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The purpose of instructional technology is to make things possible that are otherwise not, or to make easier things that otherwise are difficult. This chapter describes a few of the tweaks to team-based learning that the authors have developed using technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a framework and methodology for reporting measured solar radiation data. Geographically and temporally resolved solar data have been calculated for all 254 counties in Texas using geospatial interpolation of data from 24 existing terrestrial measurement locations. Hourly global, direct, and diffuse horizontal radiation data have been obtained from 15 measurement sites at the Texas Solar Radiation Database, a project at The University of Texas at Austin, and from 9 sites at the National Solar Radiation Database. Average radiation fluxes and peak insolation have been calculated using daylight hours in addition to the total energy in kW h/m2 day. The methodology presented in this paper provides solar insolation data in a convenient format for engineers, scientists, policy-makers, homeowners, and consumers to assess the potential of solar energy at the county resolution. This methodology enables informed decisions about the economic viability of solar installations at particular locations and with useful diurnal and seasonal fidelity. These results are presented in a series of maps, figures, and tables included in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Podcasting is a recent phenomenon on the Internet, which offers academic libraries an alternative channel for communication with faculty and students. This paper describes podcasting, and offers examples of its use in academic and public libraries. The paper concludes with a description of the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries' experiences in creating a podcast and suggestions for libraries considering podcasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes a 16-year comprehensive research program carried out at The University of Texas at Austin to identify durability concerns with post-tensioning systems in bridges and to develop durability design guidelines. Major experimental programs examined high performance grouts, segmental joint macrocells, long-term large beam corrosion and long-term column corrosion. After performing comprehensive internal examinations, overall findings indicate unfavorable durability effects due to the use of mixed reinforcement, thin concrete cover, galvanized steel ducts, grout voids and galvanized duct splices. The width of cracks was shown to have a direct adverse effect on specimen performance, and local areas of severe corrosion were found on epoxy-coated and galvanized strands. Favorable behavior was observed, however, for specimens constructed with high-performance concrete, high post-tensioning levels, plastic ducts, and sound, epoxy-filled joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies of graduate education in science and engineering recommend a new pathway for graduate education, emphasizing interdisciplinary interactions, to prepare a versatile workforce that will be able to contribute in a global environment. The National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (NSF IGERT) has funded over 100 projects addressing this need. As these projects progress it is important to assess their successes, best practices and common difficulties. This paper describes one NSF IGERT project, "Graduate Training in Optical Molecular Bio-Engineering," at the University of Texas at Austin, the integrated approach used to carry out its assessment, and how results of the assessment have been used to help achieve the goals of the program. We find that the total number of interdisciplinary scholarly activities (presentations, publications, funded research proposals and patent applications) reported by IGERT faculty and students rose steadily throughout the period of the IGERT award. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 1966, at the Southern Historical Association (SHA) convention in Memphis, Tennessee, some 20 participants organized the Association of the Southern Labor Historians whose purpose was to promote the Southern labor history by encouraging the collection of labor records in various states and tile presentation of scholarly labor papers at annual meetings concurrent with SHA. The author and his friends inquired that no university in the Southwest was soliciting labor records. Professor Dick Shuttee, a labor economist at the University of Texas, Arlington, (UTA) was quite enthusiastic about the idea of an archives. With the permission of the History Department of UTA, the author and his colleagues started the Archives Project with a half-summer salary. About three dozen Texas labor newspapers and newsletters have been collected or have been purchased from other archives' microfilmed holdings. The Texas Labor Archives of UTA is currently the only depository in the Southwest that actively seeks union records.