Impact of online professional development in the work environment

Online distance education programs are populated by adult learners who try to continue or complete their education without having to leave their jobs or places of residence. Their work environment becomes not just their working place, but also the labs where they apply new knowledge. The general expectation is that after graduation they will make an impact in their work environment through their job and through interacting with peers and supervisors. This study explored the influence that K-12 teachers had in their work environment as they pursued and graduated from an online Masters program in Education. The study showed the impact that the participants have and how they become agents of change in their immediate workplace.publishedpeer reviewe

Commensurability classes of (-2,3,n) pretzel knot complements

Let K be a hyperbolic (-2,3,n) pretzel knot and M = S^3 K its complement. For these knots, we verify a conjecture of Reid and Walsh: there are at most three knot complements in the commensurability class of M. Indeed, if n \neq 7, we show that M is the unique knot complement in its class. We include examples to illustrate how our methods apply to a broad class of Montesinos knots.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Human computer interaction for international development: past present and future

Recent years have seen a burgeoning interest in research into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of developing regions, particularly into how such ICTs might be appropriately designed to meet the unique user and infrastructural requirements that we encounter in these cross-cultural environments. This emerging field, known to some as HCI4D, is the product of a diverse set of origins. As such, it can often be difficult to navigate prior work, and/or to piece together a broad picture of what the field looks like as a whole. In this paper, we aim to contextualize HCI4D—to give it some historical background, to review its existing literature spanning a number of research traditions, to discuss some of its key issues arising from the work done so far, and to suggest some major research objectives for the future

DNA methylation biomarkers for esophageal adenocarcinoma and precursor disease

Esophageal adenocarcinoma has one of the poorest outcomes of all solid tumors, attributable, at least in part, to lack of an early stage diagnostic test. Aberrant methylation is an early and frequent event in carcinogenesis providing an opportunity for early cancer detection. The overall aim of this thesis is to identify and validate regions of aberrant methylation as a biomarker for early detection of esophageal adenocarcinoma and the dysplastic stages of its precursor disease, Barrett’s esophagus. By using well-classified patient data and stringent, quality controlled biospecimen selection for training and validation cohorts, I found regions of diseaseassociated aberrant methylation that are novel for esophageal carcinogenesis. With comprehensive technical and independent validation by targeted amplicon sequencing and whole genome methylation profiling of a large external validation cohort, I demonstrated potential utility of these target regions for identification of intervention requiring disease. For subsequent blood investigation, all target regions are unmethylated in peripheral blood from healthy patients and amplification assays for targeted sequencing are suitable for degraded, shorter fragments of cell-free circulating DNA in blood. I proposed a panel of three methylation biomarkers (TUBA3FP, VANGL2, ARL10) for identification of intervention requiring disease, reporting 100% sensitivity and 84.6% specificity and demonstrated biomarker application for prediction of disease progression as well as utility for monitoring disease status with treatment. I was also able to show utility for predicting the necessity of treatment for low-grade dysplasia, which is controversial in guidelines worldwide. By performing genome-wide methylation and expression profiling, as well as cancer-associated mutation screening on single tissue biopsies from all stages of the metaplasia-dysplasiaadenocarcinoma sequence, I was able to gain a more complete understanding of the genetic and epigenetic changes occurring in esophageal adenocarcinogenesis. The research presented in this thesis demonstrates that I have been able to propose potentially clinically valuable methylation biomarkers for the detection of intervention-requiring disease, with potential application for non-invasive, high-risk population screening for identification of esophageal adenocarcinoma at an early, treatable stage

Young women's negotiation of multiple fields of femininity and physicality in physical activity and Physical Education in an international school in Taiwan

Gender research over the past three decades has emphasised the socially constructed nature of experience in physical activity. Numerous studies have explored the influence of cultural, social, economic and political influences on young women's understandings of their bodies, physical activity, sport and physical education, although this research is limited to a focus on the western context. As a New Zealand physical education teacher in an international school in Taiwan, I set out to investigate the physical activity experiences of young women attending this school and the associated implications for teaching physical education. My study involved a focus group and in-depth interviews with four young women. I adopted a Bourdieudian approach in my data analysis in order to investigate ways in which the young women negotiated norms, rules, practices and expectations of femininity and physicality within and across multiple fields. A significant presence of an 'Asian mindset' was highlighted, which presented a focus on academic achievement and traditional Taiwanese forms of appropriate femininity and physicality. Resulting valuation systems often conflicted with those present in the physical education class. The findings revealed young women negotiated these value systems through various means. Some chose to accept and embody these values limiting their engagement in physical education, while other young women were empowered to challenge them, enhancing their engagement in physical education. This study contributes to gender and physical education research as it offers a perspective of the diverse nature of young women's experiences in physical activity within a non-western context

Predicting Post-Fire Change in West Virginia, USA from Remotely-Sensed Data

Prescribed burning is used in West Virginia, USA to return the important disturbance process of fire to oak and oak-pine forests. Species composition and structure are often the main goals for re-establishing fire with less emphasis on fuel reduction or reducing catastrophic wildfire. In planning prescribed fires land managers could benefit from the ability to predict mortality to overstory trees. In this study, wildfires and prescribed fires in West Virginia were examined to determine if specific landscape and terrain characteristics were associated with patches of high/moderate post-fire change. Using the ensemble machine learning approach of Random Forest, we determined that linear aspect was the most important variable associated with high/moderate post-fire change patches, followed by hillshade, aspect as class, heat load index, slope/aspect ratio (sine transformed), average roughness, and slope in degrees. These findings were then applied to a statewide spatial model for predicting post-fire change. Our results will help land managers contemplating the use of prescribed fire to spatially target landscape planning and restoration sites and better estimate potential post-fire effects

Virtually There: A Phenomenological Study of Secondary Students and Their Engagement with Virtual Reality Field Trips

The study seeks to inform solution to the lack of student exposure to frequent, culturally enriching field trips in school. To address the concern of limited learning through school field trips, this phenomenological study seeks to explore the lived experiences of virtual reality field trips for secondary students. The study seeks to examine how students respond emotionally, physically, and cognitively to the use of virtual reality within the classroom. Data analysis consists of observing, interviewing, and assessing students as they engage in and complete a virtual reality field trip. The three research domains are transcribed and analyzed to better understand how students respond in a virtual field trip. The results will lead to further studies on the use of virtual reality field trips as a teaching strategy to improve student learning