Teacher Leadership: Emergent Leadership in a Complex System Functioning as a Professional Learning Community

The extent to which organizational, social, cultural, and leadership contexts within schools support or impede the complexity of emergent leadership as it relates to professional learning communities was investigated in this study. Through in-depth interviews exploring ways in which teacher leadership manifests itself, the ability of teachers to understand their own leadership capacity, and how their emergent leadership influences others, data from this study reshape the notion that schools do not need to reform, but need to transform from traditional schools of teaching into contemporary schools of learning, providing the type of professional knowledge needed to foster 21st century skills for students. Data were collected through one-on-one semi-structured interviews conducted With fourteen teachers from four schools designated as the highest and lowest Title I and Non-Title I schools in a large urban district based on state wide achievement scores. These interview data were analyzed to develop five thematic constructs with sixteen themes. Thematic constructs were also developed to address the four context factors that may support or impede emergent teacher leadership. The findings suggested that teacher leadership has the ability to develop through the process of collaboration which is socially constructed in the context of professional learning communities. Findings further reveal that deep considerations for the ramifications of working within such a complex system as a learning community be made. These considerations include understanding that teacher leadership leads to a shift in decision making from a hierarchical to democratic model, that collaboration builds organizational intelligence, that struggling students are motivators for reflective professional discourse, and that influential peers set the model for this type of intuitive teacher leadership. Implications for further practice and directions for future research are also discussed

Interactions of brown marmorated stink bug, Colletotrichum acutatum and trap crops in organic tomato production

Colletotrichum spp. (Ascomycota) cause anthracnose of tomato fruits (Solanum lycopersicum). Halyomorpha halys, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an invasive insect that injures tomato fruits with a piercing/sucking mouthpart.;To determine if H. halys feeding increases incidence of anthracnose on tomato fruit, five experiments were conducted. A 21-day transmission study was performed using detached fruits inside plastic containers in an incubator at 22°C. Tomato fruits receiving stink bugs with Colletotrichum inoculum had significantly higher anthracnose incidence than fruit receiving Colletotrichum inoculum only. A treatment using infested stink bugs (H. halys was placed in a petri dish of sporulating C. acutatum for 24h) to assess transmission had significantly higher anthracnose incidence than the sterilized water control. In a stink bug wounding treatment (H. halys was placed in the container with tomato fruits for 7 days, removed, and Colletotrichum inoculum was sprayed), anthracnose incidence was significantly less than in a stink bugs + inoculum treatment at 10 and 17 days, but these treatments did not differ at 21 days. A whole plant study was performed inside insect rearing and observation cages for 17 days. Anthracnose incidence on fruits of plants with stink bugs + inoculum was significantly greater than on all other treatments. Anthracnose incidence in the stink bug transmission and inoculum only treatments was significantly greater than with water controls or stink bug only treatments.;In a field experiment using whole plants, 0, 1, 3, and 9 H. halys nymphs were added to mesh sleeves fitted around tomato fruit clusters for periods of 5 and 10 days. Number of stink bugs explains more of the variation (P\u3c0.001) in Colletotrichum incidence than days in sleeve (P=0.1095). The two-way interaction between the days in sleeve and stink bug number was not significant (P=0.6627). When averaged across days in sleeve, anthracnose incidence was higher in treatments with nine stink bugs than treatments with zero, one, or three stink bugs (P\u3c0.10).;Fungi were isolated from H. halys fed on infected tomatoes in the lab. Stylets and legs were cultured on Yeast extract/sucrose agar to isolate colonies of C. acutatum. C. acutatum was recovered from either leg or stylet of 37.5% of insects feeding on infected fruit but not from control groups.;A large scale field study was conducted in 2013 to evaluate whether insect feeding scars on tomato fruits were correlated with presence of Colletotrichum spp. Trap crops of sunflower and corn were established around tomatoes to deter insect feeding on tomatoes. Visual sampling for H. halys and other pentatomids was performed weekly. The field trials were repeated in 2014, however only sunflower was evaluated as a trap crop in 2014. H. halys populations were low in both seasons. No significant differences in H. halys population densities were found between trap crop treatments in 2013. Feeding scars were positively correlated with anthracnose incidence (R=0.2385) across both (sunflower and control) treatment groups in both seasons (p\u3c0.0001). This trend was consistent in sweet corn trap crop plots in 2013 as well (p\u3c0.018). These results support the hypothesis that H. halys contributes to the spread of anthracnose caused by C. acutatum in tomato by wounding and by phoretically carrying propagules from inoculum sources to susceptible hosts

Reuse and air classification of bioash

The amount of biomass ash (BA) produced worldwide is expected to increase in the near future because biomass is commonly regarded as a carbon neutral fuel. Therefore, sustainable methods for the utilization of BA will be needed to manage the increased flux of BA from the energy sector while concurrently dealing with a smaller allowance of BA that can be landfilled. Therefore, research into new technologies is needed to find and exploit methods to utilize BA in safe and economically and environmentally sustainable ways in order to maximize the environmental benefits of biomass combustion. Presently BAs are utilized primarily in the construction of landfills or disposed of in landfills, with a minor percentage recycled for various purposes. Viable alternatives to landfill construction and landfill disposal require supportive evidence for their practicality, which is currently limited. One of the main barriers to reuse is the presence of heavy metals in BA. Therefore, finding effective methods for isolating and removing heavy metals is important to allowing reuse and is pursued in this work. Furthermore, this thesis seeks to assess the quality of specific BA samples as the quality pertains to their final usage, and to assess the sustainability of the usage solution to the comparable product that BA is replacing. Technologies were evaluated for their suitability and feasibility for utilizing BA as a replacement for traditional natural resources in specific applications. This thesis will seek to clarify the usage of air classification for refining BA for reuse as a product with the goal of contributing to the knowledge of viable and sustainable solutions for the reuse of BA. Background information on the quantities, quality, formation, analytical methods, utilization options, treatment methods and law and regulation related to BA were investigated prior to the experimental design. Based on that research and the interests of Ekokem, evaluation of three BA samples for reuse in agriculture, earth construction, cement and landfill disposal was completed. Additionally, air classification tests were performed on the BA samples with the objective of isolating certain components of the BA in a separate fraction; those samples were also evaluated for the same reuse schemes. The experiments produced three types of results. First was the procedure development in how to carry out air classification experiments and results directly related to air classification that can guide future research. Second were the results for individual samples and their reuse potential; one sample showed reuse possibilities without refining; the two other samples showed some improvements through air classification with isolation of heavy metals in the fine air classified fraction. Lastly, challenges experienced and additional work related to the reuse of BA and air classification experiments were outlined

Molecular recognition in synthetic systems: I. Rigidified dendritic systems for imparting enantioselective molecular recognition to platinum-containing molecularly imprinted polymers II. Using laser polarimetry to identify an enantioselective receptor for (-)-adenosine from a racemic dynamic combinatorial library

The understanding of molecular recognition events is of great importance to current chemical research. This work documents two examples of molecular recognition in synthetic systems. Molecularly imprinted polymers containing platinum have been synthesized that can differentiate between enantiomers in a ligand exchange reaction. The use of laser polarimetry as a method to detect enantioselective interactions in a racemic dynamic combinatorial library is also described. Platinum-containing molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were synthesized by the covalent incorporation of polymerizable P2Pt((S)-BINOL) metallodendrimers constructed with a rigid phenyl benzoate ester linkage into a highly-porous and cross-linked methacrylate-based polymer. The enantioselectivity of the polymer with respect to BINOL ligand exchange reactions was studied and compared to similar polymers prepared from metallodendrimers containing a conformationally flexible phenyl benzyl ether linkage. The rigidity of the ester linkage resulted in higher enantioselectivities for a BINOL/Br2BINOL ligand exchange reaction as compared to the ether linkage. The most selective polymer exchanged (±)-Br2BINOL for (S)-BINOL at the platinum sites with an enantioselectivity of 82:18 which equals the highest observed for these polymers. At elevated temperatures preferential deactivation of the less hindered, and therefore less selective sites, is observed due to the thermolytic cleavage of the BINOL ligand. These polymers exhibit enantioselective molecular recognition for the imprinted enantiomer of BINOL through outer-sphere control by the polymer matrix. The study of laser polarimetric detection for the analysis of dynamic combinatorial libraries comprised of racemic compounds was undertaken in an effort to identify enantioselective molecular recognition. An enantioselective receptor for the biologically important molecule (-)-adenosine was identified in this manner. This demonstrates a novel and efficient method for the study of enantioselective molecular recognition in synthetic systems. The use of deuterium-labeled species was developed as a method for identifying the stereochemistry of the receptor of interest by mass spectrometry. This method was also used to quantify the diastereomeric composition of a library component. This work proves that used together in this manner, laser polarimetry, dynamic combinatorial chemistry, and mass spectrometry are powerful strategies for the continued study of enantioselective molecular recognition

Larva and pupa of Cernotina spicata

The first positively associated larva and pupa of Cernotina are described. Tentative diagnoses are provided for distinguishing them from those of other genera of Nearctic Polycentropodidae, especially Polycentropus s. lat., which Cernotina most strongly resembles

Combined heat and power and campus carbon footprint reduction

Gemstone Team Cogeneration TechnologyCombined heat and power (CHP), the sequential generation of electrical and thermal energy in an integrated process, has emerged as an economically viable and immediately effective power generation method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CHP systems utilize both the electricity and waste heat created during energy production to increase fuel efficiency and decrease carbon emissions compared to conventional heat and power generation systems. This research examines the extent to which universities can decrease carbon emissions by identifying strategies for installation and operation of highly efficient, gas-fired CHP. To best identify how to enhance campus CHP, existing university plants were surveyed to benchmark how efficiently universities operate CHP. Strategies for increasing turbine efficiency were then considered. Demand for efficient CHP on university campuses was identified and connected to specific turbine characteristics. Policy frameworks to support the development of efficient CHP implementation and operation were examined and challenges identified. This report provides recommendations for overcoming technical, economic, and policy challenges to attain immediate emissions reductions through university usage of CHP