Authentic Truth at Work: A Case Study of the Lived Professional Experiences of a Transgender Educational Leader Through the Lens of the Synergistic Leadership Theory

At the time of this study, very little research existed concerning transgender people and educational leadership. The Synergistic Leadership Theory (SLT) was developed by researchers at Sam Houston State University in 1999. While previous researchers found the SLT to be gender-inclusive, the only studies to date had been conducted with cisgender participants. Thus, this study incorporated a non-cisgender subject to examine the professional experiences of an educational leader who is transgender through the lens of the SLT. By utilizing a qualitative descriptive case study, the researcher sought to answer two questions: (a) What are the lived professional experiences of a transgender superintendent? and (b) Does the SLT offer a reasonable explanation of how a transgender superintendent does his work? Lark Doolan was the first openly transgender public-school superintendent in the country after coming out to his staff, students, and school board in 2017. Data was collected through the completion of the Organizational and Leadership Effectiveness Inventory (Bamberg, 2004) followed by a semi-structured open-ended interview with the researcher. The researcher mined data from documents and artifacts that were readily available online. The findings indicate the lived professional experiences of Doolan offer an example of the how the SLT is a plausible lens through which a transgender leader does his work. Doolan’s lived professional experiences reflect interactive factors of the SLT. This study affirmed that the SLT is a plausible lens through which a transgender leader does his work and affirmed that the SLT is a useful tool for examining leaders and leadership regardless of gender identity because it gives voice to a queer person and expands and enriches the body of academic work around a leadership theory that has not been associated with gender non-conforming/non-binary persons. Implications for practice and areas for further research are included in Chapter 5. Adviser: Nicholas J. Pac

Key ecological sites of Hamilton City: Volume 1

Ecological sites of significance previously identified in 2000 were reviewed in 2011. Natural vegetation in areas acquired by the city since 2000 was also surveyed to identify any new key sites. In total seventy key sites that met the Waikato Regional Council Regional Policy Statement criteria for ecological significance were identified across Hamilton City. Of the original key sites, the total area covered by sites, average site size and overall quality of sites had increased between the 2000 and 2011 surveys. This was due to restoration efforts across the city by Hamilton City Council and the community. Vegetation restoration efforts have had other biodiversity and ecological benefits such as providing additional habitat for the city’s increasing tui population. Key sites are not spread evenly across the city or across landform types. Most key sites are either in gullies or adjoining the Waikato River. Less than 1% of urban alluvial plains and peat bogs are key sites. Two sites on private land have degraded and no longer meet the ecological significance criteria in 2011. The current survey utilised a standard methodology focused on vegetation types. There will be other significant sites not identified including sites with significant fauna values but a detailed and costly survey would be required to identify all such sites. The 1.5% of the city area covered by key sites is well below the 10% minimum recommended to prevent biodiversity decline in urban areas. Areas where vegetation restoration has begun in the city have the potential to expand existing key sites or develop new sites if council and community efforts continue in the future. The Council and its restoration partners should continue to seek ways of increasing native vegetation cover in Hamilton City and restoration of the distinctive gully landform remains the best option

An Analysis of M0 and M1 Measurement Conditions

The increased use of optical brightening agents (OBAs) in substrates for printing is well documented, as are the complications surrounding spectrophotometric color measurement when OBAs are present. In an effort to better address measurement of OBAs, the International Standards Organization (ISO) has published ISO 13566:2009, where the illuminations utilized in spectrophotometric instrumentation is more clearly defined than in previous standards. It is recognized that moving ahead the illuminant utilized in spectrophotometers should be able to better correlate to standardized viewing conditions, including the amount of ultra-violet (UV) present in the illuminant, as the effect of the OBAs is dependent on the amount of UV. Of particular note, ISO 13655:2009 recognizes measurement condition M0 as a \u27legacy\u27 condition, representative of the wide range of spectrophotometers utilized in the field. Condition M0 instruments illuminants correspond to illuminant A, while measurement condition M1 specifies that that the instrument illumination corresponds to D50, which is better correlated to standardized viewing conditions and has a more clearly defined UV component. One goal of M1 is to achieve better agreement between various manufacturers and models of instrumentation. While M1 instruments are being utilized more and more frequently in the field, there is a large population of legacy M0 instruments also in use. For those interested in understanding the variation that can be expected in the comparison of various instruments, the question of how much variation can be eliminated through the exclusive adoption of M1 instruments is especially germane

Informing the ‘early years’ agenda in Scotland: understanding infant feeding patterns using linked datasets

Background: Providing infants with the ‘best possible start in life’ is a priority for the Scottish Government. This is reflected in policy and health promotion strategies to increase breast feeding, which gives the best source of nutrients for healthy infant growth and development. However, the rate of breast feeding in Scotland remains one of the lowest in Europe. Information is needed to provide a better understanding of infant feeding and its impact on child health. This paper describes the development of a unique population-wide resource created to explore infant feeding and child health in Scotland. Methods: Descriptive and multivariate analyses of linked routine/administrative maternal and infant health records for 731 595 infants born in Scotland between 1997 and 2009. Results: A linked dataset was created containing a wide range of background, parental, maternal, birth and health service characteristics for a representative sample of infants born in Scotland over the study period. There was high coverage and completeness of infant feeding and other demographic, maternal and infant records. The results confirmed the importance of an enabling environment—cultural, family, health service and other maternal and infant health-related factors—in increasing the likelihood to breast feed. Conclusions: Using the linked dataset, it was possible to investigate the determinants of breast feeding for a representative sample of Scottish infants born between 1997 and 2009. The linked dataset is an important resource that has potential uses in research, policy design and targeting intervention programmes

Impacts of microalgae pre-treatments for improved anaerobic digestion: Thermal treatment, thermal hydrolysis, ultrasound and enzymatic hydrolysis

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of microalgae is primarily inhibited by the chemical composition of their cell walls containing biopolymers able to resist bacterial degradation. Adoption of pre-treatments such as thermal, thermal hydrolysis, ultrasound and enzymatic hydrolysis have the potential to remove these inhibitory compounds and enhance biogas yields by degrading the cell wall, and releasing the intracellular algogenic organic matter (AOM). This work investigated the effect of four pre-treatments on three microalgae species, and their impact on the quantity of soluble biomass released in the media and thus on the digestion process yields. The analysis of the composition of the soluble COD released and of the TEM images of the cells showed two main degradation actions associated with the processes: (1) cell wall damage with the release of intracellular AOM (thermal, thermal hydrolysis and ultrasound) and (2) degradation of the cell wall constituents with the release of intracellular AOM and the solubilisation of the cell wall biopolymers (enzymatic hydrolysis). As a result of this, enzymatic hydrolysis showed the greatest biogas yield increments (>270%) followed by thermal hydrolysis (60–100%) and ultrasounds (30–60%)

Influence of microalgal N and P composition on wastewater nutrient remediation

Microalgae have demonstrated the ability to remediate wastewater nutrients efficiently, with methods to further enhance performance through species selection and biomass concentration. This work evaluates a freshwater species remediation characteristics through analysis of internal biomass N:P (nitrogen:phosphorus) and presents a relationship between composition and nutrient uptake ability to assist in species selection. Findings are then translated to an optimal biomass concentration, achieved through immobilisation enabling biomass intensification by modifying bead concentration, for wastewaters of differing nutrient concentrations at hydraulic retention times (HRT) from 3 h to 10 d. A HRT <20 h was found suitable for the remediation of secondary effluent by immobilised Scenedesmus obliquus and Chlorella vulgaris at bead concentrations as low as 3.2 and 4.4 bead·mL−1. Increasing bead concentrations were required for shorter HRTs with 3 h possible at influent concentrations <5 mgP L−1

Financial Markets and the AT&T Antitrust Settlement

The 1984 Justice Department settlement with AT&T marked one of the largest antitrust action in the nation's history. At the end of the process major changes were made in the original settlement proposal. Investors in affected industries behaved as if they were assessing these changes. Portfolio values of AT&T, its direct competitors, and firms in fields AT&T would enter were affected. As the settlement was made final, financial markets evidence indicates changes in abnormal returns for affected firms.Financial Markets

Student Involvement in Campus OER Movements: Creating and Sustaining an SGA Open Education Award

Presentation at OpenEd 2018, Niagara Falls, NY. October 10-12, 2018.A presentation describe the design and implementation of a Student Government Open Educational Resources Teaching Award for faculty at Texas A&M University and the University of Tennessee.OpenEd 201