What Is The Impact Of Effective Questioning And Critical, Relevant Conversations On Sixth Grade Science Students’ Agentic Engagement?

The research question in this project was, “What is the impact of effective questioning and critical, relevant conversations on sixth grade science students’ agentic engagement?” It documents a teacher’s investigation into the impact of two isolated components, effective questioning and relevant conversations, on the agentic engagement of a group of sixth grade students. The author describes the outcomes of data collection using randomized student agentic engagement surveys. She outlines the successes and struggles that were realized during the process as well as the realization that an isolated component or two does not make a significant change in agentic engagement

Using Reflexivity to Tame our Subjectivities, Identify our Positionalities, and Explore Our Identities

Presenters will discuss how to utilize reflexivity in an effort to assess the roles subjectivity, positionality, and identity play in qualitative and evaluation research. Presenters will discuss their experiences conducting qualitative and evaluation research as both graduate students and professor researchers. In addition, participants will analyze their subjectivities, positionalities, and identities while identifying reflexive practices that have been most effective

Interim to Permanent Chair: Leaders for Today

The work of a department chair is demanding and rewarding. However, when stepping into this role on an interim basis, one is faced with the same responsibilities that a permanent chair must endure. The presenters will share lessons learned from being interim chairs, afterwards providing tips for a successful transition

Non-symmetric liquid crystal dimer containing a carbohydrate-based moiety

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Working Memory Difficulties and Eligibility for K-12 Special Education

Working memory (WM) has long been associated with deficiencies in reading. Approximately 35% of students in the United States who receive special education services do so under the category of specific learning disability (SLD). The study\u27s theoretical underpinning was Baddeley\u27s model of WM; previous research revealed a significant literature gap regarding how WM difficulties affect eligibility for special education under the category of SLD in reading. In this quasi-experimental study, a purposive sample was taken from archival data of two groups of K-12 students who had been referred for special education eligibility evaluation: The two groups were students evaluated for SLD in reading eligibility who (a) did not meet criteria and (b) did meet criteria. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to determine whether a significant difference existed between the two group\u27s score differences between a measure of global intelligence and WM. Archival Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th Edition, Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd Edition, or Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, 3rd Edition scores were used. Although no significant difference was evidenced between global intelligence and WM, the group that did not meet SLD criteria had significantly better WM scores than the group that was found eligible for SLD. By better understanding the relationship between WM and special education eligibility, practitioners may be able to implement more meaningful, better targeted research based interventions for enhancing learning outcomes for students with reading SLD, a group at high risk for high school drop out

‘Attractive Grace’: The Role of Appearance in the Evangelical Ideology of Femininity

This thesis, ‘Attractive Grace’: The Role of Appearance in the Evangelical Ideology of Femininity, will offer an original contribution to research in so far as it focuses on the specific and, to date, under-researched experiences of young women in evangelical churches. It will argue that the way young women attempt to conform to the ideology of evangelical Christian femininity promotes not so much young women’s faith in the kerygma of the Gospel, but in the rewards of attaining an appearance in compliance with a specific body-aesthetic. Yet, Lisa Isherwood's theology, articulated in her recent book The Fat Jesus (2007) and other texts, offers hope that the evangelical Christian woman can embrace both her body and her sexuality, despite the social, cultural, and spiritual pressure on women produced by the beauty and diet industries, as exposed by Natasha Walter and Naomi Wolf in their studies of those closely-related industries. The thesis seeks, then, to explore what it means for the evangelical Christian woman to feel acceptable before God and other Christians when her body, diet, beauty, and sexuality as a whole are seen as a visual indicator of her Christian self-discipline, virtue, and faith, and how Christian evangelical feminist theology can help us address and revisit this oppressive ideology. It also must be considered how the evangelical Christian church can better support women who are struggling with a degree of low self-esteem and body dysmorphia. For these latter might, in fact, be exacerbated by evangelical missions such as Gwen Shamblin’s Weigh Down Diet (2002) and Christian dating sites such as Christian Mingle, rather than finding emotional healing and freedom through the salvific works of Christ. It is not that enhancement of female appearance should not be a source of pleasure and confidence, but rather that Christian feminist theology can be read as suggesting how an aesthetically enhanced female appearance need not be the precondition of acceptance before God, self, and other Christians

Normocalcemic parathyroid carcinoma: an unusual clinical presentation

BACKGROUND: Parathyroid carcinoma is a rare cause of primary hyperparathyroidism and may be associated with significant disease related morbidity and mortality. Preoperative diagnosis remains a challenge, which may jeopardize appropriate and successful patient treatment. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of parathyroid carcinoma diagnosed in a 60-year-old woman that presented with a tender nodule located at the left lower thyroid pole and had been present for several years. Ultrasound examination revealed a 2.7 × 1.6 × 2.7 cm mass within the lower left lobe of the thyroid with cystic and solid areas. Lab measurement of the intact PTH level revealed it to be three times the upper limit of normal and the serum calcium level was within normal limits. A left thyroid lobectomy and isthmusectomy was carried out. Histopathological evaluation was diagnostic for a parathyroid carcinoma. At greater than two years of follow-up, the patient has had no evidence of disease recurrence and her serum PTH and calcium levels have remained within normal. CONCLUSION: Parathyroid carcinoma is a rare endocrine tumor which must be considered in the differential diagnosis of a nodular thyroid mass. En bloc resection remains the treatment of choice for this malignancy. Disease prognosis is influenced by the extent of the initial resection, the presence of metastases, and adequate long-term follow-up

Investigating the Diversity of Wolbachia across the Spiny Ants (Polyrhachis)

Among insects, Wolbachia is an exceedingly common bacterial endosymbiont with a range of consequences of infection. Despite the frequency of Wolbachia infection, very little is known about this bacteria\u27s diversity and role within hosts, especially within ant hosts. In this study, we analyze the occurrence and diversity of Wolbachia across the spiny ants (Polyrhachis), a large and geographically diverse genus. Polyrhachis samples from throughout the host genus\u27 phylogenetic and biogeographical range were first screened for single infections of Wolbachia using the wsp gene and Sanger sequencing. The multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme was then used on these singly infected samples to identify the Wolbachia strains. A Wolbachia phylogeny was inferred from the Polyrhachis samples analyzed in this study as well as other Formicidae MLST profiles from the MLST online database. We hypothesized that three key host factors were impacting Wolbachia diversity within the Polyrhachis genus: biogeography, phylogeny, and species level. The results suggest that the phylogeny and biogeography of Polyrhachis hosts have no impact on Wolbachia diversity; however, species level may have some limited influence. Additionally, Wolbachia strains appear to group according to being either Old World or New World strains. Among the taxa able to form complete MLST allelic profiles, all twenty are seemingly new strains