Digital Commons Network^™

Adult Learning In A K-12 Setting; Job-Embedded Professional Development: Teacher Identity And Self-Efficacy, Deidra Maclellan Gammill

Dissertations

This two-phase sequential mixed methods study examined the relationship between professional development, whether in the form of traditional professional development, a professional learning community and/or lesson study, and teacher self-efficacy and self-directed learning in order to gain a greater understanding of the role professional development plays in teacher identity and efficacy as they relate to adult learning theory.

The qualitative case study method was used to interview 22 teachers, half of whom participated in a professional learning community known as lesson study. The interview data indicated that collaboration was simply one of the variables that influenced teacher efficacy and identity. …

Advisor Knowledge Of Disability-Related Needs, Laws, And Accomodation Requirements In Postsecondary Academic Advisement Practices, Rebekah Elizabeth Young

Dissertations

Since the passage of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, enrollment of students with disabilities in higher education has risen. In 2007-2008, approximately 11% of undergraduate students reported having some type of disability (U.S. NCES, 2012). Since disability disclosure is optional for students in higher education, it is possible that reported enrollment figures are underestimates.

Despite increasingly equitable access to postsecondary education and demonstration of the academic capability necessary for gaining collegiate admission, students with disabilities are less likely to remain enrolled and successfully earn a degree than students without disabilities. Efforts to …

Group Empowerment Capacity And Capability In Schools Of Nursing, Mary Louanne Friend

Dissertations

Nursing education is experiencing rapid changes as nurses are expected to transform and lead health care delivery within the United States. The ability to produce graduates who can promote a culture of safety, and provide patient centered care in collaboration with others will require nursing administrators and faculty who are empowered and able to achieve goals. The Sieloff Theory of Group Empowerment within Organizations (Sieloff & Bularzik, 2011) provided the theoretical basis for this exploratory correlational study examining group empowerment capacity and empowerment in administrators and faculty within the United States. Empowerment was conceptualized as the ability of the group …

A Study Of Federal Academic Earmarks And Research Funding In Relation To The Institutional Research Culture Of Research University/High (Ru/H) Institutions In Mississippi, James Hubert Young Iii

Dissertations

Nationally, reductions in public funding for higher education, a stagnate economy, looming sequestration, and a divisive political culture present a complex and challenging dynamic for research universities in pursuit of external funding for their research programs and infrastructure needs. These universities and their research initiatives have relied on significant federal investment in research and development as a source of competitive research funding for more than half a century.

Over the last thirty years, congressionally directed funding for research, referred to in the study presented here and throughout the literature as academic earmarks, emerged as an alternative means to achieve research …

A Comparison Of Behavioral And Academically-Focused Goals Within The Mystery Motivator: Effects On Disruptive Behavior And Academic Performance, Christina Michelle Hardy

Dissertations

Class-wide group contingencies are effective for decreasing inappropriate behavior and increasing academic performance. An interdependent group contingency, a subtype of group contingencies, sets a specific goal for performance across the class, and a reward is delivered only if the group meets the specified criterion. One interdependent group contingency, the Mystery Motivator, has been designed to target behavioral or academically-based goals; however these goals have guided the type of data collected. There are no published studies, to date, that compare behavioral and academic goals and the effects of each type of goal on both decreasing disruptive behavior as well as improving …

Design And Synthesis Of Flexible And Functional Polybenzoxazine Thin Films, Austin David Baranek

Dissertations

Polybenzoxazines offer the unique ability to incorporate a variety of properties and functionality into a single polymer network through simple synthetic techniques. However, within benzoxazine materials exist certain drawbacks of which brittleness is the primary issue when exploring thin film applications. This brittleness leads to poor mechanical stability and would reduce the lifetime of any device sought after. It is, however, through the simplistic nature of the benzoxazine monomer synthesis that the mechanical stability could be addressed chemically, avoiding the complications of using rubber toughening agents or plasticizers. The monomer synthesis offers tailorability of both the phenol and amine to …

Teachers' Perceptions About The Types, Quality, And Impact Of Their Job-Embedded Professional Development Experiences, Delilah Mitchell

Dissertations

This study was designed to determine eighth grade teachers’ perceptions of the impact, quality, and types of job-embedded professional development activities they have participated in and the relationship to student achievement in language arts, math, or science. The researcher identified school districts with 50% or more of their eighth grade students scoring proficient or advanced on all three areas of Mississippi’s Curriculum Test, Second Edition (MCT2). Sixty-four eighth grade language arts, math, or science teachers who had been at their current school at least two years completed a questionnaire created by the researcher. Multiple Linear Regression and Pearson’s Correlation were …

An Insight Into Asymmetric Synthesis And Bioorganic Applications Of Novel Cα- Methyl-Lysine, - Proline, - Nipocotic Acid Analogues, Souvik Banerjee

Dissertations

Prochiral malonic diesters consisting of a quaternary carbon center have been successfully converted into a different set of tBoc-Fmoc-α2,2-methyllysine-OH analogues through chiral malonic half-ester intermediates achieved via enzymatic (Pig Liver Esterase, PLE) hydrolysis. The selection of chiral half-ester intermediates, which vary from 1 to 6 methylene units in the side chain, are achieved in high optical purity (92% - 97% ee) and in good yields (65% - 72%). The PLE hydrolysis of malonic diesters with a variety of side chain lengths observed to obey the Jones’s PLE model as evidenced from the stereochemical configurations of the resulting chiral half-esters. The …

A Stylistic Analysis And Performance Guide For James Sclater's "Variations And Toccata On A Theme By Paganini", David Michael Ward

Dissertations

This document exists as a resource for understanding and performing the piano music of the American composer James Sclater. It focuses specifically on the Variations and Toccata on a Theme by Paganini (2002), his most important solo piano composition. Sclater’s extensive output includes works for orchestra, voice, opera, band, chorus, as well as compositions for soloists and chamber music.

After a brief biographical summary and some historical background for the subjects under discussion, the main portion of the study provides a stylistic analysis of Sclater’s Variations and Toccata on a Theme by Paganini, a significant and heretofore unexamined piano work …

New Fault Tolerant Multicast Routing Techniques To Enhance Distributed-Memory Systems Performance, Masoud Esmail Masoud Shaheen

Dissertations

Distributed-memory systems are a key to achieve high performance computing and the most favorable architectures used in advanced research problems. Mesh connected multicomputer are one of the most popular architectures that have been implemented in many distributed-memory systems. These systems must support communication operations efficiently to achieve good performance. The wormhole switching technique has been widely used in design of distributed-memory systems in which the packet is divided into small flits. Also, the multicast communication has been widely used in distributed-memory systems which is one source node sends the same message to several destination nodes. Fault tolerance refers to the …

An Examination Of The Requirements And Preparation Required Fortubists Desiring A Career In The Military, With Emphasis On Premier Band Auditions, Patrick Charles Rettger

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to explore the differences between the various military bands in the United States with respect to tuba players. Fourteen military tuba players were interviewed. Based on their responses, each branch’s similarities and differences are presented. The research then focuses specifically on the audition process for premier band tuba players. These positions are highly coveted; yet they are not ideal for everyone. A survey was sent to all of the current and a number of prior service premier band tuba players asking them to list important band excerpts for tubists to know for military band …

"You're Looking Good": Compliment Or Harassment?, David B. Mcmillan

Theses and Dissertations

Whether an individual perceives an appearance compliment in the workplace as sexual harassment may depend on a number of factors such as the gender and/or status of the complimenter. Three hundred eighty-three (130 males, 253 females) participants completed an online survey in which they read and rated six different hypothetical vignettes imagining themselves as the recipient of an appearance compliment from a male superior, subordinate, and peer, as well as a female in each of those three status positions. Participants also filled out the Big Five Inventory (BFI; see John, Naumann, & Soto, 2008) in order to assess how personality …

Second-Order Perturbation Analysis Of The St. Venant Equations In Relation To Bed-Load Transport And Equilibrium Scour Hole Development, Frans Joseph Lambrechtsen

Theses and Dissertations

This analysis is an expansion of research done by Rollin Hotchkiss during his Ph.D work. The research uses fluid flow, sediment transport, and perturbation theory to predict where scour will occur in a variable-width channel. The resulting equations also determine equilibrium scour depth based upon the stream bed elevation derived from a dimensionless bed slope equation. Hotchkiss perturbed the width of the channel using a second order Taylor Series perturbation but neglected second order terms. The present work follows the same procedures as Hotchkiss but maintains the second order terms. The primary purpose is to examine how the additional terms …

Endocannabinoid-Dependent Long-Term Depression Of Ventral Tegmental Area Gaba Neurons, Jared Mark Weed

Theses and Dissertations

GABA neurons in the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain are important components in the brain's reward circuit. Long term changes in this circuit occur through the process of synaptic plasticity. It has been shown that high frequency stimulation, as well as treatment with endocannabinoids, can cause GABA neurons in the ventral tegmental area to undergo long term depression, a form of synaptic plasticity that decreases excitability of cells. The present study elaborates on the mechanism whereby high frequency stimulation can result in long term depression of ventral tegmental area GABA neurons. Using the whole cell patch clamp technique in …

Defining Critical Thinking For The 21st Century World Language Classroom, Bethany Rae Daniel

Theses and Dissertations

Critical thinking has long been recognized as a valuable skill, both in education in general and within the world language teaching field specifically. In recent years, critical thinking has been identified as one of the 21st century skills that students need to succeed in modern society (Partnership, 2009). However, there is no clear, unifying definition of the term itself (Paul, 2004), and the definition of critical thinking is debated in many different fields without support from empirical data (Kuhn, 1999). Similarly, critical thinking has been often discussed in the literature as having great potential to facilitate language learning, and particularly …

School Tvaas Rank And Teacher Perceptions Of Elementary School Culture In East Tennessee, Janice L. Irvin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was a comparison between the perceptions of school culture characteristics as measured by the TELL Tennessee Survey taken by school-based licensed educators in Tennessee and each school’s overall composite TVAAS score. 9 factor variables were discussed in the literature review. This dissertation was a quantitative study of teachers' perceptions of school culture and TVAAS composite scores.

A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to evaluate the relationships among overall school culture as measured by the TELL Tennessee survey and individual effects on TVAAS composite scores. The dependent variable was the response to the TELL …

Deicer Usage On Concrete And Asphalt Pavements In Utah, Chase David Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this research were to 1) compile winter maintenance data for the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to directly compare concrete and asphalt pavements with regards to deicer usage and 2) determine if there is a statistical difference in deicer usage on concrete and asphalt pavements. To this end, three data sources were consulted for this research: Material Maintenance Quality Assurance (MMQA) database, UDOT road database, and Google Maps. The final compiled data set prepared for analysis in this research contained deicer quantities by deicer type, pavement surface areas by pavement material type, traffic, longitude, latitude, and elevation …

Comparison Of Temperamental Rating Bilingually In Ukraine Using Child Behavioral Questionnaire (Cbq): Short Form, Nelly Ostrovsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The 2 goals of the present investigation were to 1) examine the reliability of the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire: Short Form (CBQ) in a sample of 4-7 year-old children from the Ukraine and 2) compare those children’s temperament profiles to a) one another when the form was administered in 2 different languages and b) their American counterparts from the CBQ standardization sample. Three waves of data were collected from the parents of 167 children residing in Kiev, Ukraine. Internal reliability analyses showed good internal consistency of the instrument. Comparative analyses conducted both within and between cultures showed similarities and differences across …

Panorama December 2013, Southern Adventist University

Panorama Parent Newsletter

This issue of the Panorama parent newsletter provides advice for maintaining a spiritual life in college, announces the planning of the Sabbath Trail, contains a profile on Chaplain Brennon Kirstein, and highlights the Renewal and AfterGlow services.

Burnout, No, Flame Temperature, And Radiant Intensity From Oxygen-Enriched Combustion Of A Hardwood Biomass, Joshua David Thornock

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing concern for energy sustainability has created motivation for the combustion of renewable, CO2 neutral fuels. Biomass co-firing with coal provides a means of utilizing the scaled efficiencies of coal with the lower supply availability of biomass. One of the challenges of co-firing is the burnout of biomass particles which are typically larger than coal but must be oxidized in the same residence time. Larger biomass particles also can increase the length of the radiative region and alter heat flux profiles. As a result, oxygen injection is being investigated as a means of improving biomass combustion performance.An Air Liquide designed …

From Privacy To Publicity: The Tort Of Appropriation In The Age Of Mass Consumption, Samantha Barbas

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Water Fat Separation With Multiple-Acquisition Balanced Steady-State Free Precession Mri, Michael A. Mendoza

Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an important medical imaging technique for visualizing soft tissue structures in the body. It has the advantages of being noninvasive and, unlike x-ray, does not rely on ionizing radiation for imaging. In traditional hydrogen-based MRI, the strongest measured signals are generated from the hydrogen nuclei contained in water and fat molecules.Reliable and uniform water fat separation can be used to improve medical diagnosis. In many applications the water component is the primary signal of interest, while the fat component represents a signal which can obscure the underlying pathology or other features of interest. In other …

Characterization And Processing Evaluation Of Starch/High-Density Polyethylene Materials In Extrusion Blow Molding, Bradley Dale Bacigalupi

Theses and Dissertations

The growing negative impacts of non-biodegradable plastics derived from non-renewable materials have created increasing interest throughout the world for new materials that are both biodegradable and renewable, that can be combined with or replace traditional plastics. Plant-based thermoplastic starch (TPS), a promising alternative material to traditional petroleum based resin, is both biodegradable and renewable and has great potential for use in plastic manufacturing processes. Two major obstacles that prevent more widespread use of TPS include; TPS base material, which is typically manufactured in a flake or powder, is incompatible with standard plastics production equipment that require pelletized resin, the second …

Involvement Of Principals In Hiring, Professional Development, And Evaluation Of Paraeducators, Jordan T. Hix

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found paraeducators do not receive adequate training (Giangreco,Broer, & Edelman, 2002), and are often infrequently evaluated –yearly or less often (Mueller, 2002; Morgan, Ashbaker, & Young, 2001). Little is known about principals' practices relative to paraeducator training, and evaluation. To investigate these topics, a survey was distributed to principals that worked in a large suburban/rural school district in the western United States. Fifty-eight participants completed surveys at a district principals meeting. The results of the study indicated a large majority of principals (78.95% for Title 1 paraeducators, 86.21% for special education paraeducators, and 75.86 for others) hired …

Izapa Group B: Excavations, Burials, And Offerings, Rosemary Lieske

Theses and Dissertations

Izapa, a Late Preclassic regional center located in southern Mexico, was heavily excavated by the New World Archaeological Foundation from 1961-1965. However, much remains unclear regarding the details of those excavations, specifically in regards to Group B. In this thesis I hope to present important details derived from those excavations in a way that is meaningful and useful. The purpose of this thesis project is to: (1) reconstruct the excavation history of Izapa Group B, (2) to provide a reconstruction of Group B's architectural history as revealed through the excavations, and (3) to identify and present descriptions of the contents …

Interface Design And Synthesis For Structural Hybrid Microarchitectural Simulators, Zhuo Ruan

Theses and Dissertations

Computer architects have discovered the potential of using FPGAs to accelerate software microarchitectural simulators. One type of FPGA-accelerated microarchitectural simulator, namedthe hybrid structural microarchitectural simulator, is very promising. This is because a hybrid structural microarchitectural simulator combines structural software and hardware, and this particular organization provides both modeling flexibility and fast simulation speed. The performance of a hybrid simulator is significantly affected by how the interface between software and hardware is constructed. The work of this thesis creates an infrastructure, named Simulator Partitioning Research Infrastructure (SPRI), to implement the synthesis of hybrid structural microarchitectural simulators which includes simulator partitioning, simulator-to-hardware …

Gfsa Encodes A Novel Galactofuranosyltransferase Involved In Biosynthesis Of Galactofuranose Antigen Of O-Glycan In Aspergillus Nidulans And Aspergillus Fumigatus, Yuji Komachi, Shintaro Hatakeyama, Haruka Motomatsu, Taiki Futagami, Karina Kizjakina, Pablo Sobrado, Keisuke Ekino, Kaoru Takegawa, Masatoshi Goto, Yoshiyuki Nomura, Takuji Oka

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Summary: The cells wall of filamentous fungi in the genus Aspergillus has galactofuranose (Galf)-containing polysaccharides and glycoconjugates, including O-glycans, N-glycans, fungal-type galactomannan and glycosylinositolphosphoceramide, which are important for cell wall integrity. Here, we attempted to identify galactofuranosyltransferases that couple Galf monomers onto other wall components in Aspergillus nidulans. Using reverse-genetic and biochemical approaches, we identified that the AN8677 gene encoded a galactofuranosyltransferase, which we called GfsA, involved in Galf antigen biosynthesis. Disruption of gfsA reduced binding of β-Galf-specific antibody EB-A2 to O-glycosylated WscA protein and galactomannoproteins. The results of an in-vitroGalf antigen synthase assay revealed that GfsA has β1,5- or …

Editorial, R Manchanda

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

No abstract provided.

Standardisation Of Ficus Carica L.: In Homoeopathic Perspective, P Subramanian, P Rao, T Reddy, P Sudhakar, P Reddy, Santhosh Sharma, D Baburaj

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Background: Ficus carica L. known as ′Common Fig′ in English and ′Anjir′ in Hindi, is a well known tree belonging to the family Moraceae. The unripe fruits are used as medicine in Homoeopathy. Objective: The pharmacognostic and physico-chemical studies are carried out to facilitate use of correct species and standard raw materials. Material and Methods: Pharmacognostic studies on unripe fruits of authentic samples of Ficus carica L. have been carried out; Physico-chemical parameters of raw drug viz., extractive value, ash values, formulation, besides weight per mL, total solids, alcohol content along with High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) and Ultra …

Experience With Homoeopathy In A Case Of Large Urethral Calculus, Soma Sharma, Gyandas Wadhwani

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Calculus in the male urethra is a rare clinical presentation and case reports of urethral calculi in the medical literature are likewise scant. We report a case of a 33-year-old male who presented at Delhi Govt Homoeopathic Dispensary at Aali Village with intense pain and scanty urination. Ultrasonography confirmed the diagnosis of urethral calculus in prostatic part of urethra. On the basis of keynotes, Lyssin prescribed in LM potencies improved urinary flow immediately and provided pain relief, which were objectively assessed as per pre-defined scales, and the 11 mm calculus was expelled in 8 days. No complication was observed during …