Educators’ Perceptions of Exclusionary Discipline for Students with Disabilities in a Manifestation Determination Review: A Case Study

The purpose of this study was to understand K-12 educators’ knowledge of the characteristics of students with disabilities and how their ability to implement evidence-based practices shaped their perceptions of their role in making decisions regarding exclusionary discipline in a Manifestation Determination Review (MDR). The central research question included: How do K-12 educators’ perceptions regarding organizational support affect the decisions they make concerning exclusionary discipline for students with disabilities in a Manifestation Determination Review? Eisenberger et al.’s (1986) Organizational Support Theory (OST) guided this study. OST relates to educators’ perceptions regarding how their organization supports them in making decisions regarding exclusionary discipline for students with disabilities in an MDR. Additionally, this theory provided information regarding how educators utilized evidence-based practices to implement tiered programs that supported positive behaviors. Purposeful sampling was used to assemble focus groups and individual interviews of administrators, educators, and staff. Data was analyzed to develop themes, and results were reported using qualitative techniques. The findings contribute to current research surrounding organizational support and fill the gap in research regarding educators’ views and perceptions on their readiness to make decisions regarding exclusionary discipline and how they implement positive behavioral supports using evidence-based practices with fidelity

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF WATER-ETHANOL EXTRACTS OF DANDELION (TARAXACUM OFFICINALE)

Dandelion or Taraxacum officinale is a well - known medical plant that is a source of various nutrients and biologically active substances, and its polyphenolic compounds are considered responsible for the high biological activity of dandelion and its antioxidant, anti - inflammatory and atitumor effects. Aques - ethanol extracts were obtained using various maceration extraction techniques at room and boiling temperature, ultrasonic and Soxhlet extraction. In this study, all parts of the plant (roots, leaves, stems, flowers) previously dried at room temperature were analysed. The content of mineral elements of the plant was determined by AAS, antioxidant activity by DPPH (2,2 - diphenyl - 1 - pycryl hydrazyl) and FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) method, flavonoids (method with AlC13), vitamin C, carotenoids and chlorophyll were determined spectrophotometrically. The content of total phenols was determined by the Folin - Ciocalteu method. The content of phenolic compounds is higher in the outer parts of the plant (flowers and leaves) than in the root. The results of chemical analysis show that all its components have special qualities in terms of chemical composition. The best antioxidant activity was shown by the water - ethanol extract obtained using Soxlet extraction

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF WATER-ETHANOL EXTRACTS OF DANDELION (TARAXACUM OFFICINALE)

Dandelion or Taraxacum officinale is a well - known medical plant that is a source of various nutrients and biologically active substances, and its polyphenolic compounds are considered responsible for the high biological activity of dandelion and its antioxidant, anti - inflammatory and atitumor effects. Aques - ethanol extracts were obtained using various maceration extraction techniques at room and boiling temperature, ultrasonic and Soxhlet extraction. In this study, all parts of the plant (roots, leaves, stems, flowers) previously dried at room temperature were analysed. The content of mineral elements of the plant was determined by AAS, antioxidant activity by DPPH (2,2 - diphenyl - 1 - pycryl hydrazyl) and FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) method, flavonoids (method with AlC13), vitamin C, carotenoids and chlorophyll were determined spectrophotometrically. The content of total phenols was determined by the Folin - Ciocalteu method. The content of phenolic compounds is higher in the outer parts of the plant (flowers and leaves) than in the root. The results of chemical analysis show that all its components have special qualities in terms of chemical composition. The best antioxidant activity was shown by the water - ethanol extract obtained using Soxlet extraction

RANCANG BANGUN SMART GARAGE SYSTEM PENDETEKSI PENCURIAN BERBASIS MIKROKONTROLER

Sistem keamanan sangat dibutuhkan oleh semua orang, Contohnya kendaraan. Keamanan kendaraan biasanya tidak bisa menjamin walaupun disimpan di dalam sebuah garasi. Maka oleh karena ini dilakukan penelitian membuat sebuah rancang bangun smart garage system pendeteksi pencurian berbasis mikrokontroler. Tujuan Penelitian yaitu sistem dapat mendeteksi pencurian kendaraan yang ada di dalam garasi dan mengirimkan notifikasi melalui telegram pemilik garasi berupa gambar pencuri yang ada di kursi pengendara dan pihak keamanan terdekat berupa pesan ciri -ciri kendaraan yang dicuri. Metode yang digunakan pada penelitian ini yaitu metode eksperimental. Dimana hasil yang di dapat pada pengujian rancangan ini yaitu sistem dapat mendeteksi keberadaan kendaraan yang ada di garasi dan dapat mengirimkan notifikasi melalui telegram pemilik garasi dan pihak keamanan terdekat dengan nilai rata - rata waktu eksekusi pengujian yaitu 4,2 deti

A Convex-Nonconvex variational method for the additive decomposition of functions on surfaces

We present a Convex-NonConvex variational approach for the additive decomposition of noisy scalar f ields defined over triangulated surfaces into piecewise constant and smooth components. The energy functional to be minimized is defined by the weighted sum of three terms, namely an L2 fidelity term for the noise component, a Tikhonov regularization term for the smooth component and a Total Variation (TV)-like non-convex term for the piecewise constant component. The last term is parametrized such that the free scalar parameter allows to tune its degree of non- convexity and, hence, to separate the piecewise constant component more effectively than by using a classical convex TV regularizer without renouncing to convexity of the total energy functional. A method is also presented for selecting the two regularization parameters. The unique solution of the proposed variational model is determined by means of an efficient ADMM-based minimization algorithm. Numerical experiments show a nearly perfect separation of the different components

Agroforestry & Adaptation to Climate Change

Agroforestry is mentioned in the Adaptation Strategy or Adaptation Plan of ONLY 11 Member States. This is despite extensive scientific literature on using agroforestry systems to help adapt agriculture and forestry to climate change. There is also a FAO guide on how to include both forestry and agroforestry in National Adaptation Plans. EURAF suggests that the Adaptation Plans of Czechia, France, Italy and Slovakia are examples of good practice, and provides guidance for other countries on how they can include agroforestry measures related to i) improved carbon sequestration; ii) reduced soil erosion, increased fertility and resource use efficiency; iii) greater resistance to droughts and floods; iv) diversified landscapes and biodiversity; v) reduced pest and disease pressure; vi) maintained crop yields and animal welfare; vii) increased resilience to extreme events - including wildfires and storms; viii) improved economic diversity and benefits; and ix) reduced groundwater and air pollution.EURAF Policy Briefing #2

In vivo assessment of leucine stimulated glucose uptake in brown adipose tissue

Activation of brown adipose tissue in mice, through the use of the amino acid leucine, was investigated. Brown adipose tissue has become a topic of interest in recent years, as activation of this tissue has been proposed as a potential target for obesity and type 2 diabetes treatment. This is because activation requires large amounts of energy, as well as circulating glucose, and stores of triglycerides. Previous work involving brown adipose tissue activation focuses on drugs with a known beta-adrenergic stimulus, which is one method of activation of brown adipose tissue, but few focus on potential dietary treatment. In order to assess activation due to leucine, 18F-FDG uptake was measured using positron emission tomography after treatment with leucine. Using an analysis method of calculating standardized uptake value and maximum standardized uptake value, the level of 18F-FDG uptake was quantified and used to judge activation. It was shown that leucine causes an additional increase to brown adipose tissue activation in a hyperglycaemic state. This finding opens the door for future research involving the method of action of leucine or testing if leucine treatment has the potential to treat hyperglycaemia

Variational Methods and Numerical Algorithms for Geometry Processing

In this work we address the problem of shape partitioning which enables the decomposition of an arbitrary topology object into smaller and more manageable pieces called partitions. Several applications in Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufactury (CAM) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) rely on object partitioning that provides a high level insight of the data useful for further processing. In particular, we are interested in 2-manifold partitioning, since the boundaries of tangible physical objects can be mathematically defined by two-dimensional manifolds embedded into three-dimensional Euclidean space. To that aim, a preliminary shape analysis is performed based on shape characterizing scalar/vector functions defined on a closed Riemannian 2-manifold. The detected shape features are used to drive the partitioning process into two directions – a human-based partitioning and a thickness-based partitioning. In particular, we focus on the Shape Diameter Function that recovers volumetric information from the surface thus providing a natural link between the object’s volume and its boundary, we consider the spectral decomposition of suitably-defined affinity matrices which provides multi-dimensional spectral coordinates of the object’s vertices, and we introduce a novel basis of sparse and localized quasi-eigenfunctions of the Laplace-Beltrami operator called Lp Compressed Manifold Modes. The partitioning problem, which can be considered as a particular inverse problem, is formulated as a variational regularization problem whose solution provides the so-called piecewise constant/smooth partitioning function. The functional to be minimized consists of a fidelity term to a given data set and a regularization term which promotes sparsity, such as for example, Lp norm with p ∈ (0, 1) and other parameterized, non-convex penalty functions with positive parameter, which controls the degree of non-convexity. The proposed partitioning variational models, inspired on the well-known Mumford Shah models for recovering piecewise smooth/constant functions, incorporate a non-convex regularizer for minimizing the boundary lengths. The derived non-convex non-smooth optimization problems are solved by efficient numerical algorithms based on Proximal Forward-Backward Splitting and Alternating Directions Method of Multipliers strategies, also employing Convex Non-Convex approaches. Finally, we investigate the application of surface partitioning to patch-based surface quadrangulation. To that aim the 2-manifold is first partitioned into zero-genus patches that capture the object’s arbitrary topology, then for each patch a quad-based minimal surface is created and evolved by a Lagrangian-based PDE evolution model to the original shape to obtain the final semi-regular quad mesh. The evolution is supervised by asymptotically area-uniform tangential redistribution for the quads

A Unified Surface Geometric Framework for Feature-Aware Denoising, Hole Filling and Context-Aware Completion

Technologies for 3D data acquisition and 3D printing have enormously developed in the past few years, and, consequently, the demand for 3D virtual twins of the original scanned objects has increased. In this context, feature-aware denoising, hole filling and context-aware completion are three essential (but far from trivial) tasks. In this work, they are integrated within a geometric framework and realized through a unified variational model aiming at recovering triangulated surfaces from scanned, damaged and possibly incomplete noisy observations. The underlying non-convex optimization problem incorporates two regularisation terms: a discrete approximation of the Willmore energy forcing local sphericity and suited for the recovery of rounded features, and an approximation of the l(0) pseudo-norm penalty favouring sparsity in the normal variation. The proposed numerical method solving the model is parameterization-free, avoids expensive implicit volumebased computations and based on the efficient use of the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers. Experiments show how the proposed framework can provide a robust and elegant solution suited for accurate restorations even in the presence of severe random noise and large damaged areas

Entertaining Education: Teaching National History in Mexican State-Sponsored Comic Books and Telenovelas, 1963 to 1996

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. September 2013. Major: History. Advisors: Pilcher Jeffrey, McNamara Patrick. 1 computer file (PDF); vi, 258 pages.Abstract This dissertation examines the political nature of history and popular culture in late-twentieth-century Mexico. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)'s maintained a monopoly on political power for seven decades (1929-2000). It bolstered its political legitimacy by revising the history of the Revolution of 1910 into a unified national pantheon of heroes who formed part of the party's origin myth and by forging a unified post-Revolutionary identity. Cultural historians of Mexico have demonstrated the fundamental role that the PRI's cultural projects played in its political success and its ability to maintain authority for so long; however these studies examine the period before 1968. My dissertation draws on this field's concern with popular culture and political power and extends it by recognizing the centrality of history to Mexican identity and by asking how the PRI employed history and popular culture as a way to mitigate the political consequences of the changes underway in the 1980s and 1990s, a period of neoliberal reforms that alienated large numbers of voters. Furthermore, it asks, did neoliberalism alter the political nature of history, and if so, how? To answer this question I examine the narratives conveyed by two series of historically themed comic books, produced by the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) and nine historical telenovelas, produced by Televisa in cooperation with various state ministries, particularly Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS). The dissertation focuses on three themes in order to illuminate vital features of cultural politics in Mexico at the end of the twentieth century. First, it examines the interplay between historiography and the politics of historically themed entertainment. In other words, it asks how rival interpretations of the past were incorporated into the entertainment-education (edutainment) projects, if at all, and how politics influenced these historical interpretations. Second, the dissertation charts Televisa's and the PRI's progress in learning how to narrate Mexican history in a way that satisfied multiple interests: generating support for the ruling party and profits for Televisa, capturing the interest of audiences, and withstanding the scrutiny of professional scholars. In this endeavor they sought a careful balance between fact and fiction. The dissertation demonstrates not only the continuing political nature of historical narratives in Mexico, but also argues that their impact could not always be anticipated. Consumed in different political contexts, the didactic repetition of appeals to the past highlighted the PRI's departure from revolutionary ideals instead of linking their legitimacy to it. Finally, the dissertation examines the relationship between the public and private cultural sectors, through an analysis of state ministries - SEP, IMSS, National Defense, National Lottery - and the private sector, particularly Televisa. Together IMSS and Televisa produced four telenovelas, but economic changes in the 1990s created conditions that made further projects untenable. For Televisa, these economic changes were the result of increased industry competition, internal concerns, and depleted financial government sponsorship. For the PRI, the expenditure no longer generated legitimacy as a link to the nation's past, but symbolized the waste of a party that had maintained its power through corporatism. Though the PRI and Televisa attempted to use the past to generate political legitimacy, ultimately it was unable to mitigate the fracturing that occurred in the late twentieth century as a result of their transition from corporatism to neoliberalism