African American Teenage Males Speak Out: The Influence of African American Males on the Academic Achievement, Identities, and Lives of African American Teenage Males

This dissertation explores the influence of the presence of or lack for African American males on the academic achievements, identities, and lives of five African American teenage males who live in middle Georgia, a predominately White rural area. Theoretically, I draw upon the works of Derrick Bell (1987, 1992, 1999), Pedro Noguera (2003, 2008), Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic (2000, 2012), Gloria-Ladson Billings (2001, 2003, 2009, 2013) and William F. Tate (2006), Cornel West (1993, 2001, 2008), Carter G. Woodson (1933, 2010), W. E. B. DuBois (1903, 1996), and others on critical race theory and William Watkins (2005, 2006) on Black protest thought. Methodologically, I draw upon the oral history works of Willa Baum (1991), Donald Ritchie (2003), and Patricia Leavy (2011). Five African American teenage males enrolled in middle Georgia public high schools are the main characters in the stories collected. African American men, or their absence thereof, have affected the five African American teenage males in diverse ways. Using oral history research methods, I collected the stories of these young men as we lived our lives in our schools, churches, families, and neighborhoods. Through our daily encounters, I began to gain a deeper understanding of how African American male students viewed themselves, and how the presence or absence of African American male role models in their lives influenced their academic achievements, identities, and lives. Examining their academic report cards, reviewing their behavioral reports, and observing what was going on in their lives inside and outside schools enabled me to gain insights on how these African American teenage males perceived and constructed what was going on in the world around them. In order to protect my participants, I fictionalized characters, settings, events, times, and places based upon the stories I collected from the five African American teenage males to allow their silent voices to be heard. African American males stereotypes usually include being unruly and evil. The United States spent millions of dollars on studying instructional methods, medication, prisons, and cemeteries. Few people, however, take time to have serious conversations with young African American males. I sincerely hope that my dissertation has created opportunities for five young men to voice their ideas and to tell their stories of struggles, hopes, and dreams. I also hope that teachers, educators, researchers, administrators, parents, and other educational workers consider that African American males might be able to define and express their struggles better than anyone else who has never walked a mile in their shoes! Seven findings have emerged from my inquiry. Schools and societies are racialized spaces that reproduce and perpetuate racism and discrimination that suppress African American teenage males’ academic achievement. We need to provide more positive African American role models to influence the ways African American teenager males learn and interact with others, how they construct their identities, and how they live their lives in schools and societies. Culturally biased discipline policies and standardized tests assassinate the dreams and futures of African American teenage males before they graduate from their high schools. It is extremely important to teach our African American teenage males how to react to racism and discrimination to avoid being murdered such as what has happened to Travon Martin and Michael Brown. Oral history methods allow African American teenage males to tell their silenced counterstories that challenge the official or meta-narrative and empower them to understand the sources of racism and discrimination in schools and societies. There is a demand to develop a culturally responsive and challenging pedagogy that help raise critical consciousness within African American teenager males and empower them to understand their situations and responsibilities in schools and societies and to develop strategies to fight against injustice. It is of paramount importance to develop a caring, just, and inspiring learning and living environment where young African American males feel that they have equal opportunities to reach their highest potential (Siddle-Walker, 1996)

Effects of unilateral ablation of the optic nerve in feral Mus musculus

The general organization and \u27function of the vertebrate visual system has been under Investigation since the late nineteenth century (Gudden, lS7Qa, Gudden, 1870b). The organization of optic tracts and subcortical optic centers for the majority of vertebrates studied are found to be similar in both structure and function (Gudden, 1870a, Gudden, 1870b, Minkowski, 1913» Minkowski, 1920, and Lashley, 193^a). The sense organ, the eye, contains specific photoreceptor cells designated as either retinal rods or retinal cones. These two types of retinal cells possess an ability to convert light quanta into nerve impulses. The nerve impulses are transmitted via the optic nerves, and optic tracts to four major anatomical areas of Initial synapse within the central nervous system; the lateral geniculate bodies (for both the dorsal and ventral, nucleus) , the stratum optlcum of the superior colliculi, tlie pretectum, and the cuter cellular layers of the visual cortex located on either edge of the calcarine fissure of the temporal lobes (see Figures 1, 2, and 3)

Spacelab 3 Mission Science Review

Papers and abstracts of the presentations made at the symposium are given as the scientific report for the Spacelab 3 mission. Spacelab 3, the second flight of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) orbital laboratory, signified a new era of research in space. The primary objective of the mission was to conduct applications, science, and technology experiments requiring the low-gravity environment of Earth orbit and stable vehicle attitude over an extended period (e.g., 6 days) with emphasis on materials processing. The mission was launched on April 29, 1985, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger which landed a week later on May 6. The multidisciplinary payload included 15 investigations in five scientific fields: material science, fluid dynamics, life sciences, astrophysics, and atmospheric science

Aircraft digital flight control technical review

The Aircraft Digital Flight Control Technical Review was initiated by two pilot induced oscillation (PIO) incidents in the spring and summer of 1992. Maj. Gen. Franklin (PEO) wondered why the Air Force development process for digital flight control systems was not preventing PIO problems. Consequently, a technical review team was formed to examine the development process and determine why PIO problems continued to occur. The team was also to identify the 'best practices' used in the various programs. The charter of the team was to focus on the PIO problem, assess the current development process, and document the 'best practices.' The team reviewed all major USAF aircraft programs with digital flight controls, specifically, the F-15E, F-16C/D, F-22, F-111, C-17, and B-2. The team interviewed contractor, System Program Office (SPO), and Combined Test Force (CTF) personnel on these programs. The team also went to NAS Patuxent River to interview USN personnel about the F/A-18 program. The team also reviewed experimental USAF and NASA systems with digital flight control systems: X-29, X-31, F-15 STOL and Maneuver Technology Demonstrator (SMTD), and the Variable In-Flight Stability Test Aircraft (VISTA). The team also discussed the problem with other experts in the field including Ralph Smith and personnel from Calspan. The major conclusions and recommendations from the review are presented

The KP Hierarchy in Miwa Coordinates

A systematic reformulation of the KP hierarchy by using continuous Miwa variables is presented. Basic quantities and relations are defined and determinantal expressions for Fay's identities are obtained. It is shown that in terms of these variables the KP hierarchy gives rise to a Darboux system describing an infinite-dimensional conjugate net.Comment: 14 pages Latex2

Formulation et estimation des modèles ARCH et GARCH avec application à l'analyse de la volatilité des séries économiques

Ce mémoire est consacré à l’étude des modèles ARCH. Nous nous attarderons principalement sur les difficultés posées par l’estimation de ces modèles, qui selon des travaux antérieurs nécessitent l’utilisation de dérivées analytiques comme outil d’estimation afin de pallier à la problématique du choix des valeurs initiales lors de l’estimation. Dans le chapitre I, nous présentons la formulation de ces modèles, ainsi que leurs propriétés. Puis brièvement, nous énumérons les différentes extensions de ces modèles. Dans le chapitre II, nous abordons l’estimation des modèles ARCH par la méthode du maximum de vraisemblance. De nombreuses questions y sont particulièrement examinées : la difficulté posée par l’estimation de tels modèles, le calcul de dérivées analytiques nécessaires à l’estimation, la façon de mettre en oeuvre des tests simples d’homoscédasticité, d’asymétrie et d’aplatissement. Enfin, nous présentons au chapitre III un exemple simple d ’application de la méthodologie ARCH à la modélisation des séries de rendements boursiers. Nous comparons ainsi les résultats obtenus par approches analytique et numérique. Les différentes étapes de la modélisation sont présentées en détail et illustrées à l’aide des logiciels ECTS, RATS et EVIEWS

PENGARUH MOTIVASI EKOWISATA TERHADAP KEPUASAN WISATAWAN DI THE LODGE MARIBAYA

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh motivasi ekowisata terhadap kepuasan wisatawan di daerah ekowisata The Lodge Maribaya. Metode penelitian yang digunakan pada penelitian ini yaitu kausalitas dengan pendekatan kuantitatif. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan cara membagikan kuesioner kepada 139 orang responden menggunakan formula Bernoulli dengan teknik pengambilan sampel purposive random sampling. Kriteria yang digunakan pada responden adalah bersedia mengisi kuesioner penelitian, berusia di atas 17 tahun, dan responden minimal pernah mengunjungi The Lodge Maribaya sebanyak 1 kali. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa motivasi ekowisata berpengaruh signifikan terhadap kepuasan wisatawan ke The Lodge Maribaya dengan koefisien determinasi sebesar 81,3%. Keunikan penelitian ini adalah memisahkan motivasi wisatawan dengan kepuasan wisatawan sehingga tercipta motivational approach to expectancy confirmation. This research is aim to testing the influence of tourism motivation on ecotourism satisfaction at The Lodge Maribaya ecotourism. Research method which being used is causality with quantitative approach. The data conducted by distributing questionnaire to 139 of respondents by Bernoulli forumla applied and sampling method uses purposive random sampling. Some of criterias are the respondent willing to fill out a questionnaire, more than 17 years old, and may be visit The Lodge Maribaya 1 time in minimum. The result showed that ecotourism motivation determines tourism satisfaction at The Lodge Maribaya with determination coefficient as much as 81,3%. The novelty of this research is separating tourism motivation and tourism satisfaction which resulting motivational approach to expectancy confirmation