Method and device for detecting voids in low density material Patent

Method and photodetector device for locating abnormal voids in low density material

An investigation leading to the production of a nonlift tea service

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The inter-relationship of early childhood educators' curriculum beliefs,practices, and professional identity.

ABSTRACT The inter-relationship of early childhood educators’ curriculum beliefs, practices and professional identity Goranka Vukelich, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2012 Research Problem: The purpose of this study was to investigate the inter-relationship of early childhood educators’ curriculum beliefs, practices and professional identity. Research questions: 1. What are the relationships among curriculum practices, beliefs about curriculum, and professional identities in qualified early childhood educators? 2. What are educators’ curriculum practices? 3. What are educators’ beliefs about curriculum? 4. How do educators describe their professional identities? 5. What are the relations among educational and professional backgrounds of educators’ and their self-reported beliefs about curriculum, their practices of curriculum, and their descriptions of professional identity? Literature Review: The purpose of the literature review was to examine what is known about early childhood curriculum, early childhood curriculum practices, educators’ beliefs about curriculum, and professional identity. The field of early childhood education endorses constructivist-inspired curriculum practices. However, the implementation of these practices seems to be complicated by educators’ personal experiences and beliefs about curriculum, and the views they hold of themselves as professionals. Methodology: This study utilized a mixed method research design that combined case study and observational assessment. Five educators who were qualified to work in licensed child-care centres with preschool aged children in Southwestern Ontario participated in this study. Data were gathered through the use of CLASS observation assessment tool (direct observation and assessment of educator curriculum practices), classroom photographs and collections of curriculum documents, as well as educator interviews. These data were triangulated and analyzed for emerging themes within each case and across all cases. Results and Conclusions: This study uncovered a number of complex relationships including that educators hold a strong desire to contribute to children’s learning and to be valued for that contribution; that educators hold strong constructivist-inspired beliefs about curriculum while at the same time they engaged in a number of instructivist-inspired curriculum practices in supporting children’s learning; that educators’ professional identity appears to be vulnerable to the influences of others; and that educators’ professional identity appears to be a more persuasive guide to curriculum practices than educators’ beliefs about curriculum. The implication of this study is that if educators are to strengthen their implementation of constructivist-inspired curriculum practices they will require the development of an enhanced view of self as professional through an improved understanding of the theories and principles that define a constructivist curriculum framework; an examination of personal beliefs about children, learning, and education; and by becoming more comfortable with uncertainty. In addition, those involved in the professional education of educators must re-conceptualize their approach to engaging educators in learning. They should resist the teaching of curriculum techniques without the examination of the principles that inspire those techniques and the personal beliefs that may interface with the implementation of those techniques; examine resources for the messages they may portray about images of educators, children, and learning; and engage educators to develop their own curriculum techniques by combining knowledge of learning theories with unique characteristics of programs and the children within those programs. The limitations of this study include a limited sample size, a limited range of participants, and a limited geographical location. Future research could replicate this investigation in other geographical locations where educators might have attended different college programs; with educators who have greater diversity in years at which they graduated (new graduates, educators who graduated ten years ago, educators who graduated twenty years ago); and with educators who work with other age groups of children (infants, toddlers, school age children). Future research could also examine the influence of centre supervisors and other colleagues’ practices and beliefs about curriculum on educators’ practices and the formation of professional identity within a context of child-care centre culture and child-care center system

In-service Professional Development and Constructivist Curriculum: Effects on Quality of Child Care, Teacher Beliefs, and Interactions

The purpose of this study was to assess three methods of delivering in-service professional development regarding constructivist curriculum for early childhood educators. Educators in 44 not-for-profit child care centres in three Canadian cities were studied; 94 educators with formal preservice training participated. The three methods were (a) a consultant model, (b) workshops, and (c) a readings group. Global classroom quality was assessed with the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised ([ECERS-R], Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005), educators were interviewed about their beliefs regarding curriculum, and modified running record observations of educator-child interactions (i.e., guidance, directives) were assessed before and after the 15-week intervention. Over time the consultant model was associated with an increase in guidance interaction (i.e., promoting children’s learning and development). A number of findings related to site were evident for quality of child care and educator beliefs, and highlight the challenges associated with conducting multi-site research studies. Implications for providing in-service professional development regarding curriculum are discussed. L’objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer trois méthodes de prestation de développement professionnel offert sur place et portant sur un programme d’études constructiviste pour éducateurs de la petite enfance. Quatre-vingt-quatorze éducateurs avec une formation d’orientation formelle et provenant de 44 garderies sans but lucratif dans trois villes canadiennes ont participé à l’étude. Les trois méthodes employées étaient les suivantes : (a) un modèle de consultation, (b) des ateliers et (c) un groupe de lectures.  Nous avons évalué la qualité globale de la classe d’après l’échelle d’évaluation révisée du milieu d’apprentissage de la petite enfance (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised, Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005), passé en entrevue les éducateurs pour connaitre leurs croyances par rapport au programme d’études et évalué, avant et après les 15 semaines d’intervention, des fiches d’observation individualisée modifiées portant sur les interactions entre l’éducateur et les enfants (conseils, directives). À la longue, un lien s’est établi entre le modèle de consultation et une augmentation de l’interaction impliquant des conseils (stimulation du développement et de l’apprentissage des enfants). Plusieurs des conclusions liées au site étaient évidentes en ce qui concerne la qualité de la garde des enfants et les croyances des éducateurs, et elles font ressortir les défis découlant des projets de recherche impliquant plusieurs sites. Nous évoquons les implications de fournir du développement professionnel portant sur les programmes d’études

Optimization of suppression for two-element treatment liners for turbomachinery exhaust ducts

Sound wave propagation in a soft-walled rectangular duct with steady uniform flow was investigated at exhaust conditions, incorporating the solution equations for sound wave propagation in a rectangular duct with multiple longitudinal wall treatment segments. Modal analysis was employed to find the solution equations and to study the effectiveness of a uniform and of a two-sectional liner in attenuating sound power in a treated rectangular duct without flow (M = 0) and with uniform flow of Mach 0.3. Two-segment liners were shown to increase the attenuation of sound as compared to a uniform liner. The predicted sound attenuation was compared with measured laboratory results for an optimized two-segment suppressor. Good correlation was obtained between the measured and predicted suppressions when practical variations in the modal content and impedance were taken into account. Two parametric studies were also completed

An Artificial Eden: Experiencing the Suburban Landscape in Postwar American Literature

This American Studies project explored the relationship between two novels and a short story to the suburban landscape. The aim was to discover what created the desire for such disconnected, privatized lives and stopped America from becoming primarily urban? I concluded that cooperating external forces, such as the federal government, the real estate industry, automobile corporations and developers, influenced the move from cities to suburbs. While the history and design of suburbs displayed an overexaggerated ideal, suburban literature portrayed the suburb\u27s inhabitants lived experience

Qualitative risk assessment for the 100-HR-3 groundwater operable unit

This report provides the qualitative risk assessment for the 100-HR-3 operable unit on the Hanford Reservation. 100-HR-3 is a ground water unit. The purpose of the QRA at the 100-HR-3 operable unit is to focus on a predefined set of human and environmental exposure scenarios in order to provides sufficient information that will assist the Tri-Party signatories (Washington State Department of Ecology, EPA and US DOE) in making defensible decisions on the necessity of Interim Remedial Measures. Frequent- and occasional-use exposure scenarios are evaluated in the human health risk assessment to provide bounding estimates of risk. The ecological risk assessment consists of an evaluation of the risks to riparian and aquatic receptors which live in or near the Columbia River

Diversity in students’ personal networks : an egocentric network analysis of diversity’s role in student thriving.

Racial and ethnic diversity has previously been linked with a multitude of positive benefits in business, K-12 education, higher education, and in communities. Additionally, The Thriving Quotient is a mechanism for better understanding student success and wellbeing from a psychological perspective. The Thriving Quotient is comprised of five subscales: academic determination, engaged learning, social connectedness, diverse citizenship, and positive perspective. The present research used social network analysis to study how the network diversity of students may play a role in students’ psychological thriving outcomes. Findings found that, while racial and ethnic diversity of students’ networks is not predictive of thriving, the subscales of thriving are predictive of network homophily and heterogeneity