The prognostic efficiency of the Boston University General Association test at the graduate school level

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Building hype: the musicking body in university bhangra

This thesis explores questions of identity and the body in performance in collegiate competitive bhangra, a South Asian diasporic popular dance form, through the analytical frameworks of hype and the musicking body. I explore the relatively recent shift of bhangra from a club scene to a college-level, competitive context in order to understand the ways in which this contemporary bhangra still offers participants a meaningful expression of South Asian identity, when the context in which the music is produced and consumed seems to have changed dramatically from the original context in which the genre emerged as a popular cultural form in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. I analyze the way in which hype, an intangible element of contemporary bhangra that is essential for successful performance, is built up and maintained through the embodied practices of the co-producers of bhangra

The role of phosphorylation in the control of Ras activity and localisation in S. cerevisiae

Ras proteins are small GTPases that act as molecular switches within cells that link extracellular stimuli to intracellular effectors. Ras proteins play a conserved role in the control of both cell growth and proliferation. As a result, mutations that induce the constitutive activation of Ras proteins are often associated with changes in cell behaviour that can lead to disease, such as human cancer. The localisation of Ras is crucial for its function and this is controlled by post-translational modifications. However, the roles for such modifications in regulating Ras localisation and its activity are poorly understood. We have identified that the phosphorylation of Serine225 of Ras2, a protein that is essential for the control of both growth and proliferation in S. cerevisiae, plays an important role in the regulation of its localisation and activity. Modification of this residue leads to changes in the distribution of GTP-bound Ras2 within the cell. This drives cells towards a novel state of growth cessation that is dependent upon the activity of the cAMP/PKA signalling pathway. We show that this quiescent state is characterised by an uncoupling of cytoplasmic and nuclear process that govern cell growth and division. We suggest that cells can escape growth arrest and re-engage in the cell cycle if the Ras/cAMP/PKA pathway activity is reduced, additional nutritional supplementation is provided or if nutrient uptake processes are elevated. Thus, the Serine225 reside plays an important role in the control of Ras2 localisation and activity that allows the cell to co-ordinate nutritional availability with growth and cell division. My thesis highlights that post-translational modifications in regions outside of the highly conserved Ras GTPase domain may be targeted to change cell fate, for example by switching a pro-growth signalling programme to one that drives a growth cessation. This has implications for the development of novel therapeutic approaches for cancers driven by oncogenic Ras proteins

The international competitiveness of the small European state in the 1980s: Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland.

This thesis tests the hypothesis that the degree of international competitiveness of the small European state in the 1980s resulted from its unique internal process of interaction derived from its industrial culture, developed from state priorities and societal values. Small European states, because of their position as international price takers, controlling relatively few product markets, were forced to rely on various forms of domestic intervention, such as monetary, labour market, and industrial policies, to stimulate international competitiveness. A systematised dialogue and communication process among internal economic actors due to geographic proximity and consequent actor familiarity was the small European state's competitive advantage necessary to compete for world markets against larger states possessing both natural and human resource advantages. The more systematised the internal interactive process was, however, the more flexible the internationally vulnerable small European state would be to respond to changing global political and economic conditions. In cases such as Sweden and Switzerland, the small European state was able to fashion this process of interaction into a system, where peak associations were able to communicate effectively to preserve a flexible industrial environment and where the principal actor maintained a key role in directing the national economy. The economic success of Sweden throughout the 1980s was facilitated by the trade unions, while in Switzerland the economy was guided by its financial institutions. Because of these principal actors, both states were highly independent, having developed oligopolised, high technology oriented industrial structures that featured powerful multinational corporations. However, during the 1980s, in small European states such as Denmark and Ireland, with weak industrial structures, high levels of international dependence on the European Community, and poor economic performances, confused consultation processes bred incoherent policy-making that resulted in low levels of international competitiveness. In both states, the State as the principal actor attempted to facilitate industrial adjustment, aspiring to modernise their relatively weak indigenous industrial structures. The thesis examines actor relations and policy-making in three functional areas: finance-industry relations and monetary policies; trade union-industry relations and supportive labour market policies; and state-industry relations and industrial policies. Given the myriad of policies that small state policy-makers employed during the 1980s, the thesis argues and illustrates that small European state interventionism was both state-specific and necessary because of the pressures of the world market

Achievement goals and motivational responses in tennis: Does the context matter?

Objectives: This study examined: (a) whether athletes’ goal orientations differ across training and competition; (b) whether goal orientations predict effort, enjoyment, and psychological skill use differently in training and competition; and (c) whether goal orientations predict perceived improvement in training and perceived performance in competition. Method: Participants were 116 competitive tennis players (mean age = 19.99, SD = 5.82), who completed questionnaires measuring goal orientations, effort, enjoyment, and psychological skill use in training and competition, perceived improvement in training, and perceived performance in competition. Results: Dependent t-tests revealed that athletes reported higher task orientation in training than in competition and higher ego orientation in competition than in training, while Pearson product-moment correlations revealed a high cross-contextual consistency for both task and ego goal orientations between training and competition. Regression analyses indicated that task orientation predicted positively effort, enjoyment, self-talk, and goal setting in both contexts, perceived improvement in training, and perceived performance in competition. An interaction effect also emerged whereby ego orientation predicted positively effort in competition only when task orientation was low or average. Conclusions: The findings suggest that goal orientations may differ between training and competition; task orientation is the goal that should be promoted in both contexts; and the context may affect the relationship between goal orientations and effort, enjoyment, and goal setting

Digital Signal Processing

Contains research objectives and summary of research on seven research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAB07-76-C-1400)U. S. Navy - Office of Naval Research (Contract N00014-75-C-0951-NR 049-308)National Science Foundation (Grant ENG71-02319-AO2

Achievement motives and emotional processes in children during problem-solving: Two experimental studies of their relation to performance in different achievement goal conditions

In two studies, the influence of key emotional and motivational factors on performance in different achievement goal-type situations is examined. In study 1, based on 314 sixth-graders, two types of goal situations were induced; performance and mastery. The goals were examined with respect to important antecedents (e.g., motive dispositions) and several consequences (e.g., performance, satisfaction, pleasant affect, worry, and emotionality). The results showed that the motive to achieve success (Ms) produced positive affects, satisfaction, and increased performance, whereas the motive to avoid failure (Mf) produced worries and performance reduction. In study 2, based on 331 sixth-graders, three types of goal situations were induced; performance–approach, performance–avoidance, and mastery goals. The findings revealed that the most important single factors positively related to performance were Ms and mastery–goal situation. In addition, high Ms pupils performed better under mastery condition than under performance condition. Finally, avoidance-goal situation accentuate the negative effects of high Mf on performance