Browsing by Subject "Technology"

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Academic language development through technology: English learners in a fifth grade science class
(2013-02) Kim, Hye Yeong
Grounded in sociocultural models of learning, this study explores structures for participation and types of interaction that occur during the performance of technologyassisted tasks in a science classroom to detail some of the opportunities for learning made available to English learners (ELs) and some practices that might constitute effective instruction within such a context. In particular, this study explores how ELs use language to socialize and how they are socialized to use language during technology-assisted tasks in a science classroom within a given participant structure. Findings show that five different participant structures were used during technology-assisted tasks, all of which required ELs to understand and use varied interaction patterns; different levels of authority and responsibilities were given to interlocutors in each structure. As different participant structures employed different interactional patterns and practices, learners behaved according to differing norms expected by each participant structure. Findings showed that members of the class shared the rules regarding the initiation of interactions and open topics, as well as allowing time to listen and follow the cue of teachers or technology. In this sense, the class functioned as a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Each participant structure appeared to contribute to the variety of the interaction types, as well as to kinds of subsequent learning and socialization of ELs, providing divergent levels of transparency, legitimacy, and peripherality to ELs. The integration of technology unfolded differently across participant structures and has implications for ELs’ academic language learning opportunities.
Adoption of emissions abating technologies by U.S. electricity producing firms under the SO2 emission allowance market.
(2012-08) Creamer, Gregorio Bernardo
Adventure, Inquiry, and Technology as Driving Forces in Sustainability Education
(2016-06) Henrickson, Jeni
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has increasingly taken on importance around the world, in part due to the growing awareness of environmental concerns such as climate change, and in part due to a challenge set forth by the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. There is, as a result, a growing body of ESD literature (e.g., see Blum, Nazir, Breiting, Goh, & Pedretti, 2013; Chalkey, 2006; De Hann, Bormann, & Leicht, 2010; Eilam & Trop, 2011; Green & Somerville, 2014; Karatzoglou, 2013; Kemmis & Mutton, 2012; Reunamo & Pipere, 2011; Rieckmann, 2013; Walshe, 2008; Weaver, 2015), and many places in the developed world have begun to establish policies addressing ESD. Adventure has been incorporated into sustainability education in a variety of ways throughout history: through literature, outdoor and physical education, field-based exploration and research, and most recently, technology, which has, for example, allowed learners to journey virtually along with explorers and scientists on expeditions to the far-reaches of the world. Technology has also enhanced and expanded the types of adventures we can engage in today, such as through advances in equipment and tools that allow us to explore regions of the planet that were previously inaccessible, and to participate in events previously unimagined, via the personal computer, the Internet, and mobile devices. The three related studies that comprise this dissertation focus on the use of adventure learning as a driving force in inquiry-based sustainability education. These studies examine three different online adventure learning projects. Paper 1 shares research conducted on the role of adventure in the GoNorth! adventure learning series, and advances suggestions for how adventure might be employed in distance, online, and mobile learning in ways that promote experiential learning and sustainability education. Paper 2 examines to what extent an informal online learning environment such as WeExplore might provide a technology-fueled classroom tool for teachers that fosters inquiry and creativity while allowing learners to design authentic transdisciplinary experiences grounded in contemporary issues. Paper 3 shares data and narratives from six Earthducation field expeditions and examines how education might influence sustainability in differing contexts and geographical locations. Findings from the studies indicate adventure learning is a promising model that educators and designers can draw from in both formal and informal learning settings as a means to fuse inquiry, sustainability education, and technology in a pedagogically meaningful way that engages learners and teachers alike. The studies advance our understanding of how we might better design technology-enhanced learning environments that foster engagement and creativity while encouraging learner curiosity and wonder and cultivating inquiry and collaboration.
AHC Strategic Goal 6: Use Information Technology to Transform How We Educate, Conduct Research and Provide Service to Individuals and Communities in Minnesota
(University of Minnesota, 2005) University of Minnesota. Academic Health Center
AHC Strategic Planning Process Phase II - Report on Defining Question No. 5: How do We Exploit the Technology of the Electronic Age?
(University of Minnesota, 2000-01-07) University of Minnesota. Academic Health Center
A bio-economic assessment of the spatial dynamics of U.S. corn production and yields
(2012-02) Beddow, Jason Michael
This dissertation reports on an investigation into the effects of location on corn production and productivity. The landscape of crop production is dynamic--where crops are produced changes dramatically over time. The answers to important questions about the potential impacts of global climate change and whether agriculture will be able to meet the world's increasing need for food are affected by the moving footprint of production. However, most studies of agricultural productivity and the effects of global warming do not consider that agriculture moves, and that the concomitant changes in natural services have important effects. A full set of county-level census data on corn production and area in the United States have been digitized and assembled for the first time, and new methods have been applied to account for changing geopolitical boundaries. Concepts adapted from economic index number theory are used to show that some 15 to 20 percent of the change in U.S. corn output over the past 130 years has come about due to shifts in where corn is produced. A newly developed, long-run, corn-specific weather dataset is used with the county data to show that, because of changes in the location of production, U.S. corn is now grown in cooler climates than it was a century ago, possibly offsetting some of the potential impacts of climate change. Finally, methods from ecological modeling, spatial econometrics, and crop modeling are combined to create a corn yield model that is then used to develop a location- and season-specific crop suitability indicator that takes into account the intra-seasonal dynamics of weather and the complex relationships between weather and yields. It will be shown that the suitability metric developed in this study gives results that are both consistent and more interpretable than more traditional approaches.
Care of the Machine Self: physiology, cybernetics, humanistic systems in ergonomics
(2013-01) Martinez, Mark A.
This dissertation discusses the ways that scientific thought and philosophy have theorized human life and machines in western thought.
Climate and Land Use Change Impacts on N-Loads in Iowa Rivers and Remediation of Tile Water with an Anion-Exchange Resin
(2017-12) Wolf, Kari
This research was conducted to (1) better understand the underlying reasons for a continuous increase in nitrate loads in the Gulf of Mexico, and (2) if an industrial anion resin can be used at a field scale to reduce N losses from tile-drained watersheds to the rivers. The first objective was accomplished through statistical analyses of climate and land use change impacts on streamflow, baseflow, flow weighted nitrate-N concentrations (FWNC) and nitrate-N-loads in three major rivers of Iowa. The rivers included the Des Moines River, the Iowa River, and the Raccoon River. The results from this analysis showed that natural log of annual streamflow, baseflow, and N-loads were primarily controlled by the precipitation in the corresponding watersheds. For streamflow and baseflow, this precipitation corresponded to the current years as well as previous year precipitation. Previous year precipitation reflected the lack or excess presence of stored water in the soil and its consequences in terms of increased or decreased overland flow, infiltration, and percolation processes. For N loads, the precipitation effect was limited to one-year precipitation for the Des Moines and the Iowa Rivers and two-year precipitation for the Raccoon River. There were individual years when streamflow, baseflow, and N loads were impacted by up to three previous years’ precipitation. Effect of land use change, in terms of increased soybean area, had no effect on annual streamflow, annual baseflow, annual flow-weighted N concentrations or annual N-loads in all three rivers. Additional regression analysis of FWNC and N-loads from 1987-2001 showed no effect of N fertilizer use as an explanatory variable for any of the three watersheds. Statistical analysis of the combined annual data from all three rivers showed that there was a unique relationship between the natural log of streamflow, the baseflow, and the N-yield (N-loads/watershed area) versus the precipitation. The precipitation effects were both in terms of current year precipitation and the previous year precipitation. The coefficient of determination (R2) of Ln(streamflow), Ln(baseflow) and Ln(N load) with precipitation for the combined data were 0.74, 0.70 and 0.54, respectively. Limited scatter in the N-yield data at a given annual precipitation level over three rivers suggested that variation in annual precipitation has much bigger impact on N losses than the differences in cultural or cropping practices between the three river watersheds over the study period. Considering that there has been a 10-15% increase in precipitation in the Upper Midwestern United States in recent years, the combined N Yield relationship with precipitation would suggest that the recent increases in N-loads or increased hypoxic area in the Gulf of Mexico are likely due to increased precipitation. Statistical analysis of N-loads over a shorter period of time (1987-2001) also showed that changes in fertilizer use had no effect on river N-loads. Regression analysis of monthly streamflow, baseflow, N-loads and FWNC concentration showed that natural log of streamflow, baseflow, and N-loads were generally linearly related to precipitation in a given month and a few prior months. In some cases earlier in the season, these variables were also related to previous year’s precipitation, an indication that some of the past water stored in the soil both above and below the drain tile is interacting with current months precipitation and affecting the streamflow and baseflow. In most cases, there was no effect of soybean area on natural log of monthly streamflow, baseflow, or N-loads. A field test on the use of anion exchange resin to remediate tile water for nitrate showed that nitrate adsorption by the resin is instantaneous. The efficiency of the resin to retain nitrate varied 7-46%. This efficiency generally decreased with time due to the presence of sulfate, bicarbonates, and organic anions in tile water, which competed with nitrate ions for adsorption to the resin. In some instances, nitrate concentration in the percolating water was higher than the tile water most likely due to the expulsion of adsorbed nitrate ions on the resin by sulfate ion in the tile water. The results also showed that potassium chloride (KCl) is an effective resin-regenerating agent and provides a means to recycle wastewater as KNO3 fertilizer back on land. Although the use of anion exchange resin is an attractive alternative to passive technologies like bioreactors, saturated buffers, control drainage, etc. for remediating nitrate in tile water, it also presents some challenges in its use under field conditions. These challenges include the fouling up of the resin by sediment, sulfate, bicarbonate, and organic anions in tile water; costs associated with buying of resin and regenerating salt (KCl versus NaCl); need for a large volume of clean water for cleaning of resin; and the difficulty of treating large volume of tile water in-situ. However, the feasibility study shows that small-scale units similar to home water softener can be developed for individual homes in rural area where groundwater may be high in NO3-N concentration and NO3-N remediation is needed.
Collaboration in Fighting Traffic Congestion: A Study of Minnesota’s Urban Partnership Agreement
(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2008-12) Bryson, John M.; Crosby, Barbara C.; Stone, Melissa M.; Mortensen, J. Clare
The Twin Cities metropolitan area was selected to participate in a federal transportation initiative called the Urban Partnership program. This required the formation of a multi-agency collaboration of transportation-focused groups in the Twin Cities area. This collaboration – including the external forces affecting it, the internal processes, structures, and competencies that allowed it to operate, and its accountability mechanisms – is the focus of this analysis. Confirming lessons found in the collaboration literature, the Minnesota UPA is a complex assembly of human (individuals and relationships) and non-human (technologies, artifacts, laws, and procedures) elements; therefore, it is not an easy answer to hard problems but a hard answer to hard problems. The research highlights some new findings. Most notably: the role of technology; linkages connecting high-level federal policymaking to local, operational implementation details; emphasis on multiple roles played by sponsors, champions, neutral conveners, process designers, and technical experts; importance of specific competencies; the role of rules and routines as drivers of collaboration; and the importance of spatial and temporal organizational ambidexterity. It is important to note that the work of this collaboration thus far has been virtually invisible to the public, but that will change in the upcoming stages of UPA implementation.
Consumers and Makers: Exploring Opposing Paradigms of Millennial College Readiness
(2017-04) Jackson, Matthew
The political and technological circumstances of the past two decades have culminated in opposing epistemic paradigms of college readiness, where millennial students’ conceptual understanding of “learning” is both narrowed to meet the demands of school systems bound to accountability and amplified by a rapidly evolving digital world. The researcher theorized that students situated within these paradigms may have developed dispositions toward the purpose of learning as primarily either consumption-oriented (consumers) or creation-oriented (makers). This study hypothesized that correlations existed among these consumer/maker dispositions and millennial college students’ epistemic beliefs and key learning skills. The researcher developed an original survey instrument that was provided to a sample of 625 first year students (primarily 18-19 years of age) at a Midwestern liberal arts university. Quantitative, statistical analyses of responses were completed to develop constructs, understand variables, and determine the nature of relationships between variables. The results of these analyses found that respondents were 3-to-28-times more likely to demonstrate consumer dispositions than maker dispositions. The data supported the hypothesis of this study: statistically significant, positive correlations were present in 13 out of 24 instances, suggesting that as one approached the likelihood of having a maker disposition, one was also more likely to exhibit sophistication of epistemic beliefs and to have initiated or developed key learning skills through both high school experiences and the use of information-communication technologies.
The Digital Transformation of Mental Health
(2018-08) Bedor Hiland, Emma
The United States is experiencing a mental healthcare crisis. Alongside growing numbers of mental illness diagnoses we are also faced with the problems of practitioner scarcity, the geographic remoteness of populations in need of mental healthcare, and prohibitive costs for services that might otherwise be within reach. A potential solution to these problems, many technologists, healthcare workers, and others believe, is the integration of technology into the delivery of mental healthcare. This dissertation explores the emergence of a field that seeks to do just that, that I term the digital mental health industry, and which encompasses three areas: telemedicine, applications, and artificial intelligence. Despite the interest that the digital mental health industry attracts, as of yet there has been little study of it unto itself. This project provides not only an examination of the technologies it relies upon, but also its workers’ beliefs as well as the field’s broader social and medical effects. Methodologically this dissertation utilizes a combination of fieldwork, interviews, and textual analysis to tell the story of how the digital mental health industry came to be, how it is changing what it means to be mentally ill or healthy, and how technology mediates processes of self-care.
Doing Race Online: Essays on Race-Making on Social Media Platforms
(2022-05) Hamilton, Amber
Race —a socially constructed concept that marks perceived differences in phenotype —is an active process. Race is not something that people have or are, but instead is a set of actions that are done every day by individuals and institutions. Examples include segregating jail facilities based on an imprecise racial identification system or choosing hairstyles based on their perceived racial meaning. Scholars refer to these practices as “doing race” or “race-making,” terms that signal the active social interactions that(re)produce the meanings ascribed to racial categories. The newest, and perhaps most significant, context for “doing race” is on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Social media platforms, particularly Twitter, have provided a space for Black users to build digital communities to contest and construct ideas about Blackness in the U.S. These platforms also provide a space for the companies that operate them to enact their beliefs about race through algorithmic design and content policies. As such, an examination of the doing of race online expands our theoretical and empirical understanding of race relations in the U.S. In my mixed-methods dissertation, I examine how platforms and Black users construct and contest the meanings of racial categories online and what those meanings reveal about race relations in the contemporary U.S. In the three essays that follow, I examine three theoretical and empirical questions, respectively: (1) In posts about race and racism on social media, how do Black users do race, construct Blackness, and contest oppressive structures? (2) How do social media platforms frame the problem of racism in the U.S, and what does this reveal about the online spaces in which conversations about race and racism occur? (3) What does "algorithmic bias" miss and is there a more substantive framework to describe systemic inequalities in the digital sphere?
Dynamics of Cross-Sector Collaboration: Minnesota's Urban Partnership Agreement from Start to Finish
(Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, 2012-02) Bryson, John M.; Crosby, Barbara C.; Stone, Melissa M.; Saunoi-Sandgren, Emily
The problems faced by today's public managers are often too large to be solved by a single entity, and require collaboration across government, nonprofit, and business sectors. As new technologies and systematic approaches transform the transportation field, cross-sector collaboration has become an increasingly important policy development and implementation approach. Particularly within the transportation field, an assemblage of technologies is often critical to implementing system-wide strategies aimed at, for example, mitigating traffic congestion. In many cases, designers and implementers of effective transportation policies must combine a variety of technologies with deft relationship building and management. Through the development of comparative case studies of the Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) initiatives, this research study will complete the examination from start to finish of the Minnesota UPA, and provide additional comparative information from other UPA sites to enhance the certainty of conclusions, and to develop sound lessons for practitioners.
The economics of a new health technology: an evaluation of the impact of statins on lifestyle behaviors
(2012-04) Dehmer, Steven Patrick
Background: Heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the United States since 1921, and although death rates have declined since their peak in the 1960s, it remains a significant burden to the population's health. For most of the second half of the 20th century, changes in lifestyle--such as in diet and exercise--have been the most salient intervention to prevent cardiovascular disease. However, pharmaceutical interventions have gained significant traction in recent decades and may now be supplanting lifestyle change therapies. This study presents a theoretical framework for conceptualizing behavioral feedbacks from new medical technologies, and conducts an empirical case study to investigate whether the introduction of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can be associated with changes in diet and exercise behavior. Although statins are highly effective in reducing cardiovascular disease risk, lifestyle improvements can garner significant health benefits in addition to lowering cholesterol. Methods: Grossman's model for the demand of health is applied to inform theoretical predictions on health behaviors with the introduction of a new medical technology such as statins. An extension incorporating uncertainty in one's own health status is introduced to motivate the demand for prevention. This extension also allows for the possibility that prevention screening services may send signals of varying quality to an individual regarding one's true health status. If a prescription for a statin sends a stronger informational signal than a high cholesterol diagnosis alone, this could lead to an association of statin use with improved health behaviors. An empirical investigation to test the theoretical predictions is conducted through a causal inference analysis of the introduction of statins on therapeutic lifestyle behaviors (i.e., improved diet and exercise). Longitudinal survey data on a panel of 8,000 individuals from 1995-1998 is linked with statin prescription (claims) data for analysis. Key to causal inference, the timing of this survey coincides with a rapid secular trends in statin adoption. This corresponds with considerable intrapersonal heterogeneity in observed treatment (i.e., statin use) and allows for multiple analytical strategies to account for potential endogeneity bias--namely, panel data and physician/clinic-based instrumental variable methods. To test the practical implications of behavioral changes associated with statin use, multiple simulations are conducted to estimate the economic and health impacts on a U.S.-representative birth cohort, as well as the surveyed cohort from which the empirical results are drawn. An evidence-based Markov microsimulation model is presented for the conduct of this simulation analysis. Results: Preliminary results show an effect that is ostensibly counter-intuitive: a new statin prescription tends to improve health behaviors. Physical activity, in particular, is shown to increase by as much as 30 to 50 percent with statin use. The available data limits inference to short-run impacts (i.e., within four years), but simulations are used to test a range of potential short- and long-term consequences. Short-run impact on health and costs is negligible; however, the predicted long-term impact of improved behaviors on health outcomes can reach 5 to 10 percent reductions in events. For most scenarios, predicted changes in costs are negligible, in part due to their general inverse relationship with longevity. Conclusions: When faced with a newly introduced technology, people are anticipated to respond to any altered incentives. However, if a new technology also serves as a conduit for improved health information, people should be expected to respond to that new information as well. With the introduction of statins, this study shows that a new prescription caused people to choose to exercise more. This result suggests that although both potential modes of action may be in effect, the response to new information may dominate--at least in the short-run. Further empirical and theoretical study will be needed to fully understand the long-term response to statins or similar "new" health technologies.
The Effects of Computer-Assisted Instruction in Reading: A Meta-Analysis
(2015-05) Kunkel, Amy
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to improve the reading outcomes of students in preschool through high school. A total of 61 studies met criteria for this review, and 101 independent effect sizes were extracted. Results indicated that the mean effects for students receiving reading CAI were small, positive, and statistically significant when compared to control groups receiving no treatment or non-reading CAI. Categorical moderator analyses and meta-regression were conducted to explore the variation in effects. Results of an analysis of research quality indicated that, on average, about half of quality indicators were met. The results of this meta-analysis show that CAI in reading can effectively enhance the reading outcomes of students in preschool through high school. Future, high-quality research should be conducted to identify effective programs and establish best practice in the instructional design of CAI to enhance the reading skills of all students.
Episode 11: Local Health Co-Beenfits of Urban Climate Action
(2017-12-21) Ramaswami, Anu; Conners, Kate
Reducing carbon emissions across multiple urban infrastructure sectors can yield significant local air pollution related health co-benefits. But cities will see and experience these co-benefits in different ways and to different degrees. In this podcast, Anu Ramaswami, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, discusses the emerging science around how to connect global carbon reduction actions to city-specific health outcomes.
Episode 12: Circular Economies and Low-Carbon Urban Infrastructure Planning
(2017-12-21) Ramaswami, Anu; Conners, Kate
What is the unique role that urban infrastructure planning can play in national carbon mitigation? In this podcast, Anu Ramaswami, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, discusses how cities are positioned to plan infrastructure systems using circular economy principles that reduce material and energy reuse across sectors to deliver a low-carbon future.
Episode 13: All-city Carbon Emissions: Understanding City Types and Impact
(2017-12-21) Ramaswami, Anu; Conners, Kate
It is common practice to consider the carbon emissions of single cities. But what happens when you analyze carbon emissions for all cities in a country using nationally aligned data? In this podcast, Anu Ramaswami, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, discusses how all-city analysis can reveal “city types” that help inform carbon policy and action.
Episode 28: Community Solar Intermediaries: Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Practice
(2020-12-10) Harrington, Elise; Welter, Emma
In the fall of 2020, Elise Harrington joined the Humphrey School as an assistant professor in the science, technology, and environmental policy area. In her new role, Harrington hopes to continue the research she began with MIT's Tata Center for her PhD, which brought her to both India and Kenya to study innovation in small-scale solar technologies. In this podcast episode, she speaks with us in more depth about her work in Kenya, where she's been investigating ways to close gaps between policy and practice in distribution models and consumer education for off-grid solar technologies like lanterns. Harrington is especially interested in the role played by "frontline solar intermediaries": individuals who act as go-betweens on behalf of solar companies. Intermediaries travel to communities to inform people about solar technology, sell products based on a variety of pricing models, and act as a resource for ongoing help with solar. When it comes to building a more resilient electricity infrastructure, Harrington says,"social interactions really matter”—and these intermediaries play an important role.
Episode 2: Public Funding for Energy Research and Development
(2017-01-30) Chan, Gabriel; Conners, Kate
Effective decision making to allocate public funds for energy technology research, development, and demonstration (R&D) requires considering alternative investment opportunities that can have large but highly uncertain returns and a multitude of positive or negative interactions. In this podcast, Gabriel Chan, assistant professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, explores the utility of applying new methods to improve the cost-effectiveness and environmental performance in a deliberative approach to energy R&D portfolio decision making.

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