Capital Improvements to Principal Leadership: The Influence of Relationships on Principals' Perceptions of Self-Efficacy

Thesis advisor: Vincent ChoThis individual case study is part of a larger group study examining how principals benefit from and shape professional capital to improve schools. Principals play a critical role in supporting student learning, while also structuring the culture of the school and mediating external demands. Despite the importance of the school principal, principal dissatisfaction is high and retention rates are low. The job of the principal is intensifying in terms of its complexity and volume of responsibilities. While extant research on teacher social networks makes a strong connection to perceptions of self-efficacy, little research exists regarding principals. This qualitative case study explored how district leaders in one Massachusetts school district focused on principal retention and whether their actions influenced a principal's feelings of self-efficacy. This study is part of a larger study that investigated how principals benefit from and shape professional capital to improve schools. Data were gathered from fourteen semi-structured interviews with district level leaders and principals. Data supported the literature that relationships based in work and friendship with district leaders and colleagues positively influenced principal feelings of self-efficacy. Recommendations include examining the impact of top-down district reforms on principal persistence and innovation. Further investigation needs to be done examining the influence of relationships on specific antecedents of principal self-efficacy.Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education

Perceived Effects of Community Gardening in Lower Mississippi Delta Gardening Participants

This article describes the perceived physical and psychological health impacts of community gardening on participants in the Mississippi Delta. Themes identified include the use of gardening as an educational tool and as a means to increase self-efficacy and responsibility for personal and community health. Additional benefits of gardening as identified by the study include exposure to new types of healthy foods, increased physical activity, and the building of a legacy. Incorporation of gardening into school curriculum could equip young residents with gardening skills and improve the likelihood that community gardens will be maintained

Activation of LTRs from Different Human Endogenous Retrovirus (HERV) Families by the HTLV-1 Tax Protein and T-Cell Activators

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) represent approximately 8% of our genome. HERVs influence cellular gene expression and contribute to normal physiological processes such as cellular differentiation and morphogenesis. HERVs have also been associated with certain pathological conditions, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. As HTLV-1 causes adult T-cell leukemia and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and has been shown to modulate host gene expression mainly through the expression of the powerful Tax transactivator, herein we were interested in looking at the potential modulation capacity of HTLV-1 Tax on HERV expression. In order to evaluate the promoter activity of different HERV LTRs, pHERV-LTR-luc constructs were co-transfected in Jurkat T-cells with a Tax expression vector. Tax expression potently increased the LTR activity of HERV-W8 and HERV-H (MC16). In parallel, Jurkat cells were also stimulated with different T-cell-activating agents and HERV LTRs were observed to respond to different combination of Forskolin, bpV[pic] a protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor, and PMA. Transfection of expression vectors for different Tax mutants in Jurkat cells showed that several transcription factors including CREB appeared to be important for HERV-W8 LTR activation. Deletion mutants were derived from the HERV-W8 LTR and the region from −137 to −123 was found to be important for LTR response following Tax expression in Jurkat cells, while a different region was shown to be required in cells treated with activators. Our results thus demonstrated that HTLV-1 Tax activates several HERV LTRs. This raises the possibility that upregulated HERV expression could be involved in diseases associated with HTLV-1 infection

Disrupting Art Museum Experiences: Interventions in a University Art Museum

In this paper, graduate students in an art education course and their instructor share a project created in response to an exhibition focused on themes of food in their university art museum. Students worked in groups to create interventions designed to offer alternative ways to engage with works of art through experimentation, sensory experiences, participatory practices, and humor. These interventions expand the ways visitors can approach works of art and give openings for participants to include their own voices in the exhibition. They also illustrate the potential for university art museums serve as laboratories on campus that challenge traditional authoritative museum practices and question whose voices are included in museum exhibitions

Hemogram abnormalities in apparently healthy first-time blood donors in Libreville, Gabon.

Background: The objective of this study was to determine complete blood count (CBC) abnormalities in Libreville blood donors to advocate for hemoglobin pre-donation implementation and to take into account CBC results in blood donation qualification. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted with 4573 blood donors in March 2016 and from January to April 2017. CBC was performed using SysmexXP-300TM hematology analyzer (SYSMEX Corporation, Kobe, Japan). Results: Blood donors were predominantly males (83.7%) with an age ranging from 18 to 59 years. The abnormalities of leukocyte, platelet and erythrocyte counts were determined in blood donors. Leukopenia and thrombocytopenia were significantly more common in men than women (29.02% vs 24.4%, p = 0.011 and 16.2% vs 7.5%, p <0.001). Only 1.0% of women and 0.84% of men have leukocytosis, and 0.7% of women and 0.2% of men have thrombocytosis. Anemia was significantly more common in women compared to men (69.4% vs. 45.0%, P <0.001). Normocytic normochromic and normocytic hypochromic anemia were most common among Libreville blood donors with 39.4% and 23.6%; followed by microcytic normochromic (18.7%) and microcytic hypochromic (13.2%) anemia. Normocytic normochromic and normocytic hypochromic anemia were significantly more common in men than in women, whereas microcytic normochromic anemia was more prevalent among women compared to men (34.6% vs. 13.9%, p <0.001). Conclusions: The results of this study clearly show the need to perform a pre-donation hemoglobin test in blood donors and to take into account their hemogram in the blood donation selection process at the Libreville National Blood Transfusion Center. Keywords: Hemogram, Anemia, Blood Donors, Libreville, Gabon

Symmetric microwave potentials for interferometry with thermal atoms on a chip

International audienceA trapped atom interferometer involving state-selective adiabatic potentials with two microwave frequencies on a chip is proposed. We show that this configuration provides a way to achieve a high degree of symmetry between the two arms of the interferometer, which is necessary for coherent splitting and recombination of thermal (i.e., noncondensed) atoms. The resulting interferometer holds promise to achieve high contrast and long coherence time, while avoiding the mean-field interaction issues of interferometers based on trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

East Bay Coalition for the Homeless: Branding Study and Marketing Strategy

There are a number of potential positioning strategies. The two which make the most sense for the EBCH are to “position the EBCH away from others in the category” and to “position the EBCH as unique.” These strategies have the advantage of setting the EBCH apart from the other organizations that address homelessness. Occupying its own “position” in the minds of potential and current donors is not only an effective communications/marketing strategy but also a less costly one because it avoids head-to-head competition and comparisons