Mid-Semester Break: Camping in Kaikoura

Postcard from Kameha Sabado-Halpern, during the Linfield College Semester Abroad Program at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealan

Cozine Creek Restoration Project

Our Environmental Studies senior capstone class (ENVS 470) wrote and submitted an application for a $15,000 grant from the Oregon Watershed and Enhancement Board (OWEB) to restore a section of the college’s property along Cozine Creek. We worked in partnership with the Greater Yamhill Watershed Council (GYWC) and Upshot LLC, a local contractor, to develop a restoration plan. The initial step will be to control invasive species, mainly Himalayan blackberry and English ivy. We then will plant native species such as Oregon grape, salmonberry, and Indian plum. The site will have five treatment options including combinations of manual and chemical removal. Future ENVS classes will monitor the effectiveness of the treatment options, the growth and survival of native plants, and the effectiveness of deer exclusion devices. The ENVS department, GYWC, and community members will maintain the area through ongoing volunteer work parties. The grant will also fund a Cozine Creek Stewardship student internship position to help coordinate future efforts. The goal of this project is to restore the water quality and ecological integrity of the area, encourage proper usage of the property, and renew our connection to Cozine Creek, both for Linfield College and the surrounding community

Examining Water Quality along Cozine Creek

Water is an essential resource for all life. Water sustains ecological processes that are important to the survival of fish, vegetation, wetlands, and birds. It contributes to humans by providing drinking water, irrigation, and also is an inspiration for recreational, cultural, and spiritual practices. Anthropogenic activities affect water quality in various ways, and a significant portion of the human population is currently experiencing water stress. The quality of water, as well as its social and economic value, share a positive relationship. Therefore, as water quality becomes degraded by pollution, the environmental, social, and economic value also decrease. The recognition of the importance of safe water has created crucial policies in the United States and internationally. Our study looks specifically into the water quality of Cozine Creek, located in Yamhill County, Oregon. The goal of our study was to determine how water quality variables compared among our sampling sites in 2017 and across the years from 2011 to 2017. We used the definition of water quality as determined by measuring physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. We measured dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), pH, temperature, flow, turbidity, macroinvertebrates, bacterial counts, nutrients, and surrounding vegetation. To present a better understanding to the measurements of the water quality variables, we compared the measurements to the scientifically known parameters of healthy salmonid habitat, since the presence of salmon indicates a healthy watershed. Our data suggest that the overall quality of our three sites along Cozine Creek is poor, and there was little to no improvement of water quality when compared to previous years\u27 data. It is likely that the water quality can be attributed to agricultural and urban runoff possibly containing waste, storm water, pesticides, fertilizer, and other chemicals

Women and care: a natural relation history?

Este trabajo tiene sus orígenes en un estudio que profesores de nuestra escuela realizaron en el año 1995 acerca de la evolución histórica de la relación enfermería y género. Este estudio puso de manifiesto porqué las tareas de enfermería concebidas como algo innato y natural de la mujer, han sido entendidas como un "rol de segundo orden". El vínculo entre la mujer y los cuidados ha sido históricamente asumido como algo natural y raramente cuestionado. Los orígenes de esta vinculación, que son paralelos a la propia evolución de la enfermería, pueden ser entendidos mediante el análisis de los sistemas de relaciones socialmente establecidos entre naturaleza/cultura, ámbito doméstico/público y trabajo productivo/improductivo. El propósito de esta comunicación es llevar a cabo un análisis actualizado acerca de las relaciones funcionales establecidas entre género y enfermería, que permitan profundizar en la naturaleza de la influencia socio-cultural sobre el desarrollo profesional y aportar luz a la cuestión de porqué históricamente la enfermería ha sido considerada como un trabajo de segundo orden.The present study originates in a study presented by some other teachers of our own school, in 1995, about the historic evolution of relationship nursing versus gender. This study shows why nursing tasks have been seen as something innate and natural in women and have always been interpreted as a "secondary role tasks". That link between women and care has been historically interpreted as something natural never discussed. The origins of that sort of link run parallel to the self-evolution of nursing and could be understood by means of analysing the systems of social relationship established between nature/culture, domestic environments and public environments, and productive and non-productive jobs... The purpose of this paper lies in the convenience of an up-to-date analysis about functional relationships established between gender and nursing that allow to deepen into the nature of sociocultural influence over a professional development, in order to enlighten the question of why has nursing historically been considered a "secondary role" profession

Artificial intelligence in higher-level education: A SWOT analysis and 20-year bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the domain of higher education. A bibliometric study about this is important, especially in identifying trends and gaps that are crucial for policy development, higher education management, and future research initiatives. The two-decade analysis provided an overview of the increasing trajectory of research publications concerning artificial intelligence in higher education. This research analyzed the 5522 searched articles in the Scopus database using bibliographic analysis following a systematic approach to data collection called PRISMA. This research shows that China and the United States emerged as the leading countries in terms of publication count. Likewise, the United States, China, India, and the United Kingdom demonstrate higher levels of collaboration compared to other countries. The majority of research articles predominantly use the English language. These findings mean that AI is gaining significant popularity in the higher education sector. It is likely influencing the teaching and learning pedagogies. The VOSviewer software was used to visualize global collaboration of documents, the co-occurrence of keywords, and the co-authorships. Some of the most used keywords were also identified in this study, like “Artificial Intelligence,” “Higher Education,” “Students,” “High Education,” and “Education.” Moreover, this paper presented the SWOT analysis of the most cited papers

In Vitro Priming Recapitulates In Vivo HIV-1 Specific T Cell Responses, Revealing Rapid Loss of Virus Reactive CD4+ T Cells in Acute HIV-1 Infection

Background: The requirements for priming of HIV-specific T cell responses initially seen in infected individuals remain to be defined. Activation of T cell responses in lymph nodes requires cell-cell contact between T cells and DCs, which can give concurrent activation of T cells and HIV transmission. Methodology: The study aim was to establish whether DCs pulsed with HIV-1 could prime HIV-specific T cell responses and to characterize these responses. Both infectious and aldrithiol-2 inactivated noninfectious HIV-1 were compared to establish efficiencies in priming and the type of responses elicited. Findings: Our findings show that both infectious and inactivated HIV-1 pulsed DCs can prime HIV-specific responses from naïve T cells. Responses included several CD4+ and CD8+ T cell epitopes shown to be recognized in vivo by acutely and chronically infected individuals and some CD4+ T cell epitopes not identified previously. Follow up studies of acute and recent HIV infected samples revealed that these latter epitopes are among the earliest recognized in vivo, but the responses are lost rapidly, presumably through activation-induced general CD4+ T cell depletion which renders the newly activated HIV-specific CD4+ T cells prime targets for elimination. Conclusion: Our studies highlight the ability of DCs to efficiently prime naïve T cells and induce a broad repertoire of HIV-specific responses and also provide valuable insights to the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection in vivo

Asynchronous 3D (Async3D): Design Methodology and Analysis of 3D Asynchronous Circuits

This dissertation focuses on the application of 3D integrated circuit (IC) technology on asynchronous logic paradigms, mainly NULL Convention Logic (NCL) and Multi-Threshold NCL (MTNCL). It presents the Async3D tool flow and library for NCL and MTNCL 3D ICs. It also analyzes NCL and MTNCL circuits in 3D IC. Several FIR filter designs were implement in NCL, MTNCL, and synchronous architecture to compare synchronous and asynchronous circuits in 2D and 3D ICs. The designs were normalized based on performance and several metrics were measured for comparison. Area, interconnect length, power consumption, and power density were compared among NCL, MTNCL, and synchronous designs. The NCL and MTNCL designs showed improvements in all metrics when moving from 2D to 3D. The 3D NCL and MTNCL designs also showed a balanced power distribution in post-layout analysis. This could alleviate the hotspot problem prevalently found in most 3D ICs. NCL and MTNCL have the potential to synergize well with 3D IC technology

Exploring Teachers\u27 Perspective of Digital Literacy Pedagogy: Implications for Future Practice

Pedagogy has not addressed the literacy shift from reading, writing, and speaking to include cognitive digital literacy skills. Teachers lack the technological pedagogical content knowledge to integrate digital literacy skills into student learning. Using a digital literacy framework with 6 essentials skills, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate teachers\u27 (a) current understanding, knowledge and skills; (b) current integration of digital literacy skills; (c) challenges they face in integration; and (d) supports needed in shifting pedagogical practices to address change. Participants were 13 teachers from high school content areas. Data were gathered through focus groups interviews, observations, and artifacts. Data were coded with MAXQDA software, compared, organized, and refined based on the 4 research questions. Findings revealed high levels of knowledge for the terms digital literacy and photovisual literacy. Integration levels of digital literacy skills varied with more evidence in photovisual and reproduction literacy. Five minor challenge themes (critical thinking; time; information and technology literacy; infrastructure and access; and behavior and attitude) and 4 minor support themes (professional development; planning and preparation time; observation and feedback; and schoolwide focus and routines) emerged. Analysis of findings revealed 4 major themes: critical thinking, integrated professional development, effective use of time, and infrastructure and schoolwide routines. Findings may affect positive social change by engaging teachers in critical reflection through professional development leading to improvements in teacher pedagogical practices related to furthering the digital literacy skills of youth

DISAGGREGATED ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT IN THE PHILIPPINE ECONOMY: EVIDENCE FROM THE PERIOD 1978 – 2006

This paper examines the relationship between energy consumption and industrial output for 1978-2006. The study used Ordinary Least Square (OLS) to test the relationship of Energy Consumption by sources to Industrial Output. Results revealed that oil, coal, and geothermal are the sources of energy that significantly affect industrial output. Oil, coal, and geothermal positively affect industrial output at a 5 percent significant level. JEL: N70; O10; O13; Q40  Article visualizations