Comparison of Grouping Methods for Beta-Hemolytic Streptococci

A total of 198 strains of beta-hemolytic streptococci were Lancefield grouped by the conventional nonserological method and the Phadebact Co-agglutination method. These two methods were then compared to the Lancefield precipitin test. The Phadebact Co-agglutination method and the non - serological method \u27.ere evaluated as to their sensitivity, accuracy, and suitability as methods for serogrouping betahemolytic streptococci in clinical laboratories. Due to the difference in their grouping ability only Lancefield Groups A and B could be directly compared. There was a 100 percent agreement between both of these methods for the Lancefield grouns A and B, and there were three specimens which were nongroupable by both methods. Identical results for Groups A, B, C, and G were obtained for the Phadebact Co-agglutination method and the Lancefield precipitin test. Only 1.5 percent of the beta-hemolyitc streptococci were nongroupable by Phadebact and the Lancefield precipitin test as compared to 41 percent which were nongroupable by the nonserological method. A cost-benefit analysis comparison between Phadebact and the nonserological method showed that the Phadebact method was $0.79 less expensive per test than the nonserological method. The Phadebact Co-agglutination method also required only 1 min to group the beta-hemolytic streptococci; however, the nonserological method required an additional 18-24 h

Exploring the feasibility of international collaboration and relationship building through a virtual partnership scheme

International collaboration is an under-studied component of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This study sheds light on the process of international collaboration by illustrating an exploratory approach to the process of forming and maintaining collaborative partnerships. Participants in this study were put into pairs (each one comprised of one individual from the University of Glasgow and another from the University of Wisconsin System) and asked to participate in email correspondence over the course of one year. The text of participants’ emails was pooled and analyzed through a general inductive approach using NVivo software. The study, though small in nature, helps to illustrate and further understand international collaborative relationships. We offer suggestions for future international collaborations and discuss the implications of emphasizing such partnerships within SoTL

"Quiet as it's Kept": Secrecy and Silence in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Jazz, and Paradise

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Secrets and silence appear frequently in the work of Toni Morrison. In three novels, The Bluest Eye, Jazz, and Paradise, she repeats a specific phrase that acts as a signal to the reader. Morrison three times writes, “Quiet as it’s kept” in her novels to alert readers to the particular significance secrets and silence play in these novels. Morrison portrays this secrecy and silence as a barrier to building strong communities and even a strong self-identity. While the phrase appears in the same form, with each subsequent appearance, Morrison takes the idea a step further. In each novel she demonstrates how breaking the silence and refusing to keep quiet is an act of healing or salvation and she expands this healing to be increasingly inclusive. What begins as a single voice breaking the silence in The Bluest Eye becomes a group of people sharing their secrets in Jazz, and finally an entire town coming to terms with the power of speaking up. This thesis looks at the secrets and their impact on characters in each novel and explores the progression of the power in refusing to keep quiet

In the mood: online mood profiling, mood response clusters, and mood-performance relationships in high-risk vocations

The relationship between mood and performance has long attracted the attention of researchers. Typically, research on the mood construct has had a strong focus on psychometric tests that assess transient emotions (e.g., Profile of Mood States [POMS]; McNair, Lorr, & Dropplemann, 1971, 1992; Terry, Lane, Lane, & Keohane, 1999). Commonly referred to as mood profiling, many inventories have originated using limited normative data (Terry et al., 1999), and cannot be generalised beyond the original population of interest. With brevity being an important factor when assessing mood, Terry et al. (1999) developed a 24-item version of the POMS, now known as the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS). Including six subscales (i.e., tension, depression, anger, vigour, fatigue, and confusion), the BRUMS has undergone rigorous validity testing (Terry, Lane, & Fogarty, 2003) making it an appropriate measure in several performance environments. Mood profiling is used extensively for diverse purposes around the world, although Internet-delivered interventions have only recently been made available, being in conjunction with the proliferation of the World Wide Web. Developed by Lim and Terry in 2011, the In The Mood website (http://www.moodprofiling.com) is a web-based mood profiling measure based on the BRUMS and guided by the mood-performance conceptual framework of Lane and Terry (2000). The focus of the website is to facilitate a prompt calculation and interpretation of individual responses to a brief mood scale, and link idiosyncratic feeling states to specific mood regulation strategies with the aim of facilitating improved performance. Although mood profiling has been a popular clinical technique since the 1970s, currently there are no published investigations of whether distinct mood profiles can be identified among the general population. Given this, the underlying aim of the present research was to investigate clusters of mood profiles. The mood responses (N = 2,364) from the In The Mood website were analysed using agglomerative, hierarchical cluster analysis which distinguished six distinct and theoretically meaningful profiles. K-means clustering with a prescribed six-cluster solution was used to further refine the final parameter solution. The mood profiles identified were termed the iceberg, inverse iceberg, inverse Everest, shark fin, surface, and submerged profiles. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed significant differences between clusters on each dimension of mood, and a series of chi-square tests of goodness-of-fit indicated that gender, age, and education were unequally distributed. Further, a simultaneous multiple discriminant function analysis (DFA) showed that cluster membership could be correctly classified with a high degree of accuracy. Following this, a second (N = 2,303) and third (N = 1,865) sample each replicated the results. Given that certain vocations are by nature riskier than others (Khanzode, Maiti, & Ray, 2011) highlighting the importance of performance in the workplace, the present research aimed to further generalise the BRUMS to high-risk industries using a web-based delivery method. Participants from the construction and mining industries were targeted, and the relationship between mood and performance in the context of safety was investigated, together with associated moderating variables (i.e., gender, age, education, occupation, roster, ethnicity, and location)

Contributing Factors that Affect the Achievement of African-American Females Taught by Caucasian Teachers on the Arkansas Literacy Exam: A Case Study

This qualitative intrinsic case study was designed to assist Caucasian educators with the researched academic skills and behaviors to engage African-American females in the learning environment. The study provided strategies and recommendations to promote self-worth, self-motivation, self-efficacy, and morale in African-American females when they did not perform as well as or higher than their Caucasian peers in a high school English classroom on the state literacy examination instructed by a Caucasian teacher. The research site was a low socioeconomic urban high school with a majority of minorities with several native based home languages. The study took an in-depth approach to find the contributing factors that cause African-American females to score `Advanced\u27 at a much lower rate compared to their Caucasian peers under the instruction of Caucasian English teachers initiated by the interest of researcher, an African-American female. Data collection of the methodological process included interviews from educators, collection of artifacts and documents, and classroom observations. The data were analyzed through open coding, axial coding, and triangulation (audit trail) to produce selective codes from themes and categories. Six theories emerged from selective codes as findings: Training, Social behaviors, learning behaviors, changing expectations, curriculum resources, and literacy skills. Policy, methodology, and validity directed the study. In belief, the findings of the results will give insight to African-American parents, teachers, principal, superintendent, the school board, community, legislatures, and testing companies in regards of the need to include culture. Keywords: Cultural gap, Caucasian teachers African-American females, high school, functional literacy, achievement gap, high expectations, resiliency, self-efficacy, multicultural educatio

The conceptualization of a theoretical framework for a music intervention to improve auditory development in very preterm infants

Very preterm infants are at a high risk for language delays that can persist throughout their lifetime. The auditory system is rapidly developing and highly sensitive to acoustic stimulation during the third trimester of pregnancy. The acoustic nature of the womb provides the essential foundation for auditory perceptual skills necessary for language acquisition. In contrast, the NICU environment presents a wider spectrum of sounds that can alter the early development of the auditory system and cause delays in language acquisition. Research supports the importance of early exposure to speech sounds for optimal development of auditory perceptual ability and the critical role of the intrauterine characteristics of language. Pitches below 300 Hz, as well as rhythmic patterns and prosodic contours are highly salient intrauterine features of language that make up the infant’s initial auditory experience. The purpose of this study is to form a theoretical framework as a structure for understanding how intrauterine speech characteristics of pitch, rhythm, and prosody can be implemented as active ingredients in a music intervention to improve auditory development and long-term language outcomes in very premature infants. The framework is presented and described in detail. Implications for a future research agenda and applications for clinical practice are explored

College debt: An exploratory study of risk factors among college freshmen and its effect on college choice

U završnom radu je obrađena tema iz područja industrijske automatizacije, odnosno upravljanje modelom obradnog centra pomoću grafičkog sučelja. Model obradnog centra zapravo predstavlja dio jednog tipičnog industrijskog pogona koji se sastoji od pokretnih traka, glodalice, bušilice, pokretnih rampi, te od brojnih senzora (optičkih i kontaktnih). Za samo upravljanje ovog modela kao i za izradu HMI sučelja je korišten Siemens SIMATIC S7-1200 PLC i programski alat TIA Portal. Utjecaj automatizacije u svijetu je danas ogroman, te je jedan od njezinih glavnih ciljeva osiguranje što bržih, kvalitetnijih i pouzdanijih proizvodnih procesa. Temeljni uređaji za ostvarivanje tog cilja su upravo programirljivi logički kontroleri (PLC-i). U sklopu ovog završnog rada je dan uvid u područje industrijske automatizacije, korištenu sklopovsku konfiguraciju i programsku podršku, te samu realizaciju teme završnog rada.This bachelor's thesis is about the field of industrial automation. The theme of the thesis is the control of machining center model using graphic interface. This machining center model actually replicates one part of the typical industrial plant. Conveyor belts, milling cutter, drill, moving ramps and lots of sensors (optical and contact) are all part of this machining center model. Siemens SIMATIC S7-1200 PLC and TIA Portal software are used for the control of machining center model and for developing the HMI panel. Nowadays, the influence of the automation is huge in the world. The goals of the automation are to reduce costs, improve quality and safety, and develop faster manufacturing processes. The instrumental part in achieving all this goals are programmable logic controllers (PLCs). This thesis gives a closer look in the field of industrial automation, hardware and software used in this project and as well the programming solution to the problem of the thesis

Peeking Out: A Textual Analysis of Heteronormative Images in Prime-Time Television

This dissertation traces lesbian portrayals on network television from the 1960s through the 1990s. A focus on episodic dramas and situation comedies reveals a concise representation of the mediated lesbian image. Building on existing research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender images on television, this work focuses exclusively on the lesbian image broadcast free of charge over the air during prime-time on commercial networks in the United States. Using a postmodern feminist framework, this textual analysis examines the images and texts portraying lesbian characters in episodic dramas and situation comedies. Furthermore, applying a semiotic lens to the analysis dissects the voice and actions of lesbian characters illustrating the ways production techniques and narrative scripting work together to represent a lesbian image on television