Perceptions of Students, Families, and Community College Administrators about Developmental Education

Cohen and Brawer (2008) define developmental education as serving “students who initially do not have the skills, experience, or orientation necessary to perform at a level that the institutions recognize as regular for those students” (p.290). Students in developmental education must take additional courses in the beginning of their college career in order to prepare them for credit bearing college courses. Developmental education has reached the forefront of the higher education debate in part due to the overwhelming academic need of incoming college students. Currently the number of students requiring developmental courses ranges from 50 to 75 percent (Conley & Squires, 2012). According the McMillian, Park, & Lanning (1997) the need for developmental education has increased to 55 percent from 39 percent of all entering college students over five years. This study examines the perceptions of community college students, family, and community college administrators related to developmental education. This study utilized a qualitative approach conducting 24 interviews at community colleges across the commonwealth of Virginia. Furthermore, phenomenology was used as the theoretical lens so the results would arise from the experiences of the various constituencies. This study will not only aid in the advancement of developmental education, but will add to the scholarly literature relating to developmental education at the community college

The Five Essential Building Blocks to Becoming a Top Twenty-Five Supply Chain Program

The overall intention of this research is to develop aspiring programs to reevaluate their institutions and begin growing their program with lessons from other leading institutions—the more comprehensive, educated, and driven students in the Supply Chain industry, the better. The Supply Chain Management sector has grown substantially in the last fifteen to twenty years; the current placement rate of undergraduates is eighty-five to one hundred percent after graduation (Damast, 2015). This phenomenon correlates with international and domestic interest in information technology, economic dynamics, flexibility, and product availability, all of which have grown industry demand (Rob O\u27Byrne, 2020). In the last twenty years, multiple universities have transformed programs within their business colleges into supply chain management departments. Many of them were formerly logistics, management, or engineering focused. However, once they began developing students, the results seemed to be automatic in the sense of long-term success within this practice. For example, one university began specifically with a logistics engineering focus producing top-notch students for the last fifty years straight but began to see local industries demand business-orientated students. As a result, the university started directing its supply chain department to create well-rounded students who excel in analytics and personal skills

Title IX and the College Employee: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand employee perceptions of Title IX through participants’ lived experiences at Small Public College. The transcendental phenomenological design for this study was be grounded in the phenomenological approach of Moustakas (1994) as it enables the researcher to investigate the lived experiences of participants related to a central phenomenon. The central research question guiding the study was what are the employee perceptions of Title IX at Small Public College? The study utilized three instruments: interviews, focus group, and document analysis. Fifteen participants were interviewed. Six participants were in the focus group. Data collection took place in March 2021. Interviews and focus group sessions were recorded during collection and later transcribed. Data analysis consisted of memoing followed by axial and lean coding. The study yielded four themes: questioning knowledge, training, retaliation, and reporting and compliance. The experience a college employee gains directly influences their perceptions of Title IX. Their experiences consist of the Title IX training, the distributed Title IX materials they see, and the information they hear. Employees were not confident in their knowledge of Title IX. College employees were entirely without knowledge of Title IX-related campus jurisprudence procedures. Their training lacked pertinent and updated examples. Student retaliation was a fear of college employees; however, college employees thought that Small Public College is compliant with Title IX. Future research is recommended into different educational institution demographics as well as studies that explore college employee perceptions of Title IX and campus jurisprudence

The Interstate Agreement on Detainers: Defining the Federal Role

In 1970, Congress enacted into law the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act, making the United States and the District of Columbia parties to the interstate compact already adopted by 37 states.\u27 The purpose of the Agreement is to encourage the expeditious and orderly disposition of charges underlying detainers by providing procedures by which prisoners may request disposition of such charges and prosecuting jurisdictions may obtain the presence of prisoners for trial. Recently problems of interpretation have surfaced as the federal courts have endeavored to define the role of the United States under the Agreement. The courts of appeals presently disagree on the issue whether the Agreement applies to transfers of prisoners pursuant to the federal writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum. One view applies the Agreement broadly as the exclusive means of transfer among member states.\u27 Other courts, holding that the federal writ, unlike a detainer, does not adversely affect the prisoner\u27s rehabilitation, have refused to require compliance with the Agreement when the federal writ is used The issue currently is before the Supreme Court.\u27 After examining the background of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers and its interpretation by state courts, this Note will evaluate the various federal interpretations and propose a solution that is harmonious with present congressional intent and that accommodates the needs of both prisoners and prosecutors

Bures and Statistical Distance for Squeezed Thermal States

We compute the Bures distance between two thermal squeezed states and deduce the Statistical Distance metric. By computing the curvature of this metric we can identify regions of parameter space most sensitive to changes in these parameters and thus lead to optimum detection statistics.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure (not included - obtain from Author) To appear in Journal of Physics

A Phenomenological Study of Teacher Efficacy in Career and Technical Education Coaching and Mentoring Programs

School districts are tasked with improving teacher performance in response to an overwhelming need for students who are both college and career-ready (Brand, Valent, & Browning, 2013). A lack of quality professional development programs specifically designed for Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers that promote the development of teacher efficacy and instructional skills is a significant concern. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to describe the lived experiences with self-efficacy of CTE teachers who have participated in the Vision of Excellent Instruction in Career and Technical Education Coaching and Mentoring Program in Northeast Tennessee. This research study utilized Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (1986) related to the experiences of CTE teachers’ participation in the Vision of Excellent Instruction in Career and Technical Education Coaching and Mentoring Program and the perceived impact of the program on teacher self-efficacy. Self-efficacy guided the study as self-efficacy is influenced by mastery or non-mastery of experiences and is based on an individual’s perceived capabilities (Bandura, 1977). Purposeful criterion-based sampling was used to select Career and Technical Education teachers to participate in the study. Data were collected through a qualitative survey, individual interviews, and focus group. Qualitative analysis indicated factors such as self-awareness, professional growth, collaboration, and relationships impacted CTE teacher perceptions of efficacy in the classroom. Recommendations for future research include analysis of the perceptions of lived experiences of the CTE coaches

PROTOTIPE ALAT EVAPORATOR VAKUM (EFEKTIVITAS TEMPERATUR DAN WAKTU EVAPORASI TERHADAP TEKANAN VAKUM DAN LAJU EVAPORASI PADA PEMBUATAN SIRUP BUAH MENGKUDU (Morinda citrifolia L.))

Prototipe alat evaporator vakum bertujuan untuk mengurangi kadar air dari sari buah dengan penggunaan suhu rendah disertai dengan vakum sehingga didapatkan sirup dengan nilai nutrisi produk yang tidak hilang. Tanaman mengkudu selalu ada setiap musim dan berbuah sepanjang tahun yang tersebar diseluruh wilayah Indonesia, termasuk Sumatera Selatan. Buah mengkudu terkenal sangat berkhasiat namun menjadi tidak disukai sebagai buah untuk pencuci mulut terlebih karena biji-bijinya terlalu banyak, keras dan tajam. Untuk itulah dibuat sirup dari buah mengkudu sebagai produk alternatif yang berguna untuk menjaga kesehatan dan kaya akan nutrisi. Salah satu kendala dari proses pengolahan produk pangan adalah mengurangi kadar air bahan. Hal ini ditujukan baik untuk meningkatkan daya simpan bahan, mengurangi resiko kerusakan, menaikkan nilai ekonomis, maupun untuk keperluan proses produksi selanjutnya. Untuk keperluan tersebut sirup dibuat dengan evaporasi yang dilakukan pada tekanan di bawah tekanan atmosfer (vakum) sehingga titik didih pelarut dapat diturunkan. Dalam proses penguapan dengan evaporator vakum dilakukan dengan menetapkan set point kendali proses yaitu temperatur evaporasi 50oC dan 60oC dengan variasi waktu 10, 20, 30, 40 dan 50 menit. Selama proses berlangsung dilakukan pengukuran % kadar air yang nantinya akan digunakan untuk menghitung laju evaporasi dan pengukuran tekanan vakum yang dilakukan dengan pengamatan pressure gauge yang dipasang pada tutup tangki evaporator. Dari hasil analisa diperoleh laju penguapan terbaik sebesar 0,953 gr uap/menit dengan kadar air 56,88% pada suhu 60oC. Dari hasil pengamatan tekanan juga didapatkan bahwa alat ini mampu beroperasi pada tekanan 19 cmHg. Artinya mampu mengurangi tekanan ruang sebesar 19 cmHg dari kondisi normal tekanan atmosfer. Pada tekanan operasi ini titik didih air mengalami penurunan sehingga proses evaporasi aman bagi bahan yang sensitif terhadap perlakuan panas

Positive effects of Moringa oleifera and Moringa stenopetala seed and leaf extracts against selected bacteria

Moringa oleifera is hailed as the “miracle tree” for its impressive catalog of nutritional, medicinal, and water purification benefits. A (sub)tropical plant with a rapid growth rate (3–5 m in a single season), Moringa has proven beneficial in multiple ways in developing regions around the world. In addition to its high nutrient content and water clarifying properties, Moringa seed and leaf extracts have shown potential as natural antibacterial agents. Based on this, we anticipated that extracts from multiple species of Moringa would exhibit potentially useful antibacterial properties against a range of bacterial species. To explore this, both disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) culture techniques were employed to assess the inhibitory effects of seed and leaf extracts from M. oleifera and M. stenopetala against species of bacteria commonly used in research and teaching laboratories. Aqueous seed extracts from both Moringa species showed broad-spectrum activity but were especially effective at inhibiting the growth of Gram-positive bacteria, including species of Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Bacillus. Moringa leaf extracts also exhibited antibacterial activity, with ethanolic leaf extracts showing greater efficacy than aqueous leaf extracts in disk-diffusion assays. Temporary acidification (1 h at pH 2) of Moringa seed and leaf extracts had a detrimental effect on their antibacterial activity. MIC assays using Moringa leaf extracts also showed more pronounced inhibition of Gram-positive bacteria (MIC = 12.5% v/v) versus Gram-negative species (MIC = 25% v/v). These results are of particular relevance in tropical areas where pharmaceutical drugs are scarce but Moringa is widely available and often used as a nutritional supplement. Moreover, the rising threat of multi-drug resistant pathogens lends greater importance to the study of antibacterial plant products that ultimately may find application in the clinical setting