Miami University, Ohio
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The Effects of a 24-hour Exposure to Carbaryl or Atrazine on the Locomotive Performance of Juvenile Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum)
No full textAmphibian ecotoxicology research has traditionally focused on chronic aquatic exposure of early life stages. However, multiple studies have shown that the survival of juvenile salamanders, frogs, and toads has the largest impact on population growth. Studies on species within the genus Ambystoma have shown that juvenile salamanders are the most likely of any life stage to disperse to new ponds. Because chemical contaminants are widely used throughout agricultural lands in the U.S. and have been shown to have effects on the central nervous system, it is important to determine any potential role they might have on locomotive performance. Our study sought to determine whether a 24-hour exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of carbaryl (a neurotoxic insecticide) and atrazine (an herbicide) affected the locomotive performance of juvenile spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum). Exposed salamanders were tested for either speed (max-burst in a U-shaped Plexiglas track) or endurance (time spent running at a constant speed on a treadmill). We found that carbaryl and atrazine treatment did not significantly affect speed or endurance ability. However, we did find that individuals exposed to carbaryl in the speed test experienced significantly increased fatigue throughout the speed trials. In addition, we found that mass to be significantly correlated with speed ability. Overall, our study suggests that a 24-hour exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of carbaryl and atrazine does not directly significantly affect maximum burst speed or endurance ability in juvenile spotted salamanders
Student Perceptions as a Method to Improve Information Literacy
No full textPurpose
When considering the information literacy skills of students, faculty (and librarians) often make assumptions as to what students know, understand, or why they act as they do. To help alleviate these misunderstandings, librarians and faculty co-created a tool to gauge student perceptions on finding information and using information in research projects. The tool is utilized in classrooms, and then faculty members (in conjunction with librarians) use that data to improve information literacy via assignments and instruction.
Design/Methodology/Approach
A 10-minute questionnaire was designed in late 2008 that gauges student perceptions in the following areas:
• Research Habits
• Resource Use
• Library Use
• Library Services
The tool is utilized by faculty in approximately 20 courses each semester. Results (which are compiled and anonymous) are returned to the faculty member, including overall results since the project began. Faculty members discuss these results with librarians, and make changes to their assignments/syllabi based upon what they have learned.
Findings
Some results of the questionnaire tool were not surprising at all. For instance, student effort in seeking information is tied to grades, students overwhelming prefer online materials to print, and Google is the first place that students look for information. On the other hand, student perceptions on assignment construction and resource requirements often differed from faculty, and even librarian expectations. Just as important as the data in this project is how faculty members interpreted that data and made changes in their classrooms. The information faculty receive is personalized to their own classes, and provides additional context that they do not receive from the literature or national projects that collect similar information. Currently we have 3.5 years of data from approximately 3500 students, and continue to add to the data set each semester.
Practical Implications/Value
While national data collection efforts such as Project Information Literacy are very useful in helping to better understand the information literacy skills of students, sometimes that data is too general for faculty members to find value in it. Having a tool that is easily implemented in the classroom helps faculty members to better understand the problems they see in student research projects, and to change their teaching and assignments based upon what they have learned from their students. Considering that this tool costs extremely little to implement and analyze, it is an extremely high value for the change that results
Bridging the Aging Network and Medical Community Survey: Care Transitions from Hospital to home
Get PDFThis report describes findings from a survey of Area Agencies on Aging regarding activities between the aging network and the medical community. This report focuses on organizations engaged in care transitions of older adults from hospital to home
The Influence of an Afterschool Physical Activity/Academic Enhancement Program on Components of Physical Fitness and Self-esteem in 4th and 5th Graders.
No full textChildhood obesity negatively impacts the psycho-social and physical health of young children by increasing the risk for the development of a variety of chronic diseases/conditions at an earlier age. A multitude of after-school programs have been created to address decreasing levels of physical activity and physical fitness, one of several factors involved in overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. PURPOSE: In addition to assessing potential changes in physical fitness, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an afterschool physical activity and academic enhancement program for 4th and 5th graders on a variety of components of self-esteem, particularly physical self-efficacy. METHODS: A diverse cohort of 23 students participated in the tri-weekly program for a total of 12 weeks. Components of physical fitness, including body composition, aerobic fitness, muscle strength, and muscular flexibility, were assessed using FITNESSGRAM. Perceptions of competency in physical components, such as sport, body attractiveness, strength, physical self-worth, and global self-worth were determined using the Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile (CY-PSPP) and the Children and Youth Perceived Importance of Physical Competence Profile (CY-PIP). RESULTS: Our results indicated a significant increase in sport/athletic competency (p<0.0005) and sport importance (p<0.06) over time. Furthermore, physical self-worth (physical self-efficacy) was shown to approach a significant increase over time (p<0.09). Regarding physical fitness, abdominal strength/curl-ups (p<0.0001) increased significantly while a gender effect existed; males scored higher than females in PACER (p<0.001) and curl-ups (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Overall, the increase in competence levels and physical ability from pre-intervention to post-intervention indicate a positive change in perceptions for the students. Although subsequent studies should include a control group and be performed over a longer period of time, it can be concluded that the Stewart afterschool physical activity and academic enhancement program played a positive role in fostering positive changes in several aspects of both physical and psycho-social health in young children who participated in the program
Kinship and familiarity affect recognition and foraging in the wolf spider, Pardosa milvina (Araneae: Lycosidae).
No full textRecognition of familiar and related conspecifics can be crucial for altruistic
behaviors. In spiders, a reduction in cannibalism has previously been used as evidence of
kin recognition. The goal of this study was to examine the changes in activity and
foraging for the non-social wolf spider, Pardosa milvina (Araneae: Lycosidae), as novel
proxies for recognition and to provide evidence for altruism. Activity and foraging by
juvenile spiders were explored on chemotactile cues (silk, excreta, feces) from related
and/or familiar spiders. The activity of spiders included time spent moving, speed, and
duration on familiar or kin cues. Foraging included the maximum consumption of
crickets and rate of capture on non-kin, kin, familiar non-kin, and familiar kin cues.
Pardosa spent more time ambulatory on kin cues than familiar cues. Additionally,
animals foraging on kin cues decreased consumption while those foraging on familiar
cues increased consumption. Capture rates increased on familiar cues, but tended to
decrease on kin cues. These results suggest that immature Pardosa utilize chemotactile
cues to distinguish kin and familiar conspecifics and may exploit this recognition to
increase their indirect fitness. These results also align with a recent producer-scrounger
foraging model that considers within-group relatedness as a key to understanding
exploitation by kin. Together these results indicate a foraging strategy that may help to
explain the early evolution of sociality in spiders
The Geography of Remittances in Ghana
No full textMigrant transfers and their remittances provide a significant source of capital flows and foreign exchange for Developing Countries. While peripheral regions like Sub-Saharan Africa are underrepresented in the remittance literature there is growing recognition that the region is globally important as a migrant sending zone and that subsequent remittances influence local economies (Yeboah 2008). For example, Ghana has experienced increased migration in the post-SAP era of decentralization, and Bank of Ghana estimates place national remittances in the $1billion range (Mazzucato, van den Boom and Nsowah 2008). However, research has largely failed to address the geography of remittances. In particular, little attention has been given to the usage of remittances by receiving households and how these uses vary with respect to their origin and destinations. My specific objective is to address the disparity in geographical research on remittances and Sub-Saharan African subjects by investigating the geography of remittances between migrant sending and receiving scales in Ghana, how this relates to the uses to which payments are put, and from these what deductions may be drawn about the impact of remittances on development
Characterization, Modeling, and Applications of Novel Magneto-Rheological Elastomers
No full textMagnetorheological elastomers (MREs) are an emerging branch within the smart materials field that consists of hard or soft magnetic particles embedded in a rubber compound. Current applications and research have been focused on changing the stiffness of these materials by applying an external magnetic field. Components of vibration absorbers and base isolation systems that employ this material have shown the capability of offering improved performance over conventional solutions. These particular applications use soft magnetic material; however, MRE materials containing hard magnetic filler materials (those that remain permanently magnetized) were the primary focus of this project and are referred to as H-MREs. When a magnetic field is applied perpendicularly to these particles, the filler particles generate a net torque and these samples can be used as a controlled actuator. Preliminary work has been conducted to characterize these H-MREs (since their properties are significantly different than “soft” MREs) and this work has shown their usefulness in engineering applications. However, unlike comparable smart materials such as piezoelectrics and electroactive polymers (EAP), additional modeling and experimentation needs to be conducted in order to develop usable models and better understand their behavior. The first portion of this paper focuses on developing experimental models to predict the behavior of H-MRE materials as cantilevered beam actuators for use in future applications.
Two additional, newer applications for which H-MREs could be useful are energy harvesting and sensing. Sensors are utilized almost everywhere today as they are used to monitor the performance of a system (whether it is fluid flow, vibration measurements, etc.). Piezoelectric materials, those that respond to electric stimuli, and Galfenol, an engineered material similar to MREs, have been studied extensively for their application as self-sensing actuators. It is hypothesized that H-MREs could be used in a similar capacity by developing a way to monitor the displacement of the material using a magnetic circuit. Based on a similar principle, energy harvesting involves the conversion of one form of energy (kinetic, solar, etc.) into a more storable form. Previous research has been conducted using other smart materials in this capacity and it is also hypothesized that H-MREs could be used in a similar capacity by capturing energy from mechanical vibrations and storing it in the form of electrical energy/power using a specialized circuit and the same principles discussed above. The primary goal of the second portion of this project will be to determine the feasibility of using H-MREs in the capacity of energy harvesting and sensing technologies. This feasibility study includes the development of experiments to assess these capabilities and the implementation of the experiments for verification of the predicted behavior. Finally, much consideration is given to work that will need to be done in the future in order to fully understand the behavior of these materials and allow them to be implemented in future relevant applications
Heavy Metal Adsorption Using Renewable Adsorbents with Honors Thesis Addendum:A global look at where this work can be applied
No full textThe purpose of this project was to investigate the heavy metal adsorption capabilities of biomass. The overall goal was to design a process that will replace current nonrenewable water treatment technologies with a cheap and biodegradable alternative. In this case, the research team tested the ability of orange peels to uptake cadmium and nickel from solutions created in the lab. From previous research done to test heavy metal adsorption, the team developed a method of testing using mainly a peel-packed glass column. The column was used to run metal solutions through the peels and then ICP-MS testing was used to evaluate metal concentrations in the effluent liquid. The team’s results proved promising, as the orange peels reduced the concentration of a 90ppm nickel solution by 54.2%. A sample of cadmium solution was reduced in concentration by 33.9% under normal conditions and 48.2% under acidic conditions. However, the team has strong recommendations for future work. The experimental techniques can be improved with some procedural adjustments, and the results can be reproduced to assess service life of the peels and verify results
The Value of Purchasing E-book Collections from a Large Publisher
Get PDFThe academic e-book market is in the midst of rapid change and development. While e-books are still a relatively small
percentage of library collections, sales are growing and libraries appear ready to ramp up their e-book collections. There is
now a range of purchasing models available to libraries. E-books can be acquired on a title-by-title basis, as a package
collection with a large publisher or aggregator, or using a patron-driven model.
This presentation investigates the value of purchasing e-book collections from a large publisher. Is there value in buying a
collection, or is it more efficient to purchase e-books individually, on a title-by-title basis? To help answer this question, we
will present the results of a usage-based analysis of Springer e-books. Since 2007, Miami University Libraries have
purchased Springer e-book collections through an OhioLINK contract. Our analysis is based on COUNTER e-book usage
reports and data from OhioLINK’s Electronic Book Center. We also augment the usage data with title-level information,
such as subject and book type. This preliminary study focuses on the 2008 Springer collection and its use over a three-year
period (2008-2010)
The Numbers Game: Collecting, Compiling, and Utilizing Usage Data in an Academic Library
No full textAs our academic library budgets evolve, librarians have to make difficult decisions about what
resources to spend that money on every year. Looking at patron usage of our resources, both tangible
and electronic, can help us to make these decisions