It\u27s All Fun and Games

The question that I decided to do for my self-study was: How does the use of play-based activities impact my teaching practice? I had originally decided on the question of: How does the use of play-based activities in math impact my teaching practice? I decided to change my question during the fall semester because in my regular education classroom, math is at the end of the day. It was very difficult for me to get into the classroom to see the end of the day because of the way my classes were scheduled at Susquehanna. I was not able to interact much with my original self-study question because of this. The days that I was able to go into my placement to see math were very slim and I did not feel comfortable taking anything over, as it is a co-taught class, as well. I felt uneasy having a self-study question that I was not really interacting with. All of these reasons helped me to decide to adjust my self-study question. I then decided on a question about how play-based activities, in any subject, can impact my teaching. I wanted to work with my self-study question in the fall as well which is why I decided to change the question. Before I even changed my question, I noticed myself using play-based activities in my placement already in other subjects like reading, spelling, and science. I would find new spelling games for my students to use to practice their spelling words before a spelling test. I was also able to do an Oreo activity in science to help my students understand the different phases of the moon. I also chose this question because I love games and play-based activities myself and I want to be able to incorporate my creativity and passion for games and play into my cooperating classroom to see if that affects my teaching practices. I have interacted with this question during my work in a summer school program as well, so the question seemed to flow naturally with my teaching preferences. I noticed that many times in my observations students get bored in school or say they hate school because it is boring. I wanted to help my students learn to love learning and school. Through the use of play, I wanted to help students learn more and see if it has an impact on my teaching practice as a pre-service teacher. Before I began this study, I believed that play-based activities were a way to help students learn without them realizing they were even learning anything. I also wanted to make school more understandable for students who struggled, and I believed using play-based activities was just another way for me to help reach all students no matter what their struggles may have been. Play-based activities can be differentiated for lower and higher-level learners which is what I strived for in my classroom. My question is aligned with my self-study research because my research is based on play in the classroom. After changing my question, I felt a lot better about what I needed to accomplish, and I found myself interacting with my question a lot more in a more impactful way

Two units of instruction for the Spanish language : basic vocabulary development in grades four through seven

The purpose of this research project was to develop two units of instruction for use with Spanish classes in grades four through seven. The research begins by exploring the different types of elementary and middle level foreign language programs. The research also investigates the different types of thematic units and what they should include. Finally, two units are developed for use in grades four through seven: a project-based unit built around Eric Carle\u27s book, La Oruga Muy Hambrienta (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), and a knowledge-based unit built around classroom vocabulary. Both units include a wide variety of activities that will keep students interested

Draft Genome Sequence of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius Strain 13-13613, Isolated from a Case of Canine Pyoderma

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius strain 13-13613, isolated from a case of canine pyoderma. The draft genome contains 2,533,486 bp in 570 contigs

EFFECTS OF REPEATED ARIPIPRAZOLE TREATMENT ON THE cAMP AND AKT PATHWAYS IN THE DORSAL STRIATUM OF PREADOLESCENT AND ADULT RATS

The positive symptoms of schizophrenia primarily result from an excess of high affinity D2-like receptors (i.e. D2High receptors). First-generation antipsychotics, such as haloperidol, are D2-like antagonists that can cause severe extrapyramidal effects. Aripiprazole, a dopamine and serotonin partial agonist, has fewer side effects, making it tolerable for adults and children. Extrapyramidal effects (e.g. Parkinsonism, dystonia, and akathisia) are among the most problematic side effects produced by antipsychotic compounds, which likely result from an excess of D2-like receptors in the dorsal striatum. In order to examine the effects of repeated antipsychotic treatment on dopamine system functioning, this thesis compared the molecular effects of repeated haloperidol and aripiprazole administration on D2High receptors, as well as various indices of dopamine second messenger system functioning. Preadolescent and adult rats were pretreated with haloperidol or aripiprazole for 11 consecutive days. After either a 4- or 8-day drug abstinence period dorsal striatal tissue was extracted. [35S]GTPγS binding assays were conducted to assess the effects of repeated haloperidol and aripiprazole treatment on the efficacy and potency of D2-like receptors. PKA subunits and components of the Akt pathway were measured using Western Blots. Results showed that repeated treatment with haloperidol or aripiprazole did not significantly affect D2-like receptor efficacy or potency in young or adult rats. In both age groups, haloperidol significantly increased the expression of PKA-Cα, PKA-Cβ, and PKA-RII, but not p-PKA. Haloperidol also significantly increased PKA-Cβ and PKA-RII levels relative to aripiprazole. Repeated administration of haloperidol significantly increased p-GSK-3β levels in young and adult rats, but neither haloperidol nor aripiprazole significantly affected GSK-3β, Akt, or p-Akt levels. Overall, the results of this thesis indicate that repeated aripiprazole and haloperidol treatment differentially affects D2 signaling pathways in the dorsal striatum. Aripiprazole has less extreme or prolonged effects on D2 receptor signaling pathways than haloperidol, as evidenced by the lack of post-treatment upregulation in the cAMP and Akt pathways. Upregulation of D2-like receptors and, in turn, upregulation of proteins in the cAMP and Akt pathways may be partially responsible for the side effects induced by long-term antipsychotic treatment

Stability of Neurocognitive Abilities in Heterogeneous Subgroups of Schizophrenia

Considerable work has been devoted to characterizing the latent structure of cognition in schizophrenia (SZ) to understand important clinical outcomes associated with generalized or specific deficits but findings are limited in a number of ways. Previous work has not assessed bifactor and other complex models of cognition in SZ, which might provide a better understanding of the structure of cognitive abilities. It is also unclear whether the latent structure of cognitive abilities is similar between men and women with SZ or whether the latent structure of cognitive abilities is stable over time with repeated assessment. These limitations must be addressed before cognitive tests can be meaningfully interpreted in SZ, applied to investigate sex-based differences, or used longitudinally to judge changes in cognition in response to treatment and disease progression. To address these limitations, this dissertation conducted three studies aimed to: (I) assess a bifactor and other complex models of cognition in SZ, (II) compare the factor structure of men and women with SZ, and (III) examine the stability of the latent structure of cognition in SZ over repeated assessment. Each study used archival data from the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive. The first study included 813 individuals with SZ who were divided into a baseline calibration sample (n = 413) and a cross-validation sample (n = 400). The second study examined whether the factor structure was the same (invariant) between men and women with SZ at a baseline assessment (men n = 612; women n = 201) and then again approximately two months later (men n = 549; women n = 198). The third study examined longitudinal invariance of the factor structure across four repeated assessments (n = 205) that included a baseline assessment and follow up assessments that occurred approximately two, six, and 18 months later. Results of these studies indicated that a bifactor seven-factor model that includes one general factor and seven specific factors (Processing Speed, Phonemic Fluency, Semantic Fluency, Reasoning, Working Memory, Verbal Memory, and Vigilance) best characterized the latent structure of cognition in SZ. The same bifactor seven-factor model was found to be invariant between men and women with SZ at two assessments. Subsequent comparison of the factor scores between men and women showed that women performed higher on Semantic Fluency, Verbal Memory, and General cognition, that men scored higher on Vigilance, and that there were no statistically significant differences between their performance scores on Processing Speed, Phonemic Fluency, Reasoning, and Working Memory. Further, the bifactor seven-factor model was longitudinally invariant across four assessments that spanned approximately 16.5 months. These results contribute to extant literature that has previously characterized cognition in SZ by demonstrating that cognition may be best understood by a morecomplex model that incorporates both general deficit and specific deficit conceptualizations. This model remained invariant between men and women allowing for direct comparisons of cognitive abilities and identification of a pattern of differences that was consistent with some prior literature. Finally, the longitudinal stability of the bifactor model suggests that tests are measuring equivalent latent constructs despite fluctuations in abilities that might be expected because of modifying factors of disorder state (e.g., symptoms, medication, course), and so can be appropriately used to investigate longitudinal changes in cognition

MANIPULATING IMPLEMENT WEIGHT DURING WARMUP TO IMPROVE SHOT PUT PERFORMANCE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate kinematics and kinetics of the shot put when participants warmup using standard, overweight, or underweight implements. Ten collegiate shot putters warmed up using regulation, heavy, or light implements then completed six maximal effort competition throws. Whole body kinematics and ground reaction forces were recorded on each throw. Consistent with the literature, throw distance was significantly further after warming up with the heavy implement (p = .002). However, there were no differences in critical kinematic factors or ground reaction forces between conditions. While using overweight implements during warmup improves shot put performance, the mechanism by which this occurs is not through altering the critical factors or forces produced during the throw

Head trauma: A significant public health concern among young men in Botswana. Etiology referral patterns and opportunities for interventions

This study aims to present and discuss acute Head Injury (HI) presentations including etiology, referral patterns and disposition in patients presenting to a major referral hospital in Gaborone, Botswana. Cross-sectional, retrospective data collection from July 2015 through September 2015 extracted descriptions of patient demographics, mechanism of injury, comorbidities, diagnosis and disposition from Emergency Centre (EC) records. 360 HI patients presented in three months, averaging four per day and increasing on weekends and end of the month. HI disproportionately impacted young adult males, with motor vehicle accidents accounting for 38%, violence implicated in 39% and 80% recorded as blunt trauma. HIV status was unknown for 84% of patients at the time of presentation and 10% of patients were recorded as HIV positive. Patients referred from external hospitals had a higher admission rate. HI in young males is a significant trauma burden in this hospital, similar to the known regional trauma patterns. More studies regarding trauma, alcohol, and violence related to paydays should be considered to investigate and reduce the burden of HI in Botswana

Investigation of particles with high crack density produced by HPGR and its effect on the redistribution of the particle size fraction in heaps

The application of comminution technology such as the High-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR), which is able to generate a high density of cracks in the ore particles, is favourable for leaching processes. Extraction of metallic values by the heap leach process, can take place on the particles with partial exposure of mineral grains, if it can provide sufficient surface front for chemical attack by leaching solution. The aim of this study was to assess the benefits of high crack density in the ore particles produced using the HPGR and how it could diminish due to inadequate percolation of the leaching agent. A zinc ore was comminuted using HPGR at three different pressure settings and with a cone crusher for the control experiment. Subsamples from the (+23/-25, +14/-16, +5.25/-6.75 mm) size fractions were characterized and packed into leach reactors. The reactors were stopped from time to time to investigate the progress of crack and micro-crack growth and its effect on metal extraction using the X-ray computed tomography (CT). The results are validated with those obtained using traditional techniques such as SEM and QEMSCAN. Investigation of the leach reactors residue indicated significant changes in the particle size distribution (PSD) of initial feed toward the fine size fraction. The residues from the reactors leaching the material prepared using the HPGR product contained more fine particles than the reactors, which were fed by cone crusher product. These differences were up to 10.3%