A case study of school district administrators' perceptions of teacher leadership in one northwest Missouri school district

"July 2014."Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Carole Edmonds.Includes vita.The purpose of this qualitative, case study was to gain insight of Administrators' perceptions of teacher leadership in one Northwest Missouri school district. While a well-developed base of literature continues to grow on the topic of teacher leadership, it remains largely an academic pursuit hindered by the status quo of the traditional hierarchical leadership structures in most schools. As an entity, education, seems to have made the leap to issues surrounding teacher leadership without first understanding administrators' perceptions of it. Thus, we have a plethora of teacher leadership models. Many of these models have been put forth without ever having examined the underlying understanding of teacher leadership. Missing from an examination of teacher leadership are the perceptions of the very people who are most empowered to change how leadership is enacted in our schools: the administrators. As administrators' jobs continue to increase in complexity, as external mandates continue to dictate internal school issues, and as society continues to demand increased accountability, a new model of leadership needs to be put forth, but for that to happen, we first need to honestly examine existing perceptions of teacher leadership.Includes bibliographical references (pages 103-114)

Reserve And Habitat Effects On The Distribution, Abundance And Feeding Ecology Of Goosefish, Lophius Americanus (Valenciennes 1837) In The Western Gulf Of Maine

Over two-thirds of the world’s harvested fish stocks are considered to be either reduced or threatened because of overexploitation, which suggest that one of the central challenges facing coastal managers is the recovery and sustainable harvesting of these species. One promising fishery management strategy is the use of marine reserves, or conservation areas where fishing is prohibited, to rebuild depleted populations. In the Gulf of Maine (GoM), several closed areas have been established to restrict fishing activities such as gillnetting, scallop dredging, and mid-water and bottom trawling. These closures in the GoM not only protect diminished fish stocks, but also protect seafloor habitat utilized by these demersal fish species from the detrimental effects of dredging and bottom trawling. The largest closure in the GoM is the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area (WGMCA) which encompasses parts of Stellwagen Bank, Jeffrey’s Ledge, and Wildcat Knoll. Within the WGMCA, there are several habitat types such as mud, gravel, cobble, exposed rock ledge, and a mix of biogenic structures that are potentially used by groundfish. The goal set for the WGMCA is to ensure nursery habitat protection for dwindling cod and other groundfish species such as goosefish (Lophius americanus) while also reducing groundfish mortality from mobile gear fisheries. Goosefish have been fished heavily over the past three decades and have exhibited signs of reduced abundance (i.e. decreased landings and smaller average size of fish landed). It is unclear which types of habitats limit juvenile and adult goosefish abundance. Furthermore, it is unknown whether reserves such as the WGMCA will effectively benefit this species. I used otter trawl surveys to investigate whether season (spring vs. fall), habitat (mud vs. edge of structured habitat) and reserve status (in vs. out) collectively influence goosefish distribution, abundance, feeding ecology, and goosefish in the Gulf of Maine

Ribonuclease A modification induced by 1,2-Naphthoquinone and 2-Hydroxy-1,4-Naphthoquinone

Protein modifications may occur upon exposure to environmental toxins such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules or their metabolites. In this context, our laboratory was interested in investigating protein modifications in the presence of select naphthoquinones, which were 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (HNQ) and 1,2-naphthoquinone (o-NQ). The effects of HNQ and o-NQ on the protein Ribonuclease A (RNase) were investigated through a variety of conditions. These modified incubation conditions included pH variation and the addition of metal ions to further mimic physiological conditions. Documentation of results was carried out through sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis (SDS-PAGE). Of the two quinones, o-NQ exhibited a greater level of activity toward RNase. HNQ was found to be stable under the studied conditions, resulting in almost no observed RNase modification. Linking environmentally abundant compounds to toxicological effects on biologically significant molecules can help to set precedents toward their usage and disposal that have a positive ripple effect

Development of polymeric reagents with enhanced ionic accessibility

The focus of this research has been the design and development of polymeric reagents with enhanced ionic accessibility for application to separation science. Ion-complexing ligands were then coupled with polymeric foams, polystyrene beads, and high stability solvent impregnated resins (SIRs). The polymers were evaluated for their metal ion affinity. Four ligands were supported onto the polymeric foams prepared with 8% and 15% crosslinking. The ligands studied were monophosphonic acid, diphosphonic acid, a-ketophosphonic acid, and p-ketophosphonic acid. The functionalized foams were studied for their ability to complex Cu(n), Fe(in), and Eu(III) in batch studies followed by column studies. The highly crosslinked foams were able to be functionalized as one solid piece. The foams demonstrated uniform functionalization throughout the polymer, making them applicable for a wide range of studies. Functionalized foams performed much better than beads in columns with the same type of ligands. This showed the increased porosity does increase the accessibility of the metal ion into the polymer matrix. Further research is needed to better understand reproducibility and regeneration of the functionalized foams. Increased accessibility of metal ions into polymer beads was evaluated by three methods. The first method was to increase the surface area by studying the complexation of the metal ions at two different bead sizes. This did not increase the accessibility. Complexation of the four metals studied [Cu(n), Pb(n), Cd(n), and Eu(in)], was comparable. The second method was to increase the porosity by comparing microporous beads to macroporous beads. The change in polymer support also did not increase the percent complexed of the metal ions for the ligands studied. The final method was the idea of dual-mechanism bifunctional polymers. The addition of a recognition ligand to the resins increased the percent complexed dramatically to \u3e90% for all the metals studied. High stability SIRs were synthesized and studied to evaluate the effect of complexation time and porosity of the polymer support on the percent complex. SIRs were found to have rapid rates of complexation since decreasing the contact time from 24 hours to 15 min did not affect the percent complexed. Encapsulated SIRs complexed \u3e90% over six contact/regeneration cycle. The SIR maintained a higher percent complexed at 15 min for longer contact periods in comparison to the 24 h study. Decreasing the porosity of the support matrix did not significantly affect the percent complexed for the encapsulated SIR