Rising above the Stigma: Developing young leaders through Peer Mentoring

Permanence is ideally the ultimate goal of the child welfare system, however it is unrealistic to believe that every young adult transitioning out of care will not only find a permanent home, but have had the opportunity to build the social capital needed for a successful transition in today’s society (Scannapieco, Smith, Blakeney-Strong, 2015)

CIT Strategic Plan 2014-2016

Duke Center for Instructional Technology's Strategic Plan for 2014-201

Venue One Year After \u3ci\u3eTC Heartland\u3c/i\u3e: An Early Empirical Assessment of the Major Changes in Patent Filing

In its May 2017 decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, the Supreme Court reined in the Federal Circuit’s permissive venue standard, which had fueled the rise of the Eastern District of Texas as the busiest patent trial court in the nation and the preferred filing location of patent assertion entities (PAEs), derisively known as patent trolls. While the new limits of permissible venue in patent cases continue to be demarcated in the lower courts, sufficient time has passed since TC Heartland to begin to investigate the impact of the decision across a number of dimensions. Accordingly, in this study I examine changes in the volume of cases filed nationally and in leading districts by comparing the numbers one year before versus one year after the decision. Further, I separately study changes in the location, volume, and distribution of PAE and practicing entity litigation. Finally, I examine how plaintiff adherence to the new venue standard in TC Heartland has changed defendant connections to the districts where they are sued. As others have predicted, I find evidence that the largest shift in patent litigation has been from the Eastern District of Texas to the District of Delaware. Specifically, 72 percent more patent cases were filed in the District of Delaware and 68 percent fewer cases were filed in the Eastern District of Texas the year after TC Heartland compared with the year before the decision and the decline in filings in the Eastern District of Texas is entirely attributable to PAEs. Further, changes in filing trends before and after TC Heartland indicate that between 320 and 780 fewer PAE lawsuits were filed the year after than would have been the case had the Supreme Court not restricted venue. Had these cases been filed, they would have comprised between fourteen and thirty-three percent of PAE filings for the year. Closer defendant connections to the courts where cases were filed post-TC Heartland suggest not only that PAEs perceived significant benefits from filing in the Eastern District of Texas and other pro-plaintiff venues, but also that many PAEs believe they are less likely to succeed on defendants’ home turf. Comparing the year before with the year after TC Heartland, the share of PAE suits filed in the court containing a defendant’s principal place of business jumped from nine to thirty-two percent and the share filed where a defendant is incorporated spiked from ten to forty-eight percent

Management of a university satellite program with focus on a refrigerant-based propulsion system

The Missouri University of Science and Technology Satellite (M-SAT) design team has established a satellite program to develop a pair of satellites to perform an autonomous formation flight mission. The resulting configuration was assembled for the Air Force Research Lab University Nanosat Program. This document, written by the Program Manager and former member of the Propulsion subsystem, is a description of the management process used by the team to develop a satellite configuration. Included in the document is a discussion of team organization, techniques for managing a program, and lessons learned during the 2007 to 2008 timeframe. The managing techniques impact the development of subsystems. The propulsion system is discussed further as an example to highlight a successful subsystem in both management and design development. The propulsion system is required to perform orbital maneuvers and three-axis attitude control to complete the mission objective of autonomous formation flight. This thesis specifically documents the research and selection of hardware and the integration of the system into the primary satellite. Also, seal material selection and outgassing challenges are discussed --Abstract, page iii

An Examination of Practices in an Approved Private Special Education School: A Focus on Induction Programming

Increases in identification of students with special needs have brought increases in the number of new special education teachers nationwide (Billingsley, 1993). The retention of these teachers is a challenge for administrators (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2000). Research reveals that 14% of new career teachers will leave the field of education within five years (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011). Teacher induction programs are one system addressing the crisis of retention. The purpose of this case study was to investigate participants’ perceptions of effective practices and challenges encountered as part of induction program implementation at a specific approved private school. This case study also asked what recommendations the participants would make to improve the current program. Participants were five new and six mentor special education teachers, as well as the Induction Coordinator. They each participated in a survey and an interview. In this qualitative study, the researcher analyzed and coded the data as themes and patterns that were revealed from the participants’ responses. Major themes that emerged included: mentor-mentee pairing, collaboration, access to information, communication from administration, the resource of time and acknowledgement of mentors. Participants provided both examples of effective practices, as well as challenges that existed within these themes. Participants further engaged in creating suggestions to improve elements of the program that they felt posed challenges for the new teachers and their mentors. The study concludes with recommendations to the induction committee for improvements to its current induction program

Strategies and Internal Control Procedures for Decreasing Fraud in Faith-Based Nonprofit Organizations

This study addressed the problem regarding the lack of strategies and internal controls in faith-based nonprofit organizations which resulted in a higher risk of fraud, waste of funds, or abuse of funds in charities, churches, and other related ministries. This risk was the result of trust by organizations that employees would not commit fraud and due to a lack of sufficient resources. This study specifically researched faith-based nonprofit organizations that are located in Texas. This qualitative case study included two faith-based nonprofit organizations located in or near Houston, Texas. The research found several themes including: frauds occur, segregation of duties, approval controls, review process, and policies and procedures. The study also found several internal controls, policies, and procedures that these organizations could implement to decrease the risk of fraud, such as a whistleblower policy, background checks, segregation of duties, review of financials, and limited access to accounting procedures. Further research could be conducted on the implementation of internal controls after a fraud was discovered and the restoration of donor trust

Implementation of a 25-minute Mini-lecture on Learning and Studying in Large-enrollment First-Year General Chemistry Courses

Poor results on the first exam in a course can be a shock to freshmen college students who found great success in high school. The experience can be demoralizing and put students in the mindset that academic success is out of reach. To convince such students that not only is academic success possible but readily achievable, I presented a 25-minute mini-lecture on learning and studying in two large-enrollment general chemistry courses (total N = 289) based on author Dr. Saundra McGuire’s work. The mini-lecture discussed human learning and practical study tools. The purposes of the mini-lecture were to: 1) examine how well students could be convinced to critically assess their learning and study habits; and 2) motivate students to believe academic success is possible. I assessed the two goals via an anonymous survey utilizing Likert scale questions and essay questions. A majority (74%) of survey respondents who reported they watched the mini-lecture (N = 158) believed the mini-lecture assisted reflection on their study habits. Sixty-six percent of respondents reported changing their study habits. However, 38% of students who reported changing their study habits eventually reverted. When allowed to provide comments about the experience, students gave generally positive responses specifically citing how the mini-lecture prompted self-reflection and how the mini-lecture demonstrated the instructor cared about student success