The effect of Responsiveness to Intervention tier 2 on underachieving students in vocabulary development at the secondary level

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A Comparative Study of Behavior in Neonate Gartersnakes, Thamnophis butleri and T. radix (Colubridae), in an Area of Potential Hybridization

An isolated population of Butler’s gartersnake, Thamnophis butleri (Colubridae), in southeastern Wisconsin has recently been listed as Threatened by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. One of the possible reasons for the decline of T. butleri in Wisconsin is pressure from a closely related species, the plains gartersnake, T. radix. The possibility of hybridization between T. butleri and T. radix has received recent attention because T. butleri is threatened in the area where the hybridization may be occurring. This study addresses the issue of hybridization by studying the behavior of neonatal T. butleri born to females originating from areas where the ranges of the species overlap (southeastern Wisconsin), as well as from areas outside the range of T. radix (Michigan and northern Ohio). Neonatal T. radix from northern Illinois were used as a T. radix “control”. Pregnant females were collected from 4 counties in southeastern Wisconsin, with the southernmost county closest to the range of T. radix. I examined antipredator behavior, prey chemosensory responses, prey preference, and morphological size traits. Several hypotheses have been put forth as to the interactions that occur when two species are sympatric, including character displacement, the importance of local ecology, and gene flow. Morphological and genetic evidence support the hypothesis of gene flow between T. butleri and T. radix, but this hypothesis has yet to be tested with only behavioral data. I had several predictions concerning the hypothesis of hybridization in these species: (1) the behaviors of T. butleri in Wisconsin would differ from the behaviors of Michigan and Ohio T. butleri in the direction of being more like T. radix; (2) the behaviors of T. butleri from the different counties and populations in Wisconsin would differ from one another; (3) T. butleri from the northern part of the Wisconsin range, further removed from the range of T. radix, would show behaviors more like Michigan T. butleri and less like T. radix than would T. butleri from the southern part of their range in Wisconsin. Michigan and Ohio T. butleri were heavier and longer than Wisconsin T. butleri, thus making the Wisconsin snakes less like T. radix. Populations within southeastern Wisconsin differed, and snakes from the population closest to T. radix were greater in length and mass than snakes from the population furthest from the range of T. radix. Snakes from Wisconsin were found to be more similar in body condition to T. radix than to Michigan and Ohio T. butleri. Differences were found in antipredator behaviors across the populations of T. butleri from southeastern Wisconsin, with snakes from the population closest to the range of T. radix striking more frequently and therefore more similar to the T. radix studied than to Michigan and Ohio T. butleri. Thamnophis butleri from Michigan and Ohio were more likely to flee than T. butleri from southeastern Wisconsin. Within Wisconsin populations, snakes further removed from T. radix were more likely to flee, and were therefore more similar to Michigan and Ohio T. butleri. Chemosensory preferences of the snakes also differed among the populations of T. butleri from southeastern Wisconsin. Snakes from the southernmost population showed a chemosensory preference for fish over worms, whereas snakes from the northern part of the range showed a chemosensory preference for worms over fish. Hence, the behaviors of T. butleri from the southern part of their range in Wisconsin, closer to the range of T. radix, are more similar to T. radix than are the behaviors of T. butleri elsewhere in their range. The implications of these findings for the conservation and genetic study of Wisconsin T. butleri are discussed

Female Agency in Religious Disassembly of Culture: Where Do Women Fit In?

A study of The Color Purple and Possessing the Secret of Joy as they relate to cultural disassembly and the relationship to missionaries from Western cultures. Some focus is placed on Alice Walker\u27s views on female genital mutilation and how that was impacted by Christian viewpoints. Theoretical perspectives from Homi Bhabha and Chandra Mohanty emphasize the role of so-called third world women in world politics and feminism

Mothers' Experiences of their Child: the Validation of a Self-Report Antenatal and Postnatal Questionnaire

The concept of Mind-Mindedness has important implications for the parenting relationship and infant outcomes (McMahon & Meins, 2012; Meins, Centifanti, Fernyhough, & Fishburn, 2013; Meins et al., 2012). Recent research has indicated that Mind-Mindedness is amenable to change in the antenatal period and thus indicates that targeted interventions should be provided to mothers to improve maternal Mind- Mindedness (Kondel-Laws & Greenwood, 2014; Kondel-Laws, Parkinson, Hensman, & Laws, 2012). However, no expedient method of assessing Mind-Mindedness exists. This study attempts to address this by developing two questionnaires to assess Mind- Mindedness during pregnancy and after birth. The questionnaires were administered via an online survey. The Mind-Mindedness Antenatal Questionnaire (MMAQ) was administered to a sample of 273 pregnant mothers in their first, second and third trimester of pregnancy, whereas, the Mind-Mindedness Postpartum Questionnaire (MMPQ) was administered to 397 mothers with a child between one month and six years old. Participants completed either the MMAQ or MMPQ and a demographic questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) conducted on the MMAQ indicated a three-factor solution. The three subscales (Future Baby, Mother Baby Interaction and Baby’s Feelings) of the MMAQ, as well as the overall total score, showed good internal reliability. An EFA on the MMPQ also indicated a three-factor solution. Good internal reliability was found for two of the subscales (Child’s Mind and Negative Emotions). However, the third subscale (Future Aspirations) had low internal reliability. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess the variables related to the questionnaires in order to start to establish the external reliability and validity of the MMAQ and MMPQ. The concepts underpinning the MMAQ and MMPQ were discussed, as well as, the variables associated with the measures and the clinical implications

Evaluating the relative importance of wordhood cues using statistical learning

Identifying wordlike units in language is typically done by applying a battery of criteria, though how to weight these criteria with respect to one another is currently unknown. We address this question by investigating whether certain criteria are also used as cues for learning an artificial language—if they are, then perhaps they can be relied on more as trustworthy top-down diagnostics. The two criteria for grammatical wordhood that we consider are a unit’s free mobility and its internal immutability. These criteria also map to two cognitive mechanisms that could underlie successful statistical learning: learners might orient themselves around the low transitional probabilities at unit boundaries, or they might seek chunks with high internal transitional probabilities. We find that each criterion has its own facilitatory effect, and learning is best where they both align. This supports the battery-of-criteria approach to diagnosing wordhood, and also suggests that the mechanism behind statistical learning may not be a question of either/or; perhaps the two mechanisms do not compete, but mutually reinforce one another

Quantification of the Impact of Intermittent Renewable Penetration Levels on Power Grid Frequency Performance Using Dynamic Modeling

As the technology behind renewable energy sources becomes more advanced and cost-effective, these sources have become an ever-increasing portion of the generation portfolios of power systems across the country. While the shift away from non-renewable resources is generally considered beneficial, the fact remains that intermittent renewable sources present special challenges associated with their unique operating characteristics. Because of the high variability of intermittent renewables, the frequency performance of the system to which they are connected can degrade. Generators assigned to regulate frequency, keeping it close to the desired 60 Hz, are forced to ramp up and down quickly in order to offset the rise and fall of the variable resources (in addition to the rise and fall of load), causing transient frequency deviations, power swings, major interface transfer variations and other significant issues. This research measures the impact of intermittent renewable resource penetration level on power system frequency performance, and offers methods for managing that performance. Currently, the generally accepted amount of regulation (rapidly-dispatchable reserve, used as a supplement to base generation on a short time scale to avoid performance issues) is 1% of peak load. Because of the high variability associated with intermittent renewables, including wind generation (the focus of this thesis), it is expected that this amount of regulation must increase in order to maintain adequate system frequency performance. Thus, the primary objective of this thesis is to quantify the amount of regulation necessary to maintain adequate frequency performance as a function of the penetration level of wind generation. Presently, balancing resource requirements are computed, in both industry and in the research literature, using static models, which rely entirely on statistical manipulation of net load, failing to capture the intricacies of dynamic system and generator interactions. Using a dynamic model with high temporal resolution data, instead of these statistical models, this thesis confirms the need for additional regulation as wind generation penetration increases. But beyond that, our research demonstrates an exponentially increasing relationship between necessary regulation and wind generation percentage, indicating that, without further technological breakthroughs, there is a practical limit to the amount of wind generation that a typical system can accommodate. Furthermore, we compare our dynamic model results with those of the statistical models, and show that the majority of current statistical models substantially under-predict the necessary amount of regulation to accommodate significant amounts of wind generation. Finally, we verify that the ramping capability of the regulating generators impacts the amount of necessary regulation, although it is generally ignored in current analysis and related literature

Machine Learning Predictions of Electricity Capacity

This research applies machine learning methods to build predictive models of Net Load Imbalance for the Resource Sufficiency Flexible Ramping Requirement in the Western Energy Imbalance Market. Several methods are used in this research, including Reconstructability Analysis, developed in the systems community, and more well-known methods such as Bayesian Networks, Support Vector Regression, and Neural Networks. The aims of the research are to identify predictive variables and obtain a new stand-alone model that improves prediction accuracy and reduces the INC (ability to increase generation) and DEC (ability to decrease generation) Resource Sufficiency Requirements for Western Energy Imbalance Market participants. This research accomplishes these aims. The models built in this paper identify wind forecast, sunrise/sunset and the hour of day as primary predictors of net load imbalance, among other variables, and show that the average size of the INC and DEC capacity requirements can be reduced by over 25% with the margin of error currently used in the industry while also significantly improving closeness and exceedance metrics. The reduction in INC and DEC capacity requirements would yield an approximate cost savings of $4 million annually for one of nineteen Western Energy Imbalance market participants. Reconstructability Analysis performs the best among the machine learning methods tested

Undergoing varicocele repair before assisted reproduction improves pregnancy rate and live birth rate in azoospermic and oligospermic men with a varicocele: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how varicocele repair (VR) impacts pregnancy (PRs) and live birth rates in infertile couples undergoing assisted reproduction wherein the male partner has oligospermia or azoospermia and a history of varicocele. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. SETTING: Not applicable. PATIENT(S): Azoospermic and oligospermic males with varicoceles and in couples undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) with IUI, IVF, or testicular sperm extraction (TESE) with IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). INTERVENTION(S): Measurement of PRs, live birth, and sperm extraction rates. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Odds ratios for the impact of VR on PRs, live birth, and sperm extraction rates for couples undergoing ART. RESULT(S): Seven articles involving a total of 1,241 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that VR improved live birth rates for the oligospermic (odds ratio [OR] = 1.699) and combined oligospermic/azoospermic groups (OR = 1.761). Pregnancy rates were higher in the azoospermic group (OR = 2.336) and combined oligospermic/azoospermic groups (OR = 1.760). Live birth rates were higher for patients undergoing IUI after VR (OR = 8.360). Sperm retrieval rates were higher in persistently azoospermic men after VR (OR = 2.509). CONCLUSION(S): Oligospermic and azoospermic patients with clinical varicocele who undergo VR experience improved live birth rates and PRs with IVF or IVF/ICSI. For persistently azoospermic men after VR requiring TESE for IVF/ICSI, VR improves sperm retrieval rates. Therefore, VR should be considered to have substantial benefits for couples with a clinical varicocele even if oligospermia or azoospermia persists after repair and ART is required

Aging gracefully: social engagement joins exercise and enrichment as a key lifestyle factor in resistance to age-related cognitive decline

Cognitive impairment is a consequence of the normal aging process that effects many species, including humans and rodent models. Decline in hippocampal memory function is especially prominent with age and often reduces quality of life. As the aging population expands, the need for interventional strategies to prevent cognitive decline has become more pressing. Fortunately, several major lifestyle factors have proven effective at combating hippocampal aging, the most well-known of which are environmental enrichment and exercise. While the evidence supporting the beneficial nature of these factors is substantial, a less well-understood factor may also contribute to healthy cognitive aging: social engagement. We review the evidence supporting the role of social engagement in preserving hippocampal function in old age. In elderly humans, high levels of social engagement correlate with better hippocampal function, yet there is a dearth of work to indicate a causative role. Existing rodent literature is also limited but has begun to provide causative evidence and establish candidate mechanisms. Summed together, while many unanswered questions remain, it is clear that social engagement is a viable lifestyle factor for preserving cognitive function in old age. Social integration across the lifespan warrants more investigation and more appreciation when designing living circumstances for the elderly