in both thermal and magnetic hysteresis produced for the nanoparticles. Compared to bulk data, a decrease of 20 οC can be seen in transitions from low to high spin states.
The fabrication of transition metal oxynitrides via ammonolysis of transition metal oxides is a type of reaction that is studied for a variety of applications. Successful ammonolysis of niobium transition metal oxides is difficult due the reduction of the metal by the H2 produced. Ammonolysis of K4Nb6O17 at 800 οC produced a proposed two-phased oxynitride containing KNbO3 and a compound with the approximate composition of NbN0.33O2. The conversion resulted in a weight loss of 11% due to the loss of potassium oxides and exchange of oxygen atoms for nitrogen atoms within the structure. This was then proceeded by a weight gain of 6% during oxidation via thermal analysis. XRD analysis provided further structural details to confirm the two-phased system produced
Theatre Arts Integration for Deeper Learning in the English-as-a-Foreign-Language Classroom
Get PDFThis quasi-experimental case study examines the impact of theatre arts integration in an English-as-a foreign language (EFL) course in a competency-based international high school. Aiming to engage students in a process of deeper learning through drama, this study focuses on the domain of speaking and oral communicative competence. Although widely recognized as one of the most important college-and-career-readiness skills, oral communication is often overshadowed by high-stakes testing priorities such as reading and writing. In particular, many Chinese students of English struggle to achieve confident oral fluency despite years of study. This research was designed to investigate whether theatre arts integration pedagogy contributes to enhanced learning outcomes using a treatment group of 14 Chinese students in an extant EFL classroom in China and a comparison group of 13 Chinese students taking the same level of English at the same school site that did not utilize an arts-integrated approach. Quantitative and qualitative data sources including astandardized EFL proficiency assessment, software analytics of oral interviews, and student artifact portfolios wereutilized to answer the guiding question: What is the impact of theatre arts integration on learning outcomes for Chinese students studying English as a foreign language? Analyses of the pre- and post- assessments revealed that the majority of the participants in both groups experienced significant growth in their overall as well as their spoken English performance, indicating that theatre arts integration pedagogy was as effective or more effective than other non-arts-based instructional methods in this case. For participants who did not demonstrate growth or received mixed results according to the two quantitative assessments, a qualitative analysis of their portfolio of performance assessments (artifacts) provided further insights into their progress and proficiency. This research suggests that theatre arts integration has the potential toenhance learning outcomes for spoken English proficiency and communicative competence, and the instructional design and assessment system can serve as models for educators everywhere who are considering arts-integrated or competency-based approaches. This research contributes to reducing barriers between the theory and practice of deeper learning, chief among them being the need for new pedagogical models that foster deeper learning
Impact of the Ocean Waves Workshop on the Marine Science and Technology Community
Get PDFThe Earl K. Long Library at the Univeristy of New Orleans uses ScholarWorks@UNO, an open access digital repository, to collect, preserve, and disseminate Ocean Waves Workshop content for a global audience. ScholarWorks resides on the Digital Commons platform, which is optimized for discoverability through search engines such as Google Scholar, increasing visibility and impact. UNO library staff work with the Ocean Waves Workshop planning committee to assign metadata to workshop materials that can then be rapidly shared online. The repository also ensures long-term, stable preservation of workshop content. The archive of workshop material and its extensive worldwide use demonstrate the scientific, social, and economic value of the Ocean Waves Workshop to the marine science and technology community and to other interested researchers
QOZs in the Big Easy: A Study of Qualified Opportunity Zones in New Orleans
Get PDFThe MURP 4005/5005 Introduction to Neighborhood Planning course provided service learning to HousingNOLA. HousingNOLA focuses on issues that relate to housing, employment, socio-economic development, community engagement, public policy and strategic uses of data to empower individuals and enrich the non-profit, public and private sectors. The course provided an introduction to neighborhood issues that HousingNOLA cares about and strives to make better: community involvement in the planning process. The focus of the project research was on US Federal Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZ) and how this national policy has been deployed in both New Orleans, LA.
The research report will serve as a ‘first look’ at NOLA QOZs from the national to state to local perspectives. The NOLA QOZ report will be shared with the City of New Orleans Municipal Offices and the New Orleans Business Alliance who is leading the development of a QOZ strategic plan. UNO Students identified and tested free public and private geospatial analysis and map making services. The students have shared guides to online mapping resources to summarize the conditions, and create a profile, of the QOZ that was “adopted” for the class
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No full textInstead of gumballs or candy, this gumball machine is filled with colorful, candy-like pills. This image represents the rampant opioid epidemic in the United States today. Over the years, opioid-related deaths have exponentially increased to the point where drug overdoses have become one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Because of the availability and accessibility, made so by corporations and doctors, many have become in contact with these drugs, and some fall prey to their addictive qualities. It is estimated that approximately 116 people die every day from drug overdoses