The Prayer Life of The African American Christian Men at New Life Gospel Center Cleveland, Ohio

The researcher will address the problem of African American Men at New Life Gospel Center failing to lead their family’s spiritual journey at home. Fourteen men covering three generations came together through Zoom classes, a series of interviews, eight weekly classes, focus groups, and surveys. The men were encouraged, educated, and trained to lead prayer in their homes with their families. The men challenged each other and made themselves accountable to study the Bible and prayer. The thesis was for the average Christian man who is simply a churchgoer but wants to transform into a Kingdom Man. A Kingdom Man is a man who receives his instructions from God, and he will glorify the King in every area of his life. The researcher takes a journey back to slavery through generational curses that have left a mark on the mental health of Black men. The journey continues as they reclaim their identity not only as Black men but as Godly Men. They are reminded of their value and the power God has given them through prayer. The project challenges African American men to lead their families spiritually by being an example of a praying man. When the prayer classes concluded, the women were interviewed so that the researcher could understand their viewpoints on how the men’s prayer lives changed. During the final class, the men decided to continue the Zoom meetings to study the Word and practice praying together. The project will influence others in the field of prayer to reach African American Christian men in churches across America, denying the supernatural power God has given them to be men of prayer

Designing FRET Assays to Study Electrostatic Interactions Pertaining to the Binding of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Fibroblast growth factor receptor plays a major role in several biological processes. Without FGFR, a human cannot live. FGFR is involved in cell differentiation and wound healing. Of course, if FGFR signaling becomes unregulated, it causes severe distress in the body. Several cancers are contributed to high signaling levels, as well as developmental conditions like rickets and Kallmann’s syndrome. FGFR is thought to undergo an auto-inhibition (or self-regulatory) process in order to try to facilitate regulation. The exact method of this inhibition is currently unknown, but is proposed to involve the unstructured acid box region of FGFR. We developed a simple model system in order to further investigate current models of inhibition that FGFR may undergo. By using our model system, which contains two 15-mer homopolypeptides of polyE and polyK that mimic the acid box region and its binding site respectively, we were able to use a combination of ITC, CD, NMR, and FRET to show that one model from the literature contains flaws. We are able to characterize the binding of our polypeptide system under varying ionic conditions and pH. This model system also provides a platform to better understand general principles of charge-charge interactions in proteins, which are often characterized by FRET. One of the important findings from this study is that 15-mers of polyE and polyK bind in a parallel arrangement. One of the hurdles in applying FRET to such systems is determining the role that the attached FRET dyes play in the charge-charge interactions. Our model system allowed us to use the preference of the charged polypeptides to bind in a parallel arrangement to determine the size, charge and structural effects of the attached FRET dyes on how peptides bind under electrostatic interaction conditions and to quantify how the attached fluorescent dyes are quenched by both the charged amino acids as well as by the FRET acceptor

Civil War Unionists and Their Legacy in the Arkansas Ozarks

More than a thousand men from northwest Arkansas served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The conflict devastated a region that had previously enjoyed impressive economic growth. The years of suffering during the war eventually left the region largely depopulated. As people returned to the region after the war was over, unionists and their families fought not only to rebuild, but to secure the benefits they felt their loyalty to the federal government deserved. As unionists became Republicans in the decades after the war, Arkansas became a securely Democratic state. But Arkansas’s native Republicans leveraged their wartime loyalty into a unique relationship with the federal government that secured for them restitution for wartime losses, pensions for wartime service, and political appointments through the patronage system

An Evaluation of the Accelerated Reader Program in Grades 3–5 on Reading Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Attitude in an Urban Southeastern School District in Virginia

The purpose of this study was to study recreational reading in third, fourth, and fifth grade urban students in a school district in Southeastern Virginia. The widely-used Accelerated Reader (AR) was the tool examined in the promotion of recreational reading. Recreational reading studies have been done on a broad economic spectrum (Advantage Learning Systems, 1997; Paul, 1996; Paul, VanderZee, Rue & Swanson, 1996). A gap in knowledge exists as to whether recreational reading programs, using AR, are effective with the urban elementary students. The major research questions determined if recreational reading, using Accelerated Reader, influenced reading vocabulary, comprehension, and attitude when socioeconomic status was low. Using the pre-experimental design, seven Title I schools in urban Southeastern Virginia participated in pre-testing in September/October 1998 and post-testing in May/June 1999. Two independent variables, each with three levels, were manipulated: Type of AR Usage i. e. low (0–20 points), average (21–74 points), high (75 and above points) and Grade Level i.e. three, four, and five. Dependent variables reading vocabulary and comprehension were measured using the Gates-MacGinitie Tests of Reading, Form L (Gates-MacGinitie, 1989) on 755 students. The dependent variable attitude was measured on 515 students who completed The Elementary Reading Attitude Scale (ERAS) (McKenna & Kear, 1990). Positive findings are as follows: (1) At pretesting 75% or greater of all students tested below grade level in both reading vocabulary and comprehension. At post-testing, after the AR treatment had been administered for the duration of the school year, the percentage of students testing below grade level for reading vocabulary and comprehension significantly decreased. (2) Results of the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) were significant for Type of AR Usage and Grade Level effect. When descriptive statistics, Type of Reader, were examined, significant differences between pre-test and post-test assessment of vocabulary and comprehension were noted. (3) review of the data for the mean difference in vocabulary and comprehension by Grade Level and Type of AR Usage indicated that as participation in the AR program increased, the mean score differences also increased. (4) An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) format was used to analyze attitude data revealed that only the “Type of AR Usage” effect was significant. Negative findings are as follows: (1) Frequency data indicated that 51.8% of the sample earned low AR usage status, whereas 11.8 % of the students obtained high AR usage during the school year. “Below grade level readers” composed 33% of the “low AR usage” group and only 2% of the “high AR usage” group. (2) The computation of the mean difference on the ERAS scores may have been affected by statistical regression. Caution in interpretation of results is recommended. In summary, results of the current study concluded that recreational reading, using AR, increases reading vocabulary, comprehension, and attitude, providing it is utilized as intended. Recommendations to school administrators and researchers are as follows: (1) Increase Student Participation in recreational reading ensuring proper use of the AR program with a focus on understanding the characteristics and needs of the “below grade level” reader; (2) Study factors affecting reading performance

Enhanced Blue Crab Predation on Rangia Clams after Exposure to Hypoxia

Hypoxia or dissolved oxygen concentrations \u3c 2 mg/L is a problem in estuaries worldwide. In Lake Pontchartrain, a 250 km2 de-faunated zone exists as a result of salinity stratification and episodic hypoxia. Mature common rangia clams (Rangia cuneata) are not found within this zone. Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) are important estuarine predators and may move in and out of the hypoxic zone to feed on hypoxia-stressed rangia clams. To test the effects of hypoxia on predation, rangia clams were exposed experimentally to severe hypoxic conditions (\u3c 0.75 mg/l) for 72-hours and then presented to blue crabs. One hypoxic and one normoxic clam were added to each aquarium containing a blue crab for each trial, and crab feeding choices were observed and recorded. I found prey choice varied among crabs, but in general, the experimental data demonstrates that crabs chose to feed on hypoxia-stressed clams over clams kept under normoxic conditions

High School Students\u27 Perceptions of Safety Concerns Predicts School Avoidance

School violence is a growing concern and an impending danger for American youth. Students\u27 perceptions of violent school incidents may lead to fear and this fear may lead to school avoidance. Although researchers have found that teenage pregnancy and working to support family are two of the main reasons that students stay home from school, there has been no research conducted on whether students\u27 perceptions of safety concerns, solely focusing on the presence of guns, gangs, student bullying, and fear of victimization, predict their decision to stay home from school. Therefore, based on social disorganization and resilience theories, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the role of high school students\u27 perceptions of safety concerns in school on avoidance behavior, specifically, their decision to stay home from school due to thinking they may be attacked or harmed in a school building, on school property, on a school bus, or going to and from school. Archival data from a sample of 4,767 American youth, 12–18 years of age, who participated in the 2015 School Crime Supplement Survey were analyzed using logistic regression. Findings revealed that students\u27 perception of gangs, student bullying, and fear of victimization led to school avoidance. This study has important implications for positive social change: The findings can be used by government entities, communities, schools, administrators, students, and parents to inform efforts designed to maintain a safe school environment

Master of Science

thesisThe Bonneville basin of northwestern Utah acts as a significant source of paleoenvironmental data due to the sedimentary and geomorphic evidence left behind from the late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. Macroscopic charcoal and pollen from wetland sediments of North Redden Springs, Utah (40˚ 00' 47.1" N 113˚ 41' 59.9" W) were used to reconstruct a record for past environmental and climatic changes during the last 36.8 cal ka BP. Changes in charcoal deposition rates (particles/cm²/yr), peak magnitudes (calculated using Char Analysis), and percentages of total pollen were used to interpret the fire, vegetation, and climate dynamics. Additionally, distinct shifts in the magnetic susceptibility and loss-on-ignition of sediments were used to understand past lacustrine events in the basin. During the late Pleistocene (36.8-29 cal ka BP), a cold/dry adapted sagebrush steppe surrounded Lake Bonneville, with no fire episodes near the study site due to the inundation of the site by Lake Bonneville. A subsequent increase in winter precipitation from the southward shift of the jet stream during the latest Pleistocene (29-16 cal ka BP) resulted in the expansion of a conifer forest and deeper lake levels. One fire episode occurred at 21 cal ka BP and is associated with a wet period followed by warming. Greater fuel loads correspond to increased fire episodes during the middle and early Holocene (16-6.0 cal ka BP). As early as 16 cal ka BP, a xeric shrub steppe composed of halophytic Amaranthaceae and Sarcobataceae vegetation dominated large expanses of playa surrounding the North Redden spring-wetland complex. The late Holocene (6.0 cal ka BP-present) was characterized as a period of increased aridity, interspersed with cool-wet episodes. A xeric shrub steppe expanded its range to become the dominate vegetation type on the landscape. Increases in aquatic plants and other diversified vegetation types occurred in response to heightened amounts of summer moisture. Fires continued to increase in frequency and intensity throughout the historical period. Mechanisms behind fire activity likely included wet climate episodes followed by dry climate episodes. Additionally, anthropogenic burning, fire suppression, and invasive plant species may have contributed to increased fire activity

Enhanced Blue Crab Predation on Rangia Clams after Exposure to Hypoxia

Hypoxia or dissolved oxygen concentrations \u3c 2 mg/L is a problem in estuaries worldwide. In Lake Pontchartrain, a 250 km2 de-faunated zone exists as a result of salinity stratification and episodic hypoxia. Mature common rangia clams (Rangia cuneata) are not found within this zone. Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) are important estuarine predators and may move in and out of the hypoxic zone to feed on hypoxia-stressed rangia clams. To test the effects of hypoxia on predation, rangia clams were exposed experimentally to severe hypoxic conditions (\u3c 0.75 mg/l) for 72-hours and then presented to blue crabs. One hypoxic and one normoxic clam were added to each aquarium containing a blue crab for each trial, and crab feeding choices were observed and recorded. I found prey choice varied among crabs, but in general, the experimental data demonstrates that crabs chose to feed on hypoxia-stressed clams over clams kept under normoxic conditions

Appalachian Regional Healthcare Division of Home Services: A Case Study

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Caudill College of Humanities at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Communications by Marcella Ann Howard Brock on April 22, 1997