A Scenic Design for Neil LaBute\u27s The Shape of Things

The Shape of Things is not a play that would use a traditional box set. The biggest challenge was trying to create and then draft a non-traditional set that could be used for ten distinct locations. This paper is an analysis of the play from the perspective of a scenic designer. It includes past production information, an in-depth look at how religion affects the story and a journal following the show from design to strike. The appendices included various images rejected and/or used for the projection screens, design plans used for construction and photos from the production

Assessment of father\u27s needs in early intervention care

Survey research was conducted to identify fathers\u27 need in early intervention care and to establish if those needs are being met by current programming. Fathers\u27 time spent in services was also examined to determine if a relationship exists between time spent in services and perceptions of met needs. [This is an excerpt from the abstract. For the complete abstract, please see the document.

Is this Academy a place where teacher agency can flourish?

This thesis is concerned with teacher agency and how this is achieved within the autonomous schooling model of England’s academies programme. The enquiry draws upon the empirical work conducted in a single case study sponsored academy (‘Bucklands Academy’ ) in 2012. The research was conducted in order to investigate whether the autonomy and freedoms afforded to one such school extended to the teachers working in it and how this affected their professional roles as classroom educators. The thesis begins by sharing my research interest, which relates to whether greater levels of school autonomy enhance the pedagogical approaches taken by teachers. This interest then develops towards the notion of teacher agency and asks the fundamental research question: Is this academy a place where teacher agency can flourish? The study sets out the policy context for academies in England, including an analysis of the historical development of state secondary schooling since 1944. It is shown that the continued ‘need’ to develop a new approach to schooling, eventually in the form of academies, started with claims of unfairness, discrimination and waste of talent brought about by the tripartite system of schooling established by the 1944 Education Act. It then analyses later concerns about the alleged failure of the comprehensive system to achieve its aim of raising standards for all children. The political contexts of state schooling are considered, and particular attention is given to the neo-liberal ideology developed after 1979 of ‘rolling back the state’, introducing choice and competition between schools and increasing the role of the private sector in the delivery of public services. However, the scope of the investigation is not restricted to the national policy context; the research interest lies in establishing what the key reforms have meant for teachers in the classroom and how this has affected the agency they achieve. A number of themes emerged in the review of key literature, including school autonomy, teacher professionalism, the policy to practice paradox and discourses around the academies programme. This thesis sets out a clear theoretical position, which draws upon the critical realist social theory developed by Roy Bhaskar and Margaret Archer. This approach offers a centrist alternative to what Pring (2000b) describes as the false dualism of the two epistemological positions of educational research. Critical realism posits that the world is real and that its structures exist beyond our understanding, but that our knowledge of this stratified world is socially constructed. Within the structure-agency debate, the ecological view of agency developed by Priestley et al. (2015) is adopted, which sees it as being context-dependent and something that individuals achieve in concrete settings. The empirical work within this study consisted of semi-structured interviews, observations and documentary analysis. The main findings from the research are that the case-study school had significant autonomy to develop its own policies and approaches to raising standards. However, this autonomy did not extend to any significant extent below the level of the academy sponsors and the principal. The school had developed a highly performative culture where teachers’ work was centrally directed and through which they were held highly accountable for the attainment of their students. It was found that the way in which autonomy was distributed throughout the school affected the agency of key stakeholders. The sponsors achieved high levels of agency, the principal achieved restricted agency and teachers achieved limited agency. It was found that teachers took one of two approaches to a new curricular reform being introduced by the academy sponsors. They either adopted it or used their limited agency to modify it so that it aligned more closely with their own educational philosophies. There was no indication that any teachers rejected the school’s reform, and it is suggested that this may have been the result of them subordinating this key policy to their ultimate concern of working in a school recognised by school inspectors to be highly effective. This thesis concludes that, contrary to the policy rhetoric, teachers working in one sponsored academy may have had less autonomy than those teaching in local authority maintained schools. This in turn affected the agency they achieved, which appears to undermine the original vision and aims of the academies programme. The thesis concludes by offering possible areas for further research which emerged during this study

Promoting literacy : the parent link

This article is written for beginning teachers of the primary grades to provide tools for empowering parents as co-educators in the reading curriculum. Parents play a crucial role in the development of their child\u27s learning. By inviting them to take joint ownership in their child\u27s education, a teacher can build a bridge of communication that will stimulate success for both parent and child. An overview of how to begin to build the bridge with parents and empowering those parents to become involved is presented. Then, several strategies for decoding text and boosting a child\u27s sight word vocabulary will be discussed. The final component of this article will present comprehension boosting strategies

Leading-edge slat optimization for maximum airfoil lift

A numerical procedure for determining the position (horizontal location, vertical location, and deflection) of a leading edge slat that maximizes the lift of multielement airfoils is presented. The structure of the flow field is calculated by iteratively coupling potential flow and boundary layer analysis. This aerodynamic calculation is combined with a constrained function minimization analysis to determine the position of a leading edge slat so that the suction peak on the nose of the main airfoil is minized. The slat position is constrained by the numerical procedure to ensure an attached boundary layer on the upper surface of the slat and to ensure negligible interaction between the slat wake and the boundary layer on the upper surface of the main airfoil. The highest angle attack at which this optimized slat position can maintain attached flow on the main airfoil defines the optimum slat position for maximum lift. The design method is demonstrated for an airfoil equipped with a leading-edge slat and a trailing edge, single-slotted flap. The theoretical results are compared with experimental data, obtained in the Ames 40 by 80 Foot Wind Tunnel, to verify experimentally the predicted slat position for maximum lift. The experimentally optimized slat position is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction, indicating that the theoretical procedure is a feasible design method

Numerical solution of the time-dependent compressible Navier-Stokes equations in inlet regions

The results of a study to determine the effects of compressibility on the viscous flow through channels that have straight, parallel walls are presented. Two channel configurations are considered, the flow between two semi-infinite flat plates with uniform flow prescribed at the inlet plane and a cascade of semi-infinite flat plates with uniform flow introduced upstream. The flow field is modeled by using the time dependent, compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Time dependent solutions are obtained by using an explicit finite difference technique which advances the pressure on near field subsonic boundaries such that accurate steady state solutions are obtained. Steady state results at Reynolds number 20 and 150 are presented for Mach numbers between 0.09 and 0.36 and compared with the incompressible solutions of previous studies

Psychological Aspects of Tobacco Control

World-wide, tobacco use is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. However, the health effects of smoking are reversible, making smoking cessation an important target for public health policy. ‘Tobacco control’ is a field of public health science which is dedicated to reducing tobacco use, and thereby reducing cigarette-related morbidity and mortality. In order for tobacco control to be effective, it is necessary for policy-makers to understand the personal and interpersonal factors which encourage people to smoke, factors which motivate smokers to quit (e.g. health, social pressure, cost), and the personal and population-level methods which are most effective at encouraging and prolonging quit attempts. Research has identified that social norms, mental health, and individual personality factors are most associated with smoking uptake and so interventions which reduce social smoking (e.g. smoking bans, plain packaging) would be most effective at preventing uptake. Conversely, the use of cigarettes is maintained by nicotine addiction and quit attempts are often motivated by health concerns, social pressure and the cost of tobacco products. As such, interventions which address physiological and behavioural addiction inherent in tobacco product use (such as nicotine replacement therapy combined with counselling), create social pressure to stop (such as mass media campaigns), or increase the cost of tobacco products, are most likely to be effective at encouraging quit attempts

Pre-Service Foreign Language Teachers’ Awareness of White Privilege

Over the last several years teacher preparation programs have strived to adequately prepare pre-service teachers for more diverse populations in the classroom. However, little research has been done to examine the attitudes of pre-service teachers related to white privilege. This is the qualitative report from a mixed-methods study which examined those attitudes, the quantitative report has previously been published. The quantitative portion employed a pre/post-test survey surrounding interactive activities and found a significant change in participants’ attitudes regarding social issues of privilege, such as racism and sexism (McGowan & Kern, 2014). This paper reports the ways pre-service foreign language teachers examined their understandings of white privilege. Students in a language methods course (N=19) participated in specific activities to explore how they relate privilege and oppression to their own lives and futures as teachers. A grounded theory approach was utilized to analyze the students’ responses to questions regarding the activities. From the analysis, six major themes were discovered. Three themes indicated the affordances pre-service teachers gained from the activities regarding privilege. Whereas, the other three themes indicated possible challenges in regards to privileged thinking. Suggestions for further research include determining the long-term effects of the intervention and extending the instructional intervention length

The LATDYN user's manual

The LATDYN User's Manual presents the capabilities and instructions for the LATDYN (Large Angle Transient DYNamics) computer program. The LATDYN program is a tool for analyzing the controlled or uncontrolled dynamic transient behavior of interconnected deformable multi-body systems which can undergo large angular motions of each body relative other bodies. The program accommodates large structural deformation as well as large rigid body rotations and is applicable, but not limited to, the following areas: (1) development of large flexible space structures; (2) slewing of large space structure components; (3) mechanisms with rigid or elastic components; and (4) robotic manipulations of beam members. Presently the program is limited to two dimensional problems, but in many cases, three dimensional problems can be exactly or approximately reduced to two dimensions. The program uses convected finite elements to affect the large angular motions involved in the analysis. General geometry is permitted. Detailed user input and output specifications are provided and discussed with example runstreams. To date, LATDYN has been configured for CDC/NOS and DEC VAX/VMS machines. All coding is in ANSII-77 FORTRAN. Detailed instructions regarding interfaces with particular computer operating systems and file structures are provided

Calculating the Solar Heat Gain of Window Frames

© 1999 ASHRAE (www.ashrae.org). Published in ASHRAE Transactions, Volume 105, Part 2. For personal use only. Additional reproduction, distribution, or transmission in either print or digital form is not permitted without ASHRAE's prior written permissioIt is not practical to measure the solar heat gain of a window frame. It is more practical to do so by calculation. Typically, the frame solar heat gain is a small component of the total or is small in absolute terms so an approximate method is satisfactory. A simple approach for calculating the solar heat gain coefficient of any opaque window component is developed. The parameters appearing in the expression clearly identify the mechanisms of frame solar gain and indicate the ways in which it can be controlled. A particularly simple expression can be applied to any frame geometry for cases in which the solar radiation is incident normal to the window. This is especially useful because this condition is frequently used for energy rating purposes, code compliance, and design. It is shown that this expression is also valid for off-normal incidence as long as no part of the frame is shaded. An adjustment, based only on frame surface geometry, can be applied if the frame is partially shaded. Sample calculations closely reproduce the results of detailed two-dimensional numerical simulation.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada || Natural Resources Canad