Parental perspectives of students' strengths in transition planning

The most recent revision of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) mandates that students’ strengths be considered in the transition planning process for students with disabilities; however, there is evidence that individuals’ strengths are not being utilized to support their transition to adulthood (Shogren & Plotner, 2012; Landmark & Zhang, 2012). Strengths refer to all of an individual’s assets, both personal and contextual, that improve that individual’s ability to function (Davis et al., 2007; McCammon, 2012). Parents have unique perspectives of their sons’ and daughters’ strengths (Carter, Brock, & Trainor, 2014) and have the potential to influence the transition planning process in a positive way. This study used qualitative methods to understand how parents describe their son or daughter’s strengths, both personal and contextual, in relation to transition planning. Findings indicated that parents identify equal amounts of personal and contextual strengths for their children. However, strengths were described as being context dependent; the trait or resource described as an asset in one aspect of transitioning to adult life was also described as a barrier to another aspect. These findings highlighted the value of including parents in the transition planning process and that students have many strengths available for consideration as they enter adult life

The environmental impact of nutrition transition in three case study countries

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Tiling Billards on Triangle Tilings, and Interval Exchange Transformations

We consider the dynamics of light rays in triangle tilings where triangles are transparent and adjacent triangles have equal but opposite indices of refraction. We find that the behavior of a trajectory on a triangle tiling is described by an orientation-reversing three-interval exchange transformation on the circle, and that the behavior of all the trajectories on a given triangle tiling is described by a polygon exchange transformation. We show that, for a particular choice of triangle tiling, certain trajectories approach the Rauzy fractal, under rescaling.Comment: 31 pages, 19 figures, 2 appendices. Comments welcome

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationA small but growing number of bacteria and phages are known to contain linear, hairpin-ended genomes. The hairpin "protelomeres" are created by the action of a dedicated enzyme known as protelomerase that acts on a palindromic DNA target sequence. Phage protelomerases are typically longer than their bacterial counterparts and contain an additional far C-terminal region of limited sequence conservation. Studies of the protelomerase of the Klebsiella oxytoca phage ΦKO2 have shown that although the far C-terminal region is not required to produce hairpin ends, truncation of the region has a drastic effect on enzyme kinetics. To date, no other studies have been reported on the far C-terminal region of this or any other protelomerase. We present the solution structures of the far C-terminal regions of two phage protelomerases. The regions form homologous, compact structures that adopt a fold similar to the canonical double-stranded RNA-binding domain and have been called the far C-terminal domains. Sequence alignment and secondary structure predictions show that all known and putative phage protelomerases contain C-terminal regions which will almost certainly form homologous domains. A sequence comparison of these proteins with all known protelomerases is presented, along with an analysis of the sequence and structure of proteins which adopt a similar fold. Based on structure homology and comparative sequence conservation of key binding regions, we propose that the domain belongs to the growing family of three stranded β-sheet DNA-binding proteins that is a subclass of the double-stranded RNA-binding domain superfamily

Walk this Way

Do you wonder what skills are needed for students to be successful in general education? Why do special education students struggle in regular education? This session will focus on how learning walks can help you answer these questions. Attendees will participate in a mock learning walk and protocol to provide you with a first-hand experience to take back to your school. Join us for a walk on the wild side! Participant Objectives Define learning walk Be able to set norms and expectations for this type of professional learning Facilitate conversation within a team of people to determine take-aways from a learning walk including reflection and applicatio

Measuring (the value of) Space: A Case Study of a Collaborative Assessment of an Academic Library’s Physical Collections

The Ekstrom Library at the University of Louisville decided it would be valuable to obtain a detailed picture of the space usage in the Library’s physical collections, in order to help resolve ongoing space problems, to create a working document for continued maintenance of the Library’s physical collections and to provide data for library administration to use in support of future space planning. To this end, the Physical Collections Task Force (Task Force) was formed. The Task Force’s charge was as follows: “To determine present and future space needs for the Ekstrom Library collections; produce a written statement describing the current collections with recommendations for the future, both short and long-term outlooks.” This case study provides the background and context for our project, describes the methods used for evaluation, and reports the recommendations made based on findings

Reducing High-Risk Drinking in Mandated College Students: Evaluation of Two Personalized Normative Feedback Interventions

This study evaluated the efficacy of two brief personalized normative feedback interventions aimed at reducing heavy drinking among mandated college students (N = 135). Students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: web-based assessment with self-guided personalized normative feedback (SWF) or web-based assessment with counselor-guided personalized normative feedback (CWF). Results indicated students in the CWF condition reported significantly greater reductions in weekly drinking quantity and binge drinking frequency than those in the SWF group at follow-up (M = 8 months). Students in the CWF group also reported significantly greater reductions in estimates of peer drinking from baseline to the follow-up assessment than students in the SWF group. Additionally, changes in estimates of peer drinking partially mediated the effect of the intervention on changes in drinking. Results suggest that counselor-guided feedback may be more effective in reducing drinking among mandated students relative to self-guided feedback in the long-term

Follow-Up, A Key Component of Successful Professional Development

Inexperienced teachers\u27 perceived classroom effectiveness of their planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities domains were analyzed to determine the effects of active follow-up compared to information-based follow-up of classroom management training (N = 50). Inexperienced teachers enrolled in I Can Do It Classroom Management Training were randomly assigned to active follow-up to the training (n = 24) or information-based follow-up to the training (n = 26). As reflected by the pretest and posttest evaluation form measuring their perceived effectiveness in the domains of planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities, teachers participating in active follow-up of the training demonstrated statistically significant growth in each of the domains. Teachers participating in the information-based follow-up demonstrated little or no growth in each of the domains. Pretest-posttest and posttest-posttest analysis of perceptions of teachers engaged in active follow-up demonstrated significant growth in three of the domains identified in the professional development model and significantly higher classroom effectiveness scores than teachers engaged in information-based follow-up. The study\u27s results should encourage district officials to look at professional development and the type of follow-up included in staff development initiatives