The Impact of Career and Technical Education Programs on At-Risk Secondary Students

As the number of youth at risk for educational failure has increased, so has the debate over the appropriate nature of career and technical education (CTE) programs for such youth. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding about the manner in which CTE programs within vocational schools affected secondary students at risk for educational failure. The educational theories of Pestalozzi, Dewey, and Rousseau served as the conceptual framework for this study by supporting the development of students\u27 intellectual, social, and emotional growth through hands-on activities rather than traditional rote learning. Data for this case study were collected through interviews and observations from 9 purposefully selected students enrolled in vocational school CTE programs. Qualitative strategies of memoing and coding supported interpretative data analysis for this case study. The participants revealed that their CTE programs had a positive impact on their lives. Findings that emerged from this study centered on job security, hands-on learning, and personal growth. These findings provide important empirical evidence of the utility of CTE programs for at-risk students. This evidence contributes to positive social change by illuminating an alternative education setting that enables at-risk students to attain and maintain academic success. This evidence also holds promise for positive social change by guiding the efforts of education stakeholders in determining the appropriate educational placement for at-risk students, placements that will promote a sense of belonging rather than alienation

Mental representations of trait categoriesand their influences on person perception

Three studies explored mental representations of the organization of acts into traits, and how such mental representations influence person perception. Specifically, we investigated whether acts vary in their degree of trait-category membership (prototypicality), what determines an act\u27s prototypicality, and whether acts\u27 prototypicalities influence conclusions about observed acts. By drawing on research on prototypicality-based models of mental representations (Osherson, Smith, Wilkie, López, & Shafir, 1990), five hypotheses were proposed about the nature of mental representations of traits and how they influence person perception. In Study 1, subjects rated three aspects of several acts: how prototypical of the trait they are, how similar they are to other acts in the trait, and how extreme they are. Subjects showed substantial agreement on all three ratings. Additionally, an act\u27s similarity to other acts in the trait was predictive of how prototypical the act was, but the act\u27s extremity was a stronger predictor of its prototypicality. Study 2 investigated how the prototypicality of an actor\u27s observed acts influences person perception. Subjects were more willing to describe an actor\u27s acts with a trait when the acts were prototypical or similar to each other than when the acts were not prototypical or not similar to each other. Study 3 investigated the prototypicality of predicted acts. Results showed that predictions of acts were not influenced by the prototypicality of the predicted acts. Together, the three studies suggest that mental representations of traits are consensual and that they influence person perception

Stochastic `Beads on a String' in the Accretion Tail of Arp 285

We present Spitzer infrared, GALEX UV, and SDSS and SARA optical images of the peculiar interacting galaxy pair Arp 285 (NGC 2856/4), and compare with a new numerical model of the interaction. We estimate the ages of clumps of star formation in these galaxies using population synthesis models, carefully considering the uncertainties on these ages. This system contains a striking example of `beads on a string': a series of star formation complexes ~1 kpc apart. These `beads' are found in a tail-like feature that is perpendicular to the disk of NGC 2856, which implies that it was formed from material accreted from the companion NGC 2854. The extreme blueness of the optical/UV colors and redness of the mid-infrared colors implies very young stellar ages (~4 - 20 Myrs) for these star forming regions. Spectral decomposition of these `beads' shows excess emission above the modeled stellar continuum in the 3.6 micron and 4.5 micron bands, indicating either contributions from interstellar matter to these fluxes or a second older stellar population. These clumps have -12.0 < M(B) < -10.6, thus they are less luminous than most dwarf galaxies. Our model suggests that bridge material falling into the potential of the companion overshoots the companion. The gas then piles up at apo-galacticon before falling back onto the companion, and star formation occurs in the pile-up. A luminous (M(B) ~ -13.6) extended (FWHM ~ 1.3 kpc) `bright spot' is visible at the northwestern edge of the NGC 2856 disk, with an intermediate stellar population (400 - 1500 Myrs). Our model suggests that this feature is part of a expanding ripple-like `arc' created by an off-center ring-galaxy-like collision between the two disks.Comment: Accepted by the Astronomical Journal. For color figures and appendix material, go tohttp://www.etsu.edu/physics/bsmith/research/sg/arp285/arp285.htm

Enhancing Potential of Trimethylamine Oxide on Atmospheric Particle Formation

The role of an oxidation product of trimethylamine, trimethylamine oxide, in atmospheric particle formation is studied using quantum chemical methods and cluster formation simulations. Molecular-level cluster formation mechanisms are resolved, and theoretical results on particle formation are confirmed with mass spectrometer measurements. Trimethylamine oxide is capable of forming only one hydrogen bond with sulfuric acid, but unlike amines, trimethylamine oxide can form stable clusters via ion–dipole interactions. That is because of its zwitterionic structure, which causes a high dipole moment. Cluster growth occurs close to the acid:base ratio of 1:1, which is the same as for other monoprotic bases. Enhancement potential of trimethylamine oxide in particle formation is much higher than that of dimethylamine, but lower compared to guanidine. Therefore, at relatively low concentrations and high temperatures, guanidine and trimethylamine oxide may dominate particle formation events over amines

Enhancing Potential of Trimethylamine Oxide on Atmospheric Particle Formation

The role of an oxidation product of trimethylamine, trimethylamine oxide, in atmospheric particle formation is studied using quantum chemical methods and cluster formation simulations. Molecular-level cluster formation mechanisms are resolved, and theoretical results on particle formation are confirmed with mass spectrometer measurements. Trimethylamine oxide is capable of forming only one hydrogen bond with sulfuric acid, but unlike amines, trimethylamine oxide can form stable clusters via ion–dipole interactions. That is because of its zwitterionic structure, which causes a high dipole moment. Cluster growth occurs close to the acid:base ratio of 1:1, which is the same as for other monoprotic bases. Enhancement potential of trimethylamine oxide in particle formation is much higher than that of dimethylamine, but lower compared to guanidine. Therefore, at relatively low concentrations and high temperatures, guanidine and trimethylamine oxide may dominate particle formation events over amines

Modulation de la violence conjugale émise, selon les traits psychopathiques et les représentations d'attachement chez les hommes de la communauté

La violence conjugale constitue un phénomène d’intérêt public préoccupant qui semble la norme plutôt que l’exception dans la société québécoise (Institut de la statistique du Québec, 2011). De nombreux auteurs stipulent que la violence conjugale résulterait d’une insécurité face à l’attachement. De plus, plusieurs affirment que les traits de personnalité inadaptés, tels que les traits psychopathiques, sont associés à des comportements antisociaux, tels que la violence conjugale. Par ailleurs, l’attachement inadéquat jouerait un rôle dans l’étiologie des traits de personnalité psychopathiques, selon les écrits scientifiques disponibles. Toutefois, les liens spécifiques entre ces trois variables n’ont que rarement été étudiés simultanément et jamais auparavant chez les hommes de la communauté. La recherche actuelle s’attarde donc à vérifier de quelles manières les traits psychopathiques (primaires et secondaires) et les représentations d’attachement (anxiété face à l’abandon et évitement de l’intimité) modulent l’émission de violence conjugale (psychologique et physique) auprès d’un échantillon de 316 hommes provenant de la communauté. Afin d’augmenter la validité des informations recueillies et de réduire les risques de biais documentés dans ce domaine, seules les réponses rapportées par les conjointes sont prises en compte pour l’émission de la violence conjugale. Les résultats obtenus révèlent que seuls les traits psychopathiques secondaires expliquent l’association observée entre l’anxiété face à l’abandon et la perpétration de violence conjugale psychologique seulement, chez les hommes de la communauté. Les résultats obtenus sont discutés à la lumière des études disponibles à ce jour sur le sujet

Tête-à-tête With the Exhibition Le monde en tête

The display of anthropomorphic objects such as headdresses in museum exhibition blurs the boundaries of objecthood and personhood. The Musée des Confluences’ (Lyon, France) 2019 exhibition, Le monde en tête: la donation des coiffes Antoine de Galbert, stages a slippage between subject and so-called “primitive” art objects. Le monde en tête showcased over 500 headdresses mainly from Asia, Africa, South America, and Oceania, donated from the private art collection of Antoine de Galbert (1955-). The exhibition’s curators elided the headdresses’ historical contexts and provenances, instead concentrating on their aesthetic qualities and the collector. Their curatorial strategies foreground de Galbert’s collecting psychology, which provocatively sets up a binary between Western “self” and cultural “other.” Through a close analysis of the exhibition, this thesis analyzes a fantasy of personhood as inextricably linked to objecthood. Relying on a multidisciplinary methodology, I focus on the emergence of two figures: the European collector as “self” and the Asiatic female as “Other.” I begin my two-part investigation by using critical whiteness studies and museology to expose how racialization becomes structured through the collector’s fabrication as a mythic figure. In Part II, I draw from the conceptual framework of ornamentalism to examine the exhibition layout, which emphasizes the porosity of things and people. Additionally, I use ornamentalism as an object-based approach to analyze a Timorese headdress created by the Tetum-speaking Indigenous community from East Timor Island, Indonesia, and the female figure who haunts its surface. At once present and absent, material and abstract, embodied and disembodied, these figures invite us to rethink the hybrid conditions of objecthood and personhood. My project weaves together art historical analysis, curatorial critiques, and theoretical perspectives that inquire into the very object conditions through which personhood is realized