Engaging Diversity And Marginalization Through Participatory Action Research: A Model For Independent School Reform

Authored by a university researcher, school practitioner, and high school student, this article examines how independent schools can utilize participatory action research (PAR) to bolster diversity and inclusion efforts. A case study approach was taken to showcase a two-year PAR project at a progressive independent school that sought to: (a) enrich institutional knowledge of student diversity, (b) capture the present-day schooling experiences of historically marginalized students in independent school settings, and (c) develop a dynamic action plan to ameliorate school issues that emerged through the PAR inquiry process. Committed to institutional research that informs school policy and practice, we argue that PAR provides a rigorous, student-centered, and democratic model for independent school reform

Race, Class, And Gender In Boys\u27 Education: Repositioning Intersectionality Theory

Boys\u27 identities are distinctly gendered, racialized, and classed across disparate social and cultural contexts. Related intersectional identity processes are associated with boys\u27 academic success. While intersectionality has been utilized throughout boys\u27 education scholarship, a limited, light touch approach is often enacted. As a critical logic of interpretation, intersectionality theory accounts for race, class, and gender within equity-based empirical studies. The authors contend insufficient engagement with intersectionality may lead educational research on boys\u27 social and learner identities to become static. Examining boys\u27 identities through intersectional approaches reveals more complex insights particularly related to their school engagement. Critical of the recent boy crisis literature, this article strives to compel theorists of boys\u27 education to more fully leverage the history, constructs, and epistemologies of intersectionality

A Profile of North Carolina Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Health Disparities, 2011

Objectives. We investigated the health profile of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults in North Carolina, the first state in the South to include a measure of sexual orientation identity in a probability-based statewide health survey. Methods. Using data from 9876 respondents in the 2011 North Carolina Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, we compared sexual minorities to heterosexuals on a variety of health indicators. Results. LGB respondents were younger and more likely to be reached by cell phone. Many examined indicators were not different by sexual orientation. Significant results, however, were consistent with findings from state population surveys in other regions of the country, including disparities in mental health and, among women, smoking. Conclusions. Reporting LGB identity in North Carolina is associated with poorer health. The concentration of anti-LGB policies in the South warrants ongoing monitoring of LGB health disparities in North Carolina and in other Southeastern states for potential effects on the health and well-being of LGB populations

Oscillatory Radial Solutions of Semilinear Elliptic Equations

We study the oscillatory behavior of radial solutions of the nonlinear partial differential equation Δu + f(u) + g(|x|, u) = 0 inRn, where f and g are continuous restoring functions, uf(u) > 0 and ug(|x|, u) > 0 for u ≠ 0. We assume that for fixedq limu → 0(|f(u)|/|u|q) = B > 0, for 1 < q < n/(n − 2), and, additionally, that 2F(u) ≥ (1 − 2/n)uf(u) when n/(n − 2) ≤ q < (n + 2)/(n − 2), where F(u) = ∫u0f(s)ds. We give conditions that guarantee that the solution oscillates infinitely and tends to zero asr → ∞. Finally, we give bounds for the amplitude of the oscillations and show that the period of the oscillations increases asr → ∞

Sociocultural Learning And The Hope For School Change: Participatory Action Research At A Public Elementary School

Educational reform in the United States has failed to adequately account for the complexities of urban schooling. Instead of spurring systematic school change, these oftentimes bureaucratic and authoritarian reform efforts have inspired widespread institutional distrust, which undermines improvement efforts and demoralizes school professionals. Persistent failure of “top-down” reform has fueled the use of democratic or “bottom-up” approaches to more sufficiently grapple with the highly dynamic nature of urban public schools. Participatory Action Research (PAR) has become an increasingly popular inquiry method to facilitate robust and democratic institutional change, whereby university-based researchers and school practitioners co-construct knowledge through a collaborative inquiry process. This 10-month case study (2010-2011) employed sociocultural learning theory and the tenets of PAR to examine its implementation at a public elementary school in a major northeastern city. In order to ameliorate a distressing school issue, participant interviews (N=10), school observations (+100 hours), and typewritten reflections (i.e., weekly memos; 100-200 words) captured detailed narratives associated with the evolution, challenges, as well as effective practice of PAR within a university and school partnership. Four interrelated themes of PAR implementation emerged: (1) hopes for the project; (2) vision of team roles; (3) learning through boundary crossing; and (4) boundary object potential

Intramitochondrial Localization of Universal Minicircle Sequence-Binding Protein, a Trypanosomatid Protein That Binds Kinetoplast Minicircle Replication Origins

Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), the mitochondrial DNA of the trypanosomatid Crithidia fasciculata, is a unique structure containing 5,000 DNA minicircles topologically linked into a massive network. In vivo, the network is condensed into a disk-shaped structure. Replication of minicircles initiates at unique origins that are bound by universal minicircle sequence (UMS)-binding protein (UMSBP), a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein. This protein, encoded by a nuclear gene, localizes within the cell's single mitochondrion. Using immunofluorescence, we found that UMSBP localizes exclusively to two neighboring sites adjacent to the face of the kDNA disk nearest the cell's flagellum. This site is distinct from the two antipodal positions at the perimeter of the disk that is occupied by DNA polymerase β, topoisomerase II, and a structure-specific endonuclease. Although we found constant steady-state levels of UMSBP mRNA and protein and a constant rate of UMSBP synthesis throughout the cell cycle, immunofluorescence indicated that UMSBP localization within the kinetoplast is not static. The intramitochondrial localization of UMSBP and other kDNA replication enzymes significantly clarifies our understanding of the process of kDNA replication

Optimization of long range potential interaction parameters in ion mobility spectrometry

The problem of optimizing Lennard-Jones (L-J) potential parameters to perform collision cross section (CCS) calculations in ion mobility spectrometry has been undertaken. The experimental CCS of 16 small organic molecules containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and fluoride in N2 was compared to numerical calculations using Density Functional Theory (DFT). CCS calculations were performed using the momentum transfer algorithm IMoS and a 4-6-12 potential without incorporating the ion-quadrupole potential. A ceteris paribus optimization method was used to optimize the intercept σ and potential well-depth ϵ for the given atoms. This method yields important information that otherwise would remain concealed. Results show that the optimized L-J parameters are not necessarily unique with intercept and well-depth following an exponential relation at an existing line of minimums. Similarly, the method shows that some molecules containing atoms of interest may be ill-conditioned candidates to perform optimizations of the L-J parameters. The final calculated CCSs for the chosen parameters differ 1% on average from their experimental counterparts. This result conveys the notion that DFT calculations can indeed be used as potential candidates for CCS calculations and that effects, such as the ion-quadrupole potential or diffuse scattering, can be embedded into the L-J parameters without loss of accuracy but with a large increase in computational efficiency

A Visual Simulation Support Environment Based on the DOMINO Conceptual Framework

The purpose of this paper is to present a Visual Simulation Support Environment (VSSE) based on the multifaceD coOnceptual fraMework for vIsual simulatioN mOdeling (DOMINO). The ever-increasing complexity of visual simulation model development is undeniable. There is a need for automated support throughout the entire visual simulation model development life cycle. This support is furnished by the VSSE which is composed of integrated software tools providing computer-aided assistance in the development and execution of a visual simulation model. The VSSE has been jointly developed with the DOMINO. Its architecture consists of three layers: hardware and operating system, kernel VSSE, minimal VSSE, and VSSEs. This paper focuses on the minimal VSSE toolset. Evaluation of the VSSE shows that it adequately satisfies all of its 13 design objectives