A study of the relation of grammatical and structural errors to spoken and written composition, as discovered in an examination of the writing of certain seventh, eighth, and ninth grade pupils

Thesis (M.A.Ed.)--University of Kansas, Education, 1930

Adolescent Pregnancy and Poverty: Implications for Social Policy

Excerpt from the full-text document: Adolescent pregnancy, per se, has been devoted little consideration by clinical observers and empirical researchers. For the most part, such pregnancies have received attention only insofar as they have occurred without the moral and legal sanctions of matrimony. This concern with illegitimacy has had the effect of blinding theorists and researchers to a whole segment of the adolescent pregnant population--the married teenager. Further, the adverse effects of adolescent pregnancy have been shrouded by moral precepts. From existing evidence there appears to be no doubt that the married teenage girl is an integral part of the adolescent pregnancy phenomenon; one which is, in effect, very similar to the unwed mothers\u27 phenomenon as it relates to the incidence of poverty. For both wed and unwed teenagers who have a pregnancy and subsequent birth at a too young age, the likelihood of poverty conditions is high. Incomplete education, low income level, psychological and developmental problems, excessive fertility and probable social dependency are problems common to both populations of girls

Adolescent Pregnancy and Poverty: Implications for Social Policy

Excerpt from the full-text document: Adolescent pregnancy, per se, has been devoted little consideration by clinical observers and empirical researchers. For the most part, such pregnancies have received attention only insofar as they have occurred without the moral and legal sanctions of matrimony. This concern with illegitimacy has had the effect of blinding theorists and researchers to a whole segment of the adolescent pregnant population--the married teenager. Further, the adverse effects of adolescent pregnancy have been shrouded by moral precepts. From existing evidence there appears to be no doubt that the married teenage girl is an integral part of the adolescent pregnancy phenomenon; one which is, in effect, very similar to the unwed mothers\u27 phenomenon as it relates to the incidence of poverty. For both wed and unwed teenagers who have a pregnancy and subsequent birth at a too young age, the likelihood of poverty conditions is high. Incomplete education, low income level, psychological and developmental problems, excessive fertility and probable social dependency are problems common to both populations of girls

The Effect of Using E-Learning Tools in Online and Campus-based Classrooms on Student Performance

Creating an integrative research framework that extends a model frequently used in the Information Systems field, the Technology Acceptance Model, together with variables used in the Education field, this empirical study investigates the factors influencing student performance as reflected by their final course grade. The Technology Acceptance Model explains computer acceptance in general terms. The model measures the impact of external variables on internal beliefs, attitudes, and intentions. Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use, two main constructs in the model, refer to an individual\u27s perception of how the adoption of a new technology will increase their efficiency, and the individual\u27s perception of how easy the technology will be to use. The lower the perceived effort is, the easier the technology will be to adopt. Thus, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Computer Self-Efficacy, and Computer Anxiety were measured to determine their effect on student performance. The proliferation of the personal computer was possible because of the applications written for it. The continuous creation of new applications has created ample ground to test the Technology Acceptance Model to determine how a user will decide to adopt such applications. The recent escalation of delivering online education via the Internet has again sparked a new dimension of information systems. This has given rise to research using the Technology Acceptance Model for applications in the Education field. Today’s modern classroom, whether online or campus-based, uses e-learning tools and Learning Management Systems that capture student cognition and engages them in the learning process via technology, while increasing their need for self-directedness. In view of this, the present study also considers the students’ ability to work independently. The results of the statistical analysis used in this study revealed marked differences in student perceptions of e-learning tools between students who chose to take an online course and students who preferred to take the campus-based section. Additionally, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and the students’ ability to work independently were all statistically significant factors in predicting students’ final grades

How quick, how fast

El presente trabajo de final de grado tiene como objetivo mostrar mi visión personal sobre la belleza de la muerte. El proyecto pretende abrir puertas al diálogo y romper con el negativo enfoque que se le da a la defunción. Para esto, se creará una plataforma que congregue fotografías diseminadas en una sala de exposiciones. Dichas obras serán congeladas en bloques de hielo con la finalidad de que éstos se deshagan durante su exposición. Además, en esta memoria, se describe el proceso de trabajo llevado a cabo para completar el proyecto. También se han estudiado referentes artísticos, así como se han entrevistado diferentes personas con el fin de saber que opina la gente sobre la muerte.El present treball de final de grau té com a objectiu mostrar la meva visió personal sobre la bellesa de la mort. El projecte pretén obrir portes al diàleg i trencar amb el negatiu enfocament que se li dóna a la defunció. Per això, es crearà una plataforma que congregui fotografies disseminades en una sala d’exposicions. Aquestes obres seran congelades en blocs de gel amb la finalitat que aquests es desfacin durant la seva exposició. A més, en aquesta memòria, es descriu el procés de treball dut a terme per completar el projecte. També s’han estudiat referents artístics, així com s’han entrevistat diferents persones per tal de saber que pensa la gent sobre la mort.The present project aims to display my personal vision on the beauty of death. The project aims to open doors to dialogue and break the negative approach that is given to death. For this, a platform will be created that gathers photographs disseminated in an exhibition. These works will be frozen in blocks of ice with the sole purpose that these will melt during the exhibition. In addition, the work process carried out to complete the project is described. Artistic references have also been studied, as well as different interviews have been carried out in order to know what people think about death

A rapid, inexpensive, and semi-quantitative method for determining pollen tube extension using fluorescence

BACKGROUND: Pollen tubes extend rapidly when pollen grains are incubated in defined media. Tube extension requires many critical functions of plant cells including molecular signaling, cytoskeleton remodeling, secretion, and cell wall synthesis. Consequently, pollen tube growth has been established as a way to conduct primary screens of chemical libraries to identify compounds that perturb key cellular processes in plants. RESULTS: Here we report a simple, inexpensive, rapid and semi-quantitative method for measurement of pollen tube growth in microtiter plates. The method relies on Congo Red binding to pollen tubes and correlates dye fluorescence to tube length. CONCLUSIONS: This method can be used in any laboratory without specialized equipment, and has the potential to enable larger screens as chemical libraries grow and to make chemical screening accessible to researchers building specialized libraries designed to probe pathways in plant biology

Clinical trials to assess adjuvant therapeutics for severe malaria.

Despite potent anti-malarial treatment, mortality rates associated with severe falciparum malaria remain high. To attempt to improve outcome, several trials have assessed a variety of potential adjunctive therapeutics, however none to date has been shown to be beneficial. This may be due, at least partly, to the therapeutics chosen and clinical trial design used. Here, we highlight three themes that could facilitate the choice and evaluation of putative adjuvant interventions for severe malaria, paving the way for their assessment in randomized controlled trials. Most clinical trials of adjunctive therapeutics to date have been underpowered due to the large number of participants required to reach mortality endpoints, rendering these study designs challenging and expensive to conduct. These limitations may be mitigated by the use of risk-stratification of participants and application of surrogate endpoints. Appropriate surrogate endpoints include direct measures of pathways causally involved in the pathobiology of severe and fatal malaria, including markers of host immune and endothelial activation and microcirculatory dysfunction. We propose using circulating markers of these pathways to identify high-risk participants that would be most likely to benefit from adjunctive therapy, and further by adopting these biomarkers as surrogate endpoints; moreover, choosing interventions that target deleterious host immune responses that directly contribute to microcirculatory dysfunction, multi-organ dysfunction and death; and, finally, prioritizing where possible, drugs that act on these pathways that are already approved by the FDA, or other regulators, for other indications, and are known to be safe in target populations, including children. An emerging understanding of the critical role of the host response in severe malaria pathogenesis may facilitate both clinical trial design and the search of effective adjunctive therapeutics

High-Speed Data Acquisition System for Nanoscale Imaging

This technical report is the product of a senior design project in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and was written in conformance with the ECE senior design final report requirements. Current scanning probe microscopy systems are often limited by the speed and resultion at which they sample. In this technical report, we demonstrate a novel data acquisition, processing, and visualization system that leverages machine learning to collect and analyze data from an extant scanning probe microscope at 4 MS/s. The system comprises four subsystems: a current preamplifier, a data acquisition system, a data processing and visualization module, and an interactive graphic user interface. The current preamplifier amplifies small currents on the order of nanoamps to voltages readable by the data acquisition system. The data acquisition system takes in input data from the scanning probe microscope and stores them into usable file formats for the data processing module. The data processing module uses various software signal processing techniques to analyze and visualize the data. Finally, the graphic user interface acts as the main user control system, initiating data collection and viewing collected data on user command. Future work on this system includes system-wide testing as well as optimizing the robustness of each subsystem to meet the constraints of the scanning probe microscope system.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Metschnikowia proteae sp. nov., a nectarivorous insect-associated yeast species from Africa

A collection of yeasts isolated from nectar of flowers of Protea caffra (Proteaceae) and associated scarab beetles (Atrichelaphinis tigrina, Cyrtothyrea marginalis, Trichostetha fascicularis and Heterochelus sp.) and drosophilid flies in South Africa, contained 28 isolates that could not be assigned to known species. Comparisons of the D1/D2 domains of the large subunit rRNA gene demonstrated the existence of three separate phylotypes with an affinity to the genus Metschnikowia and more specifically to the beetle-associated large-spored Metschnikowia clade. Twenty-six strains that had similar D1/D2 sequences were mixed in all pairwise combinations. They were found to mate and give rise to large asci typical of those in the clade. The name Metschnikowia proteae sp. nov. (type strain EBDT1Y1T5CBS 12522T5NRRL Y-48784T; allotype strain EBDC2Y25CBS 125215NRRL Y-48785) is proposed to accommodate this novel species. The ecology of this novel yeast species is discussed in relation to its potential plant and insect host species. The additional two single strains isolated from Heterochelus sp. represent two novel undescribed species (Candida sp. 1 EBDM2Y3 and Candida sp. 2 EBDM8Y1). As these single strains are probably haploid mating types of Metschnikowia species, their description is deferred until the species are sufficiently well sampled to permit meaningful descriptionsPeer reviewe