Monitoring Acoustic Emission in an Epidemiological Pilot Study of a Collection of Wooden Objects

ABSTRACT

This experimental program, implemented by the Managing Collection Environment Initiative at the Getty Conservation Institute, has provided data about the response of historic objects to changes in relative humidity (RH). Alongside other less sensitive documentation techniques (visual observation, physical measurements, photography, and 3D scanning), acoustic emission (AE) was monitored for six historic, museum-like wooden objects exposed to gradually increasing RH variations. Quantitative calibration of AE sensors and an anti-correlation measuring scheme to reduce environmental noise allowed the AE system to effectively trace micro-damage development caused by environmentally induced stress. Using an epidemiological approach, with respect to sample selection and experimental protocol, the obtained results can be used to explore the acceptable range of climate fluctuations for museum collections. The study’s well-controlled environmental protocol also allowed for the examination of the concept of ‘proofed fluctuation’ by the analysis of object response to reoccurring conditions.     

Preservice Interns Implement Service-Learning: Helping Young Children Reach Out to Their Community

Service Learning (S-L) is an integral component of the Early Childhood preservice curriculum at the University of South Carolina. In spite of the fact that our college students had experienced the benefits of S-L first hand during their professional education, they had not become adept at implementing this experiential pedagogy into their own preschool and primary classrooms. This article describes the strategies the authors used to motivate their college students to integrate S-L into the classrooms where they were completing their capstone internship. It recounts these teacher education students' successes in planning and implementing effective S-L projects and identifies the benefits that came to the preservice teachers, their young students, and the schools and communities where they taught.     

Institutional Change in Higher Education: Innovation and Collaboration

To remain globally competitive and increase the number of young people completing two- and four-year college degrees, America needs to expand access to higher education and focus attention on the success of those who enroll. Expertise in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) will be particularly important for maintaining a thriving economy and in developing innovative solutions to global challenges. However, only 6 percent of 24-year-olds in the United States hold first degrees in these fields, placing the country 20th in a comparison group of 24 industrialized countries. Many American students initially interested in STEM areas select other fields after they begin college: only 33 percent of white students, 42 percent of Asian American students, and about 20 percent of black, Latino, and Native American students who aspire to complete a STEM major succeed. This paper examines strategies developed at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and elsewhere that have created an atmosphere of inclusive excellence and are allowing more students of all backgrounds to succeed in STEM areas and other disciplines. Culture change at UMBC began 25 years ago with the development of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program for high-achieving minority students interested in STEM research careers. Lessons learned from that program have motivated University-wide changes as faculty, staff, and students have pursued broad initiatives to redesign courses, build community, and support and engage students.     

An Examination of the Effects of Situational Constraints on Appraised Performance

Most workers are subject to factors in the work place that are beyond their power to control and that act to restrict their performances. Despite the uncontrollable nature of these ‘“situational constraints,” there is evidence that appraisals of work performance tend lo unfairly blame the worker for the shortfalls in performance that these constraints cause. The magnitude of this tendency may be unclear due to the ways in which constraints have been assessed in previous research. A lab study was conducted to obtain a better estimate of the magnitude of situational constraint “bias” using a relativistic rating method that factors out the influence of constraints from performance appraisals. The results indicated that this bias is considerably stronger than previous reports had indicated and may be the dominant source of unfairness in performance appraisals.