Lessons from Hurricane Katrina: Can We Save California's Delta?
Lessons from Hurricane Katrina: Can we save California's Delta?
Raymond B. Seed, Professor of GeoEngineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
The catastrophic flooding of New Orleans during hurricane Katrina was the single most costly failure of an engineered system in history. It was also a social and cultural tragedy of unprecedented peacetime proportions for the United States.
After the disaster, a team of leading experts from across the country examined the engineering and
The evolution of ICT-based learning environments: which perspectives for the school of the future?
This paper briefly outlines the evolution of ICT-based learning environments discussing some of the main aspects that have characterised such evolution (eg, technological evolution, changed cognitive and pedagogical frameworks, changed role assigned to ICT-based systems in education). The objective is to point out how the implementation of innovative learning environments, based on advanced technology, is the result of the strict interrelation between educational and cognitive theories, technolo
Fighting Back! (Lesson)
This lesson describes the major components and functions of the immune system and the role of engineers in keeping the body healthy (e.g., vaccinations and antibiotics, among other things). This lesson also discusses how an astronaut's immune system is suppressed during spaceflight due to stress and other environmental factors.
Out of Breath
This lesson goes over the parts of the human respiratory system and the gas exchange process that occurs in the lungs. It also covers changes in the respiratory system that occur during spaceflight, such as decreased lung capacity.
Just Passing Through (Lesson)
This lesson helps students explore the functions of the kidney and its place in the urinary system. Students learn how engineers design instruments to help people when kidneys are not functioning properly or when environmental conditions change, such as kidney function in space.
Nerve Racking
This lesson describes the function and components of the human nervous system. It helps students understand the purpose of our brain, spinal cord, nerves and the five senses. How the nervous system is affected during spaceflight is also discussed in this lesson.
Endocrine Excitement!
In this activity, students are divided into a group of hormones and a group of receptors. The hormones have to find their matching receptors, and the pair, once matched, perform a given action. This activity helps students learn about the specificity of hormone-receptor interactions within the endocrine system.
Fascinating Friction!
In this activity, students use wood, wax paper and oil to investigate the importance of lubrication between materials and to understand the concept of friction. Using wax paper and oil placed between pieces of wood, the function of lubricants between materials is illustrated. Students extend their understanding of friction to bones and joints in the skeletal system and become aware of what engineers can do to help reduce friction in the human body as well as in machines.
Windmill of Your Mind: Distributed Energy Goes to School
Students research the feasibility of installing a wind-turbine distributed energy (DE) system for their school. They write a proposal (actually, the executive summary of a proposal) to the school principal based on their findings and recommendations. While this activity is geared towards fifth-grade and older students, and Internet research capabilities are required, some portions of this activity may be appropriate for younger students.
Chronos: a network for Earth system history
CHRONOS (Greek: time) aims to create a dynamic, interactive and time-calibrated framework for Earth history. CHRONOS's main objective is to develop a network of databases and visualization and analytical methodologies that broadly deal with chronostratigraphy - that is, with developing a better tool (the time scale) for understanding fundamental Earth processes through time. The CHRONOS platform will provide a new investigative environment for interdisciplinary Earth history research that includ
Alternative Strategies to the Use of Vertebrates in Undergraduate Physiology Labs
There are many reasons to seek alternatives to the use of vertebrates, including cost and concerns with use of vertebrates in undergraduate laboratories. This major workshop explores examples of alternatives, including: a) an exploration of thermoregulation without using animals at all, b) an investigation of actomyosin function and membrane excitation using giant alga, and c) using insects to investigate taste receptors and digestion. This workshop explores the importance of providing good back
FACES: John Cave
Del Mar College a/c and building maintenance major John Michael Cave shares some thoughts about the training he's received and also enrolling into college after several decades in the workforce.
The caste system and the Sikhs
The caste system and the Sikhs
NASA CONNECT The Venus Transit
In NASA CONNECT Venus Transit, students will learn about the importance of using scale models to represent the size and distance of objects in the solar system and beyond. They will be introduced to the astronomical unit (AU), the baseline distance from the Earth to the Sun, which astronomers use to determine the relative distances from the Earth to other planets, stars, asteroids, and objects in space. They will also discover fascinating facts about the Venus Transit, a celestial and historical
Investigating the evolution of grain scale microstructure during large plastic deformation of polycr
Polycrystalline deformation and its modeling by currently used crystal plasticity
models has been investigated by means of experiments involving direct
measurement of deformation induced orientation changes. The experiments used a
polycrystalline aluminum sample with columnar grains, whose initial lattice
orientations were mapped using the Orientation Imaging Microscopy (OIM)
technique. The sample was then deformed under (i) simple compression by 40%
along the axis of the columnar grains and (ii
Computer enhanced education in undergraduate dietetics programs
Since computer technology was reported as underutilized on a previoussurvey, the objective of this study was to strengthen the role of technology forundergraduate programs in food and nutrition. The purpose was to determinewhether attendance at a workshop on computer applications would increase thevariety and frequency of use of computer applications and educational materials inundergraduate nutrition programs and would stimulate the development of computerenhanced education materials. A 89-item
Biomechanical evaluation of the intact, injured and surgically reconstructed ulnar collateral ligame
The ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) of the elbow is a major passive stabilizer againstvalgus moments and is a frequent site of injury for the professional throwing athlete. Due to theimportance of the UCL in elbow stabilization, many clinical and biomechanical studies wereconducted in the past to understand its role; however, no study has evaluated the stabilizingfunction of the UCL when subjected to a pure valgus-varus moment at varying degrees of flexion.In addition, few comparative studies ha
Musculoskeletal, Fall 2007
This sequence provides foundational basic science knowledge of the musculoskeletal system, integrated with clinical relevance.
Central and Eastern Europe: Peace Corps
provides lessons about stories, letters, and folk tales from experiences of Peace Corps volunteers in rural and urban areas of Central and Eastern Europe. Topics include folk tales, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, fear of certain numbers, transition from a state-controlled system to a democracy, school in Ukraine, the importance of speaking another language, storks and cultural icons, and family traditions as macrocosms of larger cultures.
Gauging the readiness of an institution of higher education to implement change in its distance educ
The democratization of finance, information, and technology has created a new global reality that affects every dimension of society and has transformed the competitive context. In this new reality, higher education is losing its monopoly as a credentialing agent, and it has become vulnerable to market forces from which it has been traditionally insulated. The majority of institutions of higher education have developed distance education programs to create market opportunities; however, in many
