Miami University, Ohio
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Locally Funded Services for the Older Population: A Description of Senior-Service Property-Tax Levies in Ohio
Get PDFThis report provides findings from a survey of Ohio's counties operating senior-service property-tax levies. Results cover services, expenditures, clients served, eligibility, election strategies and more. Where possible, comparisons are made to a similar survey conducted in 2005
Literary Research and Canadian Literature; Strategies and Sources, by Gabriela Natasha Reznowski
Get PDFCross-tolerance in larvae of the goldenrod gall fly, Eurosta solidaginis: rapid desiccation increases organismal and cellular freeze-tolerance
No full textA number of similarities exist that support the idea of cross-tolerance between low temperature and desiccation stress responses. Freeze-tolerant larvae of the goldenrod gall fly, Eurosta solidaginis, are exposed to extremely dry and cold conditions when they overwinter and serve as a useful model for cross-tolerance of these two stresses. To determine if mild, rapid desiccation can improve freeze-tolerance at the organismal and cellular levels, we assessed survival, hemolymph osmolality, and glycerol concentration of control and desiccated larvae. Desiccated larvae lost 6-10% of their body mass and, to our knowledge, this is the lowest amount of water loss reported to increase freeze-tolerance. Organismal survival significantly increased with mild, rapid desiccation treatment prior to freezing for 24 h at -15°C in September (33.3 ± 6.7 to 73.3 ± 12% ) and at -20°C in October (16.7 ± 6.7 to 46.7 ± 3.3%) collected larvae. Similarly, desiccation in as little as 6 h improved in vivo survival at -20°C for 24h in fat body, Malpighian tubule, salivary gland, and tracheal cells by ~34%, ~43%, ~38%, and ~17% , respectively. Desiccation treatment induced intracellular changes because improved freeze-tolerance occurred in midgut cells frozen in vitro (38.7 ± 4.6 to 89.2 ± 5.5 %). Whereas hemolymph osmolality increased significantly with desiccation treatment (720 ± 26 vs. 544 ± 16 mOsm), glycerol concentration did not differ between control and desiccated groups. The rapidity with which the sub-lethal desiccation stress increased freeze-tolerance resembles the rapid cold hardening (RCH) response that occurs when sub-lethal cold exposure for only minutes or hours enhances freeze-tolerance, and suggests that there may be a link between rapid environmental changes and cold hardening
"Going to the Mountains is Going Home": Constructing Early Twentieth-Century American Wilderness and National Parks
No full textThe interest for this thesis stemmed from existing critical discussions of the difference between the landscapes demarcated by the words “wilderness” and “wildness.” For example, in Walden, Henry David Thoreau pointedly uses the word “wild,” rather than “wilderness” to describe his surroundings at Walden Pond. This sparked critical discussions about the landscape of mid-nineteenth century Massachusetts, and the ways in which that landscape would or would not qualify as “wilderness.” This thesis, then, takes up similar questions: What is the difference between “wildness” and “wilderness?” Can “wilderness” be given a concrete definition, or is the definition always changing based on cultural viewpoints? How do national parks protect “wilderness?” Or, do they even protect “wilderness” at all? The thesis then moves into an interdisciplinary approach toward attempting to understand the American fascination with wilderness and the American relationship with national parks that stems from that fascination.
In order to make an attempt at answering these questions, this thesis incorporates three areas of historical research, before bringing all lines of research together into a final argument. The first section looks at the history of “wilderness” as a cultural concept: the development of the word and its connotations in Europe, the ways in which the word was applied to the American landscape as immigrants from Europe settled in North America, and the ways in which the understanding of “wilderness” has changed into an idealized form. The second section considers the history of American national parks, and how tourism has functioned in the process of creating the national parks. Then, the third section examines the government documents that created the National Park Service in 1916, and the ways in which the creation of the National Park Service changed both American national parks and the American “wilderness” ideal. Finally, the last section brings these lines of inquiry together in a study of 1916 issues of the Saturday Evening Post, National Geographic, and Harper’s Weekly, which give insight into the ways in which the American public regarded wilderness and national parks at the time of the establishment of the National Park Service
Piloting the Classroom: Teaching from Multiple Perspectives
No full textABSTRACT
Piloting the Classroom:
Teaching from Multiple Perspectives
By: Nicole M. Gilmore
This honors thesis serves as a teaching portfolio based on my lessons and experiences with teaching in the classroom and with individuals. I have had many experiences with teaching other than just my student teaching. I have taught in both upper-middle class schools, schools that are on “academic watch” and even a school in Belize, a different country and a different culture. Not only have I taught in the classroom but I have also had experience teaching in a military training program for future officers, Air Force ROTC. I did not realize how well all of these experiences would interconnect and improve me as a teacher until I started work on this portfolio.
Each section is dedicated to my different teaching experiences throughout the past two years. There are also notes from professors, cooperating teachers and even students that are valuable to me as a future teacher and serve to highlight my teaching experiences. Each section includes an introduction summarizing and highlighting my writings. This will give the reader a good indication of which sections are of most interest to him or her while reading the portfolio. In each section, especially the capstone paper, I discuss how each of the experiences has impacted one another. My findings and conclusions on how they all relate, come from a mixture of both my research and experiences with teaching.
The purpose of this portfolio is to allow me to have something to look back on after I have served my years in the Air Force, so I can remember the valuable education I have received at Miami University on teaching and how to be an effective educator. The education I have received here is of the utmost value and I cannot risk losing all the information and lessons I have learned through the classes and experiences here. This portfolio is one giant step to prepare myself for my future teaching career. This portfolio also serves as a tool for prospective schools that will interview me, to see examples of my work throughout my time at Miami and my experiences with teaching
Growing Up with Mark: Living with PDD-NOS
No full textAutism Spectrum Disorder, as a growing disability category in past years, has received a great deal of attention, in particular, for the classic autism disorder that most individuals have become so familiar with. However, it is rare that we hear about other disabilities that fall under the autism spectrum, such as Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified, or PDD-NOS. Growing up with a sibling with this condition has been an impacting experience riddled with obstacles for every member of my family. However, it is through these experiences that I have grown and have developed to become the person that I am today. It is with this personal understanding and sincere interest in the disability that I elected to embark upon the task of creating a memoir surrounding the circumstances under which my brother grew up with his disability.
For the sake of creating a paper that would best capture the multiple perspectives of various members of my family, I elected to interview the various members of my family in order to create vignettes that best represented their perceptions of Mark. Each memory varies in length, from a sentence or two, to a full page. These memories are intended to capture the essence of Mark’s childhood and elementary school years. I hoped that through these memories, readers would be able to understand some of the thoughts that my family experienced as Mark grew up, as well as to give them some firsthand insight into the events that occurred during our lives over the years. I felt that through seeing how a family copes with a disability - going through the grieving process, struggling with the challenges posed, and celebrating the accomplishments – that the readers might get a more complete picture of how life can be impacted so profoundly by one such event. It is difficult to get perspective into such a difficult situation until one has lived through such an experience, and this is something I hoped could be shared through this memoir.
In order to give these vignettes more perspective, however, I realized that I could not simply list the vignettes one after another in written form. As a result, I elected to analyze each vignette from my own perspective. Therefore, each memory in italicized font is followed by my own analysis and additional relevant memories I have added to contextualize each described instance. In doing this, I hoped to not only provide more background on my family’s situation, but also to add some additional information on what might be expected of other families coping with a similar situation.
Through the format of a memoir centered around snapshots of Mark’s childhood, I hoped to make the delivery of this impacting experience as personal and relevant as possible to the readers, helping them to see the meaningful nature that is experienced by so many families who are impacted by the diagnosis of a disability
Proper Footwear While Wearing an Orthopedic Walker Boot
No full textAs the use of Orthopedic Walker Boots increases it is important to study the effects of these boots. Walker boots have been shown to change kinetic and kinematic gait factors. However, the advantages of walker boots compared to casts often outweigh the possible negative effects of these changes. Specific advantages include the ease of application, easy adjustment to swelling and easy access for cleaning. Also, by maintaining some forces through the injured limb, proper healing can be encouraged. Besides the changes of gait, the decreased compliance and increased risk of falling are disadvantages that must be considered when using walker boots as treatment. The current study investigated the kinematic gait difference associated with walker boots and footwear worn on the opposite foot. The purpose of the study was the compare the changes in gait while wearing a walker boot and running shoe with the changes while wearing a walker boot and flip-flop. It was hypothesized that the flip-flops will lead to increased kinematic changes. To test this hypothesis, participants walked at self-selected speeds while motion capture systems were used to analyze the motion of the ankle, hip, knee and pelvic joints. Assessment of the self-selected speed indicates that there is a trend to support the hypothesis, but these differences are not significant to confirm the hypothesis. Full results were not able to be published in this work
The Effect of Bacterial Lipopolysaccharides on Immune Function and Adult Neurogenesis in the cricket, Acheta domesticus
No full textNeurogenesis is the phenomenon in which the brain produces new neurons. Neurons, which are located in the brain and spinal cord, are especially important to an organism’s function, as they allow for communication and information processing. Although the exact function of neurogenesis is unclear, recent studies suggest its importance in learning and memory. As a whole, our lab investigates the factors that can affect neurogenesis, such as environment and behavior. My study specifically looked at how the immune system of an organism could affect adult neurogenesis. We chose to look at immune function because many studies have linked immunocompetence to neurogenesis in vertebrate animals; it is our goal to investigate this relationship in an invertebrate model, the house cricket Acheta domesticus. To activate the immune system, we injected experimental crickets with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We compared immune activity and neurogenesis between experimental and control crickets. The cricket model was chosen because crickets have relatively simple immune and nervous systems which are easy to manipulate. Going further, they also have adult neurogenesis in brain regions functionally similar to those of mammals. We found that crickets treated with LPS exhibit a change in immune function, as shown by a decrease in phenoloxidase (an enzyme important in insect immune function) activity levels, a decrease in survival rate, and an increase in nodule number and size. We found inconclusive results on the effect of LPS injection on neurogenesis due to low sample sizes
Geographic Factors in School Choice: Spatial and Social Accessibility in the Cincinnati Public Schools
No full textOpen enrollment and school choice have been used throughout the United States for decades as a tool for desegregation, and in the Cincinnati, Ohio Public Schools (CPS) since 1973. Scholars have debated the effectiveness and fairness of school choice, but more geographical analysis is needed on the spatial opportunities and constraints that parents face. This paper explores the how geography factors in school choice. What are Cincinnati parents' geographic understandings and preferences including location, transportation, associations and assigned meanings? Using a survey of 25 CPS parents interviews with 11 CPS parents, I explored how these preferences affect parental school choice. CPS parents are particularly concerned with issues of safety, identity, and transportation. The paper concludes by discussing how a better understanding geographical factors in parental school choice may provide a basis for more effective policies to promote racial and socioeconomic equity
Capitalizing on University Resources for Easy and Economical Information Literacy Assessment
No full textePortfolios continue to gain strength in higher education as a viable and relatively quick method for assessment of student work. Miami University (Oxford, OH) recently implemented Chalk & Wire as its ePortfolio system for the entire campus.
The libraries have partnered with several departments to utilize ePortfolios for the assessment of information literacy skills. Student work from departments are automatically forwarded to a team of librarians that assess the work using a revised version of the information literacy rubric developed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). What is unique about this process is that the artifacts are not tailored to the library or to the information literacy rubric.
Now in its third year, this project has provided extremely valuable and robust data regarding the information literacy skills at Miami. It assists in developing a baseline for students, and helps us to see progression in information literacy as students move through the curriculum. The assessments have provided data on which classes need further assistance with research assignments, classes that need syllabi revised to better assist students in the research process, and has helped us to easily identify classes and assignments that can serve as a model to other