Article Database

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting: A Green and Clean Alternative for Sustained Power Production

Abstract:

Providing efficient and clean power is a challenge for devices that range from the micro to macro in scale. Although there has been significant progress in the development of micro-, meso-, and macro-scale power supplies and technologies, realization of many devices is limited by the inability of power supplies to scale with the diminishing sizes of CMOS-based technology. Here, the authors provide an overview of piezoelectric energy harvesting technology along with a discussion of proof of concept devices, relevant governing equations, and figures of merit. They present two case studies: (a) energy capture from the operation of a novel shear and elastic modulus indentation device subjected to applied voltage and (b) energy capture from vibrating commercial bimorph piezoelectric structures mounted on household appliances. Lastly, areas of development needed for realization of commercial energy harvesting devices are suggested.

Powering MEMS Portable Devices—a Review of Non-Regenerative and Regenerative Power Supply Systems with Special Emphasis on Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Systems

Abstract:

Power consumption is forecast by the International Technology Roadmap of Semiconductors (ITRS) to pose long-term technical challenges for the semiconductor industry. The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) to provide an overview of strategies for powering MEMS via non-regenerative and regenerative power supplies; (2) to review the fundamentals of piezoelectric energy harvesting, along with recent advancements, and (3) to discuss future trends and applications for piezoelectric energy harvesting technology. The paper concludes with a discussion of research needs that are critical for the enhancement of piezoelectric energy harvesting devices.

(Re)Constructing Home and School: Immigrant Parents, Agency, and the (Un)Desirability of Bridging Multiple Worlds

Abstract:

Background/Context: This study examines the tactics that Haitian immigrant parents used to negotiate the boundaries around home and school, presenting the possibility that families play an active and deliberate role in creating distance between the worlds of home and school.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The following research questions were explored: (1) Why do Haitian immigrant parents resist bridges between the worlds of home and school? (2) How might this resistance be seen as a show of agency? (3) How do the resistance and agency of Haitian immigrants complicate the in-school/out-of-school dichotomy and push theories that too easily bring in-school and out-of-school worlds together?

Setting: Greater Boston, Massachusetts.

Population/Participants/Subjects: Participants were 54 parents of Haiti-born (1.5 generation) and U.S.-born (second generation) Haitian American adolescents. Research Design: The study draws from a subset of data collected with Haitian families in a large longitudinal study of newly arrived immigrants from five different countries and from data collected in a supplemental study of second-generation Haitian families. Data sources include structured interviews and field notes.

Data Collection and Analysis: Data were collected by bilingual, bicultural research assistants. Interviews were recorded whenever possible, transcribed, and, if necessary, translated to English. Data were analyzed for this article using classic qualitative thematic analysis techniques.

Findings/Results: The findings suggest that parents actively constructed and reconstructed distinct boundaries for home and school rather than being passive victims of these boundaries. Three metathemes and seven related themes emerged related to the research questions: protecting the home terrain (displayed as a concern with family privacy; parental strictness; and discouraging friendships); equating schools with Americanization (shown through criticisms of U.S. schools/schooling; and parents’ limited contact with school), and negotiating a seat at the table (through parental advocacy; and reciprocal partnership-seeking)

Conclusions/Recommendations: These findings question the pervasive notion in educational literature and practice that close links between home and school should be the goal of both teachers and families.

The Academic Motivation and Achievement of Latino Youth

Abstract:

A chapter by Fabienne Doucet in the Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education.

Parents’ Participation in Cultural Practices With Their Preschoolers

Abstract:

In this article we discuss cross-cultural similarities and variations in parents’ engagement in the everyday activities in which their preschool-age children engage, focusing on mothers’ and fathers’ presence in the same setting as their children, the impact of their presence on the types of activities in which the children engaged, and the extent of mothers’ and fathers’ involvement with their children in those activities. The data were gathered from different societies – the United States, Korea, Russia, Estonia, and Kenya. They reveal that the children were involved primarily in play (more than in lessons, work, or conversation), and this was unaffected by the presence of either parent. However, parents were relatively less likely to be involved in their children’s play than in the other activities. Mothers, not surprisingly, were more likely to be found in the same setting as their children and, even when taking account of their greater presence, were more likely to be involved with their children than were fathers.

Co-Constructing the Transition to School: Reframing the Novice Versus Expert Roles of Children, Parents, and Teachers From a Cultural Perspective

Abstract:

Sociocultural factors such as race/ethnicity, region of origin, and social class play important roles in shaping how the transition to school (ie, to kindergarten) is perceived, how children are prepared for it, and how easily the transition is made. This chapter presents the argument that the transition to school is a cultural process, one that is experienced differently by different groups of people based on cultural characteristics, expectations, and goals. Specifically, there is a strong case for the importance of reframing current constructions of parents’ and teachers’ roles in facilitating the transition to school to account for the ways in which culture informs and shapes developmental processes.

How African American Parents Understand Their and Teachers’ Roles in Children’s Schooling and What this Means for Preparing Preservice Teachers

Abstract:

Preservice teachers are socialized by their own raced, classed, and gendered experiences to expect “caring parents” to behave and contribute in certain ways to their children’s schooling. Preservice teachers who come from widely divergent backgrounds from the communities in which they serve can sometimes be skeptical of parents who are not involved in children’s schooling in ways that are familiar from their own upbringing. Moreover, much of the existing scholarship on parent involvement and the transition to school takes a top-down approach that discounts the important knowledge parents bring to the table. This is a study of African American parents of young children who were preparing to transition to kindergarten or first grade that proposes an alternate conversation about what we can learn from parents when we examine their ways of framing and enacting “involvement” in their children’s school lives. African American parents and caregivers (N = 25) participated in qualitative interviews. Thematic analyses of the interviews revealed that participants constructed preparation for the transition to school broadly, as preparation for the “real world.” I will discuss the implications of the study for teaching, teacher education, and future research, so that preservice teachers and teacher educators can begin to build a greater imagination for parent involvement.

A Window Into Different Cultural Worlds: Young Children’s Everyday Activities in the United States, Brazil, and Kenya

Abstract:

A powerful means to understand young children’s normative development in context is to examine their everyday activities. The daily activities of 79 children (3 years old) were observed, for 20 hr each, in their usual settings. Children were selected from 4 cultural groups: European American and African American (Greensboro, United States), Luo (Kisumu, Kenya), and European descent (Porto Alegre, Brazil), evenly divided by social class. Examining children’s naturally occurring engagement in school‐relevant activities, both in and out of child care, revealed the importance of ecological context. The variation in activities was not explainable simply by cultural group (including race within the United States) or social class, but by the intersection of culture and class. The developmental implications of these findings are discussed.

Parent Involvement as Ritualized Practice

Abstract:

This article examines parent involvement (PI) as a ritual system using Turner’s concept of root paradigms. Through a twofold analysis, I argue that the highly ritualized nature of PI practices creates a group identity among mainstream parents and schools that marginalizes diverse families. First, I point out three root paradigms in the ritual system of PI. Second, I provide an empirical example using the experiences of Haitian immigrant parents in greater Boston.

Eliminating Extermination, Fostering Existence: Diverse Dystopian Fiction and Female Adolescent Identity

Abstract:

In this chapter I aim to unsettle the hypercanon by introducing various YADF texts with young women of color featured as the protagonists. Specifically, I conduct a comparative analysis of books that represent young women who are Asian, biracial, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx. Yet, instead of focusing solely on the differences inherent in these texts, I align themes within the texts with universal adolescent identity themes, noting how the race of the characters does not eliminate some of the universal themes educators discuss when teaching mainstream texts.