Exploring teachers\u27 perceptions of their preparedness for culturally responsive teaching

This study sought to examine how teachers perceived they were prepared for culturally responsive teaching (CRT). CRT refers to the ability of a teacher to use prior knowledge or experience to either teach children of diversity certain content topics or to teach all children in the classroom cultural topics. Culturally responsive teaching is demonstrated by teachers\u27 possessing (a) knowledge and sensitivity about cultural influences, (b) ability to provide a supportive learning context, (c) appropriate instruction and assessment, and (d) facilitation of parental involvement (Daunic, Correa, & Reyes-Blanes, 2004, p. 106)

Structural bioinformatics and biophysical approaches for understanding the plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses

In summary, the work presented in this Research Topic documents how structural bioinformatics and computational biophysical approaches could be effectively applied to study the structure-function relationships of plant proteins and the function of small molecules involved in biotic and abiotic stresses. These molecules are at the core of the plant defense mechanisms that allow plants to mitigate stresses and enhance plant abilities to respond to unfavorable environmental conditions.Edited by Raul Antonio Sperotto, Maria Hrmova, Steffen P. Graether and Luis Fernando Saraiva Macedo Timmer

Supporting young women's physics engagement: Evidence from an intervention in the context of the Physics Olympiad

This dissertation sought to implement an intervention that was meant to support high-achieving young women’s physics engagement. The studies were implemented in the context of the PhysicsOlympiad in order to tap amongst the highest-achieving female physics students and probe effects of specifically designed learning environments. Four empirical studies revealed that even high-achieving young women at times face barriers in their physics engagement that eventually result from constraining expectations by their peer-groups or gender stereotypes. However, the intervention studies also showed that it was possible to support the physics engagement of the high-achieving young women. For example, important resources for physics engagement, such as competence beliefs, could be positively affected for young women while not depressing young men’s physics engagement at the same time. Furthermore, the long-term development of resources was also positively affected through the intervention. Namely, students who experienced a high environmental fit with the intervention environment developed a more positive sense of belonging compared to students who reported a lower environmental fit. In summary, these findings buttress the assumption that considerately designed learning environments that incorporate the motivations, goals, and values of high-achieving young women are potentially effective in order to challenge the overproportional dropout of high-achieving young women from physics learning environments

Zinc based composite coatings as an alternative to electrodeposited cadmium

Cadmium coatings are currently applied to steel fasteners used in aerospace applications. At present there are growing concerns, based on cadmium's toxicity and carcinogenicity, which may lead to its eventual banning. The aim of this research, therefore, was to find a possible replacement to electrodeposited cadmium for use on aerospace fasteners. Any replacement coating system should have all of the relevant properties that make cadmium so attractive, but without its obvious shortcomings. These beneficial properties include excellent corrosion resistance in chloride containing media (such as seawater), the ability to offer sacrificial protection to steel, excellent galvanic compatibility with most aluminium alloys and an inherent lubricity. Alternatives proposed and produced in this research are electrodeposited composite coatings containing PTFE particles, based on zinc or zinc alloys. Extensive analysis was carried out in order to characterise the coatings. Composition was determined by a number of methods; gravimetric analysis was used to determine the percentage of codeposited PTFE, while X-ray and X-ray wavelength energy dispersive analysis were used to determine the percentage of alloy element present in these coatings. Coating morphology was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The sacrificial corrosion performance of each coating in relation to steel was studied using neutral salt-spray tests, while linear polarisation resistance tests gave an indication of their barrier corrosion properties. Galvanic compatibility of the coatings with aerospace grade aluminium alloys was investigated using a zero resistance ammeter. Two different tribological tests, an inclined plane test and a reciprocating wear test, were used to determine the coefficient of friction for the coatings. Finally, linear sweep voltammetry was used to compare the kinetics of electrodeposition from dilute solutions and corrosion in aqueous media for each of the coating systems. The composite coatings were found to offer either similar or slightly reduced corrosion performance to conventional zinc and zinc alloy coatings, but were inferior to commercially electrodeposited cadmium. However, the tribological properties of these coatings demonstrated a marked improvement over cadmium

Praxi-centric phenomenology: From Nagarjuna through Dogen to Martin Heidegger

Buddhist practitioners in the Zen tradition have repeatedly located the tension between theory (theoria) and practice (praxis) when describing profound reality or the way things are/are becoming (yath abutam). The subjective stance is constantly challenged as not just a limiting but entirely mistaken perspective with which to approach reality/meaning. Although the Buddhist practitioners and teachers considered here propose teachings distinctive to each other, there is consistency in emphasising the necessity of practical experience expressed via sunyata and the ultimate realisation of egolessnessness or no-self (anatman/nairatmya). Nagarjuna's logical critique works to free the mind from conceptual foundationalism so that practice is effective and unfettered by delusion. Practitioners within the Yogacara school such as Asanga recognise the powerful effectiveness of meditation that highlights the tension between no-self and a perfected self necessary to the Bodhisattva-marga. Dogen explores the relationship between the cosmic reality of Buddha-nature and personal participation in seated meditation such that letting go of ego-self is the very manifestation of the Buddha-self I consider these Buddhist approaches to reality/meaning in relation to Western phenomenology, as especially borne out in Martin Heidegger's work to allow for an authentic attitude in and toward truth event (Ereignis). Ultimately, I argue that the Buddhist approach to reality embodies what I term a "praxi-centric phenomenology" that encourages Western phenomenological reflection to remain practical but egoless

Supply chain visibility and sustainable competitive advantage: An integrated model

Lack of visibility of the assets in a product supply chain compromises attempts to optimise supply chain management. Increasing the visibility of these assets presents a relatively unexplored frontier in operations and supply where organisations can create competitive advantage through the opportunities asset visibility offer. This research aims at investigating the key capabilities of asset visibility specifically those associated with returnable transport assets that travel across supply chains carrying material and products e.g. cages, boxes, trays, trolleys and pallet bins. In addition, how these capabilities may influence supply chain visibility and firm performance in a way that might lead to sustainable competitive advantage is examined. To achieve these objectives, the research develops a two-stage model that is theoretically grounded in the extended resource-based view. Philosophically, the research adopts a critical realist approach using abductive logic. Methodologically, a sequential exploratory strategy for data collection is implemented. A qualitative, indepth site-based case study supported by field expert interviews was conducted as a pilot study. The pilot study findings refined the initial conceptual model derived from literature and informed the next stage of the research. The quantitative phase focused on refining the factors constituting asset visibility capabilities and then testing the relationship between these capabilities and supply chain visibility, performance and sustainable competitive advantage. Key findings are that asset visibility capabilities are shaped through three key capabilities: (1) an asset management capability formed by both core technological aspects related to tracking and tracing technology, and non-technological ones focusing on logistic-related capability; (2) a complementary technological capability comprising of IT infrastructure for supply chain integration; and (3) a complementary nontechnological capability represented through three sub-capabilities: (a) supply chain process integration; (b) focal firm-3PL relational orientation; and (c) internal firm integration. The research findings prove a positive relationship between asset visibility capabilities and supply chain visibility. In addition, a positive relationship between these capabilities and sustainable competitive advantage through the mediated effect of supply chain visibility and firm performance, is confirmed.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A lot of leaders? Robert Parris Moses, SNCC, and leadership in the production of social change during the American Civil Rights Movement, 1960-1965

This is the definitive biography of one of the most influential, yet relatively unstudied, leaders of the civil rights movement: SNCC-worker Robert Parris Moses. Uniquely written with his rare personal cooperation and based on new primary source material, it fills the gap in historical knowledge concerning his activities, leadership, and legacy. In doing so, many myths are not only shattered about Moses__presenting him in an entirely new light__but also about the movement in general. Employing the case study of Moses__ daily activism between 1960 and 1965 and the organic and cosmopolitan influences that shaped his work, it goes beyond current academic interpretations of the movement and top-down and bottom-up leadership by illuminating the interaction between Moses and the grassroots movement in Mississippi. By doing so, new insight is obtained into the process, or the nuts and bolts, of how __facilitating ind igenous leadership__ worked in practice, as well as the role that SNCC__s singular organizational culture and Moses__ leadership style played in its impact. This clarifies how the interrelation between a leader and the self-negating organizing approach that SNCC embodied helps explain how social change was generated by the 1960s civil rights movement.UBL - phd migration 201

Development, validation and globalisation of a health status measure for evaluating patients with osteoarthritis

I developed a programme of research to develop, validate and globalise a valid, reliable and responsive standard of measurement (Western Ontario and McMaster Osteoarthritis Index - WOMAC Index) for osteoarthritis (OA) clinical trials. The initial phase (1982-1992) of WOMAC development involved development and validation. Specification of the item content was achieved through face-to-face interview of 100 patients with hip and/or knee OA. The resulting test index was composed of five subscales. Two independent validation studies, involving two different scaling formats, were designed and executed, one in an orthopaedic environment involving total joint arthroplasty, and the other in a rheumatology environment involving a double-blind randomised controlled clinical trial of two nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Four of the five subscales were successfully validated, of which three were retained in the final Index. The face, content and construct validity, reliability and responsiveness of the WOMAC Index were established. The end result of the aforementioned processes was the globalisation of the WOMAC Index, international consensus on core set domains for OA outcome measurement and specification of preferred measures, one of which was the WOMAC Index. Rapidly expanding utilisation of the WOMAC Index by academically-based and industry-based researchers, was shortly thereafter followed by a sharp increase in the number of studies reporting use of the WOMAC Index, such that by 1999 it was often the most commonly used health status questionnaire in osteoarthritis clinical research reported at major rheumatology conferences in Europe, N. America and Australasia. The late phase of development (2000-2005) has involved the further development of other language forms, other scaling formats, short forms and versions amenable to telephone administration and electronic data capture. This phase has also involved using WOMAC Index data to facilitate the development, by various research groups with whom I have collaborated, of definitions of responder criteria and state-attainment criteria. In particular, we have used WOMAC data, in whole or part, in the development of the following definitions of responder criteria: OARSI responder criteria, OMERACT- OARSI responder criteria, Minimum Perceptible Clinical Improvement (MPCI), Minimal Clinically Important Improvement (MCII), and in the development of the following definition of state-attainment criteria: Patient Acceptable Symptom State (PASS). The now fully developed WOMAC Index is a tri-dimensional, disease-specific, self-administered, health status measure. It probes clinically-important, patient-relevant symptoms in the areas of pain, stiffness and physical function in patients with OA of the hip and/or knee. The index consists of 24 questions (5 pain, 2 stiffness, 17 physical function) and can be completed in less than 5 minutes. It is available in Likert (WOMAC LK-series), Visual Analogue (WOMAC VA-series) and Numerical Rating (WOMAC NRS-series) scaled formats. WOMAC is valid, reliable, and sufficiently sensitive to detect clinically-important changes in health status following a variety of interventions (pharmacologic, surgical, physiotherapy, etc). It has been translated into many different languages and has been requested for use by more than 500 researchers in over 50 different countries. The WOMAC Index has become a global standard of measurement for clinical trials in hip and knee OA in rheumatology, is widely used in clinical research, and has been incorporated into several major regulatory and guidelines documents. The WOMAC Index has been important to the development of global harmonisation in outcome measurement, in formulating response and state attainment criteria, and in adjudicating the clinical benefit of new treatments for knee OA

Peasant farming systems in Thailand : A comparative study of rice cultivation and agricultural technology in Chiangmai and Ayutthaya.

This thesis describes and analyses two peasant rice farming systems established in the northern intermontane basins and the Chao Phraya delta of Thailand in a comparative perspective. The two distinctive farming systems, i.e. the Intermontane Basin and the Delta farming systems, are examined in ecological and socio-economic contexts with special emphasis upon the role of indigenous technology at both regional and village levels. Intensive fieldwork into the specified villages in Chiangmai and Ayutthaya provinces was conducted for 26 months mainly in 1974-75 with further visits in subsequent years. The farming systems are first examined in the ecological context by investigating physiographical and hydrological conditions, methods and practices of irrigation and the consistent process of farming operations in rice cultivation. The labour-intensive and small-scale transplanting culture of the Intermontane Basin has been founded on the traditional irrigation systems mainly developed at village level. In many parts of the Delta, however, where units of cultivation are larger, broadcast-sowing culture has been adopted which depends basically on natural precipitation and annual inundation. These contrasting farming systems, in which agricultural technology interacts with both ecological and socio-economic conditions, are in turn dominated by different forms of peasant agricultural production: subsistence production in the Intermontane Basin and petty commodity production in the Delta. The differentiation of the forms of peasant production is primarily derived from the complex of socio-economic conditions of the two farming systems stemming from the processes of land reclamation, land tenure and labour utilisation. Thus we recognise within the farming systems two structures, ecological and socio-economic, which are closely interrelated through the farming technology prevailing amongst the peasants. Structural analysis of the contrasting farming systems reveals the complex reality of Thai peasant rice cultivation. It is reasonable to assume that any problems and changes in peasant agriculture can be detected most, effectively by means of this structural approach