MS-084: Letters of Gerald Koster, World War II

The collection is compromised mainly of letters written by Gerald Koster home to his family in West Toledo, Ohio. The letters follow Koster through training in Great Lakes, Illinois and into combat as well as giving a fairly complete portrait of life on board ship. While Koster’s letters to his parents focus on naval operations and descriptions of military life, those addressed to his younger sister, Phyllis, include more information and queries regarding friends, family, and neighbors on the home front. Koster is very careful about censoring; few of his letters have been edited. As the war continues, he becomes more critical of the Navy and the handling of the war in general. His last letters from Japan are particularly critical and illustrate the frustration Gerald felt after being in the Navy for three years. Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/findingaidsall/1076/thumbnail.jp

MS-085: Mary Dolheimer Collection of Women’s Commission Papers (1985- 2001)

The contents of the collection include reports, memos, minutes, agenda, budget reports, grant requests and other various miscellaneous materials from the Women’s Commission’s long tenure on campus. Included are the Climate Study of 1986 and the Reassessment that followed in 1990. Also included are minutes from subcommittees tasked with budget concerns, planning the annual Women’s Dinner or other current concerns of the Commission that year. A History of the Women’s Commission written by the summer intern Meredith Bowne during the summer of 1996 is included and is a good source on how to approach the collection as a whole. Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/findingaidsall/1077/thumbnail.jp

The chromatic index of strongly regular graphs

We determine (partly by computer search) the chromatic index (edge-chromatic number) of many strongly regular graphs (SRGs), including the SRGs of degree $k \leq 18$ and their complements, the Latin square graphs and their complements, and the triangular graphs and their complements. Moreover, using a recent result of Ferber and Jain it is shown that an SRG of even order $n$, which is not the block graph of a Steiner 2-design or its complement, has chromatic index $k$, when $n$ is big enough. Except for the Petersen graph, all investigated connected SRGs of even order have chromatic index equal to their degree, i.e., they are class 1, and we conjecture that this is the case for all connected SRGs of even order.Comment: 10 page

A detailed analysis of coaching in Teacher-Child Interaction Training (TCIT)

Teacher-Child Interaction Training (TCIT) is a school-based prevention program in which teachers are taught to use basic principles of behavior modification in the classroom to prevent and reduce problem behaviors in young children. A key aspect of the effectiveness of TCIT is the in-vivo coaching, which allows for immediate feedback during the natural flow of teaching activities with children. The purpose of the current study is two-fold: a) to support the research on the effectiveness of the DePaul TCIT method in preschool classrooms and b) to analyze the content and quality of coaching statements. The intervention was introduced sequentially within a multiple baseline design across two preschool classrooms. Systematic visual analyses of the graphs demonstrated that the teachers increased their positive attention skills. Coaching data suggested that the majority of content of the coach’s statements involved the same positive attention skills taught to the teachers, such as labeled praises. Additionally, the data suggested that the content of the coach’s comments were related to the experience level of the teacher and the specific treatment phase

Play Therapist\u27s Perspectives on Culturally Sensitive Play Therapy

The Association for Play Therapy (2009) promotes play therapists’ awareness of personal cultural identity, obtaining continuous cultural knowledge, and displaying culturally appropriate practices. Play therapy research includes studies on working with specific culturally diverse populations. Founding play therapists, such as Virginia Axline, have made suggestions for toys that should be included in the therapist’s playroom. This exploratory survey inquired about play therapists’ perceptions of culturally sensitive play therapy, materials used, and perceived barriers to implementing culturally sensitive play therapy. Members of the Association of Play Therapy with at least master’s degree (n=385) reported on their ability to incorporate culturally sensitive materials into their playroom, most commonly arts and crafts materials. Participants noted less often the use of culturally sensitive board games and culturally sensitive dress up clothes, making them the least commonly used. Play therapists reported encountering barriers to implementing culturally sensitive materials, such as costs, availability, and space. Having space, specifically a designed play therapy room, was significantly related to the use or availability of culturally sensitive items, such as dramatic play materials, dollhouse and/or materials, and sand tray materials. Additionally, an individual’s status as a registered play therapist was related to the use of a dollhouse and/or materials. Some play therapists were able to overcome barriers through education, personally purchasing materials, and networking. Overall, the play therapist’s ethnicity, education and licensure type did not relate to their use of culturally sensitive play therapy materials. Play therapists could benefit from training on how to locate, incorporate, and use costs effective culturally sensitive materials. It was clear that play therapists valued continuing education and kept current on play therapy recommendations, indicating that those forums would be the most beneficial avenue to offer information on culturally sensitive material

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationClear cell sarcoma (CCS) is a rare but devastating malignancy with a proclivity for young adults, disturbingly low survivability, and recalcitrance to therapies. Due to the low incidence, it remains difficult to investigate the mechanism behind CCS. By generating an accurate model system that recapitulates human tumor dynamics, there is hope that the molecular mechanisms required for tumor initiation and maintenance can be identified and lead to more directed, successful therapeutic options. CCS achieves its clinically aggressive phenotype from the expression of a single oncogene, EWS-ATF1. This aberrant transcription factor drives clear cell tumorigenesis seemingly from deregulation of ATF1 signaling alone. The impact of CCS on the general population far exceeds its somewhat low prevalence due to its similarities to another aggressive tumor, malignant melanoma. CCS and melanoma resemble one another in morphology, immunohistochemistry, and overall clinical behavior. A targeted mouse model was developed that conditionally expresses human EWSATF1 cDNA under control of a ubiquitous promoter. Expression of EWS-ATF1 leads to 100% tumor formation with extraordinary speed, when induced in a permissive cell type. These tumors resembled human CCS in morphology, immunohistochemistry, and gene expression. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) were identified as the main source of traditional CCS. The EWS-ATF1 transcript proved capable of driving expression of melanocytic markers within MSCs, inducing the melanoma expression profile. When tumorigenesis was initiated in more differentiated cell types, the tumors did not resemble the traditional CCS phenotype. Therefore, differentiation state of the cell of origin proved critical in shaping tumor phenotype. It is thought that melanoma and CCS share a cell of origin. To test this, EWSATF1 was expressed within the melanocytic lineage, and gave rise to tumors 1 year post induction, with a low prevalence. These tumors mimic a rare dermal variant of CCS. Due to the long latency between EWS-ATF1 initiation and tumor formation, it is probable that EWS-ATF1 alone is not sufficient to drive dermal CCS. This work has identified EWS-ATF1 as the driving oncogene behind both clear cell tumor formation and the melanocytic phenotype. This model can be used to investigate novel therapeutics for a more targeted treatment of CCS

Play Therapist\u27s Perspectives on Culturally Sensitive Play Therapy

The Association for Play Therapy (2009) promotes play therapists’ awareness of personal cultural identity, obtaining continuous cultural knowledge, and displaying culturally appropriate practices. Play therapy research includes studies on working with specific culturally diverse populations. Founding play therapists, such as Virginia Axline, have made suggestions for toys that should be included in the therapist’s playroom. This exploratory survey inquired about play therapists’ perceptions of culturally sensitive play therapy, materials used, and perceived barriers to implementing culturally sensitive play therapy. Members of the Association of Play Therapy with at least master’s degree (n=385) reported on their ability to incorporate culturally sensitive materials into their playroom, most commonly arts and crafts materials. Participants noted less often the use of culturally sensitive board games and culturally sensitive dress up clothes, making them the least commonly used. Play therapists reported encountering barriers to implementing culturally sensitive materials, such as costs, availability, and space. Having space, specifically a designed play therapy room, was significantly related to the use or availability of culturally sensitive items, such as dramatic play materials, dollhouse and/or materials, and sand tray materials. Additionally, an individual’s status as a registered play therapist was related to the use of a dollhouse and/or materials. Some play therapists were able to overcome barriers through education, personally purchasing materials, and networking. Overall, the play therapist’s ethnicity, education and licensure type did not relate to their use of culturally sensitive play therapy materials. Play therapists could benefit from training on how to locate, incorporate, and use costs effective culturally sensitive materials. It was clear that play therapists valued continuing education and kept current on play therapy recommendations, indicating that those forums would be the most beneficial avenue to offer information on culturally sensitive material

Electronic Checklist Implementation: Transition Training and GA Usage

In this conceptual study, the authors explore the development of checklists for fixed-wing aviation operations, including their utility in accomplishing identified goals and adherence to human factors design principles. Furthermore, the authors review the current status of the aviation industry transition to electronic checklists, comparing them to their paper counterparts, and assess adherence to human factors principles in electronic checklist design and implementation. The role of electronic checklists in general aviation operations and safety implications of the electronic transition are discussed. Brief Summary of Research: Anecdotal evidence suggests that more and more pilots at both the general aviation (GA) and commercial pilot levels are utilizing electronic checklists for operations, rather than paper-based checklists. Empirical research has focused on isolated components of the implementation process and raised the specter of safety and situational considerations in the transition from paper-based to electronic checklist; however, there have been few attempts to synthesize the available findings on electronic checklist transition and relate the “state of the industry” in this regard to human factors design principles. In the present conceptual study, the authors review available literature on the paper-to-electronic checklist transition, identify the status of electronic checklists in general aviation operations, and evaluate both paper-based and electronic checklists in relation to identified human factors design principles. Based on these results, the authors propose revisions to the electronic checklist transition and usage processes and identify safety-critical next steps