Descriptive Case Studies of the Socialization and Acculturation of Two Mentored First-Year Elementary Teachers Within the Seventh-day Adventist School System

Problem. A qualitative design was employed in this study to: (1) investigate the experiences and perceptions of two first-year elementary teachers within the Seventh-day Adventist educational system, (2) gain a better understanding of new teachers’ socialization and acculturation during their first year of teaching, and (3) use beginning teacher concerns gleaned from this study and previous studies to identify the kinds of support that need to be offered in a new teacher induction program within the Adventist educational system. Method. I studied two first-year teachers, employed full-time at the elementary level by Scenic Vista Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Qualitative data were obtained over a 9-month period through ethnographic interviews, participant observations, teacher weekly journals, and principal/teacher self-evaluations. The majority of the data was procured from taped interviews with the two teachers, their mentors, principals, and the associate superintendent of education. Additional data came from the hours of participant observations in classroom instruction, field trips, school chapels and assemblies, recesses, lunches, etc. All of these data-gathering procedures were formatted in corrected and expanded field notes. A smaller portion of the data was gleaned from principal/teacher documents and the mentor seminar materials. Results. Responding to the transition from pre-service training to in-service teaching, both teachers’ initial enthusiasm changed to frustration, anger, doubt, and fear. As they endeavored to adjust to the socialization and culture of teaching, each teacher struggled with classroom scheduling and management, school routines and administration procedures, discipline, coping with the withdrawal of a student from her class, and establishing positive relationships with principals, colleagues, and parents. They dealt differently with time management and curriculum issues. Although both teachers internalized the challenges they encountered, each reacted differently to the frustrations they experienced. Conclusions. Findings indicate that beginning teacher induction and orientation are needed throughout the year to help novice teachers adjust, but that kind of support is more crucial at the very beginning of the school year. The beginning teachers desire and expect this support from their principal. They also believe a mentor is beneficial to their professional growth and development and for their personal job satisfaction

De-Stress Your County Fair—Let Technology Do the Work!

4-H agents face increasing demands to support traditional 4-H programs while adding new programming for new audiences. Without increased funding to hire additional staff, it becomes essential to streamline the facilitation of activities. To address this situation, the Union County 4-H program implemented fair management software to create efficiencies in the facilitation of the 4-H county fair and regional livestock show. The new software has reduced staff labor by over 60%, reduced pre-show preparation by 34%, and improved problem solving and increased accuracy

The synthesis of some new polymeric materials as potential additives for diesel fuel

Wax crystal formation in diesel and related hydrocarbon fuels during cold weather is a long standing problem. Current polymeric additives to diesel fuel modify the crystal habit of the wax, in a variety of ways, to improve its performance at low temperature. These wax crystal modifiers (WCM) have to operate at low concentrations (0.01-0.1%) to make their use economical, so it is critical that their structures are optimised for the application. The objectives of this work was to synthesise, characterise and test some new polymeric additives which are anticipated to effect the crystallisation of the wax from the fuel and to prepare a model ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) polymer to gain insights into the mode of action of the EVA co-polymers which are currently in use as WCM. Ring opening metathesis polymerisation was chosen as the method of preparation for these new polymeric additives. An introduction to wax crystallisation in diesel fuel and some proposals for the preparation of these new polymeric additives are given in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 discusses olefin metathesis and ring opening metathesis polymerisation reactions. The synthesis and characterisation of monomers and polymers are given in Chapters 3 and 4 respectively. Results from fuel tests are described in Chapter 5

A summary of research relating to first grade reading, 1932-1963

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston UniversityProblem: An attempt to compare the rate of learning of colorful and abstract words of children in grade one. Materials: 1. Thirty words were selected to be used in three groups of ten words each. Each list consisted of five colorful and five abstract words. Colorful words are those which have much meaning for children and abstract words are those with little meaning. The words were printed on 3 x 11 inch flash cards in lower case letters. 2. Check sheets were made with spaces for checking the retention of words at three different times and pictures were made to enrich the colorful words. 3. Directions were prepared and given to each teacher who participated in the study. 4. Kuhlmann-Anderson Intelligence Test: Battery A. 5. Detroit Word Recognition Test: Form A [TRUNCATED

Modulators of transit peptide activity in targeting and translocation of precursors into plastides : the mature domain, lipids and Toc-Tic components

The import of nuclear-encoded precursor proteins into chloroplasts occurs via a cleavable, N-terminal targeting sequence known as the transit peptide. To test the influence of the mature domain of the small subunit of Rubisco during import in vitro, the precursor (prSSU), the mature domain (mSSU), the transit peptide (SStp) and three Cterminal deletion mutants (Δ52, Δ67, and Δ74) of prSSU were expressed and purified from Escherichia coli. Activity was then evaluated by inhibition of import of 35S-prSSU to show that removal of C-terminal prSSU sequences inhibits its interaction with the translocation apparatus. Import studies demonstrated that prSSU and Δ52 were processed and accumulated within the chloroplast, whereas Δ67 and Δ74 were rapidly degraded. Import-competent proteins were also able to induce anion channel closure for PIRAC (Protein Import Related Iconic C,/u\u3ehannel). Although the C-terminal deletion mutants were less effective at inducing channel closure upon import, they did not affect the mean duration of channel closure. In addition the same proteins, as well as the precursors to the 33 and 23 kD subunits of the oxygen evolving complex of photosystem II, prOE33 and prOE23, respectively, were used in liposome dye release assays to investigate the interaction between precursors and chloroplast outer membrane lipids. Chloroplast precursor proteins do interact with liposomes mimicking the chloroplast outer envelope lipids through a process mediated through the transit peptide and requiring the presence of non-bilayer forming lipids and anionic lipids. The interaction of the transit peptide with liposomes involves electrostatic interactions between the peptide and the anionic lipids in the liposome. From this study, two additional precursors were shown to be membrane active, prOE33 and prOE23 Finally to investigate the in vivo activity of prSSU transit peptide, we designed green fluorescent protein (GPP) chimeras with the precursor to the small subunit of Rubisco (prSSU-GFP). GFP alone or prSSU-GFP could be expressed in a transient assay in onion epidermal cells. These experiments lay the groundwork for expression of mutant precursors fused to GFP in either onion epidermal to explore the effect mutations in the transit peptide have on targeting and import relative to the wildtype precursor

Email counselling and the therapeutic relationship: A grounded theory analysis of therapists' experiences

Provision of online counselling in its many forms has increased dramatically over the last 10 years, however research findings suggest that many therapists have concerns about whether a therapeutic relationship can be successfully engendered online, particularly given the absence of non-verbal communication cues. To date there is very little research available about the online therapeutic relationship; email counselling was chosen for the current study as through its dearth of non-verbal cues it may deemed most different to face-to-face counselling, and is considered to be the most popularly used mode.The central aim of this study was to explore the accounts of therapists who have worked both face to face and by email about how they construct their experiences of the therapeutic relationship in email counselling. The secondary aim was to co-construct an explanatory grounded theory of the process. The study adopted a constructivist grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2010); using an initial purposeful sampling strategy, nineteen participants were recruited to the study and completed an anonymous online qualitative survey; four also took part in semi-structured interviews. A theoretical sampling was then adopted to refine the developing theory; two novice email therapists and four non-email therapists were recruited. Overall there were twenty-five participants, some of whom engaged using more than one media.The basic psychological processes that were co-constructed from the data indicated that many participants found working in the cueless online environment highly challenging and that the resultant anxiety led to several sets of behaviours. Participants described how Experiencing cuelessness i.e. the absence of sensory cues led to an experience of Losing touch in four ways; Loss of interactive factors with the client, Responding with no sensory steer, Losing control of the process and Losing control of the context to the client. This led to a sense of Peering through the looking glass when counselling online; counsellors felt as though they were Fantasising into a void, and Fearing [client] disappearing. Participants also described Worrying about risk and expressed Worrying about Client safety and Fearing exposure due to having a written record and any possible legal or professional ramifications. Further uncertainties were also revealed as participants were led to Questioning computer reliability and Questioning own competence. Consequently participants were left Experiencing anxiety. This anxiety appeared to be managed in a number of ways; participants described Becoming more task orientated (Relying on skills and theory and Taking control of the context), Avoiding difficulties (Minimising the role of the computer and Minimising differences between modalities/ Holding on tight to the known), Overcompensating (Reflecting and perfecting), and Defending the professional self-concept (Protecting by defending expertise and Becoming an expert). The key struggle and therefore core category would seem to lie in participants attempting to apply relational face-to-face skills to the cueless atmosphere of email therapy, the anxiety of which materialised in several avoidant behaviours. The findings from this study provide important insights into therapists’ experience of email counselling and identify a process that could help inform future online therapists, as well as being useful to the online counselling profession as a whole. It is suggested that the email counselling process identified could provide a framework for therapists to reflect on their experiences. Full implications for practice, supervision, training and the psychological profession will be further discussed, in addition to directions for further research

Comprehensive simulations of superhumps

(Abridged) We use 3D SPH calculations with higher resolution, as well as with more realistic viscosity and sound-speed prescriptions than previous work to examine the eccentric instability which underlies the superhump phenomenon in semi-detached binaries. We illustrate the importance of the two-armed spiral mode in the generation of superhumps. Differential motions in the fluid disc cause converging flows which lead to strong spiral shocks once each superhump cycle. The dissipation associated with these shocks powers the superhump. We compare 2D and 3D results, and conclude that 3D simulations are necessary to faithfully simulate the disc dynamics. We ran our simulations for unprecedented durations, so that an eccentric equilibrium is established except at high mass ratios where the growth rate of the instability is very low. Our improved simulations give a closer match to the observed relationship between superhump period excess and binary mass ratio than previous numerical work. The observed black hole X-ray transient superhumpers appear to have systematically lower disc precession rates than the cataclysmic variables. This could be due to higher disc temperatures and thicknesses. The modulation in total viscous dissipation on the superhump period is overwhelmingly from the region of the disc within the 3:1 resonance radius. As the eccentric instability develops, the viscous torques are enhanced, and the disc consequently adjusts to a new equilibrium state, as suggested in the thermal-tidal instability model. We quantify this enhancement in the viscosity, which is ~10 per cent for q=0.08. We characterise the eccentricity distributions in our accretion discs, and show that the entire body of the disc partakes in the eccentricity.Comment: 18 pages (mn2e LaTeX), 14 figures, 5 tables, Accepted for publication in MNRA

DELIVERING EARLY, CONTEXTUALIZED GUIDANCE REGARDING CLOUD CARBON FOOTPRINT

Across multiple industry segments, organizations that are deploying systems to the cloud are increasingly concerned with the carbon footprint of their activities. However, once a system has progressed through design and development and it is in production, its fundamental energy consumption profile is set. Consequently, a need exists for a way to deliver energy consumption awareness to engineers during the development process so that a lower carbon footprint may be established within a system, at the earliest possible stage. To address that need, techniques are presented herein that support a system for delivering such awareness to engineers during the development process. Aspects of the presented techniques encompass integrating with integrated development environments (IDEs) using industry-standard technology, interfacing with energy monitoring technology, and carrying out a statistical analysis involving correlation and regression between tokenized source code and granular workload-oriented carbon impact assessments

Pre-Chemotherapy Differences in Visuospatial Working Memory in Breast Cancer Patients Compared to Controls: An fMRI Study

Introduction: Cognitive deficits are a side-effect of chemotherapy, however pre-treatment research is limited. This study examines neurofunctional differences during working memory between breast cancer (BC) patients and controls, prior to chemotherapy. Methods: Early stage BC females (23), scanned after surgery but before chemotherapy, were individually matched to non-cancer controls. Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a Visuospatial N-back task and data was analyzed by multiple group comparisons. fMRI task performance, neuropsychological tests, hospital records, and salivary biomarkers were also collected. Results: There were no significant group differences on neuropsychological tests, estrogen, or cortisol. Patients made significantly fewer commission errors but had less overall correct responses and were slower than controls during the task. Significant group differences were observed for the fMRI data, yet results depended on the type of analysis. BC patients presented with increased activations during working memory compared to controls in areas such as the inferior frontal gyrus, insula, thalamus, and midbrain. Individual group regressions revealed a reverse relationship between brain activity and commission errors. Conclusion: This is the first fMRI investigation to reveal neurophysiological differences during visuospatial working memory between BC patients pre-chemotherapy and controls. These results also increase the knowledge about the effects of BC and related factors on the working memory network. Significance: This highlights the need to better understand the pre-chemotherapy BC patient and the effects of associated confounding variables