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Polarimetric Data: Moderate Scenarios 05 - 08
No full textPolarimetric data moderate configuation Scenarios M05 through M08 collected within the Automated Remote Sensing Solar Simulation Lab at the University of Dayton. The data were collected using a visible RGB division-of-focal-plane imaging polarimeter. The dataset is parameterized across different sensor, scene, and illumination geometries that mimic outdoor solar irradiance conditions
Sense of Belonging in the Profession and Program of Study Among Nutrition and Dietetics Students
Get PDFSense of belonging may positively impact student performance, especially in marginalized groups. This study aimed to examine sense of belonging among a diverse group of nutrition and dietetics students. An online survey investigated students’ feelings of belonging, isolation, and connection to the field of nutrition and dietetics and department of study. The survey was distributed through email to the nutrition and dietetics student body in the Department of Nutrition at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Quantitative data were analyzed as count and percentage. Overall sense of belonging scores were calculated as an average on a 5-point scale (1-strongly disagree to 5-strongly agree). Qualitative data was analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Respondents (n=44) were primarily female (86.0%, n=37), White (74.4%, n=32) or Hispanic (27.9%, n=12), 20-29 years of age (60.5%, n=26), and planned to become Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (83.7%, n=36). Most students felt they belong in the field (34.1%, n=15, agreed; 36.4%, n=16, strongly agreed) and in the Department of Nutrition (38.6%, n=17, agreed; 31.8%, n=14, strongly agreed). Qualitative data in the department community revealed positive perceptions of student connections. Qualitative analyses revealed several barriers to belonging including financial challenges, lack of connections, imposter syndrome, and the desire to see more diversity in the field. Sense of belonging contributes to student success. Nutrition and dietetics programs should aim to address barriers to belongingness, especially among marginalized students
Faculty Advisory Committee Minutes of the Academic Senate 2025-04-11
Get PDFApproved minutes of a meeting of the Faculty Affairs Committee of the Academic Senate of the University of Dayton
Determining the Concurrent and Predictive Validity of the Repetitive Step Test in Individuals With Parkinson’s Disease
Get PDFPurpose/Hypothesis: The Repetitive Step Test (RST) assesses rapid stepping capability in anterior lateral (AL) and posterior lateral (PL) diagonal directions. This study’s goal was to determine the predictive validity of the RST to identify fallers with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). A secondary objective was to determine concurrent validity of the RST to other established tests. It was hypothesized that those who completed fewer steps with the RST would be more likely to fall and that the RST would predict falls at least as well as the other balance tests.
Materials and Methods: 19 subjects (10 F, 9 M; mean age 70.3 years) with mild to moderate PD were tested. Foot dominance was recorded (dominant [Dom] or nondominant [NonD]). The number of steps made by a single leg at 50% and 75% of leg length within 15 seconds were recorded. Data was collected in a single session: RST at 50% and 75%, Timed Up and Go (TUG), Five Time Sit to Stand Test (5TSTS), and 10 Meter Walk Test (10MWT). Falls were then recorded for 6 and 12 months.
Results: ROC curve analysis for the RST, TUG, 5TSTS and 10MWT was performed to determine the area under the curve (AUC) and cut-off scores for sensitivity (Sn) and specificity (Sp) in order to predict future falls. AUCs (0.607-0.762) for the RST were non-significant as were the TUG and 10MWT (p\u3e0.05). AUC for the 5TSTS was significant (0.762 p=0.021) with a cut-off value of 8.0 sec (Sn=0.857, Sp=0.667).
Spearman’s rho correlation was used to compare the tests. RST 50% and RST 75% were analyzed separately in order to assess if one version showed stronger correlations. For the RST 75%, only Dom PL was strongly correlated to 5TSTS (r= -0.71, p=\u3c 0.01). However, Dom AL, NonD AL, and NonD PL of RST 75% were found to be moderately correlated to 5TSTS. All forms of the RST 50% were strongly correlated to 5TSTS (r\u3e -0.72, p=0.01) and all forms of the 50% RST were moderately correlated to the TUG (r\u3e -0.51, p=0.02).
Conclusion: The AUCs for the RST were found to be non-significant, demonstrating poor ability of the RST to predict future falls in patients with PD. However, the 5TSTS was good for fall prediction. All RST 50% directions were strongly correlated with at least one pre-validated balance test, with Dom PL and NonD PL strongly correlating with two established balance tests. This generally supports our hypothesis that the RST 50% would show good concurrent validity with the selected pre-validated tests. The 6 month follow up data was found to be more significant than the 12 month. This could be due to PD being a neurodegenerative disorder and the initial screen not giving good insight on how the patient may perform 12 months later.
Clinical Relevance: Balance and gait measures are important for clinicians treating individuals with PD because they quantify the functional deficits seen in this population. Some tests require a considerable amount of clinic space and/or have a ceiling effect. Our findings support the use of the 5TSTS for fall prediction in persons with PD, but not the RST. However, the RST 75% could be a useful functional tool for identifying specific stepping impairments. The small number of subjects in this study may have impacted our findings.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/dpt_symposium/1053/thumbnail.jp
Nexus between Land Redistribution and Poverty Reduction: A Qualitative Overview of the Fast Track Land Reform in Rural Zimbabwe 2000-2007
Get PDFImposition of colonial rule in Zimbabwe saw millions of hectares of productive land expropriated from the native inhabitants relegating them to perpetual poverty and deprivation. Out of this predicament, native Zimbabweans resorted to armed struggle to reclaim their land in two historical periods leading to independence in 1980. Consequently, land repossession was a primary grievance during the armed struggle and thus, land redistribution was high on the agenda at the attainment of independence but not much was done in the first two decades. In the first decade, obligatory clauses in the Lancaster House constitution effectively made popular land reform impossible. The neo-liberal economic project, Economic Structural Adjustment Program adopted by the government of Zimbabwe in the 1990s further suffocated even timid efforts at meaningful land reform. However, the government embarked on compulsory acquisition in the year 2000 following widespread farm invasions and protests. 2006 marks six years since Zimbabwe\u27s implementation of fast track land reform that saw thousands of formerly landless and crowded families living in perils of poverty resettled. This paper unearths the linkages between access to productive land and reducing susceptibility and vulnerability to poverty and its contribution to national food security in the first six years of implementation. The paper goes miles in providing tentative answers and insights to the relevance of land redistribution in poverty alleviation, putting the agrarian reform question in its rightful position in development thinking in modem agro-based economies that once formed a colonial settler state within the overall framework of sustainable development
The Making of South Africa\u27s Foreign Policy Towards Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution in Africa: Choices, Constraints and Prospects
Get PDFPost-apartheid South Africa is at the center of efforts to build greatly expended African self-help peacekeeping capacity. The study provides an important focus of analysis on South Africa\u27s vision, ambitions and influence on the evolving practices of African security and sustained economic development. It is the concern of this study to relate and investigate the interplay between South Africa\u27s own ambitions and willingness of other parties to encourage its leadership roles.
South Africa\u27s political stability, military capacity and commitment to and African orientations in its foreign policy (as expressed in President Thabo Mbeki\u27s African Renaissance and the Millennium African Plan, now the New Partnership for Africa\u27s Development) make it in the eyes of stakeholders the best hope to deliver African solution to African problems. However, the verdict of this study must be that South Africa peacekeeping policy and practices to date—modest in its expressions and actions as it is—may represent the summit of ambitious in this field and not the threshold to a wider and fuller commitment