Evidence-based Education: The development of a model to use protocols and small-scale aggregated trials to create a prospective cumulative meta-analysis as an evidence base for interventions.

In education, there has been a worldwide increase in the use of evidence in education to inform policy and practice. In the USA, bodies such as the Institute of Educational Sciences’ (IES) What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), the Best Evidence Encyclopaedia (BEE) and the Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) and in the UK the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) have been established to inform education decision making. The global increase in the use of evidence in education is based on the premise that if programmes are selected on the basis of more robust evidence, using these tested interventions should increase the chance of positive outcomes if they are deployed in other schools and contexts. The aim of this thesis is to explore evidence-based education in the literature review before proposing a new theoretical model for evidence generation, introducing the use of protocols and small-scale aggregated trials linked to a prospective cumulative meta-analysis (PCM). The application of a PCM allows replication as a way to test how likely the intervention effect sizes will translate when they are tested using large scale randomised controlled trials and also as a method to test stability and improve dissemination after the initial research. The thesis includes two primary research studies for online cross-age peer tutoring across the transition boundary between primary and secondary schools and online small group teaching. The purpose of the trials were to test the implementation of the methodology for the use of protocols and small-scale aggregated trials linked to a prospective cumulative meta-analysis (PCM). Study One focuses on online peer tutoring across the transition for primary and secondary pupils and Study Two investigates the effectiveness of online small group teaching for mathematics. The thesis demonstrates how the use of the model can be used to increase replication in the testing phase of an intervention, using empirical evidence from the online peer tutoring trials involving data collected across three cohorts of schools in an academic year. The impact of this research will provide an alternative testing framework for deciding in future trials if the evidence is robust for the commissioning of large scale randomised controlled trials in education

New organometallic approaches to heterocycles

Several heterocyclic ring systems have been prepared by two new organometallic methods. The first approach involved the mercuration of alkyl aryl acetylenes. This reaction resulted in the formation of mercurated heterocycles. Mercurated benzofurans, isocoumarins, chromones, benzothiophenes and benzopyrans were all prepared by this method. The mercury moiety in these compounds was readily substituted by various functional groups. By making a slight modification in the acetylenic substrate, the intramolecular cyclization was prevented. The reaction then produced the (beta)-acetoxy vinylmercurial which was used to synthesize the coumarin ring system. The second approach involved the intramolecular attack of an oxygen or a nitrogen nucleophile on a (pi)-allylpalladium intermediate. The (pi)-allylpalladium intermediate was generated by the reaction of an organomercurial with a diene or an olefin in the presence of a palladium(II) salt. This method was used for the preparation of lactones, dihydrobenzofurans, dihydroindoles and pyrans

Organizational Actions in Gaining Employee Support for Change: The Roles of Affective Commitment to Change, Organizational Justice, and Organizational Cynicism

Organizations today must be able to successfully implement changes. This study examined three critical actions organizations can take during change to gain employee support. The study examined the roles of affective commitment to change, organizational justice, and organizational cynicism in the connection between the critical change actions and employee support. Five hundred full-time workers, experienced in organizational change, completed a survey. Results showed the effect of organizational actions on employee support is partially mediated by procedural justice and affective commitment to change and showed organizational cynicism to have a direct effect on procedural, informational, and interpersonal justice. Implications are discussed

I Already Belong: Immigrant-Origin College Students’ Persistence

Children of immigrant and refugee populations are increasing in the U.S. but are underrepresented at U.S. universities. Collectivistic, immigrant-origin students may be less responsive to current best practice integration approaches, which focus on institutional Academic and Social Integration as necessary for college persistence. Homoginizing U.S.-origin and immigrant-origin students in persistence strategies, particularly institutional Social Integration, may not take into consideration culture-of-origin differences, such as the degree of ongoing family connectedness, that motivate students toward college persistence. Antecedents of college intentions to persist were compared for immigrant-origin students (N=87) and U.S.- origin students (N=122) at a midwestern university. Model comparisons revealed group differences in the role of institutional Academic Integration and of institutional Social Integration. No support for family connectedness affecting persistence was demonstrated. Implications for university recruiting and retention strategies are discussed

Kimberly Whatley and Lawrence Harrison, Jr. in a Joint Senior Recital

This is the program for the joint senior voice recital of soprano Kimberly Carol Whatley and tenor Lawrence Wayne Harrison, Jr. Pianist Jay Crowder assisted Harrison. The recital took place on February 2, 1989, in the Mabee Fine Arts Center Recital Hall

Light and the spirit of place, case study : the design of a small public library.

Thesis. 1979. M.Arch--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.Bibliography: p. 71-73.M.Arc

Leadership Behaviors and Subordinate Resilience

Utilizing a sample of 150 part-time MBA students, this study evaluated the relationship between leader behaviors and subordinate resilience. We proposed that the transformational leadership dimensions of Attributed Charisma, Idealized Influence, Inspirational Motivation, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individualized Consideration, as well as the transactional leadership dimension of Contingent Reward would be positively associated with subordinate resilience. We also proposed that the transactional leadership dimensions of Management-by-Exception Active and Management-by-Exception Passive and the non-leadership dimension of Laissez-Faire leadership would not be positively associated with subordinate resilience. With the exception of Inspirational Motivation, all hypothesized relationships were supported. A post-hoc analysis of open-ended responses to the question What helped you to deal with this situation? indicated that participants who mentioned their leaders as a positive factor in dealing with the situation exhibited greater resilience than participants who did not. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed

Observing UK Bonfire Night pollution from space: analysis of atmospheric aerosol

UK Bonfire Night (BFN) is an annual event on 5 November which celebrates the failed ‘gunpowder plot’ of Guy Fawkes, who intended to blow up the Houses of Parliament. This event is celebrated with firework and bonfire displays, which reduce visibility and increase air pollutant concentrations. A two- to four-fold increase in particulate matter concentrations was seen at some surface monitoring sites. Satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth found increases of 10–90% between days before and after BFN

Intraspecific Epitopic Variation in a Carbohydrate Antigen Exposed on the Surface of Trichostrongylus colubriformis Infective L3 Larvae

The carbohydrate larval antigen, CarLA, is present on the exposed surface of all strongylid nematode infective L3 larvae tested, and antibodies against CarLA can promote rapid immune rejection of incoming Trichostrongylus colubriformis larvae in sheep. A library of ovine recombinant single chain Fv (scFv) antibody fragments, displayed on phage, was prepared from B cell mRNA of field-immune sheep. Phage displaying scFvs that bind to the surface of living exsheathed T. colubriformis L3 larvae were identified, and the majority of worm-binding scFvs recognized CarLA. Characterization of greater than 500 worm surface binding phage resulted in the identification of nine different anti-CarLA scFvs that recognized three distinct T. colubriformis CarLA epitopes based on blocking and additive ELISA. All anti-CarLA scFvs were specific to the T. colubriformis species of nematode. Each of the three scFv epitope classes displayed identical Western blot recognition patterns and recognized the exposed surface of living T. colubriformis exsheathed L3 larvae. Surprisingly, each of the anti-CarLA scFvs was able to bind to only a subset of worms. Double-labelling indirect immunofluorescence revealed that the three classes of anti-CarLA scFvs recognize distinct, non-overlapping, T. colubriformis sub-populations. These results demonstrate that individual T. colubriformis L3 larvae display only one of at least three distinct antigenic forms of CarLA on their surface at any given time, and suggest that antigenic variation within CarLA is likely a mechanism of immune evasion in strongylid nematodes