Learning from change : how teachers adapt to demographic student population changes /

This research explores how veteran teachers respond to demographic changes in their school's student populations, specifically: When demographic change occurs in a student population, how do veteran teachers respond? What are the veteran teachers' beliefs and practices as they interact with students who differ from the ones they have always taught? Specifically, do veteran teachers continue with similar (1) beliefs about students, (2) pedagogical approaches, and (3) ways of interacting with family members? Or do teachers develop new ideas and approaches, perhaps viewing the changes as an opportunity for growth or a transformational learning experience? Framed by transformational learning theory, this research has implications for designing professional development for other veteran teachers. Seventeen veteran teachers took part in this qualitative study at an elementary school in the Midwestern United States, which was representative of many schools across the country experiencing rapid changes in the proportion of students from immigrant and lower socioeconomic families. Participants completed online questionnaires and semistructured face-to-face interviews. Over 74 percent of the veteran teacher participants believed success with a new student population only occurred after forming relationships with individual students. Thus, relationships, rather than standardized instructional practices, determined academic agendas and sometimes led to a transformational change in teachers' beliefs. Findings suggest that in conjunction with other professional development, school leaders should add instruction for teachers on how to build and understand the importance of relationships with students. Keywords- Demographic Change, English Language Learners, Professional Development, Transformational Learning, Veteran TeacherField of study: Educational leadership and policy analysis.|Dr. Lisa Dorner, Dissertation Supervisor.Includes bibliographical references (pages 92-101)

Small RNA pathway genes identified by patterns of phylogenetic conservation and divergence

Genetic and biochemical analyses of RNA interference (RNAi) and microRNA (miRNA) pathways have revealed proteins such as Argonaute/PIWI and Dicer that process and present small RNAs to their targets. Well validated small RNA pathway cofactors, such as the Argonaute/PIWI proteins show distinctive patterns of conservation or divergence in particular animal, plant, fungal, and protist species. We compared 86 divergent eukaryotic genome sequences to discern sets of proteins that show similar phylogenetic profiles with known small RNA cofactors. A large set of additional candidate small RNA cofactors have emerged from functional genomic screens for defects in miRNA- or siRNA-mediated repression in C. elegans and D. melanogaster1,2 and from proteomic analyses of proteins co-purifying with validated small RNA pathway proteins3,4. The phylogenetic profiles of many of these candidate small RNA pathway proteins are similar to those of known small RNA cofactor proteins. We used a Bayesian approach to integrate the phylogenetic profile analysis with predictions from diverse transcriptional coregulation and proteome interaction datasets to assign a probability for each protein for a role in a small RNA pathway. Testing high-confidence candidates from this analysis for defects in RNAi silencing, we found that about half of the predicted small RNA cofactors are required for RNAi silencing. Many of the newly identified small RNA pathway proteins are orthologues of proteins implicated in RNA splicing. In support of a deep connection between the mechanism of RNA splicing and small RNA-mediated gene silencing, the presence of the Argonaute proteins and other small RNA components in the many species analysed strongly correlates with the number of introns in that species

Less Than a state, more than an international organization: The Sui generis nature of the European Union

In this paper, I show that the European Union (EU) is less than a state, but more than an international organization. Although it possesses some characteristics of both, the European Union is, I argue, a sui generis project: Although the EU wields extensive influence in some policy areas (such as competition policy or international trade regulation), its institutions’ powers are quite limited in many areas that remain firmly within the grasp of its Member States’ governments (such as security, justice, tax or redistribution policies). The European Union’s supranational elements – especially the EU laws’ supremacy over the laws of individual Member States – distinguish it, furthermore, from international organizations, such as the United Nations or the World Trade Organization. I conclude that the European Union is really a sui generis project that has not been attempted anywhere else: As such, it could be regarded as a useful case study, or perhaps even a “pilot project,” for regional integration projects elsewhere