Perceptions of success factors in rural K-12 public alternative education programs

Dr. Carole Edmonds, Dissertation Supervisor.includes vitaAlternative education programs for students in the rural K-12 public school setting are designed to fit the needs of the District due to the learning needs being accommodated through the program. This qualitative case study provided suggestions to rural K-12 public alternative education programs regarding success factors identified by teachers and administrators working in or who have worked in a rural K-12 public alternative education program in Northwest Missouri. The researcher used archival data, interviews with teachers and administrators, and a focus group of administrators to find common themes which were then viewed through the conceptual framework of Continuous Quality Improvement. Results suggest input, teamwork, accountability, good management, and continuous improvement are success factors of rural K-12 public alternative education programs. Key words: Continuous Quality Improvement, K-12 public alternative educationDr. Carole Edmonds, Dissertation Supervisor.|Includes vita.Includes bibliographical references

Myeloid DLL4 Does Not Contribute to the Pathogenesis of Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis in Ldlr-/- Mice.

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is characterized by liver steatosis and inflammation. Currently, the underlying mechanisms leading to hepatic inflammation are not fully understood and consequently, therapeutic options are poor. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and atherosclerosis share the same etiology whereby macrophages play a key role in disease progression. Macrophage function can be modulated via activation of receptor-ligand binding of Notch signaling. Relevantly, global inhibition of Notch ligand Delta-Like Ligand-4 (DLL4) attenuates atherosclerosis by altering the macrophage-mediated inflammatory response. However, the specific contribution of macrophage DLL4 to hepatic inflammation is currently unknown. We hypothesized that myeloid DLL4 deficiency in low-density lipoprotein receptor knock-out (Ldlr-/-) mice reduces hepatic inflammation. Irradiated Ldlr-/- mice were transplanted (tp) with bone marrow from wild type (Wt) or DLL4f/fLysMCre+/0 (DLL4del) mice and fed either chow or high fat, high cholesterol (HFC) diet for 11 weeks. Additionally, gene expression was assessed in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) of DLL4f/fLysMCreWT and DLL4f/fLysMCre+/0 mice. In contrast to our hypothesis, inflammation was not decreased in HFC-fed DLL4del-transplanted mice. In line, in vitro, there was no difference in the expression of inflammatory genes between DLL4-deficient and wildtype bone marrow-derived macrophages. These results suggest that myeloid DLL4 deficiency does not contribute to hepatic inflammation in vivo. Since, macrophage-DLL4 expression in our model was not completely suppressed, it can't be totally excluded that complete DLL4 deletion in macrophages might lead to different results. Nevertheless, the contribution of non-myeloid Kupffer cells to notch signaling with regard to the pathogenesis of steatohepatitis is unknown and as such it is possible that, DLL4 on Kupffer cells promote the pathogenesis of steatohepatitis

Resistive switching and data reliability of epitaxial (Ba,SR)TiO3 thin films

We report on resistive switching of capacitor-like SrRuO3/Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3/Pt thin films epitaxially grown on SrTiO3 substrates. We observe a weak but stable hysteresis in the current-voltage curve. By applying short voltage pulses, a high or low resistive state as well as intermediate states can be addressed even at room temperature. We demonstrate a multiple-branch hysteresis curve corresponding to multilevel switching modus revealing different subloops for different write voltages. Furthermore reliability issues such as cycling endurance and data retention are presented. Read-write operations over 10 000 cycles show a fatigue-like drift of both resistance states. No data loss is found upon continuous readout

Resistive switching of rose bengal devices: a molecular effect?

The resistive switching behavior of devices consisting of aluminum top electrode, molecular layer (rose bengal), and bottom electrode (zinc oxide and indium tin oxide) is examined. By measuring the current versus voltage dependence of these devices for various frequencies and by systematically varying the composition of the device, we show that the switching is an extrinsic effect that is not primarily dependent on the molecular layer. It is shown that the molecular layer is short circuited by filaments of either zinc oxide or aluminum and that the switching effect is due to a thin layer of aluminum oxide at the zinc oxide/aluminum interface. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics