Mississippi State University

About: Mississippi State University is a education organization based out in Starkville, Mississippi, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catfish. The organization has 14115 authors who have published 28594 publications receiving 700030 citations. The organization is also known as: The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science & Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science.

An empirical assessment of the “threat of victimization:” considering fear of crime, perceived risk, avoidance, and defensive behaviors

Abstract: Rader (2004) has called for a reconceptualization in the study of fear of crime, arguing that fear is one of several dimensions of the “threat of victimization,” with fear of crime, perceptions of risk, and avoidance (i.e., limiting or changing activity) and defensive behaviors (i.e., performing a specific action to allay fear of crime) as interrelated pieces. We use data from adult residents of a midsouthern state to provide qualified support for the threat of victimization concept in a series of multivariate linear and logistic regression models. Implications for future fear of crime research are also discussed.

Ecology of Blue-Green Algae in Aquaculture Ponds

Abstract: Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) in the genera Anabaena, Aphanizomenon, Microcystis, and Oscillatoria often form extensive and persistent blooms in freshwater aquaculture ponds. Bloom-forming cyanobacteria are undesirable in aquaculture ponds because: 1) they are a relatively poor base for aquatic food chains; 2) they are poor oxygenators of the water and have undesirable growth habits; 3) some species produce odorous metabolites that impart undesirable flavors to the cultured animal; and 4) some species may produce compounds that are toxic to aquatic animals. Development of cyanobacterial blooms is favored under conditions of high nutrient loading rates (particularly if the availability of nitrogen is limited relative to phosphorus), low rates of vertical mixing, and warm water temperatures. Under those conditions, dominance of phytoplankton communities by cyanobacteria is the result of certain unique physiological attributes (in particular, N2 fixation and buoyancy regulation) that allow cyanobacteria to compete effectively with other phytoplankton. The ability to fix N2 provides a competitive advantage under severe nitrogen limitation because it allows certain cyanobacterial species to make use of a source of nitrogen unavailable to other phytoplankton. The ability to regulate cell buoyancy through environmentally-controlled collapse ad reformation of intracellular gas vacuoles is perhaps the primary reason for the frequent dominance of aquaculture pond phytoplankton communities by cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria that can regulate their position in the water column gain a distinct advantage over other phototrophs in poorly mixed bodies of water. In addition to the physicochemical interactions that influence phytoplankton community dynamics, cyanobacterial-microbial associations may play an important regulatory role in determining community structure. Cyanobacteria are always found in close association with a diverse array of microorganisms, including eubacteria, fungi, and protozoans. These associations, which in the past have often been viewed as antagonistic, are increasingly seen as mutualistic and may function in a positive manner during bloom development.

Mapping the Data Shadows of Hurricane Sandy: Uncovering the Sociospatial Dimensions of ‘Big Data’

Abstract: Digital social data are now practically ubiquitous, with increasingly large and interconnected databases leading researchers, politicians, and the private sector to focus on how such ‘big data’ can allow potentially unprecedented insights into our world. This paper investigates Twitter activity in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in order to demonstrate the complex relationship between the material world and its digital representations. Through documenting the various spatial patterns of Sandy-related tweeting both within the New York metropolitan region and across the United States, we make a series of broader conceptual and methodological interventions into the nascent geographic literature on big data. Rather than focus on how these massive databases are causing necessary and irreversible shifts in the ways that knowledge is produced, we instead find it more productive to ask how small subsets of big data, especially georeferenced social media information scraped from the internet, can reveal the geographies of a range of social processes and practices. Utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods, we can uncover broad spatial patterns within this data, as well as understand how this data reflects the lived experiences of the people creating it. We also seek to fill a conceptual lacuna in studies of user-generated geographic information, which have often avoided any explicit theorizing of sociospatial relations, by employing Jessop et al’s TPSN framework. Through these interventions, we demonstrate that any analysis of user-generated geographic information must take into account the existence of more complex spatialities than the relatively simple spatial ontology implied by latitude and longitude coordinates.

Technology Integration: Closing the Gap Between What Preservice Teachers are Taught To Do and What They Can Do

Abstract: The digital divide exists not only between those who have technology and those who do not. A gap also exists between what we teach preservice teachers about technology and what we expect them to do with technology as classroom teachers. This gap is easily seen between the knowledge and skills preservice teachers have acquired through the required technology course, and the knowledge and skills they are expected to possess to successfully integrate technology in their elementary methods classes. This study was conducted with a group of 26 self-selected preservice teachers to examine this gap between teaching the use of technology and the use of technology in learning to teach. The study investigated whether the integration of technology practices into the elementary method courses for preservice teachers would positively influence their self-reported confidence levels in integrating specific technologies in elementary classrooms. Teaching preservice teachers how to integrate specific technologies into their teaching methods helped increase their level of confidence. The findings indicated that the opportunity for preservice teachers to be exposed to the technologies while learning teaching practices in their method courses and to see the technologies modeled by the faculty increased the preservice teachers' confidence level. TECHNOLOGY IN PRESERVICE EDUCATION The past three decades have brought an increased use of technology in many sectors of society. However, the integration of technology into the teaching methods and practices of elementary school teachers has not been fully implemented. Technology equipment and software have arrived in school districts across the nation through sources such as federal funding received through government sponsored grants and through partnerships with major corporations. The influx of technology into the schools has also created a challenge for many higher-education teacher preparation programs. By the year 2008, it has been projected that the K-12 schools will hire approximately two million new teachers (Gerald & Williams, 1998). This increase in the number of new teachers places a burden on colleges and universities to address the technological needs of these new preservice teachers. Colleges of Education must be proactive in implementing teacher education programs that integrate technology through the entire teacher education program by providing opportunities for preservice teachers to observe the modeling of effective uses of technology by faculty and to use this technology and software in a supportive environment (Hill & Somers, 1996). Yet, the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA, 1995) noted that most teachers who graduate from teacher education programs do so with an inadequate knowledge of how they can implement technology into their teaching practices. Although most teacher education graduates reported that they were prepared to use basic programs such as drill and practice, tutorials, or writing software, only 1 in 10 believed that they could use more advanced programs such as electronic presentations or problem-solving software. These teachers also reported that they developed lesson plans or teaching materials for technology use in the classroom on a very limited basis. The report issued by OTA revealed that, "Overall teacher education programs in the United States do not prepare graduates to use technology as a teaching tool" (p. 184). A study completed by the National Center for Education Statistics (1999) also found that educators reported technology was important to the educational system's reform. However, only 20% of the teachers believed they were prepared to integrate technology into classroom instructional practices. Trotter (1999) reported on another study conducted by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) which surveyed 416 colleges of education and found that the future graduates of these programs were not receiving the experiences they needed to effectively integrate technology. …