Exploring the Relationship Between Teacher Leadership and Student Achievement in High-Poverty Schools

This quantitative study was developed to gather an understanding of how teacher leadership may affect student achievement in high-poverty schools. This study used Angelle and DeHart’s (2010) Teacher Leadership Inventory to assess teachers from two elementary schools, one low performing and the other high performing. Teacher leadership is explored through four variables including sharing leadership, sharing expertise, supra-practitioner, and principal selection. By investigating how teacher leadership may affect student achievement, this study may provide influential information for teacher leaders, principals, and other educational stakeholders who desire to learn more about student achievement in high-poverty schools. This study should add to the educational research field in addressing opportunities that teacher leaders can pursue in hopes to lessen the achievement gap among students in high-poverty schools. While data from both schools showed evidence of teacher leadership, this research revealed no significant mean differences between the two schools. However, some conclusions were drawn from the study including teachers can perceive themselves high in teacher leadership, yet student achievement levels can be low. Additionally, factors beyond the teacher leadership variables addressed in this study may impact student achievement

Aquaporin Expression, Regulation and Function in the Intervertebral Disc

Intervertebral disc degeneration-associated low back pain is a debilitating condition with no current treatments directed towards halting or reversing the degenerative cascade at a cellular level. The lack of such treatments is in part due to an incomplete knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that govern IVD function in health and degeneration. Due to the unique location and role of the IVD within the spine, many factors contribute to the microenvironment that cells reside within. The survival and function of cells has been irrefutably linked to their ability to adapt to the microenvironment in which they live. However, it is not completely understood how IVD cells have been able to survive and adapt to their environment. The intervertebral disc is a highly hydrated tissue; the rich proteoglycan matrix imbibes water, enabling the disc to withstand compressive loads. During ageing and degeneration increased matrix degradation leads to dehydration and loss of function. Aquaporins are a family of transmembrane channel proteins that selectively allow the passage of water in and out of cells and are responsible for maintaining water homeostasis in many tissues; hence many AQPs are potentially expressed by cells within the intervertebral disc to enable their adaptation to this highly hydrated tissue. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the expression, regulation and function of AQP transmembrane water channels within the IVD and how they potentially contribute to the adaptation of cells to their environment. Results have highlighted NP cells express many AQP water channels in vivo, whose expression may be altered between disc development and degeneration. AQP1 and 5 were found to be upregulated by TonEBP in hyperosmotic conditions, a transcription factor controlling osmotic adaptation and matrix expression, which may implicate them in the adaptation of NP cells to their environment, which becomes unachievable when AQP1 and 5 are decreased during degeneration. AQP4 and TRPV4 function in NP cells was required for fundamental cellular processes such as cell volume regulation and water permeability, enabling adaptation to their osmotically fluxing environment. Finally, it was identified that other microenvironmental factors also contribute to AQP expression in NP cells, indicating the regulation and function of these water channels is potentially very complex. Together, investigations presented in this thesis have demonstrated many AQPs are expressed by the intervertebral disc and enable NP cells to respond and adapt to their environment, ultimately contributing to the overall function of the tissue. Their regulation by multiple environmental factors may signify that AQPs have diverse roles within the IVD, which remain to be elucidated. Importantly, this body of work has contributed novel findings, increased knowledge and opened new avenues of research in the field of IVD and spine biology

Coping Mechanisms Of Older Adults With Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Diabetic foot problems are a significant cause of foot and limb amputation (Dorgan, Birke, Moretto, Patout, & Rehm, 1995). Because o f the devastating physical and psychological effects of amputation, aggressive treatment o f diabetic foot problems is warranted to prevent loss o f limb. Promotion o f effective coping is one successful method o f therapeutic treatment. According to nursing theorist Betty Neuman (1995), effective coping with external stressors is imperative for an individual’s health, harmony, and personal integrity. This study was conducted to describe the coping mechanisms o f older adults with diabetic foot ulcers. The research question was: What are the coping mechanisms o f older adults with diabetic foot ulcers? The research design was descriptive and quantitative. The sample was one of convenience selected from patients with diabetic foot ulcers at two foot care programs in a southern rural state. The sample members were at least 40 years o f age and the sample size was 16. The consenting participants answered a demographic survey and a 60-item questionnaire called the Coping Resources Inventory (CRI). The CRI gives scores based on the amounts o f coping resources indicated in five categories—cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual or philosophical, and physical resources. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics using measures o f central tendency including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Study findings revealed that the sample participants had above normal total coping scores. The highest scores were found in the coping cognitive resources category and the lowest scores were in the physical coping resources category. A better understanding o f the role o f coping in persons with diabetic foot ulcers will provide clinicians with more comprehensive, clinical knowledge. This understanding will allow them to initiate appropriate measures for the promotion o f coping in these persons and possibly prevent amputations or other negative results

A computational investigation of predicting wind tunnel results for selected hypersonic wing test structures

A CFD methodology for simulating various configurations of three selected wings in Purdue University’s Boeing Air Force Office of Scientific Research Mach 6 Quiet Tunnel (BAM6QT) is presented. The NASA-developed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FUN3D, is used to calculate forces, moments, and temperature gradients. Wings with an attached elevon are also simulated, and the large wing with elevon case is used to study a moving elevon as well as static elevon deflections. A threshold frequency is found for the moving elevon where the moment imparted by the elevon increases with frequency. An attempt is made to detect unsteadiness around the 12 degree deflected elevon but it is likely more computational resources are needed for this study. Previous work from Alexander Snyder is built upon by attempting to model only the test section of the BAM6QT by using a boundary layer profile inlet condition, but results are not confirmed

Healthy eating interventions delivered in the family home: a systematic review

Unhealthy eating habits have long term health implications and can begin at a young age when children still consume the majority of their meals at home. As parents are the principal agents of change in children’s eating behaviours, the home environment is the logical location for the delivery of interventions targeting healthy family eating. Despite the recent proliferation of published studies of behaviour-change interventions delivered in the home, there has been little attempt to evaluate what makes such interventions successful. This review provides a systematic evaluation of all healthy eating interventions delivered to families in the home environment to date and seeks to identify the successful elements of these interventions and make recommendations for future work. Thirty nine studies are described, evaluated and synthesised. Results show that evidence- and theory-based interventions tended to be more successful than those that did not report detailed formative or evaluative work although details of theory application were often lacking. Careful analysis of the results did not show any further systematic similarities shared by successful interventions. Recommendations include the need for more clearly theoretically driven interventions, consistent approaches to measuring outcomes and clarity regarding target populations and desired outcomes

Healthy happy family eating: development and feasibility of an online intervention to improve family eating behaviours

Unhealthy eating in children is a global problem, associated with poor long-term health outcomes and evidence indicates that unhealthy eating habits developed early in life may track into adulthood. Increasingly, description of behaviour change intervention development is encouraged. This paper describes the development and refinement of an online intervention designed to improve family eating behaviours. Part 1 describes three pilot studies designed to collect quantitative and qualitative feedback about the intervention to inform its development. This is followed by Part 2, which describes an additional study covering other formative work involved in developing the intervention, including theoretical approaches, evidence-base review and stakeholder input. The resulting, robustly refined intervention is described, the efficacy of which is being evaluated by a randomised controlled trial

Healthy Happy Family Eating: An investigation into the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving family eating behaviours

Unhealthy eating in children is a widespread problem, associated with poor cognitive and physical development. Increasingly, evidence indicates that poor eating habits in children track into adulthood. Parents’ feeding practices are consistently found to predict children’s eating behaviours and many interventions have been developed to target parents as the main agents of change in family eating interventions. However, parents cite time, stress and convenience as barriers both to implementing positive feeding practices and to participating in healthy eating intervention studies. The research described in this thesis sought to investigate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving family eating behaviours, with a particular focus on enjoyment and stress reduction. The first paper is a comprehensive Systematic Review of family eating interventions delivered in the family home. The Review found that, in order to be effective, interventions should be robustly theory and evidence driven as well as engaging and burden-free for parents. The second paper describes the detailed development of a healthy eating intervention, the Healthy Happy Family Eating programme, which was delivered online and emphasised implementing enjoyable mealtimes. The design of a Randomised Controlled Trial is described in the subsequent three chapters. These describe measure selection and design, including the third paper which identifies the lack of and reports the design of a parental feeding goal measure; a report of the trial itself (the fourth paper) and supplementary analyses and information about the trial. Throughout these studies, attention is given to parents’ goals, motivations and engagement. Collectively, the studies indicate that future intervention studies should prioritise stress-reduction at mealtimes as well as paying careful attention to the theory and evidence base; parents’ preferences for the type of help they receive with their children’s eating should be given more attention, as well as their feeding goals and the potential conflicts between these

Immunohistochemical analysis of protein expression in formalin fixed paraffin embedded human intervertebral disc tissues

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a useful technique for the localization and semiquantification of protein expression within tissues. Adult human intervertebral disc (IVD) tissues contain a large amount of auto‐fluorescence which often makes immunofluorescence techniques inappropriate on tissue samples but can be applied to isolated cell samples. Thus, IHC remains one of, if not the most common application for protein detection within IVD tissue. Immunostaining localizes antigen expression through specific epitope‐antibody interactions. Within the field of IVD research, IHC is commonly used on fresh frozen and paraffin embedded tissues to elucidate the expression of antigens. Here, we discuss the principles of IHC applied to formalin fixed paraffin embedded IVD tissue and supply optimized protocols for antibodies used within our group to guide research within the IVD field

Mesenchymal stem cell therapies for intervertebral disc degeneration: consideration of the degenerate niche

We have previously reported a synthetic Laponite® crosslinked pNIPAM‐co‐DMAc (NPgel) hydrogel, which induces nucleus pulposus (NP) cell differentiation of human MSCs (hMSCs) without the need for additional growth factors. Furthermore NP gel supports integration following injection into the disc and restores mechanical function to the disc. However, translation of this treatment strategy into clinical application is dependent on the survival and differentiation of hMSC to the correct cell phenotype within the degenerate IVD. Here, we investigated the viability and differentiation of hMSCs within NP gel within a catabolic microenvironment. Human MSCs were encapsulated in NPgel and cultured for 4 weeks under hypoxia (5% O2) with ± calcium, IL‐1β and TNFα either individually or in combination to mimic the degenerate environment. Cell viability, and cellular phenotype was investigated. Stem cell viability was maintained within hydrogel systems for the 4 weeks investigated under all degenerate conditions. NP matrix markers: Agg and Col II and NP phenotypic markers: HIF‐1α, FOXF1 and PAX1 were expressed within the NPgel cultures and expression was not affected by culture within degenerate conditions. Alizarin red staining demonstrated increased calcium deposition under cultures containing CaCl2 indicating calcification of the matrix. Interestingly MMP's, ADAMTS 4 and Col I expression by hMSCs cultured in NPgel was upregulated by calcium but not by pro‐inflammatory cytokines IL‐1β and TNFα. Importantly IL‐1β and TNFα, regarded as key contributors to disc degeneration, were not shown to affect the NP cell differentiation of MSCs in the NPgel. In agreement with our previous findings, NPgel alone was sufficient to induce NP cell differentiation of MSCs, with expression of both aggrecan and collagen type II, under both standard and degenerate culture conditions; thus could provide a therapeutic option for the repair of the NP during IVD degeneration