Levels of School Libraries: A Problematic Paradigm

Past research studies have consistently demonstrated a positive correlation between high-quality school library programs and student achievement. Minorities, students from low socioeconomic families, and students with disabilities benefit most from strong school library programs which contribute to closing the achievement gap for vulnerable learners. This work in progress outlines a planned research-practice partnership between faculty at East Carolina University and the Community School. Currently, Community School students only have access to classroom collections and a book repository. This serendipitously occurring environment provides the opportunity for a pilot study to define current access and impact on student achievement. The researcher will conduct semi-structured interviews of the school librarian in the local elementary school as well as Community School administrators, parents, and teachers (N = 8). Results of these interviews will describe the levels of access for Community School students and the possible impact on student achievement, laying the groundwork for a causal research study when the Community School students gain access to the school library

Construction of an Auger Microscope

This thesis describes the design, adaptations and characterizations necessary to partially turn an Auger Electron Spectroscopy Instrument (AES) into an Auger Electron Microscope (AEM). The completed AEM will be able to scan and characterize materials over an area, unlike the AES which only took data from a single point. However, due to time constraints, this thesis only partially describes the creation of an AEM. We were able to show proof-of-concept, though, we were unable to run AEM on a material. We have also increased the theoretical accuracy of the instrument by replacing decades-old electronics with modern alternatives. Again, due to time constraints, we are currently unable to certify this, as we are limited by certain reoccurring errors in our data. Auger Microscopes are powerful tools in surface and deposition characterization. We intend to use the AEM to analyze deposition processes used in the creation of thin film solid state batteries and determine possible defects in the deposition process. To characterize the abilities of our instrument, we first replicated and compared our instrument against the spectrometer\u27s current capabilities. Then we scanned the electron beam across a surface to show that we can create a one dimensional map of our Cylindrical Mirror analyzer\u27s focal point. While we have not successfully shown Auger Microscopy with this instrument, we have left this project with the necessary tools to do so

A Continuum of Care: School Librarian Interventions for New Teacher Resilience

School librarians occupy a unique position to offer supports for first year teachers to build resilience, reduce burnout, and ensure retention. The researcher used the psychology theory of resilience to develop the Continuum of Care model which initiates in mentoring and moves toward a collaborative partnership. Fifteen school librarians in one urban district recruited 26 new teachers in their schools to form the treatment group. All new teachers in the district were surveyed to establish their initial level of resilience and collect demographics. A comparison group of 26 new teachers were matched by scores on a resilience scale at the start of the school year, by school level and by Title I status of the school. The treatment group received interventions using the Continuum of Care model over the course of the following four months. Post-treatment, the comparison group and treatment group were surveyed for level of resilience, burnout, and retention. ANOVA was used to find change in resilience over time for the treatment group. ANCOVA was used to compare resilience and burnout scores for the comparison and treatment groups. Binary logistic regression was used to compare retention of the comparison and treatment groups. Interviews of three school librarian-new teacher pairs brought forth the lived experiences of participants. Findings show that new teachers in the treatment group received significantly higher levels of mentoring and collaboration than new teachers in the comparison group. There was a significant effect for the interaction between level of resilience for the treatment group and age. School librarians and new teachers valued their relationship and voiced the effect on resilience, burnout, and retention. Reaching out to new teachers to bridge the gap between the library and classroom may be considered as best practice for school librarians. This exploratory research study laid the groundwork for further study of the role of the school librarian to support new teacher resilience in the authentic school setting

Research-Practice Partnerships: Reaching Underserved Students in the School Library

The media coordinators in one school district undertook a year-long action research project to increase diversity of materials in their library collections and the use of these diverse materials. This study will document and describe their efforts within a researchpractice partnership, while also providing an analysis of the change in practice over time from pre- to post-intervention. Content analysis will be used to evaluate purchase orders made prior to the interventions. Interventions to increase diverse collections and programming will be instituted by the lead media specialist. During the action research project, the media coordinators used diversity tools to analyze their collections. Content analysis will again be used to evaluate purchase orders made after the interventions were implemented. Interviews of school librarians and the lead media specialist will provide thick description of change in materials purchasing and use due to professional development interventions

Jesus and the Divine Name

In his estimable work Not Every Spirit: A Dogmatics of Christian Disbelief, Christopher Morse wisely observes that in the biblical context God’s name is understood to be communicated by God. God’s name "is revealed as a proper and not a generic name or an appellation chosen by human preference." He goes on to elaborate: According to ancient tradition in Genesis the names of creatures are chosen by human selection: "whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name" (Gen. 2:19). Not so with the name of God. So sacred is this name in Hebraic tradition that it is not spoken. Another word, "LORD" (Adonai), is substituted in its place wherever the original appears." In this essay, I want to explore the scriptural dynamics of God’s self-communicated name with special attention to what is no doubt a simple but nevertheless important and often overlooked fact. The practice of honoring the divine name by avoiding its use is not only a Jewish tradition, as Morse rightly observes, but a Christian one as well. I offer these reflections in token of my great esteem for Christopher Morse as a theologian of the church and in gratitude for his unfailing friendship and generosity

Organizational Commitment, Perceived Supervisor Support, and Performance: A Field Study

This study examined the relationships among supervisor support, organizational commitment, and job performance in a work environment. Specifically, differential relationships between supervisor support, affective commitment, and continuance commitment were explored. The relationship between commitment dimensions and job performance in the presence of supervisor support was also investigated. A sample of 96 social workers completed measures of affective commitment, continuance commitment, and perceived supervisor support. Participants’ supervisors provided ratings of job performance and withdrawal behaviors. Results indicated that affective commitment is positively related to supervisor support (r = .42, p\u3c.01) and performance (r = .18, p\u3c.05). Continuance commitment was unrelated to any measured variable. When added to the model, affective commitment did not predict performance (β= .11, SE= .17, p\u3e.05), but perceived supervisor support did significantly predict performance (β = .38, SE= .16, p\u3c.05). Results support past research and extend current knowledge on the relationship between organizational commitment, supervisor support, and job performance. Findings from this study also highlight the importance of supportive treatment by a supervisor on employees’ commitment and job performance

Building Resilience in New and Beginning Teachers: Contributions of School Librarians

Building beginning teachers\u27 resilience may contribute to increasing teacher retention in the early years, in turn improving student academic achievement. School librarians contribute to developing teaching skills by mentoring new teachers. This qualitative study of first to third year teachers and school librarians investigated the contributions that school librarians made in building resilience of beginning teachers through a focus group of new teachers and interviews of school librarians. Findings show that school librarians may contribute to early career teacher resilience, especially during the first days of school, by encouraging perseverance, providing nourishment and empathy, and offering the library as a resource, especially for researc

Exceptional type-I superconductivity of the layered silver oxide Ag5_5Pb2_2O6_6

We report zero-resistivity transition and the details of magnetic transition of a layered silver oxide Ag$_5$Pb$_2$O$_6$ single crystal, which make definitive evidence of superconductivity in this compound. In the AC susceptibility of a mono-crystal, we observed large supercooling, as well as positive peaks in the real part of the susceptibility indicating the reversibility of magnetic process. These observations reveal that Ag$_5$Pb$_2$O$_6$ is probably the first oxide that shows type-I superconductivity. Evaluation of the superconducting parameters not only gives confirming evidence of type-I superconductivity, but also indicates that it is a dirty-limit superconductor. We also analyze supercooling to determine the upper limit of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter.Comment: v2: PACS numbers are adde

Temperature dependence of transport spin polarization in NdNi5 measured using Point Contact Andreev reflection

We report a study in which Point contact Andreev reflection (PCAR) spectroscopy using superconducting Nb tip has been carried out on NdNi5, a ferromagnet with a Curie temperature of TC~7.7K. The measurements were carried out over a temperature range of 2-9K which spans across the ferromagnetic transition temperature. From an analysis of the spectra, we show that (i) the temperature dependence of the extracted value of transport spin polarization closely follows the temperature dependence of the spontaneous magnetization; (ii) the superconducting quasiparticle lifetime shows a large decrease close to the Curie temperature of the ferromagnet. We attribute the latter to the presence of strong ferromagnetic spin fluctuations in the ferromagnet close to the ferromagnetic transition temperature.Comment: pdf file including figures-Typographical error and errors in references correcte

Giant magnetoresistance in quantum magnetic contacts

We present calculations of quantized conductance and magnetoresistance in nanosize point contacts between two ferromagnetic metals. When conductance is open for only one conduction electrons spin-projection, the magnitude of magnetoresistance is limited by the rate of conduction electron spin-reversal processes. For the case when both spin-channels contribute to the conductance we analyze the influence of the point contact cross-section asymmetry on the giant megnetoresistance. Recent experiments on magnetoresistance of magnetic point contacts are discussed in the framework of the developed theory.Comment: 11 pages, TEX, 2 Figures. Journ. Magn. Magn. Mater. (2002) submitte