Minnesota State University, Mankato
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Guided Self Placement as a Stand-Alone Assessment
Get PDFTwo-year colleges provide access and opportunity for students with various academic backgrounds to pursue a post-secondary education. While two-year colleges take pride in admitting any student with a high school diploma or equivalent, in recent years colleges have been under scrutiny for low completion and graduation rates. Particular attention focuses on students who are required to enroll in non-credit developmental courses for academic preparation in math and English prior to college level courses. To respond to concerns, colleges are redesigning developmental courses to increase student success. Another area of focus is the process for determining, or assessing, a student’s preparedness for college level courses. Multiple measures are an alternative process to standardized testing. While standardized tests are easy to administer, research indicates that standardized tests under place students into developmental courses which extends the amount of time for a student to complete a credential. One approach of multiple measures is Guided Self-Placement. During COVID, standardized testing was limited which lead to an increase in the use of multiple measures and Guided Self-Placement. This study will compare students placed by guided self-placement to students placed by other measures. A t-test analysis includes disaggregating data of students of color and low-income students to understand if there is a difference in course success, persistence, and retention for students placed by guided self-placement
Takt Time Reduction of Genset Assembly Line Using Process Optimization and Lean Manufacturing Tools
Get PDFWith rapid developments in the field of AI and data centers, there is a soaring demand for backup power and due to this, genset manufacturers are compelled to increase their throughput and reduce lead times. This study focuses on incorporating process optimization and lean tools for lowering the overall takt time by reducing the cycle time of the generator assembly process of Line 1 at Rolls Royce Solutions America Inc. The eventual goal is to increase the throughput from 6 generators per day to 7 per day. The paper follows a step-by-step methodology starting from the problem statement and uses statistical analysis to monitor the data. The value chain is identified using the current state value stream map and the standard operating procedures (SOPs). The bottlenecks are singled out and a process improvement action plan is created. The process is monitored again after the changes are made in the assembly process and the results are recorded. A total reduction in process time of 30 minutes is achieved from Cells 2 and 3. The SOPs are adjusted again and an action plan for further scope of research is created
Comparative Study of Robotic and Manual Welding in A Low Volume-High Mix Manufacturing Environment: Case Study of JR Test 3
Get PDFThis thesis presents a comparative study of robotic and manual welding within a low-volume, high-mix manufacturing environment, focusing on the JR Test 3 case study. It explores the implementation of collaborative robots (co-bots) for robotic welding, emphasizing their flexibility, adaptability, and safety features. The study examines the integration and performance of co-bots. A detailed time and motion study, along with cost analysis, highlights the efficiency gains and quality improvements achieved through robotic welding. The findings underscore the advantages of co-bots in enhancing workflow efficiency, ensuring precision, and maintaining safety standards in dynamic manufacturing environments. The results showed that for this particular part manual welding was faster and more cost-efficient, showing robotic welding is not always the answer. We performed an efficiency analysis regarding the arc on time which showed all though the cost shows that manual welding is better robotic welding produces more parts per day
Evaluating the Effects of Topographic Position on Soil Carbon Content in Prairie Pothole Agricultural Landscapes
Get PDFPrairie potholes are depressional wetland features found throughout the northern Great Plains region of the United States and Canada. These wetlands have high potential to store large quantities of carbon, but many have been altered for conventional agricultural practices. Recently, conservation practices (e.g., no-till and cover crops) and federal conservation programs (e.g., Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)) are contributing to these landscapes returning to their more natural state. The restoration of prairie pothole soils has the potential to increase their carbon storage abilities, which would help decrease CO2 in the atmosphere and aid in mitigating climate change. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects that topographic position has on soil carbon content in agricultural landscapes with prairie potholes. Methods include: 1) collecting soil cores along a toposequence from four different land uses (native grassland, CRP lands, conservation agriculture, and conventional agriculture); 2) quantifying soil carbon content; 3) characterizing prairie pothole soil physical properties (i.e., bulk density and particle size); and 4) performing statistical analyses to evaluate relationships among total carbon, bulk density, and particle size for topographic position, land use, and the interaction between them at 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm depths. Total carbon based on topographic position followed the predicted model, carbon increased and bulk density decreased progressing from the upland position to the pothole. Clay and silt content also increased down the hillslope while sand content decreased. Total carbon based on land use was more complex, with the native site storing the most carbon followed by conventional sites, then conservation sites, and CRP sites had the lowest total carbon though differences were not statistically significant. This was probably due to small sample sizes, wide ranges of total carbon, multiple landscape positions not being accessible, and land use history not being well established. This research highlights the importance of topographic position on soil carbon sequestration and storage, an often-overlooked variable, and that land use impacts on carbon are complicated and can be overshadowed by other factors such as pothole morphology and hydrology
Seasonal phenology and starch allocation patterns in populations of Oxycaryum cubense f. cubense and paraguayense in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida
Get PDFPhenological studies for Cuban bulrush [Oxycaryum cubense (Poepp. & Kunth) Lye] have been limited to the monocephalous form in Lake Columbus (Mississippi). Accordingly, there is little available information on potential phenological differences among O. cubense forms (monocephalous vs. polycephalous) and populations in other geographic locations in the United States. Therefore, seasonal patterns of biomass and starch allocation in O. cubense were quantified from two populations in Lake Columbus on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in Mississippi (monocephalous), two populations from Lake Martin in Louisiana (polycephalous), and two populations from Orange Lake in Florida (polycephalous). Monthly samples of O. cubense inflorescence, emergent, and submersed tissue were harvested from two plots per state from October 2021 to September 2022. During monthly data collection, air temperature and photoperiod were recorded. Starch allocation patterns were similar among all sites, with starch storage being less than 1.5% dry weight for all plant tissues. Biomass was greatest in Lake Columbus (monocephalous; 600.7 g dry weight [DW] m−2) followed by Lake Martin (polycephalous; 392.3 g DW m−2) and Orange Lake (polycephalous; 233.85 g DW m−2). Peak inflorescence biomass occurred in the winter for the Lake Martin and Orange Lake populations and in the summer for the Lake Columbus population. Inflorescence biomass in Lake Columbus had a positive relationship (r2 = 0.53) with warmer air temperatures. Emergent and submersed biomass generally had negative relationships with both photoperiod and temperature (r2 = 0.02 to 0.77) in all sites. Peak biomass was also negatively related to temperature and photoperiod. Results from this study indicate that there are differences in biomass allocation between the two growth forms of O. cubense and that growth can occur at temperatures below freezing. Low temperature tolerance may allow this species to expand its range farther north than previously suspected
Government Documents Voter Registration Display October 2024
Get PDFBibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from Minnesota State University, Mankato.https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/lib-services-govdoc-display-elections/1015/thumbnail.jp
Novelty Visualizations of Collections Data: Real Impact or Comic Interlude?
Get PDFNat and Evan have experimented with a new approach to data visualization using Dall-E 3, an image generation tool. The goal has been to create data illustrations, like charts, but using images. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this approach as demonstrated through numerous examples
