Pocket Full of Jesus: Evangelical Christians\u27 Use of Religious iPhone Applications

Mobile phone applications are providing users many different choices in how they go about their everyday lives, including their spiritual lives. This research explores the factors Evangelical Christians consider when choosing an app, how they actually use the app, and how their app expectations compare with their app experience. Modified diary reports, using the iPhone Voice Memo app, and in-depth interviews were used in order to examine the research questions. The Uses and Gratifications theory, as well as the Religious Social Shaping of Technology theory, were used as lenses for the study. After navigating the process of finding an appropriate app, users were most concerned with using the app for spiritual impact, encouragement, and as a sort of spiritual toolbox that, for the most part, resulted in helping them navigate their own spirituality and religious practice

Perspectives of Special Education Teachers on Implementation of Inclusion in Four High Schools in East Tennessee.

The terminology found in state educational policies coupled with congressional intent provides a supportive framework for integration of inclusion into public education (Duhaney, 1999; Heumann, 1994). The U.S. Department of Education declared that the required continuum of alternative placements reinforces the importance of the consideration of the individual versus programming for the masses in determining what placement is the LRE for each student with a disability (Heumann, 1994). This disagreement of what constitutes the best educational model affects political agendas and funding issues (Idol, 2006). The purpose of this study was to examine special education teacher perceptions through a qualitative study of inclusion services in the four high schools of Happy Village School System. The special educator\u27s attitude towards inclusion has not been documented as often as that of the regular education teacher (Burgin, 2003; Fox & Ysseldyke, 1997; Tudor, 2004). In this phenomenological study, purposeful sampling techniques and multiple sources of data were necessary to conduct a thorough qualitative study of inclusion in Happy Village high schools. In-depth interviews with 11 participants using a combination of focus groups and one-to-one interviews were conducted using a semistructured format. The findings from this study concerning special education teachers\u27 perceptions of inclusion services in high school settings are presented here as they relate to the 4 main research questions. The 4 research questions focus on perception, efficacy, factors that facilitate successful incorporation of students with special needs in the regular education class in a high school setting, and barriers to successful incorporation. The findings revealed that all participants supported the concept of mainstreaming and/or progressive inclusion versus the full inclusion model. Participants\u27 identified barriers including communication, attitude, knowledge, and environment. Recommendations are for further research at the secondary level on inclusion programming and for a functional, operational definition of inclusion for the county

Applying Lessons from Athletic Recruitment to Faculty Searches

The presenter will share how lessons learned from recruiting intercollegiate athletes can be applied to faculty searches. The presentation will present information and examples for improving position announcements as well as interactions and negotiations with candidates to increase the likelihood of a quality hire

Faculty Input in Evaluation for a College with Many Disciplines

The co-presenters will describe how faculty in one academic unit of a large College combining many academic disciplines were tasked with examining best practices and development of a faculty merit performance evaluation rubric. Perspective on the project will be offered by the initiating School Director, Dean of the College and Associate Dean of the College

A Study of Expressed Parental Learning Related to Accidental Poisoning in Young Children

This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of parental learning which took place in the emergency room following accidental poisonings of young children. The specific aims of the study were to ascertain: (1) the impact, in terms of self-description of emotions felt, made upon the parent in the situation, and (2) the effectiveness of learning, through the experience in the emergency room, as expressed by parents. The descriptive survey method was chosen for the study and data were secured by an interview. A questionnaire, used as a guide during the interview, consisted of structured and open-end questions which followed the sequence of events in an accidental poisoning. Analysis of the data collected revealed that: (1) each parent experienced a strong emotional impact in each phase of the incident, and (2 ) learning, as expressed by parents, was in the form of a renewed awareness of the physical abilities of their children, a recognition of the need to alter the home environment, and the realization that more knowledge about the toxicity of common household products and first aid measures in care of an accident victim was needed. Recommendations were made and suggestions for further research were given as a result of the findings of this study

iPray: Understanding the Relationship Between Design and Use in Catholic and Islamic Mobile Prayer Applications

This dissertation examines the relationship between religious mobile app design and use in Catholic and Islamic contexts. Understanding this relationship is important because it provides a clearer picture of how mobile technology is being integrated into social life, how religious practices are evolving as they are engaged in new technological environments, and how different technological and religious affordances create a mobile space for religious practice. This dissertation uses two methods to examine both design and use of Catholic and Islamic prayer applications. First, 65 Catholic and Islamic prayer app descriptions and the apps themselves were textually analyzed to identify and explain what technological and religious affordances were present, and how those affordances were combined in different ways to create three main approaches to prayer app design. Second, a Catholic prayer app and an Islamic prayer app were chosen for an app user test, which revealed data about how participants were engaging and understanding prayer apps at the time of app use. Key findings from the textual analysis phase of the dissertation include: developers’ use of traditional religious authority, such as pastors or imams, and algorithmic authority within app descriptions to justify the authenticity of their apps; a list that identifies and explains what technological and religious affordances were present within the apps themselves; and how developers combined these affordances that reflected a translation design approach, a mobile environment design approach, and a multi-purpose religious app design approach. Key findings from the user-testing phase of the dissertation include: an engagement with technological and religious affordances that are indicative of the translation design approach; the importance of reminders and alert features to provide a way for users to micro coordinate their religious lives; a lack of engagement with features that provide users a way to share prayer app content; and a negotiated and complex framing of app use for religious practice

An Exploratory Examination of Burnout in NCAA Division II Athletes

The purpose of this study was to assess the causes of burnout among student-athletes in Division II institutions. The authors distributed the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) to 125 undergraduate student-athletes enrolled at three Division II colleges and universities. The athletes competed in various sports. A 2 (Gender) × 2 (Type of Scholarship) × 2 (School Status) analysis of variance revealed that women and men reported different levels of burnout dependent upon type of scholarship. Men with no scholarship reported the lowest levels of burnout among the three types (None/Academic/Athletic), whereas women with no type of scholarship reported the highest levels of burnout. The authors discuss the results and offer implications, limitations, and future directions

Mass transport and calibration in liquid chromatography particle beam mass spectrometry

AbstractDifferences in the designs of two liquid chromatography particle beam mass spectrometry systems result in differences in the transport of ammonium acetate and differences in ion abundance-enhancing carrier effects. The effect of mobile phase composition, especially the proportion of water in the mobile phase, on transport efficiency is described. Instrument detection limits for 12 compounds with two different interface designs are presented. The calibrations are generally nonlinear explained in terms of mass transport effects and supported by experiments with isotopically labeled species that coelute with the native species. Summary results of a small multilaboratory study are presented. Calibration with isotopically labelled internal standards is recommended for real-world environmental sample