Graduate Student Research Research Articles

Associations Between Community Nutrition Environments and Early Care and Education Classroom Nutrition Practices

ObjectivesPoor child diet is influenced by nutrition environments surrounding schools and homes; influence of these environments on Early Care and Education (ECE) settings is not understood. The purpose of this study was to determine associations between community nutrition environments and ECE classroom nutrition practices, by ECE context [Head Starts, community-based childcare (CBCs), and family child care homes (FCCHs)]. MethodsCross-sectional study including licensed Oklahoma ECEs. Locations of 457 grocery stores were determined in-person. Locations of participating ECEs and grocery stores were geocoded and analyzed in ArcMap 10.6. ECEs were considered located within a “Food Desert” if no grocery stores were available within a 0.25-mile radius for urban ECEs, or 10-mile radius for rural ECEs. ECE directors completed the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment tool (i.e., NAP SACC); items were reported on a Likert-type scale and subscores were calculated for nutrition practices. Wilcoxon Rank Sum test was performed to compare practice scores among those located within a Food Desert versus Non-Desert. Benjamini Hochberg calculations for False Discovery Rate were applied (α< 0.004). Results54 Head Starts, 159 CBCs, and 160 FCCHs participated with 24%, 27% and 37%- respectively- being located within a Food Desert. ECE descriptive characteristics including food purchasing and meal planning strategies varied by ECE context. Head Starts demonstrated the highest classroom nutrition scores for mealtime practices, and nutrition education and policy. Food Desert status was not related to classroom nutrition practice scores for any ECE context (P > 0.004). ConclusionsContrary to studies in residential areas and schools, nutrition environments were not related to nutrition practices in ECEs. This suggests that ECEs may serve as protective micro-environments supporting health for children more vulnerable to the health environments of their nearby residing communities. Supporting health practices for ECEs may be achieved most effectively through within-center intervention and policy. Funding SourcesThis study was funded by the Early Care and Research Scholars: Head Start Graduate Student Research Grant (HHS2017-ACF-OPRE-YR-1219), OUHSC College of Allied Health Student Research and Creativity Grant, and Department of Nutritional Sciences.

Electron Microscopy Investigation of Graphite Electrodes from Fast-Charged Lithium-Ion Cells

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) capable of safe and reliable cycling at a fast-charge rate (i.e., >2C or <30 minutes to full charge) will have a direct impact on today’s consumer technology by improving the utility of portable electronics and reducing the barrier for widespread adoption of electric vehicles. However, at high charge rates, the long-term battery performance suffers because of heterogeneous reactivity across both electrodes (e.g., lithium metal plating on the anode surface, fracture of the cathode particles, etc.) [1]–[3]. A fundamental study of the processes responsible for battery degradation is a necessary step toward designing next-generation LIBs and is a critical research priority for the U.S. Department of Energy. Here, we demonstrate that high charging currents lead to chemical, structural, and morphological changes in the graphite anode that spans the atomic-scale to the bulk-scale. As the integrity of the graphite host is critical to lithium-ion cell performance, our findings regarding the degradation mechanism provide the essential knowledge to enable the development of viable fast-charging LIBs.Our strategies to study the graphite anode degradation are based on advanced analytical electron microscopy and diffraction. We focus on the modifications that occur in the material when subjected to charging rates up to 6C (i.e., 10 minutes to full charge). The characterization is performed post-mortem across different length-scales on as-prepared electrodes and electrodes harvested from cycled cells (represented in Figure 1). At the bulk-scale, we use scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) to probe the morphological and chemical changes in cross-sections of the graphite anode samples. At the nano- and atomic-scale, we use advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and diffraction techniques to reveal changes in both the nano-scale chemistry and the graphite microstructure. Key findings from this investigation include the morphological changes to the graphite particles at the micron-scale and the partial-filling of the inter- and intra-particle gaps with solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) compounds at the meso-scale. Further, at the nano- to atomic-scale, we observe greater disorder and amorphous character in the graphite near the internal pore surfaces when compared to that of the bulk graphite regions. The nature of the lattice disorder, and the characterization methods employed to examine this disorder, will be discussed. Additional supporting evidences of graphite disorder and phase change from Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction studies will also be presented. Acknowledgements: SP acknowledges support from the U.S. Department of Energy Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program. The SCGSR program is administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education for the U. S. Department of Energy under contract number DE‐SC0014664. This work was carried out in part in the Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities, University of Illinois. DA and MTFR acknowledge support from DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office. This document has been created by UChicago Argonne, LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory (“Argonne”). Argonne, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. References : [1] C. Heubner, K. Nikolowski, S. Reuber, M. Schneider, M. Wolter, and A. Michaelis, “Recent Insights into Rate Performance Limitations of Li-ion Batteries,” Batter. Supercaps, Nov. 2020.[2] M.-T. Fonseca Rodrigues et al., “Lithium Acetylide: A Spectroscopic Marker for Lithium Deposition During Fast Charging of Li-Ion Cells,” ACS Appl. Energy Mater., vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 873–881, Jan. 2019.[3] Y. Yang et al., “Quantification of Heterogeneous Degradation in Li-Ion Batteries,” Adv. Energy Mater., vol. 9, no. 25, p. 1900674, Jul. 2019. Figure 1

The 26th annual graduate education and graduate student research conference in hospitality and tourism

"The 26th annual graduate education and graduate student research conference in hospitality and tourism." Anatolia, 32(2), pp. 316–317

Welcome to the Journal of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (J-ETD)

On behalf of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD; see our website with multiple aliases: ndltd.org, theses.org, dissertations.org), I welcome you to the first volume of J-ETD. Now is the time to broadly share through an archival journal some of the most interesting discussions related to the global movement around ETDs. We hope you will find this journal to be of interest, and will spread the word that it is globally accessible as an open access archival forum empowering graduate student researchers and universities to broadly contribute to scholarship, knowledge, education, and understanding. We hope you and your associates will use the articles contained herein to help students, researchers, scholars, administrators, librarians, archivists, publishers, and diverse others to expand and improve learning and scholarly communication. We also encourage you and your colleagues to contribute your works and thoughts to this endeavor, or to offer your assistance in other ways, e.g., if you have interest and skill for reviewing or publicity.

Sustainable writing for graduate students: writing retreats offer vital support

ABSTRACT This article describes the effects of sequential non-residential writing retreats on graduate students the development of sustainable writing practices in the latter stages of writing theses and dissertations. Our study looks to understand how graduate students implement techniques of academic writing productivity. We collected data from three short, non-residential graduate student writing retreats in 2017. The retreats were hosted by a research support programme at a large public university in the United States (U.S.). We used a qualitative case study design and employed grounded theory. We analysed participant responses on exit evaluations and in interviews about their experiences in one or more retreats. Graduate students who participated in more than one retreat within a year expressed feelings of greater writing confidence and productivity, thus, exhibiting of the value of non-residential retreats to student thesis and dissertation writing processes. We found many graduate students have difficulty post-retreat maintaining writing habits. Our findings concur with existing studies about the benefits of retreats for academic writing productivity and expand on those studies to note that graduate student researchers can benefit from attending multiple retreats to build and sustain a regular writing practice among their campus community of writers.

A Case Study of Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research in STEM Education

Student research in STEM education is an important learning component for both undergraduate and graduate students. It is not sufficient for students to learn passively in lecture-based classrooms without engaging and immersing themselves in the educational process through real-world research learning. Experiential learning for STEM students can involve conducting research, alongside and through the guidance of their professors, early in a student’s undergraduate or graduate program. The authors consider such experiences to be the hallmark of a high-quality STEM education and something every student, undergraduate and graduate, should have during the course of their programs. The purpose of this case study is to document the faculty authors’ experiences in student-faculty research and provide guidance and recommendations for best practices based upon the authors’ experience, data, and literature findings. Moreover, the study presents the experience of the faculty authors’ international student researchers in STEM with focus on two student researchers, one undergraduate and one graduate, who are international STEM. The students served as co-authors on this project. Findings from this case study indicate that students were highly engaged in the research process and found these skills valuable preparation for further study and career. Moreover, the students expressed enthusiasm and engagement for the research process.

Essentialism is the enemy of the good

Right after the spring semester ended, I was invited to do an ethics workshop for a Data Science for the Common Good graduate student research program [6]. It had been a week since George Floyd was killed by police [15], and weeks before Covid-19 related deaths had initially peaked in most parts of the U.S. Organizations, and then even retailers, started sharing anti-racism statements, promises, and in the case of Amazon, Black Lives Matter banners on their website. Press related to facial recognition technology and algorithmic decision making's increasingly troubling role in our criminal justice system had already began the reckoning within computer science [1], calling for a fundamental change in how computing professionals think. So, it shouldn't have been surprising that my lesson for these common-good minded, data-science inclined Ph.D. students could be stated simply as explaining the connection between the myth of objectivity and racism. The stop in the middle connecting a belief in objectivity to racism is a concept called essentialism.

Exploring the Benefits of an Arts-Based Mindfulness Group Intervention for Teachers, University Students, and Women Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) teach practices that encourage the development of present moment awareness through paying attention on purpose and non-judgmentally to one’s experiences, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. We describe three graduate student research thesis projects that explored the suitability and benefits of an arts-based MBI with three different populations; teachers, university students, and women survivors of intimate partner violence. These three populations have been identified as experiencing heightened levels of stress and in need of resilience building supports. All three projects were qualitative pilot studies that explored whether participants would experience increased understanding and development of mindfulness-based skills, and improved coping with stress through participating in the program. Pre- and post-MBI group interviews were conducted, and interview data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Across the three projects, the student researchers found self-reported benefits with no adverse effects. Developing mindfulness-based skills helped the participants to build their self-awareness/understanding which in turn helped to develop emotion regulation. This is consistent with our understanding of how MBIs can build people’s capacity to make conscious choices about their feelings rather than reacting to emotional triggers. Improved coping with stress was also reported in all three projects. Developing present-moment awareness and mindfulness can help people appreciate life’s moments, and cope better with daily life stressors. Also important was the growth of self-compassion and acceptance. The results are promising and indicate that further exploration with these populations is warranted. Future research could explore an arts-based approach to facilitating mindfulness with larger numbers of participants and using control and/or comparison groups.

Risk of Secondary Distress for Graduate Students Conducting Qualitative Research on Sensitive Subjects: A Scoping Review of Canadian Dissertations and Theses

Qualitative research, in the methods employed and topics explored, is emotionally demanding. While it is common for ethics protocols to protect research participants from emotional distress, the personal impact of emotional work on the researcher can often go unaddressed. Qualitative researchers, in particular graduate student researchers studying sensitive topics, are at risk of psychological effects. It is unclear, however, how this impact on the researcher is discussed in graduate student work and/or the steps taken to address this risk. To provide an overview of how impact on the researcher is considered in Canadian graduate student research, a comprehensive scoping review of dissertations was conducted. Less than 5% (n = 11) of dissertations reviewed included a plan to mitigate psychological risk to the researcher—suggesting a need for further guidance on minimizing risk of emotional distress. The application of trauma and violence-informed principles to graduate supervision policy and practice is discussed as a promising harm mitigation strategy.

ПРОСТРАНСТВЕННО-ВРЕМЕННАЯ ДИАГНОСТИКА ГОРОДА

The aim of the article is to represent the key name "Spatial-temporal diagnostics of the city" in the long-term research of graduate and doctoral students representing the Samara School of Cultural Studies. This concept and related culturalphilosophical concepts were tested in the theses of graduate students and doctoral students, prepared at the Department.

Browsing, Networking, Contextualizing: Research Practices of Humanists and Implications for Library Instruction

Using semi-structured interviews of faculty in literature, culture, and writing studies at a large public research university, this study investigates their research practices to help rethink disciplinary dimensions of information literacy. Findings showed a strong social dimension to their information-seeking practices and a reliance on informal methods. Themes that emerged were disciplinary perspectives, browsing and serendipity, colleagues and community, limitations in access and time constraints, and informal research training. The authors discuss implications for instruction, including ways in which librarians might demystify humanities research for graduate and upper level undergraduate students.

Again Awake: A White Researcher’s Iterative Positioning for Entering Black Spaces

In this blend of critical annotation and personal reflection, the author narratively frames a selection of works comprising a contextualized reading list for White researchers confronting and positioning their whiteness for the first time. Built around 21 influential texts, this personalized collection of what to read and possible directions for contemplation reflects one educator’s awakening to the crucial situating of White research in Black spaces. The texts include academic journal articles, magazine pieces, and book chapters covering topical and methodological considerations, in addition to monographs and popular press books. The narrative and annotation are interwoven, creating a mini literature review that is grounded in the author’s iterative forays into research with Black students as her own awareness of race as a power construct (Kendi, 2019) and of her whiteness are continually challenged and developed through classroom, community, and campus experiences. This iterative process is necessary and natural, but requires a zigging and zagging of racial consciousness for which semester-length course models and individual books do not automatically provide adequate guidance. The intended audience for this paper is any graduate student or professional researcher who is taking on not only the steep climb of antiracist activism out in the world, but also the internal, sincere, and cyclical self-education that comes with authentic racial awakening.

Research on the Influence of Tutor&amp;apos;s Guidance Style on Postgraduates&amp;apos; Self-efficacy

The tutor is the first person in charge of postgraduate training, and plays an important role in the development of postgraduate academic and scientific research capabilities. This research focuses on the influence of the tutor's guidance style on the research self-efficacy of postgraduates, and conducts empirical analysis with postgraduates of Beijing Normal University as the research object. The research results show that the guidance style of the supervisors of the postgraduates of Beijing Normal University is more biased towards the supporting style of supervisors, and the overall level of the research self-efficacy of the postgraduates is higher; Both supportive and controlled tutor guidance styles have a significant positive impact on the research self-efficacy of postgraduate students; Through the study of the combination of different tutor guidance styles, it is found that graduate students with high support and high control styles have the highest scientific research self-efficacy, and those with low support and low control group have the lowest research self-efficacy. The research self-efficacy of master graduate students with different combinations of tutor guidance styles presents significant differences. In order to further improve the self-efficacy of scientific research of graduate students, tutors should combine comprehensive guidance and differentiated guidance, adjust their own guidance style according to the actual situation of students, and give students timely and appropriate guidance.

Socio-Cognitive Presence and Transactional Distance in a Learning Community for Graduate Student Research Training

Socio-Cognitive Presence and Transactional Distance in a Learning Community for Graduate Student Research Training

Fostering Graduate Student Research: Launching a Speaker Series

The University of Arkansas Libraries’ Special Collections, in partnership with the Graduate School and International Education, initiated a graduate student speaker series in 2018. The series is a professional development opportunity for graduate students who have done research in Special Collections. This case study provides an overview of the establishment of the series, ongoing efforts to recruit speakers and promote the series, and how the series was adapted for the virtual environment due to COVID-19.

Simulation for Graduate Students Research Consultations to Measure Organization Performance

Simulation for Graduate Students Research Consultations to Measure Organization Performance

Family and Consumer Sciences Graduate Research Productivity in 2019

In June 2020, representatives at 166 universities and colleges in the United States were contacted requesting information on family and consumer sciences graduate programs, specifically completed thesis and dissertation titles. Twenty‐five universities and colleges responded reporting a total of 214 theses, 195 dissertations, and 409 non‐thesis master’s degrees completed in family and consumer sciences. Historically, the field of family and consumer sciences has researched interdisciplinary topics with the goal of improving the lives of individuals, families, and communities. The topics highlighted by the submitted titles demonstrate that this historical tradition is still true as it relates to graduate student research.

Enhancing Graduate Student Research, Recruitment, and Retention via a Summer Research Experience

Programs that provide student research experiences at the undergraduate level are an impactful means of recruiting and preparing students for graduate academic programs. Notably, such programs, when combined with faculty mentorship, exposure to graduate-school-level academic curricula, and socialization experiences, are considered crucial to the effective recruitment and retention of students from diverse cultural backgrounds into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-oriented graduate academic programs. This work outlines the strategic efforts of Auburn University’s School of Kinesiology to enhance its graduate student diversity recruitment and retention processes. Highlighted are the School of Kinesiology’s goals and guiding principles related to diversity and inclusion initiatives. A detailed description of the centerpiece of this effort, the Future Scholars-Summer Research Bridge Program, is provided. Additionally, related Future Scholars-Summer Research Bridge Program topics are discussed, including securing donor support, aligning the program with institutional strategic goals, forming institutional or academic program partnerships, and addressing administrative and logistical challenges.

Collections‐based systematics and biogeography in the 21st century: A tribute to Dr. Vicki Funk

Collections‐based systematics and biogeography in the 21st century: A tribute to Dr. Vicki Funk

Public Humanities in the Reconstructed University

Abstract Colleges and universities that can withstand the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis will need to redouble their efforts to engage students in the kinds of intellectual and social experiences that cannot be attained remotely or in isolation. Public humanities, which promotes collaboration, civic and community engagement, and inter-institutional alliances, can be one such reparative force for the reconstructed university. This essay describes the work of graduate student researchers in an interdisciplinary public humanities seminar at Emory University who partnered with a large regional theater on a project involving dramaturgy and audience engagement for a spring 2020 production of Lynn Nottage’s play Sweat (first performed in 2015). The graduate seminar and the project—both before and in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak—offer a compelling model for critical humanistic pedagogy and research that counteracts the isolation and insularity exacerbated by the pandemic.