Stander Symposium Projects

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  Establishing Sector Weights for the UD Flyer Fund: A Quantitative Approach

  Joseph Skarbek

  Establishing Sector Weights for the UD Flyer Fund: A Quantitative Approach Since stocks in the Flyer Fund are grouped by S&P Sectors, an important factor in the Fund’s performance is the portfolio weight given to each sector. To a large extent, sector weights depend on the Flyer Fund investment team’s evaluation of U.S. macro-economic conditions as well as monetary/fiscal policy initiatives by the U.S. Government. The decision to over or under weight a given sector, however, is based more on intuition and subjective judgment than empirical analysis. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to develop a more objective framework for sector weightings with particular emphasis on the relationship between macro-economic activity and sector price movement. In essence, the hypothesis that I am testing is that sector price movements vary directly with the expansion and contraction of economic activity. As a measure of economic activity I chose to use the Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index (CFNAI). CFNAI is a weighted average of 85 macro-economic indicators and is considered by business economists to be a reliable indicator of U.S economic expansions and contractions. I will use the S&P sector ETF’s to obtain sector prices and price movements.

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  Evaluating Teacher Beliefs and Attitudes in High School Education

  Michaela Herrick

  Teachers are powerful agents of socialization to the students whom they instruct. Extensive research has been done on the impact of certain teaching styles, methods, and educational perspectives. However, lacking in many of these studies is the investigation of the relationship between a teacher’s educational beliefs and his or her personal beliefs, behaviors, and his or her ethical leanings. An evaluation of this relationship was undertaken through the use of survey research conducted in the Montgomery County Public School System of Ohio with full-time high school instructors. Schools from Montgomery Country Public Schools were selected using simple random sampling techniques. This survey ascertains how a teacher views the classroom setting and students, basic demographic information, educational background of the instructor, and behavioral questions that approximate ethical tendencies. Frequency analysis of responses indicates high occurrences of a feminist care ethic and of a deontological ethic in teacher perceptions. Analysis also reveals that respondents view their job as an educator is to be a facilitator to actively engaged students who possess a strong work ethic.

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  Examination of Host Range of Pseudomonas aeruginosa phages UT1, SN-T, and PEV@ for Treatment of Bacterial Biofilms in Fuels

  Kathleen Sellick, Caitlin Bojanowski

  Biofilms are slimy substances made up of bacteria that attach to surfaces. Biofilms can be found in natural settings (rocks in streams) and man-made environments (hospital catheters, pipelines). Biofilms are also found in aviation fuel tanks, causing physical issues such as clogging in fuel lines and changing the chemical makeup of the fuel via bacterial metabolism. Bacterial viruses, known as phage, show potential for reducing biofilms through phage therapy. The goal is to find a phage or combination of phage with a broad host range that would be most effective in reducing the biofilms of bacteria isolated from fuel tanks. Known phages UT1, SN-T, and PEV2 will be tested against these biofilms, both individually and in combination. Biofilms will be assayed for biomass (crystal violet staining) and colony-forming units (CFU) in the presence of phage or combination of phages to determine the amount of biofilm reduction.

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  Examining Acculturative Stressors of the International Student: Following Study Abroad Students in South Korea and Morocco

  Chin Yi Chen

  International students, particularly students studying abroad for a limited period of time, face certain challenges in entering and adjusting to a new cultural environment. This research focuses on different barriers to adjustment including language, differences in nonverbal communication, discrimination and academic pressure. By comparing and contrasting the perspectives of various students with the researcher’s experience, this research provides insight into the lived experience of international students and the researcher through on-site fieldwork and interviews conducted over a year on university campuses in South Korea and Morocco. It also discusses the results of the undertaken research and offers suggestions for resolving or minimizing these acculturative challenges.

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  Exercise and Birth Outcomes in Lower Socioeconomic Groups

  Sarah Gaskell

  Using the National Maternal and Infant Health Survey, this study will examine the impact of exercise on birth outcomes, specifically infant weight and infant death before one year. Results of this study will then be extended to pregnant women in lower socioeconomic groups and how programs could further improve birth outcomes and quality of life for women and children in this demographic.

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  Exploring Data-Driven Electricity Feedback on Energy Conservation Behavior in the University of Dayton Student Neighborhood

  Daniel R. Esposito

  In general, homeowners do not have a concrete idea of how much energy their houses are using at any given moment. This energy “invisibility” is thought to be a barrier toward people adopting more sustainable behaviors. This study involves installing energy monitors in houses in the University of Dayton student neighborhood to analyze two important questions: whether the monitors teach students about the relationship between their activities and energy consumption, and whether the monitors influence students to adjust their household behaviors. Ideally, conclusions will be drawn from quantitative data collected from the monitors and the university’s energy provider as well as from qualitative data acquired through the distribution of questionnaires. The results could have direct policy implications for the university, such as informing whether it would be worth investing in energy monitors for all student neighborhood properties.

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  Financial Market Conditions, Sector Price Movements: 2002-2012

  Jessica Thomas

  In this study I want to examine the relationship between market financial conditions and sector prices. The basis for the study is the 2008 financial crisis that started in the housing sector and spread to the banking system, culminating in a bank bailout by the U.S government. At the same time, the stock market experienced a major downswing in 2008 running through the 1st quarter, 2009. I plan to use the Chicago Federal Reserve’s National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI) as a proxy for financial conditions in the U.S. economy. NFCI is a weighted average of 100 financial and economic indicators. It is by far the broadest indicator of the state of financial stability in the U.S. NFCI essentially indicates whether financial conditions are tightening or loosening. The NFCI index can also be divided into three sub-indexes: (1) Risk (2) Credit and (3) Leverage. I will also examine their relationship with sector prices. The 10 S&P 500 exchange traded funds will be used to represent the 10 S&P sectors. The period of analysis is 2002-2013 with 2013 the out of sample period. Monthly data is used to examine the relationship between the NFCI and the 10 S&P 500 sectors.

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  First Year Chinese Student Engagement in Residence Halls: A Mixed Methods Study

  Jamie Chong Brown

  Social adjustment is tumultuous for first year international students, especially for those living in residence halls. Yet, research focused specifically on international residents in this environment is lacking (Paltridge et al., 2010). This mixed methods study assessed first year Chinese students perception of racial climate in the residence halls at a mid-sized, Midwestern private institution. The quantitative results indicated that the students’ perceptions of a positive racial climate directly impacted their personal and social learning outcomes. Students’ first impression of the hall environment impacted how they subsequently perceived the sense of community. The qualitative analysis revealed aspects of the social adjustment and help-seeking behavior of Chinese students, their perception of American culture and peers, and adjustment process to life in the U.S. Results suggest that the participants’ stringent high school experiences positively influenced their adjustment into residential hall living. Preferring informal interactions with peers to hall programs, students may not fully capture the learning opportunities that are intentionally offered for in the residence halls. With insights on Chinese student perception and experiences, practitioners can tailor programming and educational initiatives to engage them.

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  Free Trade as Neocolonialism: CAFTA, the United States and Guatemala

  Maggie Reuter

  In today’s world, free trade is seen as a forgone conclusion in the march towards economic development. The origin of free trade agreements rests in the neoliberalist surge of the twentieth century based upon finding a middle ground between central planning and laissez-faire capitalism. As the twentieth century progressed, neoliberalism and the ideas associated with it fell more to the side of laissez-faire capitalism. Free trade agreements between developed and developing countries demonstrate a play of power on behalf of the developed countries that seems unfair. There are stories that are not told about free trade agreements. Economic data analysis in the years since the implementation of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) demonstrates the inequality that exists in the creation of free trade agreements between developed countries—in this case the United States—and developing countries like Guatemala.

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  Gross Operating, Profit Momentum, and Stock Price Movement in the Cross Section of Returns in a Short Term Analysis

  Erik Kurcz, Steve Staffan

  A number of recent academic studies have concluded that gross operating profits are a useful predictor of stock price movement, when examined in the cross section of returns. In this study we focus on momentum shifts in gross operating profits in a recent earnings period: August 31, 2011 through August 31, 2013. 30 stocks similar to the UD Flyer Fund are used for the analysis. We calculate compound annual growth rates (CAGR) in gross operating profits for 4 and 8 quarter periods . The operating profit data comes from the Bloomberg Financial Database. Using cross sectional regression analysis, we regress the 4th and 8th quarter CAGRs on the stock price changes over the same respective periods. The hypothesis to be tested is that the stock price movements are directly related to gross operating profit momentum, i.e. the Sharpe coefficient is greater than 0.

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  Growth Kinetics of Carbon Microcoils

  Muneaki Hikita

  Carbon is one of the most versatile materials of the periodic table and exists in various allotropic forms and shapes including fullerene, carbon nanotube, graphene. Coiled carbon filaments exhibit very attractive morphology and properties such as absorption of electromagnetic waves and high conductivity because of their shape and carbon structure. Bidirectionally grown double helical carbon microcoils (CMCs) are one type of coiled carbon filaments with unique catalytic activity. In this study, CMCs were synthesized using a chemical vapor deposition method. Growth mechanism of CMCs was explained by a simple exponential catalyst decay model.

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  Heat Transfer Coefficient Correlations for Pumparound Sections of Petroleum Fractionation Towers

  Bryan Sigward

  The accuracy of several empirical correlations for estimating heat transfer coefficients within pumparound sections of atmospheric and vacuum petroleum fractionation towers was investigated. The heat transfer coefficients were estimated according to the C.F. Braun correlation for trayed pumparounds and the atmospheric and vacuum Glitsch correlations for packed pumparounds. From these correlations, heat transfer coefficients were estimated for 43 different petroleum fractionator pumparounds based on operating data gathered from nine refineries around the globe. The accuracy of the correlations was evaluated by comparing the estimated heat transfer coefficients to actual values calculated from operating data. Results showed that while the C.F. Braun correlation did not have any accuracy biases, it was also not very precise and had a large amount of variation in how well it could predict actual heat transfer coefficient values. Results also showed that while the two Glitsch correlations were both relatively precise, they both had accuracy biases. The atmospheric Glitsch correlation has a conservative underprediction bias, while the vacuum Glitsch correlation has an optimistic overprediction bias for heat transfer coefficients.

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  High Resolution 3D Reconstruction Using a Hexacopter Drone

  Lauren Milliken, Evan Krieger, Yakov Diskin

  One of the greatest challenges in developing automation algorithms for aerial surveillance applications is the difficult of gathering data. Algorithm developers rely on infrequent and expensive test flights for obtain imagery datasets. As a result of the status quo, algorithms tend to be gear towards and perform well on specific imagery sets. We present the Hexacopter Drone, the Vision Lab’s newly acquired unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), used for inexpensive collection of aerial imagery data for various research activities. The UAV, a TurboAce Cinewing 6 hexacopter, carries a Canon 5D Mark III mounted to a separately controlled gimbal and has a flight time of up to 25 minutes. The body is a triple deck carbon fiber structure that is durable and lightweight, foldable arms allow for easy transport and the 15 inch extra heavy duty carbon fiber propellers are resistant to flexing and warping under heavier payloads. A transmitter allows the operator to view a live feed of the video during flight, and the hexacopter and the camera gimbal can both be separately controlled during flight with 2 transmitters. The Naza V2 GPS on board of the UAV allows for auto-stabilization, GPS course-lock, and Return-to-Home features for flying. While using GPS control, the pilot can keep the hexacopter at a certain position using the auto-stabilization feature in order to focus on the camera controls and the image capturing. Utilizing those components, the objective of this project is to create high resolution 3D reconstruction model of vehicles. The hexacopter has the ability to capture a 360° view of vehicles or other objects, and this data can be used as the input to a 3D reconstruction algorithm, namely Dense Point-cloud Presentation (DPR). We present 3D models of scenes that are computed using video captured by the hexacopter.

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  Human Re-Identification in Multi-Camera Systems

  Kevin Krucki, Binu Nair

  This research involves live human re-identification on multi-camera systems. Each frame of multiple cameras needs to be captured and analyzed with image processing methods. First, a histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) is performed to identify a person in each frame. Next, Local Binary Pattern (LBP) descriptors are used on each person to determine certain set features about then. Lastly, a red, green, blue (RGB) color histogram is performed on a specific body mask. Each body is then given a label based on their LBP and color histogram information and that label will be sent to a database. This label should be the same across all the cameras. The process should also happen live. The research will include analysis of the difference between using a static body mask and using pose estimation for a more accurate color histogram. Also, regional descriptors will be used to better describe the human body. Lastly, the difference between YCrCb and RGB color histograms will be shown.

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  Identification of Modified Nanomaterial Characteristics and Cellular Responses in Artificial Alveolar Fluid

  Yingde Zhu

  The rapid expansion of nanotechnology and inclusion of nanomaterials (NMs) into everyday objects have introduced benefits in many areas, including energy, electronics, cosmetics, medical procedures, and household items. It is due to their unique physicochemical properties, such as enhanced surface area to volume ratio and increased reactivity that make NMs attractive for these applications. Recently, however, concerns have been raised regarding the safety of NM exposure. To address these concerns, scientists and engineers have sought to identify the root cause of nano-bioresponses, with conflicting reports presented between in vitro and in vivo studies. While in vitro models retain the advantages of quick-screening and low effectiveness, a traditional cell culture environment does not accurately represent an in vivo setting. One mechanism to overcome this discrepancy is to incorporate artificial physiological, which in addition to being more biologically relevant allow for full NM characterization and evaluation in a more representative environment; a critical component in order to identify true NM behavior during targeted applications. As such, our goal was to elucidate the impact of physiological fluids on the characteristics and induced biological responses of select NMs. As inhalation is a primary mode of NM entry, our in vitro model consisted of a human alveolar cell line (A549), artificial alveolar fluid, and NMs that possess increased likelihood of exposure via inhalation (aluminum dioxide, copper oxide, and silicon dioxide). Following dispersion in alveolar fluid the NMs displayed dramatically increased rates of agglomeration and modified surface charge. Additionally, stress activation and cytotoxicity were evaluated and varied between standard culture media and alveolar fluid. These results indicate modified NM and resultant cellular behavior following adaptation of an in vitro environment to more closely mimic an in vivo surroundings.

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  Improving Female Science Scores Through STEM Curriculum

  Erin M. Yacovoni

  Currently in education there is a stress on career readiness. Specifically in science education, teachers are expected to educate their students not only on science concepts but also careers that involve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). According to the United States Department of Education (2013), the United States is falling behind on mathematics and science education, ranking 25th and 17th in the world. These numbers must increase in order to prepare students for success in STEM fields as they graduate. One approach teachers use to ensure that students are well versed in the STEM fields is STEM education. In STEM education, students are taught using a method that focuses on real world application and engineering. This study focuses specifically on how middle-school females are affected by STEM education. Female success in science under the STEM method of teaching has been observed through a review of literature and a survey.

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  Investigating DNA Repair Processes in Bacteria: Can D. rad PriA load D. rad DnaB onto DNA forks with a leading strand gap?

  Mike Ryan

  My research focused on the repair and replication of damaged DNA in the Deinococcus radiodurans (D. rad) bacteria, which is able to survive extreme levels of DNA damage with no detriment to its health because it is very efficient at repairing damaged DNA. In replicating (copying) bacterial DNA, damaged DNA will cause the replication to stop. This requires the DNA replication to be restarted in order for replication to be completed and cell death avoided. In most bacteria the proteins that function to restart DNA replication at points of DNA damage are fairly well conserved from bacteria to bacteria; however the D.rad bacteria lacks many of those proteins. I investigated the interactions between the proteins in this pathway that D. rad bacteria has, resulting in a clearer understanding of how these proteins interact in the D. rad replication restart pathway.

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  Investigating Survival Strategies of a Radioresistant Bacterium: Deinococcus Radiodurans

  Danielle Gerbic

  DNA replication is a process that is vital to cell survival. When double stranded DNA goes through the replication process, it splits into two separate strands with the help of a helicase. When a cell in the process of replicating its DNA encounters DNA damage, the replication proteins fall off the DNA strand and DNA replication stops; in other instances cells can utilize the replication restart pathway. This pathway allows certain cells to overlook damaged DNA strands, reload replication proteins back on the replication strand, and proceed with replication. Deinococcus radiodurans is one organism that is able to utilize this pathway despite being exposed to high levels of radiation. It is believed that certain replication proteins including polymerases, primases, and helicases are used to help an organism use the replication restart pathway. DnaB is a replicative helicase that is responsible for unwinding the majority of the double stranded DNA on a chromosome, SSB prevents the separated DNA strands from reannealing, and PriA is the most important protein in the replication restart process because it is what initiates the process of reloading the proteins on the DNA strand. The goal of this project was to determine if the PriA protein is able to reload the DnaB helicase onto the DNA replication fork, specifically looking at whether DnaB was loaded with no leading strand gap on the DNA strand. Through transforming these D. Rad proteins into E coli cells, synthesizing and purifying these proteins, creating a DNA fork to unwind, and then performing helicase assays to test the unwinding capabilities of the DNA replication fork, we were able to test our hypothesis. Our results indicated that no DNA unwinding occurred on the DNA fork. This result can mean one of several things: incorrectly synthesized proteins or the DnaB helicase was not able to be reloaded on the DNA fork.

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  Investigation and Optimization of a Mechanical Regenerative Braking Launch Assist Device

  Vijay Krishna Jayaprakash

  Fuel efficiency has become a major concern in the automotive industry. A mechanically-based, Regenerative Braking Launch Assist (RBLA) is a kinetic energy recovery system that helps us to improve fuel efficiency in vehicles. A prototype of one concept has been previously created. In the existing RBLA prototype, an extension spring is used as strain energy storage component. The effectiveness of prototype will be evaluated with the extension spring along with a torsion spring and spiral spring. The desired configuration is one where a large amount of energy can be stored with a low weight and low volume spring.

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  Its Snowing: A New Outlook on Motion-Induced Blindness

  Joseph R. Pauszek

  Motion-induced blindness occurs when an unchanging part of the visual field that is stationary relative to the fovea perceptually disappears when, in fact, the stimulus is still present. It was originally thought to be related to the fact that a target stimulus is stationary while other objects in the visual field are uniformly moving, hence the name of the phenomenon. However, it has since been established that motion, per se, is not necessary for motion-induced blindness to occur and that motion-induced blindness can occur in the presence of any type of uniform change, such as a collection of lights getting brighter or darker in unison while a target stimulus does not change in terms of brightness. Numerous explanations have been proposed regarding why motion-induced blindness occurs and many of these theories suggest a framework of perceptual processing through which the visual and attentional systems of the brain operate in such conditions. The current study aimed to investigate motion-induced blindness in the instance of visual displays that exhibited either random change or no change at all. In addition, the current study aimed to investigate potential differences in the duration of motion-induced blindness experienced on the basis of different colors used in the background stimulus of the visual displays. Results have shown that the perceptual disappearance of the target is significantly affected by the color of the background stimulus and that it can occur in both randomly changing and completely static visual displays. These findings have led to implications for leading theories of motion-induced blindness and other similar perceptual phenomena, as well. The implications of the current study can also be extended to the phenomenon of perceptual filling-in (which is also referred to as perceptual fading or the Troxler Effect), as the two phenomena are reportedly elicited by the same underlying mechanism.

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  Job Design: A Human Approach through Catholic Social Teaching and Job Design Theories

  Thomas DeCastra

  Job design theories outline jobs that help a company design jobs that are efficient and productive for a laborer to do. Catholic Social Teaching enlightens humanity that above all it is important to respect human dignity. Do Catholic Social Teaching and job design theories agree or are they at odds with each other? “Job Design: A Human Approach” looks at the story of each starting with Fredrick Taylor in 1911 and Pope Leo XIII in 1891 and identifies similarities and differences. Finally, the thesis uses the stories of each to look forward into the modern world of the jobs yet to be designed.

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  Linguistic Factors Affecting the Socioeconomic Status of Latino Immigrants in Dayton, OH

  Ali VanLoon

  Using a sociolinguistic methodology, based on surveys and interviews, I will analyze how the social status of Dayton’s Spanish-speaking immigrants correlates with their levels of English. My research will benefit the Dayton Hispanic community in that it will identify the dominant linguistic factors that contribute to the definition of their social status. This information will empower the Hispanics with the knowledge of what hinders them linguistically as well as offer the community tools to better integrate them, which is the overall goal of the recently adopted Welcome Dayton plan—an effort to inspire immigrants to invest and remain in the indebted city in hopes their efforts would augment the economy.

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  Low Alloy Steel Susceptibility to Stress Corrosion Cracking in Hydraulic Fracking Environment

  Ezechukwu J. Anyanwu

  The pipelines used for the process of hydraulic fracturing (aka. “fracking”) process are constantly operating at very high pressure and thus are highly susceptible to Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC). This is primarily due to the process of carrying out fracking at a shale gas site, where the hydraulic fracking fluid is pumped through these pipes at very high pressure in order to initiate fracture in the shale formation. While the fracking fluid is typically more than 99% water, other components are used to perform various functions during the fracking process. Research into the occurrence of SCC reveals that SCC is engendered by a number of factors, of which two main contributors are stress in the pipe steel and a particular type of corrosive environment that exist around the pipeline in the service setting. The variety of fracking fluid formulas which could be used and the insufficient information about the fracking fluid chemistry makes it very important to carry out analysis to ensure the integrity of the pipeline used for this process. The current research described here is focused on the evaluation of the susceptibility of low alloy steel (C4340) to stress corrosion cracking in different environments as it relates to hydraulic fracking fluid chemistry and operating conditions. These different environments are achieved by varying the solution pH, the pH adjusting agent and the applied stress. Electrochemistry measurements using AISI 4340 samples in various solutions and applied stress conditions will be presented and discussed.

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  Measuring Spatial Intelligence and Memory for Location: Athletes v. Non-Athletes

  Guiseppe G. Miranda, Lauren M. Pytel, Alex J. Fitzharris, Marissa E. Sander

  This research project examined whether athletes have better spatial abilities and memory for location than non-athletes. Due to their extensive experience in tracking the location of objects and teammates in relation to spatial layouts, athletes were predicted to outperform their non-athlete counterparts on spatial tasks. Similarly, while everyday short-term memory should be equivalent for athletes and non-athletes, memory for location was hypothesized to be better for athletes. To test the similarity of everyday short-term memory, strings of letters were presented which participants had to recall immediately. Athletes and non-athletes were equivalent in performance for this typical short-term memory task, suggesting that any difference in performance on other tasks was due to a more specialized form of memory. To test memory for location, a moving object was presented on a computer monitor among a varying number of distracters, with or without a landmark. Participants were then asked to recall the beginning or ending location of the moving object. As expected, memory performance decreased with an increase in the number of distracters, but even more so for non-athletes. When a landmark was unavailable, athletes performed much better than non-athlete participants demonstrating a disparity in memory performance. These results suggest that athletes have improved spatial abilities due to consistent practice. Facilitation of memory for location is believed to be due to the increased ability of the athletes to use the spatial coordinates of the landmark as a reference for the location of the object.

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  Medical School through a Learning Community Lens

  Nancy Silverman

  Long considered to be a fiercely competitive environment, many schools of medicine can be characterized as learning communities. A learning community involves a group of people who come together under established guidelines for the shared purpose of learning and a commitment to reflective practice that can ultimately bring personal transformation. Collaboration is the hallmark of learning in community and becomes the vehicle whereby knowledge is socially constructed through negotiation in community with peers. The collaborative approach to learning that historically has characterized medical student instruction at the bedside has been introduced into the classroom and laboratory, often under the moniker of team-based learning. Students are accountable not only for their own learning successes but also for the successes of their team of peers. In addition to engaging in this highly collaborative environment, students become immersed into the medical school community through cultural integration (mentoring by upperclass peers), ritualistic performances (white coat ceremony), behavioral expectations (professionalism and accountability), and shared goals (attaining a desired residency). Medical students can benefit from the successful outcomes of learning communities as they create a sense of belonging; academic, social, and personal satisfaction; generate deeper levels of learning; incite initiative, creativity, and critical thinking; and nurture sensitivity to diverse perspectives (Cox, 2004). Reference Cox, M. D. (2004). Building faculty learning communities. In M. D. Cox & L. Richlin (Eds.), New directions for teaching and learning (Vol. 97, pp. 5-23). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.