40 research outputs found
Book review: standardizing diversity: the political economy of language regimes
No full textWhat explains the different language regime choices and what are the economic repercussions of these decisions? In Standardizing Diversity: The Political Economy of Language Regimes the author argues we need to pay more attention to the role that a neutral language of inter-ethnic communication plays in generating a sense of fairness, equality and inclusivity in heterogeneous multilingual societies. By focusing on Malaysia and Singapore as case studies, Medha finds this to be a highly readable book that focuses on the role and impact of lingua francas—common, link languages between speakers with different mother tongues
Usability of Access Ramps and Securement Systems on Transit Buses for Wheeled Mobility Device Users
No full textAbstract
Date Presented 3/30/2017
This study evaluated six ramp conditions and three securement devices encountered by wheeled mobility device users when using transit buses. The findings will help occupational therapists anticipate potential barriers and suggest accommodation strategies to improve community mobility outcomes for clients.
Primary Author and Speaker: Brittany Perez
Additional Authors and Speakers: Jim Lenker
Contributing Authors: Victor Paquet, Lydia Kocher, Medha Nemade</jats:p
Branding a Heritage City: A Contemporary Approach Used to Brand the Historical Identity of Ahmedabad, India
Get PDFThis thesis investigates how branding can be used to celebrate the historical identity of Ahmedabad, India. Branding a city can be a difficult task because cities are complex and constantly evolving. For a richly diverse and geographically vast country like India, it can be particularly challenging. The existing brand identity for Ahmedabad lacks an extensive, consistent visual identity system and uses stereotypical Indian motifs to represent the city. The thesis explores Ahmedabad’s colonial, pre-colonial and post-colonial heritage to find visual vernacular that is true to the region. These concentrated communication design-based studio explorations inform a larger exercise to represent the city of Ahmedabad visually. Other design research methods include photo analysis, case studies, observations and personal reflection. The thesis proposes a flexible brand identity system to capture the multiple realities of the city, its people, its tradition and cultural heritage. The final studio project is inspired by the windows of Ahmedabad. From 600-year-old monuments to residential pol houses to modernist buildings — windows have displayed a wide range of architectural heritage and played a huge role in defining what is important to Amdavadis. The research also creates a generic module that can be used to brand other Indian cities by looking at its tangible, intangible cultural heritage and its visual vernacular or graphic past
Fostering the Growth of TPACK Among International Teachers of Developing Nations Through a Cultural Exchange Program
No full textabstract: This study investigated the impact of a semester-long technology course as part of a higher education cultural exchange program for secondary school teachers of developing nations. We integrated quantitative data from surveys that evaluated participants’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), with qualitative evidence from participants’ technology-based lesson designs. Analysis across the 16 participants indicated that the course was effective in improving teachers’ TPACK. Teachers reported increases in all TPACK domains, with the largest growth in technological content knowledge and TPACK. However, qualitative analysis suggested greater presence of technological pedagogical knowledge. Teachers learned to consider affordances of technology in accordance with content or pedagogy, but their ability was limited due to resource constraints or students’ readiness. Results suggest that international exchange programs are a valuable way to support teachers of developing nations in building educational technology capacity at their home schools
The Impact of African Dance on Psychosocial and Educational Outcomes
Get PDFThis project intended to create conditions that are conducive to helping minority students achieve success in learning, in school, and in life. The project is a response to the rising rate of health and career disparities among minority U.S. adolescents. Based on the theoretical framework of the cultural historical activity theory, this attempt aimed to use the dance activities for teaching, training, and learning. This study draws from the empirical framework of the Girls health Enrichment Multisite Studies, conducted in other states, which implemented a culturally relevant physical regimen to reduce health disparities among minority girls. This study sought to use the activity in a different way; to facilitate student learning of research processes and also optimize associated academic and psychosocial processes, by engaging in the culturally relevant activity of African dance. The specific target population included undergraduate students, from a Historically Black University in Georgia. An African dance instructor conducted the class once a week for 75 minutes for 3 months. Ten student researchers recruited participants and evaluated the impact of African dance on learning the neuroscience of dance, learning of an Ethiopian dialect, Oromo, explored the meaning of participating in this the dance, impact on self-efficacy, racial identity, and attitudes towards and sponsorship of black businesses. Results indicated a significant effect of participating in the dance on learning the neuroscience of dance and of the dialect as well, positive meanings associated with the activity of African dance, positive self-efficacy, racial identity, and positive attitudes towards minority serving academic institutions. Through dissemination from the local to the global level, the broader impact sought by this project is to establish financially secure families by involving the workforce of tomorrow in activities that will promote positive psychosocial outcomes and STEM learning concurrently
Psychosocial Characteristics of African American Cybersecurity Victims
Get PDFPew Research Center indicates that cybercrime is getting more dangerous with rising costs related to ransomware and that damage costs will hit trillions annually. Resources are being invested in training and understanding the human factors that contribute to these crimes to help deter them. However, most of the research has focused primarily on the Caucasian population with African Americans (AA) and other minorities being overlooked. This study with AA college students, included an experimental manipulation of phishing emails with various message content on student participant responses. Results indicated a significant contribution of computer knowledge, expertise, and time spent online, to cyber-risky behaviors such as opening the email or clicking on the links embedded in the phishing emails. The results confirm the need of an engaged cybersecurity training for our students and shed new light on these relationships in the minority population. Keywords: Psychosocial, minority, cybersecurity victim, phishing email
Optimising Grid Topology Reconfiguration using Reinforcement Learning
No full textThe de-carbonisation of the energy system, more commonly known as the 'Energy Transition' has a vital role to play in the pursuit of mitigating the climate emergency’s impact. There is a global trend of moving toward making power systems more future-proof and this largely affects the roles and activities of a Transmission System Operator (TSO) such as TenneT.The particular branch of power grid control and operation is one that is undergoing a massive overhaul. Control room operators are highly-skilled and need to be aware of all the physical processes involved in the power system in order to manually intervene when necessary. They are constantly monitoring the grid and are tasked with making quick decisions with a high frequency which rely on many factors such as the expected active power of conventional generator units, the expected demand and also the renewable energy forecasts for a given time instant. One important action that is often considered by the control room operators is reconfiguring the network topology. Making topological changes to the network offers a flexibility that is an under-exploited and low-cost alternative to maintain network security. These operational tasks are getting more complex and nuanced with the addition of newer technologies. There is specifically an increasing reliance on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) and newer smart grid technology which can assist in many ways such as higher levels of automation, increase in computation speed and so on. One particular field of study under the umbrella of ICT is the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. These solutions have the potential to pave the path to better cyber-physical systems with which large strides can be made to cope with many challenges introduced by the 'Energy Transition'. Various initiatives are being undertaken in this realm. One such initiative being Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE)’s initiative of "Learning To Run a Power Network (L2PRN)" competition. This competition was conducted with the primary goal of introducing and recognising the potential of AI and machine learning-based tools in order to support control rooms and assist in making optimal decisions. One particular branch of AI that has shown great promise in the field of decision support is Reinforcement Learning.This competition acts as a great starting point to bring together these two almost exclusive research communities. The research conducted in this thesis uses this competition as a stepping stone along with the tool chain developed for it, to investigate the use of an AI-based solution and test the behaviour of the agent, not just from a machine learning point of view, but also from a power system perspective. This thesis addresses the potential of machine learning as a decision support tool for power system control rooms by implementing a reinforcement learning algorithm to represent an artificial control room operator and assessing its performance on a particular IEEE test network. This thesis also hopes to provide some groundwork for TenneT and to contribute toward a ‘Control Room of the Future’ initiative which can incorporate such an AI-based decision support tool to assist grid operators in taking well-informed actions during the operation of the power systems.<br/
Book review: caricaturing culture in India: cartoons and history in the modern world
No full textBeing German, Becoming Muslim is the result of the author, Esra Özyürek’s research on converts to Islam in Germany, a country which remains suspicious about embracing the religion. The book provides a close look at the struggle facing German converts to prove that they are still part of German culture, and their attempts to distance themselves from immigrant Muslims. Aysegul Kayaoglu writes that the book is an original and illuminating analysis, and recommends it to anyone interested in race, religion and conversion in Germany
Design and Fabrication of a Thin Film Optogenetic ECoG Array with Individually Addressable micro-LEDs
No full textOptogenetics is a neuromodulation technique that uses light to control genetically modified cells to express light sensitive ion channels. Optogenetics allows stimulation of only the specific cells in the region that have been genetically modified and thus results in a high resolution of stimulation.Currently optogenetic implants are used to stimulate specific regions in the brain, either deep in the cortex or on certain regions on the surface of the cortex. An implant with a larger surface area would potentially allow stimulation of the entire cortex simultaneously, if required. By also including recording sites on this implant, it is possible to record responses at one end of the brain produced due to optogenetic stimulation on the other end of the brain. Thus, the underlying neural circuit can be mapped for investigation.Thin film technology (TFT) so far has had a huge impact in the field of large flexible displays. The flexible substrates and processes employed for the fabrication of flexible displays can be used for the realisation of an optogenetic array that covers the cortex of the brain while being flexible and conformal to the shape of the brain.This work explores the implementation of TFT in fabricating a flexible large area high-density optogenetic ECoG array. The fabricated array features multi-stacked alternate layers of thin film Au/Ti (for electrodes and interconnects) and thin film SiN (insulation and passivation) on a flexible polyimide substrate to provide a high-density array for improved resolution. Commercial micro-LEDs were bonded to the surface of the array using ICA (Isotropic Conducting Adhesive) to provide on-site stimulation. The resulting flexible implant was characterised to determine the electrode impedance, behaviour of the passivation layer in phosphate buffered saline and thermal characteristics of the micro-LEDs. The final device was implanted on the cortex of a mouse.Biomedical Engineerin
Sankofa Scale Validation: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Racial Identity, Academic Confidence, and Success
Get PDFThe intent of this project is to establish the construct validity of the 'Sankofa' scale which was developed to identify and synchronize the values and perceptions of the students of culturally relevant teaching and learning practices, in the academic realm. Participants (n = 171) who were students from a historically black university, reported the extent to which teaching strategies were present on a 5-point likert-type scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree and their importance on a 3-point scale ranging from not at all important to very important. A new variable, 'Relevance' was formed based on the multiplicative function of importance and presence of a teaching and learning strategy. Results of a factor analyses identified 8 factors which students deemed relevant to their learning. To establish construct validity, variables such as racial identity, academic confidence, and academic success were included on the survey. Racial identity was measured by the Black Identity Development Scale, academic confidence was measured by the Academic Confidence scale. Academic success was defined as the student grade point average (GPA). Results indicated significant relationships between specific items on the Sankofa scale, specific subscales on the racial identity scale, as well as academic confidence and GPA. Understanding these relationships is a step towards being responsive to the increasingly diverse student body. Thus, establishing construct validity of this scale is important to help guide academicians in the realm of scholarly teaching and learning
