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Empowering Student Employees via Guerilla-Style Usability Testing
No full textWe needed to capture data from our students about our website while empowering our student assistants with additional growth opportunities. We wanted to make it known that we value their insight and recognize them as key contributors. We were inspired to conduct – guerilla-style usability testing (on the spot, quick questions) as an innovative approach to how we gather information. During this lightning talk, we will discuss why the usability testing project was initiated, each phase of the project – from planning to implementation, and how students played a crucial role. Finally, we’ll discuss the next steps in the project. We’ll also present the changes we applied based on student response through this multi-year-long project
Optimizing concrete strength: How nanomaterials and AI redefine mix design
Full text linkNanomaterials and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) are typically used together in efforts to enhance the performance of concrete and mitigate the environmental impact of concrete construction. However, the complex interactions between nanomaterials, SCMs, and cement make concrete mix design a challenging, iterative, and labor-intensive process, often relying on trial-and-error experimentation. Machine learning (ML) offers an opportunity to better understand the influence of input parameters and to accelerate the optimization of mix designs through data-driven insights. This study proposes an open-source and easy-to-access framework, Canopy, to support the concrete research community in optimizing mix design. Using a dataset collected from the literature, detailed analyses were conducted using Ridge Regression (RR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Random Forest (RF), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB). Model performances were evaluated using metrics including Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), R-squared (R2), Normalized Mean Bias Error (NMBE), and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). XGB was identified as the most effective ML algorithm for predicting compressive strength among others in this study (R2=0.974). Furthermore, the framework incorporates post-analysis tools, such as Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), to provide interpretable insights into the importance of various input parameters. The findings highlight the critical role of nanomaterials, contributing 7.8 % to the overall improvement in compressive strength, underscoring their significance in concrete performance modification. By combining predictive modeling with interpretability, this framework aims to streamline the design process and reduce experimental workload. Beyond its technical contributions, this study emphasizes the broader impact of integrating machine learning into concrete research, paving the way for more sustainable, efficient, and data-driven approaches in the development of advanced construction materials.
This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in Case Studies in Construction Materials: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2025.e0483
The Chanticleer, 2025-01-16
Full text linkThe editorially independent student produced weekly newspaper of Coastal Carolina University.https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/chanticleer/1735/thumbnail.jp
Beyond a Monoracial Paradigm: Parents Practicing Racial Humility in the Racial Socialization of Mixed-Race Children
No full textInterracial parents face unique challenges in racially socializing their mixed-race children, but this socialization is imperative to their overall well-being and self-esteem. Using critical multiracial theory, the author argues that the interracial parents included in this study overwhelmingly understand the harm of promoting a monoracial paradigm of race when raising their children. They demonstrate this by implementing racial humility in their socialization practices to support and encourage the formation of a positive racial identity in their children. Drawing upon in-depth, semistructured interviews with 19 sets of interracial parents in the United States, the author identifies four themes related to how parents practice racial humility: (1) allowing their children to explore their mixed-race backgrounds by not forcing them to pick a side, (2) using specific language to identify children’s unique racial background, (3) encouraging ethnic and cultural engagement through bilingualism, and (4) exposing children to toys and media that feature mixed-race characters and a spectrum of skin tones. This study contributes to literature examining racial socialization practices of multiracial families and expands the concept of racial humility to sociology.
This article was published Open Access through the CCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund. The article was first published in the journal Socius: https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023125135599
The SeamlessAccess Audit Toolkit: A Framework for Librarians to Audit Resource Access
No full textTo help navigate complex issues caused by changes in technology, regulations, and user expectations, SeamlessAccess is producing a toolkit that gives librarians a framework for auditing their resource access. Structured into four key areas—Usability, Privacy, Reliability, and Security—the toolkit enables library staff the ability to identify the risks and opportunities that inform decision-making and advocate for future investment. In this paper, the authors explore the usability and privacy sections of the toolkit. In addition, the paper features feedback from a librarian about how the toolkit helped them identify and address access-related issues, assess potential ethical or legal exposure, and identify best practices and next steps for moving forward. The authors also recommend the toolkit as a communications tool to enable librarians to improve knowledge and awareness within their teams as well as with key stakeholders outside the library
Guide For Teaching Faculty 2025-2026
No full textThe intention of the Guide for Teaching Faculty is to ensure that all faculty members have the requisite knowledge about University policies, procedures, and services to effectively carry out their instructional assignments
Geographic Sorting of Landslide Presidential Counties: The American South in Regional Context
No full textThis paper examines the issue of partisan polarization in U.S. county-level presidential voting. Although the extant literature that addresses partisan sorting and/or polarization is extensive and growing, the literature is not without controversies. Our paper investigates the sequence and timing of shifts in partisan vote shares at the county level from 1932 through 2020, with a focused review of the dynamics of partisan shifts in southern states. While some scholars of southern politics conclude that the South generally follows national trends, other scholars suggest the opposite—that the nation follows the South. Our paper identifies trends in partisan competition in the South vs. the non-South and the drivers of these trends. We examine a range of sociodemographic characteristics to help explain differences in partisan competition. We employ confirmatory factor analysis to determine the extent of partisan competition in counties from the 1932 election through the 2020 election, and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) to examine the social factors that impact the increasing trend toward partisan polarization in the U.S
The head-direction signal is generated from two types of head direction cells in brainstem nuclei
No full textHead direction (HD) cells discharge based on an animal\u27s directional heading. Computational models propose that a ring-attractor network across the connections between the lateral mammillary (LMN) and dorsal tegmental nuclei (DTN) underlies the signal\u27s generation. These models contain neurons that encode either HD or angular head velocity (AHV), but also require cells that are sensitive to both parameters conjunctively (HD + AHV). Here we identify both types of HD cells in the LMN and DTN of female rats, with one population sensitive to AHV (both symmetric and asymmetric), and the other population insensitive to AHV. Notably, many HD + AHV cells are also sensitive to the animal\u27s linear head-speed (LHS). In contrast, anterodorsal thalamic HD cells are rarely sensitive to AHV or LHS. These findings demonstrate that the requisite HD + AHV cell is present in areas that generate the HD signal and supports the view that a ring attractor network underlies its generation in mammals