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2010

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The Efficacy Of Effort: Differences In Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy Based On Type Of Teacher Training And Number Of Years Of Experience, Julie Shane Jan 2010

The Efficacy Of Effort: Differences In Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy Based On Type Of Teacher Training And Number Of Years Of Experience, Julie Shane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current federal reforms require a highly-qualified teacher in every classroom to promote higher levels of student performance. In an attempt to provide a sufficient and sustainable number of highly qualified teachers in the workforce, alternative certification training programs have come alongside traditional college of education training programs. Proponents of alternative certification programs contend the process of on-the-job training will potentially address the problem of teacher shortages. However, opponents see these programs as an inadequate training process with future ramification for both teachers and students. As more and more classroom teachers are choosing alternative certification routes, there is growing uncertainty as …

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Roles And Interactions Of General And Special Education Teachers In Secondary Co-Taught Teams, Tanya Moorehead Jan 2010

Roles And Interactions Of General And Special Education Teachers In Secondary Co-Taught Teams, Tanya Moorehead

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on identifying the components that contribute to instructional delivery in co-taught secondary classrooms in hopes of enhancing the understanding in the field of co-teaching in various secondary content areas. Employing a non-experimental mixed method research design, the study integrated qualitative and quantitative methods to gain insight into general education teachers' roles in solo-taught and co-taught classrooms and special educators' roles in co-taught classrooms. Instrumentation included the use of the Teacher Roles Observation Schedule (TROS), the Colorado Assessment of Co-Teaching (CO-ACT), interview questions, and field notes. The quantitative portion of the study consisted of event recordings of teacher …

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Addressing Anger Managment In A Middle School Setting: Initiating A Leadership Drive Anger Management Group, Isaac Burt Jan 2010

Addressing Anger Managment In A Middle School Setting: Initiating A Leadership Drive Anger Management Group, Isaac Burt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect of a leadership driven anger management group on angry middle school students. Twenty-five participants from a local middle school were nominated by school faculty to be participants in the study. Twenty individuals participated and eighteen completed the study. The eighteen participants were assessed at pre and post test on measures of anger, anger control and personal relationships. Three research questions were tested: (1) Does a short term leadership focused anger management group reduce youths' overall anger? (2) Does such a group increase angry youths' ability to control anger urges? (3) Does this group reduce youths' …

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An Analysis Of The Legal, Statutory, And Governance Issues Of Virtual Charter Schools, Elizabeth Thedy Jan 2010

An Analysis Of The Legal, Statutory, And Governance Issues Of Virtual Charter Schools, Elizabeth Thedy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the legal, statutory, and governance issues facing virtual charter schools. Virtual models of schooling have the potential to change the face of public education as such schools challenge traditional forms of education. Legislators, policy makers, and school boards must carefully consider existing charter school legislation and determine whether such language is applicable to virtual charter school models. As virtual forms of schooling increase, and choice options for parents become more readily available, the challenge is to develop statutory language that is not overly restrictive but provides a framework from which authorizers and governing boards may operate to …

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Student Perception Of General Education Program Courses, Julie Pepe Jan 2010

Student Perception Of General Education Program Courses, Julie Pepe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to: (a) determine, for General Education Program (GEP) courses, what individual items on the student form are predictive of the overall instructor rating value; (b) investigate the relationship of instructional mode, class size, GEP foundational area, and GEP theme with the overall instructor rating value; (c) examine what teacher/course qualities are related to a high (Excellent) overall evaluation or a low (Poor) overall evaluation value. The data set used for analysis contained sixteen student response scores (Q1-Q16), response number, class size, term, foundational area (communication, cultural/historical, mathematics, social, or science), GEP theme (yes/no), instructional …

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Science Teachers' Beliefs Concerning Reform Policies: Comparisons Based On Grade Level, Achievement History, And Socioeconom, Rachel Hallett Jan 2010

Science Teachers' Beliefs Concerning Reform Policies: Comparisons Based On Grade Level, Achievement History, And Socioeconom, Rachel Hallett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to increase the relevance and rigor of the science curriculum being taught in schools throughout Florida, the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards were developed and districts throughout the state began processing them for use in the K-12 classrooms. With a history of adopt and abandon reform strategies, one district wanted to follow a more structured implementation approach to better ensure a successful transition to the new standards. As the first aspect of the approach, teachers in grades 3-8 were asked to complete two instruments which gauged their beliefs regarding the Next Generation Standards in science. Quantitative analysis …

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Surface Plasmon Hosts For Infrared Waveguides And Biosensors, And Plasmons In Gold-Black Nano-Structured Films, Justin Cleary Jan 2010

Surface Plasmon Hosts For Infrared Waveguides And Biosensors, And Plasmons In Gold-Black Nano-Structured Films, Justin Cleary

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Applications of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) have thus far emphasized visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Extension into the long-wave infrared (LWIR) has numerous potential advantages for biosensors and waveguides, which are explored in this work. A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor that operates deep into the infrared (3-11 µm wavelengths) is potentially capable of biomolecule recognition based on both selective binding and characteristic vibrational modes. The goal is to operate such sensors at wavelengths where biological analytes are strongly differentiated by their IR absorption spectra and where the refractive index is increased by dispersion, which will provide enhanced selectivity and sensitivity. …

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Increasing Parental Awareness And Monitoring: The Development And Evaluation Of A Web-Based Program To Empower Parents To Reduce, Pamela Brown Jan 2010

Increasing Parental Awareness And Monitoring: The Development And Evaluation Of A Web-Based Program To Empower Parents To Reduce, Pamela Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parent attitudes about underage alcohol use and parent monitoring of the activities of their adolescent children have been found to be directly related to the likelihood of underage alcohol use. Unfortunately, there are relatively few programs or resources available to parents to assist them to reduce their children's potential for early and problematic alcohol involvement. In an effort to address this need, the present project entailed the development and evaluation of a web-based psychoeducational program entitled, Increasing Parental Awareness and Monitoring (iPAM). This online program begins to fill the gap in effective and convenient programming focused on development of parent …

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Mexicans' And United States Whites' Commitment To Familism And Its Relation With Psycholcocial Adjustment: A Cross National Comparison, Rachael Lunt Jan 2010

Mexicans' And United States Whites' Commitment To Familism And Its Relation With Psycholcocial Adjustment: A Cross National Comparison, Rachael Lunt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that family of origin environment impacts outcomes for individuals; however, the extent to which attitudes toward family impact outcomes is less clear. One construct stemming from family studies is related to the importance and value individuals place on their nuclear and extended families of childhood. The construct, known as familism, encompasses multiple aspects of individuals' relationships with their childhood families. It has been suggested by some that cultures that tend to be collectivistic (e.g., on-European-based cultures) tend to value family unity and loyalty relatively more than individualistic cultures (e.g., European-based cultures). The purpose of this study was …

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Evolution Of The Folk Devil: A Social Network Perspective Of The Hybrid Gang Label, Christian Bolden Jan 2010

Evolution Of The Folk Devil: A Social Network Perspective Of The Hybrid Gang Label, Christian Bolden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In keeping abreast of current gang phenomena, this study seeks to comparatively examine structural processes and characteristics of gangs in chronic gang city, San Antonio, and an emerging gang city that would be more likely to have "hybrid" gangs, Orlando. Hybrid gangs have been identified as having organizational processes that differ from traditional gangs; thus, this work will examine these processes that consist of a range of non-traditional phenomena, including cooperation between gangs, members switching gang affiliations, as well as gang initiations, and members leaving gangs. Additional characteristics uniquely associated with hybrid gangs consist of the notable presence of white, …

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Correlates And Causes Of Violence Against Police Officers: A Criminal Events Analysis, Michele Covington Jan 2010

Correlates And Causes Of Violence Against Police Officers: A Criminal Events Analysis, Michele Covington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Violence against police officers is a major problem in America. Previous studies on violence and police officers have usually focused on violence by police officers, not violence against police officers. This study is the first of its kind as it examines violence against police officers from a comprehensive, criminal events perspective with detailed use of force/officer violence data collected by the Orlando Police Department. Individual officer characteristics, individual offender characteristics, situational variables, and geographical factors are considered. Logistic regression results indicate that use of force incidents are more likely to involve battery against one or more police officers when multiple …

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Freeform Reflector Design With Extended Sources, Florian Fournier Jan 2010

Freeform Reflector Design With Extended Sources, Florian Fournier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reflector design stemmed from the need to shape the light emitted by candles or lamps. Over 2,000 years ago people realized that a mirror shaped as a parabola can concentrate light, and thus significantly boosts its intensity, to the point where objects can be set afire. Nowadays many applications require an accurate control of light, such as automotive headlights, streetlights, projection displays, and medical illuminators. In all cases light emitted from a light source can be shaped into a desired target distribution with a reflective surface. Design methods for systems with rotational and translational symmetry were devised in the 1930s. …

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Quantum Dot Based Mode-Locked Semiconductor Lasers And Applications, Jimyung Kim Jan 2010

Quantum Dot Based Mode-Locked Semiconductor Lasers And Applications, Jimyung Kim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, self-assembled InAs/InGaAs quantum dot Fabry-Perot lasers and mode-locked lasers are investigated. The mode-locked lasers investigated include monolithic and curved two-section devices, and colliding pulse mode-locked diode lasers. Ridge waveguide semiconductor lasers have been designed and fabricated by wet etching processes. Electroluminescence of the quantum dot lasers is studied. Cavity length dependent lasing via ground state and/or excited state transitions is observed from quantum dot lasers and the optical gain from both transitions is measured. Stable optical pulse trains via ground and excited state transitions are generated using a grating coupled external cavity with a curved two-section device. …

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Electro-Optical And All-Optical Switching In Multimode Interference Waveguides Incorporating Semiconductor Nanostructures, Nathan Bickel Jan 2010

Electro-Optical And All-Optical Switching In Multimode Interference Waveguides Incorporating Semiconductor Nanostructures, Nathan Bickel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The application of epitaxially grown, III-V semiconductor-based nanostructures to the development of electro-optical and all-optical switches is investigated through the fabrication and testing of integrated photonic devices designed using multimode interference (MMI) waveguides. The properties and limitations of the materials are explored with respect to the operation of those devices through electrical carrier injection and optical pumping. MMI waveguide geometry was employed as it offered advantages such as a very compact device footprint, low polarization sensitivity, large bandwidth and relaxed fabrication tolerances when compared with conventional single-mode waveguide formats. The first portion of this dissertation focuses on the characterization of …

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Accelerating Optical Airy Beams, Georgios Siviloglou Jan 2010

Accelerating Optical Airy Beams, Georgios Siviloglou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the years, non-spreading or non-diffracting wave configurations have been systematically investigated in optics. Perhaps the best known example of a diffraction-free optical wave is the so-called Bessel beam, first suggested and observed by Durnin et al. This work sparked considerable theoretical and experimental activity and paved the way toward the discovery of other interesting non-diffracting solutions. In 1979 Berry and Balazs made an important observation within the context of quantum mechanics: they theoretically demonstrated that the Schrodinger equation describing a free particle can exhibit a non-spreading Airy wavepacket solution. This work remained largely unnoticed in the literature-partly because such …

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Misalignment Induced Nodal Aberration Fields And Their Use In The Alignment Of Astronomical Telescopes, Tobias Schmid Jan 2010

Misalignment Induced Nodal Aberration Fields And Their Use In The Alignment Of Astronomical Telescopes, Tobias Schmid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following the foundation of aberration theory for rotationally symmetric optical systems established by Seidel, Schwarzschild, Burch, Conrady, Buchdahl, and in its most useful form H.H. Hopkins, Shack, Buchroeder, Thompson, and Rogers developed a vectorial form of the wave aberration theory that enables addressing optical systems without symmetry. In this research, a vectorial theory is utilized and extended for the alignment of two- and three-mirror astronomical telescopes, including the effects of pointing changes and astigmatic figure errors. Importantly, it is demonstrated that the vectorial form of aberration theory, also referred to as nodal aberration theory, not only provides valuable insights but …

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The Experiences Of Health Care Providers Providing Comfort For Nursing Home Patients At The End Of Life, Herma Baker Jan 2010

The Experiences Of Health Care Providers Providing Comfort For Nursing Home Patients At The End Of Life, Herma Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that healthcare providers (HCPs) are not adequately prepared to provide comfort care for patients who are at the end of life. Since the 1990s, numerous legislative, research, and clinical initiatives have addressed concerns about improving care at the end of life. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of HCPs providing comfort for patients in the nursing home who are at the end of life. This study focused on physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and nurses' aides at a central Florida nursing home. A descriptive qualitative design was done utilizing a focus group discussion, individual interviews, …

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Comparison Of Arnp And Physician Malpractice In States With And Without Controlled Substance Prescribing Authority, Deborah Chandler Jan 2010

Comparison Of Arnp And Physician Malpractice In States With And Without Controlled Substance Prescribing Authority, Deborah Chandler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Florida is one of two states that do not allow ARNPs to prescribe controlled substances. The Florida Legislature has expressed concern regarding the safety of ARNPs prescribing controlled substances. The purpose of this study was to compare malpractice rates of ARNPs and physicians in states with and without controlled substance prescribing. The design was a direct comparison of malpractice rates in states with and without ARNP controlled substance prescriptive authority. Comparison of malpractice claims was made between physicians (MDs and DOs collectively) and ARNPs in the United States and by state ARNP prescribing authority. Comparison of malpractice claims was also …

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The Incidence And Epidemiologic Factors Of Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Skin And Soft Tissue I, Ivonne Johnson Jan 2010

The Incidence And Epidemiologic Factors Of Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Skin And Soft Tissue I, Ivonne Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a serious public health problem nationwide, threatening to develop into an epidemic. Many of these patients are presenting to their primary care clinics with skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). The CDC has reported that in 2005, MRSA was responsible for an estimated 94,000 life-threatening infections and 16,650 deaths. The purpose of this study is to estimate the incidence of CA-MRSA within a specific family practice in Florida and to identify epidemiologic factors, classify antibiotic susceptibility patterns, and evaluate patient education in regard to disease management and prevention. This study was a descriptive, epidemiologic, three-year …

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Advanced Practice Nursing In The Faith Community Setting: A Case Study, Chianta Lindsey Jan 2010

Advanced Practice Nursing In The Faith Community Setting: A Case Study, Chianta Lindsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of an Advanced Practice Nurse in providing spiritual and nursing care within a faith community setting. The study will describe the process of developing a Parish Nurse program using a Nurse Practitioner to offer wholistic health care to parishioners. It will also illustrate the collaborative process of developing a free health center within a faith based organization, using the Nurse Practitioner to manage the health center and deliver health care services. In order to demonstrate the need for parish nurse care, the case study used an anonymous survey to …

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The Impact Of An Interdependent Conferencing Activity In An Online Rn-Bsn Practicum Clinical Conference On Psychologocial Sense Of Community, Barbara Lange Jan 2010

The Impact Of An Interdependent Conferencing Activity In An Online Rn-Bsn Practicum Clinical Conference On Psychologocial Sense Of Community, Barbara Lange

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

RN-BSN students enrolled in a clinical course often have limited or no interaction with other students within the course due to geographic distance and individual preceptor assignments. Learning is often restricted to a student and his/her preceptor and instructor. Geographic and physical distance factors inhibit a student's perception of connectedness and learning. Interdependent interaction between peers, the instructor, and the professional community may increase student achievements and enhance a sense of connectedness. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of an Interdependent Conferencing Activity (ICA) in an online clinical conference on RN-BSN students' Psychological Sense of Community …

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Near-Field Optical Interactions And Applications, David Haefner Jan 2010

Near-Field Optical Interactions And Applications, David Haefner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The propagation symmetry of electromagnetic fields is affected by encounters with material systems. The effects of such interactions, for example, modifications of intensity, phase, polarization, angular spectrum, frequency, etc. can be used to obtain information about the material system. However, the propagation of electromagnetic waves imposes a fundamental limit to the length scales over which the material properties can be observed. In the realm of near-field optics, this limitation is overcome only through a secondary interaction that couples the high-spatial-frequency (but non-propagating) field components to propagating waves that can be detected. The available information depends intrinsically on this secondary interaction, …

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Uncertainty, Identification, And Privacy: Experiments In Individual Decision-Making, David Rivenbark Jan 2010

Uncertainty, Identification, And Privacy: Experiments In Individual Decision-Making, David Rivenbark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The alleged privacy paradox states that individuals report high values for personal privacy, while at the same time they report behavior that contradicts a high privacy value. This is a misconception. Reported privacy behaviors are explained by asymmetric subjective beliefs. Beliefs may or may not be uncertain, and non-neutral attitudes towards uncertainty are not necessary to explain behavior. This research was conducted in three related parts. Part one presents an experiment in individual decision making under uncertainty. Ellsberg's canonical two-color choice problem was used to estimate attitudes towards uncertainty. Subjects believed bets on the color ball drawn from Ellsberg's ambiguous …

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Achievement For Advancement Via Individual Determination (Avid) Students And Non-Avid Students In Select Central Florida High Schools In 2007-2009: A Comparative Study, Linda Connors Jan 2010

Achievement For Advancement Via Individual Determination (Avid) Students And Non-Avid Students In Select Central Florida High Schools In 2007-2009: A Comparative Study, Linda Connors

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was to examine the relationship of student participation in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program and student academic performance. More specifically, this study was conducted to determine if there was a mean difference in student performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in mathematics, reading, and writing between students who participated in the AVID program during their first two years of high school and students who had similar demographics (e.g., ethnicity, gender, and economic status) but did not participate in the AVID program for 2007-2009. The population for this study consisted of students …

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Comparison Of Learning Experiences And Outcomes Between A Serious Game-Based And Non-Game-Based Online American History Course, Taryn Hess Jan 2010

Comparison Of Learning Experiences And Outcomes Between A Serious Game-Based And Non-Game-Based Online American History Course, Taryn Hess

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of online courses continues to increase despite the small amount of research that exists on the effectiveness of online educational environments. The little research that has been conducted has focused on evaluating factors taken into consideration during the adoption of online learning environments. One notable benefit often cited is the ability to incorporate multimedia such as video games. Although game researchers and developers are pushing for the use of video games for educational purposes, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of serious video games. When paring the increasing use of online educational environments, the push …

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The Cytokine, Interleukin-7, Transcriptionally Regulates The Gene Expression Of The Hexokinase Ii To Mediate Glucose Utilization, Mounir Chehtane Jan 2010

The Cytokine, Interleukin-7, Transcriptionally Regulates The Gene Expression Of The Hexokinase Ii To Mediate Glucose Utilization, Mounir Chehtane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The cytokine, interleukin-7 (IL-7), has essential growth activities that maintain the homeostatic balance of the immune system. Little is known of the mechanism by which IL-7 signaling regulates metabolic activity in support of its vital function in lymphocytes. We observed that IL-7 deprivation caused a rapid decline in ATP levels that were attributable to loss of intracellular glucose retention. To identify the transducer of the IL-7 metabolic signal, we examined the expression of three important regulators of glucose metabolism, the glucose transporter, GLUT-1, and two glycolytic enzymes, Hexokinase II (HXKII) and phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK1), using an IL-7-dependent T-cell line and primary …

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Interleukin-7 Differentially Regulates The Activation, Proliferation, And Homing Of T-Cells: Implications For Immunotherapy, Christina Kittipatarin Jan 2010

Interleukin-7 Differentially Regulates The Activation, Proliferation, And Homing Of T-Cells: Implications For Immunotherapy, Christina Kittipatarin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is an essential lymphocyte growth factor required for the survival and proliferation of mature T-cells. As a therapeutic agent, IL-7 has the potential to restore T-cell numbers following immune depletion and to promote immunity against cancers. While the survival function of IL-7 is well established, less is known about how it supports T-cell expansion, a critical feature of the immune response. To study the biological effects of IL-7 on T-cell growth, we developed an in vitro culture technique to expand T-cells ex vivo. A significant finding from our studies is that IL-7 did not induce the expansion of …

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Facial Emotion Recognition In Children With Asperger's Disorder And In Children With Social Phobia, Nina Wong Jan 2010

Facial Emotion Recognition In Children With Asperger's Disorder And In Children With Social Phobia, Nina Wong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recognizing emotion from facial expressions is an essential skill for effective social functioning and establishing interpersonal relationships. Asperger's Disorder (AD) and Social Phobia (SP) are two clinical populations showing impairment in social skill and perhaps emotion recognition. Objectives: The primary objectives were to determine the uniqueness of facial emotion recognition abilities between children with AD and SP relative to typically developing children (TD) and to examine the role of expression intensity in determining recognition of facial affect. Method: Fifty-seven children (19 AD, 17 SP, and 21 TD) aged 7-13 years participated in the study. Reaction times and accuracy were measured …

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Low Cost Production Of Proinsulin In Tobacco And Lettuce Chloroplasts For Injectable Or Oral Delivery Of Functional Insulin And, Diane Burberry Jan 2010

Low Cost Production Of Proinsulin In Tobacco And Lettuce Chloroplasts For Injectable Or Oral Delivery Of Functional Insulin And, Diane Burberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current treatment for type I diabetes includes delivery of insulin via injection or pump, which is highly invasive and expensive. The production of chloroplast-derived proinsulin should reduce cost and facilitate oral delivery. Therefore, tobacco and lettuce chloroplasts were transformed with the cholera toxin B subunit fused with human proinsulin (A, B, and C peptides) containing three furin cleavage sites (CTB-PFx3). Transplastomic lines were confirmed for site-specific integration of transgene and homoplasmy. Old tobacco leaves accumulated proinsulin up to 47% of total leaf protein (TLP). Old lettuce leaves accumulated proinsulin up to 53% TLP. Accumulation was so stable that up to …

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Project Child And Non-Project Child School Performance On Fcat Reading, Mathematics And Writing, Julie Chappell Jan 2010

Project Child And Non-Project Child School Performance On Fcat Reading, Mathematics And Writing, Julie Chappell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Project CHILD (Changing How Instruction for Learning is Delivered) provides an avenue for educational change using a triangulated approach. Using data from the Florida Department of Education, this research studies the Project CHILD learning approach on preparing students for success on portions of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) using results from fifteen charter schools in the state of Florida, seven participating in Project CHILD and eight non-participating charter schools for the 2008-2009 school-year. Dispersion statistics such as range and standard deviation as well as independent t tests are computed to compare the percentage of students in grades three to …

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