A Case Study of Stakeholders’ Motivation to Invest in Classical Christian Education

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to describe the motivation of parents, teachers, and school board members to invest their efforts in classical Christian education in a modern American K-12 school. The theory guiding this study is expectancy-value theory as it relates to the evaluative aspects of stakeholders’ beliefs about classical Christian education and their motives to become involved in it. Classical Christian education includes the concepts of the trivium, explicit instruction, the Socratic method, and basic skills mastery, as well as carrying on the traditions of the West; all steeped in a Christian worldview. Data came in the form of interviews, documents, and focus groups from parents, teachers, and school board members who are involved with a classical Christian education. An analysis of the data revealed that stakeholders are motivated to invest their efforts in a classical Christian school by a variety of factors including, a disapproval of the mainstream educational philosophy and a strong desire to experience the core elements of the classical Christian philosophy. This study found that no matter what participants believed about classical Christian education, they placed a great deal of value on their expectations about the philosophy, and those expectations were being met, with few exceptions

Exploring Critical Incidents and Rites of Passage Within the First Year of a First Grade Teacher in a Suburban Elementary School

The purpose of this study was to explore critical incidents, rites of passage, and the unique school milieu during our first year as teachers. We examined and reflected upon the previous experiences and perceptions of three first year teachers who had undertaken this same project

Collegamento tra il Comprensorio del cuoio e l' autostrada A11

La tesi prende in considerazione lo studio del collegamento tra il comprensorio del cuoio e l' autostrada A11 attraverso le provinciali S.P. n°34, n°8, n°3. Si è analizzato lo stato di fatto delle strade provinciali con la messa in evidenza delle problematiche che sono causa del mancato sviluppo dell'arteria di comunicazione. Si sono sviluppate delle varianti e adeguamenti plano-altimetrici al tracciato esistente oltre allo studio geologico-geomorfologico del territorio oggetto di intervento

Disaster Evaluation: Why Use A Comprehensive “Eight-Step Approach”

This thesis focuses on the potential for comprehensive, scientific, public health evaluations to affect policy development by conducting a retrospective literature investigation of studies and evaluations published in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Using Ricci et al.’s Disaster Evaluation Research: A field guide as a model of comprehensive evaluation, 161 articles were winnowed down to 73 that were then reviewed in three ways. The articles were categorized based on time-frame of focus (more or less than two weeks after Hurricane Katrina’s landfall); and their topic within Ricci et al.’s “List of Emergency Public Health Activities.” To identify the comprehensiveness of the articles, four core components of the “Eight-Step Approach” were highlighted and used as a comparison measure. Ultimately, eight articles met the criteria for comprehensiveness. This exercise demonstrates the lack of comprehensive evaluations following one of the most significant disasters in US history and discusses its effects on policy development and the disaster cycle

A universal display? Investigating the role of Panathenaic amphorae in the British Museum

Museum displays can serve to educate and inform the public about various concepts and classes of objects. However, the ways in which these displays present information is typically filtered through selective interpretive lenses that reflect a variety of biases, including theoretical and institutional ones. As a result, the museum’s mission and goals directly affect gallery displays by orienting information so that it is in alignment with the museum’s aims. For example, the British Museum of London, a public natural history and archeological museum, is considered to be a universal, or encyclopedic, museum. The creation of universal museums developed alongside imperial powers, whose wealth and influence allowed them to collect a wide variety of specimens, including microbes, plant species, glass, and elements of monumental architecture. Because of the scope of their collections, an encyclopedic museum is expected to comment on many topics using a variety of demonstrative objects. The British Museum, for instance, holds the largest collection of Panathenaic prize amphorae (athletic awards ca. 6th to 2nd centuries BC) outside of Greece. Using Panathenaic amphorae as a case study, this thesis investigates whether the display of the amphorae reflects the British Museum’s position as an encyclopedic museum. In order to better comprehend the relationship between the mission of the universal museum and the artifacts it collects, display choices surrounding the British Museum’s collection of Panathenaic amphorae are analyzed using summative evaluation techniques, such as curator interviews, head counts, and label evaluation. For comparison, the same summative evaluation techniques were employed at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, which pursues a different mission as it is a university, rather than a universal museum. The comparison of these two museums highlights the distinction between the British Museum’s universal mission and the Ashmolean’s teaching mission, and it is determined that the British Museum’s display of Panathenaic amphorae does indeed reflect its encyclopedic mission. The large quantity of vases provides the museum with the opportunity to present the vessels in multiple contexts and effectively convey their overall significance—an opportunity that a museum with fewer vases does not have

IGF-I influences everolimus activity in medullary thyroid carcinoma

Context: Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare tumor originating from thyroid parafollicular C cells. It has been previously demonstrated that insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) protects MTC from the effects of antiproliferative drugs. Everolimus, an mTOR inhibitor, has shown potent antiproliferative effects in a human MTC cell line, TT, and in two human MTC primary cultures. Objective: To verify whether IGF-I may influence the effects of everolimus in a group of human MTC primary cultures. Design: We collected 18 MTCs that were dispersed in primary cultures, treated without or with 10 nM-1 mu M everolimus and/or 50 nM IGF-I. Cell viability was evaluated after 48 h, and calcitonin (CT) secretion was assessed after a 6 h incubation. IGF-I receptor downstream signaling protein expression profile was also investigated. Results: Everolimus significantly reduced cell viability in eight MTC [by similar to 20%; P < 0.01 vs. control; everolimus-responders (E-R) MTCs], while cell viability did not change in 10 MTCs [everolimus-non-responders (E-NR) MTCs]. In E-R MTCs, IGF-I blocked the antiproliferative effects of everolimus that did not affect CT secretion, but blocked the stimulatory effects of IGF-I on this parameter. IGF-I receptor downstream signaling proteins were expressed at higher levels in E-NR MTC as compared to E-R MTCs. Conclusion: IGF-I protects a subset of MTC primary cultures from the antiproliferative effects of everolimus and stimulates CT secretion by an mTOR mediated pathway that, in turn, may represent a therapeutic target in the treatment of aggressive MTCs

Medullary thyroid carcinoma

Introduction: Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) constitutes approximately 5–10% of all thyroid cancers. Although the tumor forms in the thyroid, it doesn’t originate from thyroid cells, but from the C cells or parafollicular cells which produce and release a hormone called calcitonin (CT). Starting from the second half of the 1900s, MTC was progressively studied and defined. Areas covered: This study aims to analyze the history, clinical presentation and biological behavior of MTC, bio-humoral and instrumental diagnosis, molecular profiling, genetic screening, preoperative staging and instrumental procedures, indispensable in expert and dedicated hands, such as high-resolution ultrasonography, CT-scan, MRI and PET/TC. We examine recommended and controversial surgical indications and procedures, prophylactic early surgery and multiple endocrine neoplasia surgery. Also, we discuss pathological anatomy classification and targeted therapies. The role of serum CT is valued both as undisputed and constant preoperative diagnostic marker, obscuring cytology and as early postoperative marker that predicts disease persistence. Expert opinion: With a complete preoperative study, unnecessary or useless, late and extended interventions can be reduced in favor of tailored surgery that also considers quality of life. Finally, great progress has been made in targeted therapy, with favorable impact on survival