A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF KINDERGARTEN TRANSITION PRACTICES AND THE IMPACT ON CHILDREN'S KINDERGARTEN READINESS

This comparative case study, with a phenomenological approach examined the effect of kindergarten transition practices on kindergarten reading achievement. Study participants were 4 administrators and 8 kindergarten teachers at 2 elementary schools in southeastern North Carolina. Findings included 61 transition practices and 4 barriers not previously reported in the literature. Data from multiple resources were triangulated and descriptive findings were compared to a Kindergarten Transition Program Logic Model that revealed the number and intensity of school based transition practices were associated with more positive reading achievement in kindergarten. This finding was contradicted by factors not controlled for in this study. The findings from the research support policies for the creation and implementation of written kindergarten transition plans that may help children on a trajectory for improved reading achievement and help districts meet high-stakes testing demands.  Ed.D

Cal Poly Heliodon

The purpose of the Heliodon project is to provide professors with a means to educate students about the movement of the sun and how that movement varies with location on earth and throughout the year

Development of a universal measure of quadrupedal forelimb-hindlimb coordination using digital motion capture and computerised analysis.

BACKGROUND: Clinical spinal cord injury in domestic dogs provides a model population in which to test the efficacy of putative therapeutic interventions for human spinal cord injury. To achieve this potential a robust method of functional analysis is required so that statistical comparison of numerical data derived from treated and control animals can be achieved. RESULTS: In this study we describe the use of digital motion capture equipment combined with mathematical analysis to derive a simple quantitative parameter - 'the mean diagonal coupling interval' - to describe coordination between forelimb and hindlimb movement. In normal dogs this parameter is independent of size, conformation, speed of walking or gait pattern. We show here that mean diagonal coupling interval is highly sensitive to alterations in forelimb-hindlimb coordination in dogs that have suffered spinal cord injury, and can be accurately quantified, but is unaffected by orthopaedic perturbations of gait. CONCLUSION: Mean diagonal coupling interval is an easily derived, highly robust measurement that provides an ideal method to compare the functional effect of therapeutic interventions after spinal cord injury in quadrupeds

Quantification of deficits in lateral paw positioning after spinal cord injury in dogs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous analysis of the behavioural effects of spinal cord injury has focussed on coordination in the sagittal plane of movement between joints, limb girdle pairs or thoracic and pelvic limb pairs. In this study we extend the functional analysis of the consequences of clinical thoracolumbar spinal cord injury in dogs to quantify the well-recognised deficits in lateral stability during locomotion. Dogs have a high centre of mass thereby facilitating recognition of lateral instability.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We confirm that errors in lateral positioning of the pelvic limb paws can be quantified and that there is a highly significant difference in variability of foot placement between normal and spinal cord injured dogs. In this study there was no detectable difference in lateral paw positioning variability between complete and incomplete injuries, but it appears that intergirdle limb coordination and appropriate lateral paw placement recover independently from one another.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Analysis of lateral paw position in the dog provides an additional tier of analysis of outcome after spinal cord injury that will be of great value in interpreting the effects of putative therapeutic interventions.</p

Faculty Showcase Recital

This is the program for the faculty showcase recital featuring the following artists (in order of performance): horn player Heather Thayer, trumpet player Craig Hamilton, trombonist Justin Isenhour; soprano Robin Williams, baritone John Alec Briggs, pianist Susan Monroe; tenor David Stanley and Susan Monroe; soprano Glenda Secrest, tenor Jon Secrest, and Susan Monroe; xylophonist Ryan Lewis and pianist John Alec Briggs; mezzo soprano Suzetta Glenn and pianist Kristen La Madrid; soprano Margaret Garrett and Susan Monroe; the OBU Choral and Vocal Faculty with Susan Monroe; pianists Lei Cai and Adam Hass. This recital took place on September 12, 2014, in the W. Francis McBeth Recital Hall

Hydrolysis of silicone polymers in aqueous systems

Silicon-29 and 'H NMR spectroscopy were used to investigate the hydrolysis of methyl silicones in a variety of aqueous environments. Dilute acid, dilute base and one or more of the dissolved constituents of blood plasma were found to catalyse the degradation of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-and its hydrojty- and methoxyterminated derivatives-along with the interior and shell of a silicone mammary prosthesis. Dimethylsilanediol (DMSD) was the principal hydrolysis product, although in many instances (most notably after long decomposition periods) the dimer (tetramethyldisiloxanediol) and/or certain cyclodimethylsiloxane species were also detected. Only for hexamethyldisiloxane was silicic acid detected as an additional hydrolysis product after long-term interaction with blood plasma. Alcohols and certain aliphatic polyols, when added to solution, typically caused alkoxylation of DMSD and the dimer. The presence of electron withdrawing hydroxy and methoxy end groups greatly increased the rate of degradation of PDMS. Both the shell and interior of the mammary prosthesis also hydrolysed faster than pure PDMS, which would suggest that there is considerably less than 100 % trimethylsilyl capping of their constituent polymer chains