Reasons for school graduation among at-risk urban secondary students.

The purpose of the dissertation is to attempt to identify the circumstances, conditions and situations which appear to have been important in keeping students in school through graduation. The study focuses on the histories of twenty at-risk students in the graduation class of 1991 and seeks insights into the factors affecting the successful completion of secondary school requirements. It is intended that the information gleaned from this study will be utilized in the development of early intervention procedures and programs for students at all levels. Twenty students were selected for this study and were interviewed at their high school during the 1990-1991 academic year. All of them, in early years, had been deemed at-risk for dropping out of school; all of them had academic profiles and histories that included the following: (1) excessive absences; (2) low scores on achievement tests that were administered in elementary schools; (3) promotion/retention difficulties; (4) teacher observations, recorded in students\u27 cumulative folders that were indicative of the potential to drop out of school. In addition, a review of related literature was completed to provide background for this study and to identify the most appropriate factors in selecting the students for the study. The review signaled the areas of inquiry and directed the development of the questions. The conclusions of this dissertation reflect several recurrent themes and point to hope for improving the currently bleak dropout predictions: (1) The presence of at least one mentor in the lives of the students; (2) satisfaction with their high school experiences; (3) respect that these students received form their teachers, parents and other significant adults. Each student provided unique insights into understanding the complex paradigm of staying in school until graduation. From each of these students came differing sets of life circumstances, attitudes, motivations and values. The twenty students presented twenty distinct and poignant autobiographies; the challenge is to learn, and to learn from each one of them

The Effects of a Constant Work Load Isometric Exercise Program on Arterial Blood Pressure and Pulse Rate

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a constant work load isometric exercise program on arterial blood pressure and pulse rate. A secondary purpose was to determine the recovery time of the two factors mentioned above. Nine male freshmen students at South Dakota State University volunteered to take part in the study conducted over a six week period during the spring semester of the 1965-66 school year. Each subject participated daily in an isometric exercise program which consisted of nine exercises predetermined by the investigator. Arterial blood pressure and pulse rate readings were recorded daily for each subject, before and after the exercise. Subjects were tested for twenty-nine sessions during the six week period. Individual means increases or decreases were calculated for arterial blood pressure and pulse rate for the twenty-nine bout exercise program. Individual mean recovery timed for arterial blood pressure and pulse rate of individuals. No statistical analysis was applied to the data recorded for each individual subject

Complexity and Context: Emerging Forms of Collaborative Inter-Organizational Systems

The paper analyses the collaborative development of emergent IOS in three data intensive industry sectors (telecommunications, news media, and financial services). The findings reveal that environmental complexities (the complexity of data consumption patterns and increased interdependence within value webs) require context-sensitive value exchanges operationalised within co-operatively developed commodity-like IT infrastructures. The paper concludes by examining the implications of the study findings for developing IOS to support pooled, sequential, and reciprocal inter-organisational interdependencies

Using XML Vocabularies to Exploit Changing Business Models: The NewsML Experience

In 1998, Reuters committed resources to exploring the use of XML (Extensible Markup Language) as the foundation for their next-generation news content management system. This was in response to changes in the news industry business model resulting from changing value webs and content delivery methods. The result was ReutersNewsML, an XML vocabulary for wrapping news content items from multiple sources into a single package. In 1999 Reuters submitted the concept to the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC), which managed the development of the NewsML specification. NewsML was ratified as an IPTC standard for the entire global news media industry in 2000. This paper explores the development of NewsML as an illustration of how XML standards can be exploited within complex business webs

Re-Engineering a Financial Information Supply Chain with XBRL: An Exploratuon of Cooperative IOS Deisgn and Development

Financial markets worldwide have been experiencing dramatic changes since the mid-1990s. It has been claimed that XBRL, an XML vocabulary for business reporting, is capable of introducing greater integration and transparency into financial information systems, and thus addressing some of the challenges presented by these changes. This paper presents an exploratory case study of the cooperative design, development and implementation of an XBRL-enabled inter-organisational system (IOS) by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Reserve Bank of Australia (central bank) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics to revolutionise reporting by financial institutions in Australia. The study describes how the three agencies modernised and harmonised reporting requirements through a gradual review of the reporting returns required by each agency. This harmonisation enabled the reengineering of the reporting process, as each financial institution now has to submit just one set of figures to meet the needs of all three agencies. The findings illustrate that the complexity of data consumption patterns drove increased interdependence within the financial information supply chain requiring the co-operative development of context sensitive data exchanges and commodity-like IT infrastructures. The paper concludes that the co-operative approach to IOS development exhibited in this study is likely to be more suited to the development of XBRL-enabled systems for financial information supply chains than the ‘hub and spoke’ model characteristic of IOS developments in other industrial sectors

Complexity, Context, Commoditisation And Cooperation: Exploring Emerging XML-Based Inter-Organisational Systems

Inter-organisational systems (IOS) have traditionally been characterised as EDI-based ‘hub and spoke ’ models such as those connecting grocery retailers or large manufacturers with their suppliers. Increasing environmental complexity and technological innovation have led some organisational networks to explore more dynamic IOS models. This paper investigates emergent IOS models in three data intensive industry sectors (telecommunications, news media, and financial services). The findings illustrate that the complexity of data consumption patterns is driving increased interdependence within value webs requiring the co-operative development of context sensitive value exchanges and commodity-like IOS infrastructures.

Guidelines for Computing Longitudinal Dynamic Stability Characteristics of a Subsonic Transport

A systematic study is presented to guide the selection of a numerical solution strategy for URANS computation of a subsonic transport configuration undergoing simulated forced oscillation about its pitch axis. Forced oscillation is central to the prevalent wind tunnel methodology for quantifying aircraft dynamic stability derivatives from force and moment coefficients, which is the ultimate goal for the computational simulations. Extensive computations are performed that lead in key insights of the critical numerical parameters affecting solution convergence. A preliminary linear harmonic analysis is included to demonstrate the potential of extracting dynamic stability derivatives from computational solutions

Effect of growth hormone on polyamine synthesis in rat liver

One of the initial events in the response to exogenous growth hormone in rats is a marked increase in the activity of hepatic ornithine decarboxylase, the rate limiting enzyme for polyamine biosynthesis. It is thought that polyamines could participate in the control of protein synthesis, both at the level of transcription and translation. Therefore, it would appear probable that their synthesis could be an important step in the protein anabolic response of the liver to growth hormone. – Ornithine decarboxylase activity is generally assayed by the release of ¹⁴CO₂ from ornithine 1-¹⁴c but this carbon may also be released by the sequential action of the mitochondrial enzymes ornithine transaminase, ∆¹ pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase. Therefore, the assay of ornithine decarboxylase in crude homogenate requires inhibition of this pathway. In the present study, aminooxyacetate (10-5M) inhibited over 98% of ornithine transaminase activity and virtually eliminated decarboxylation of ornithine by mitochondria, without any effect on cytoplasmic ODG activity. That the cytoplasmic activity represented true ODC was shown by the stoichiometric production of CO₂ and putrescine from ornithine. -- Subcellular fractionation of rat liver by differential centrifugation followed by assay of ornithine decarboxylase in presence of aminooxy-acetate and of putrescine dependent S-adenosyl methionine decarboxylase, ornithine transaminase and of marker enzymes from each fraction, demonstrated that ornithine decarboxylase and putrescine dependent S-adenosyl methionine decarboxylase are exclusively located in the cytosol, while ornithine transaminase is exclusively located in the mitochondrial fraction. The greatly increased ornithine decarboxylase activity observed after growth hormone administration was also found to be localized entireIy in the cytoplasm. The specific activities of putrescine dependent S-adenosyl methionine decarboxylase and ornithine transaminase showed no change 4 hours after growth hormone administration; their sub-cellular location also remained unaffected. -- Km values for hepatic ornithine decarboxylase using ornithine as a substrate showed no significant differences between control and growth hormone treated rats. Both displayed Km values of about 32 μM. The dissociation constants for putrescine as activator of putrescine dependent S-adenosyl methionine decarboxylase were also unchanged 4 hours after growth hormone injection (270 μM). -- Ornithine decarboxylase showed a maximal specific activity in liver cytosol at weaning in control rats and then decreased rapidly to a low level of activity about one week later. At all ages tested, growth hormone injection four hours prior to sacrifice resulted in an elevation of ornithine decarboxylase activity. However, this response was most marked in young rats (about weaning age) and in older rats (greater than five weeks of age). For reasons as yet not evident, the response in three to five week old male rats was greatly attenuated. -- A steady increase in activity of ornithine transaminase was observed from neonates to one month of age. This activity was maintained into adulthood and then began to decline steadily in the older rats. There was no change in ornithine transaminase activity four hours after growth hormone administration at any of the ages tested. -- Putrescine concentration in rat liver showed a progressive decline with age. A single injection of growth hormone (2 mg/100 g body weight) four hours before sacrifice resulted in an approximate doubling of putrescine concentration. Spermidine concentrations also declined with age, but were unaffected by growth hormone. The concentration of spermine increased to a maximal level at five weeks of age and then steadily declined. Growth hormone was also without effect on the concentration of this polyamine four hours after injection

Wind/Hydro Power Generation Simulator

This project aims to design a wind or hydro power generation simulator. The original scope of this project was to construct a physical simulation apparatus in which wind/water speed data is fed to a microcontroller that adjusts the control voltage of a motor drive. The spinning DC motor would generate power via a coupled generator whose power output would be a scaled down version of wind/hydroelectric generator power output given the same wind/water speed input. Due to Covid-19, the project was altered to be entirely virtual and was made through Simulink in MATLAB. The virtual simulator attempts to mimic physical system behavior by feeding a user input array, over a time span of 30 seconds, representing wind/water speeds, over a time span of 24 hours, into a programmable function block meant to mimic desired microcontroller behavior. The output of this block is fed to a second function block acting as the system’s motor drive which drives the pre-defined DC motor module. The connected generator module’s output is connected to a DC-DC converter block in order to simulate the system’s ability to power appliances with a constant voltage despite the fluctuating generator output

A psychophysical study to determine maximum acceptable hand impact forces during door trim installation: Effects of hand posture and impact gloves.

Upper extremity work-related musculoskeletal disorders are significant problems for industrial workers. Previous research has identified possible risk factors for upper extremity disorders, to include repetition, force, and awkward postures. To add to this, the hand is used within trim and assembly plants to impact and seat parts into place which expose the hand to high forces, local stress, and shock. This research investigates the maximal hand forces that people find acceptable for these tasks and examines how these tolerances may change with hand posture (palm vs ulnar and protection (bare hand vs glove). A simulation device (Potvin & Chiang, 1998) was used to measure the time-history of the hand impact forces required to insert pushpins during door trim panel installation. Acceleration data was recorded using a modified wrist brace which subjects wore. The findings of the experiment found glove use to increase tolerance and decrease severity with males choosing impact tolerances much higher than females with similar impact severity. Males were also found to benefit more from glove use with females being more conservative. Posture produced some interesting findings, with palmer impacts resulting in higher acceptable force impulses and peak accelerations. The implications of these posture results for impact severity were not clear and require further study. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1999 .M87. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 39-02, page: 0493. Adviser: J. P. Potvin. Thesis (M.H.K.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1999