The use of natural details in English poetry: 1645-1668

This dissertation examines the use made of details from the natural world by English poets of the mid-seventeenth century. It is concerned with two main aspects of the subjects the function of natural imagery; and the rhetorical methods by which details from nature are exploited in poetry. It also seeks to demonstrate that the way a poet manipulates his material is influenced both by inherited literary tradition, and also by his age's changing conception of the nature of the universe and of man's relationship to it. Part One of the thesis explores the implications of the title in the light of some early critical treatments of the subject of Nature in poetry and of more recent theories of seventeenth-century imagery and rhetoric, and surveys those changes in the thought and sensibility of the period which seem to have had a bearing on the poetic handling of natural imagery. Part Two investigates the various ways in which details from nature were employed by poets during the years 1645-1668. The material has been organised under three general headings, dictated by the function of the images in the poems in which they occur. Part Three examines the work of seven poets whose contribution is deemed to be of particular interest. Their poetry is related to the wider cultural setting discussed in Part One and to the literary background provided in Part Two. Part Four furnishes a brief survey of some of the major lines of development in the use of natural details in the poetry of the period immediately following the years studied in the main body of the thesis. The study concludes with three appendices and a bibliography of books and articles cited and consulted in the course of its composition

The Effect of Two Reading Conditions on Comprehension for Ninth Grade Students

The purpose of this study was to determine the most effective way of delivering instruction, as it related to reading, in the classroom. The study compared comprehension scores yielded from oral reading and silent reading from prose found in the world literature anthology used in a ninth grade humanities program. Thirty-nine urban, ninth grade general education students participated in this study. In order to avoid any bias, one classroom teacher and not the researcher conducted the reading assessment during one class period. Students from four classes were tested within a one week period of time, in morning classes. The oral reading and comprehension questions were administered before the silent reading and comprehension questions. The research questions were: 1. Which reading condition, silent or oral, yields the highest comprehension scores on materials found in the anthology currently used in a ninth grade humanities program? 2. How do the students\u27 reading abilities, as determined by eighth grade reading scores, relate to their most successful condition of reading? The data were collected and then analyzed using a t test. There was not a statistically significant difference on the reading comprehension scores from oral and silent reading. When students were divided into quartiles, the third quartile demonstrated a trend toward significance with higher comprehension from the oral reading. The other three quartiles did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference between the two reading conditions

A Descriptive Policy Analysis of State-Level Universal Preschool Adoption

Presently, the Unites States does not have a publicly funded, comprehensive, universal ECE system. The fragmented and piecemeal approach to providing ECE creates social injustice and inequity for many young children (Kagan & Roth, 2017; Kagan, 2009). With the absence of comprehensive and streamlined federal ECE policy, several states have attempted to at least provide universal preschool to all four-year-old children. For states that aim to adopt universal preschool, it is critical to understand the factors, political conditions, and policy environments conducive to creating preschool policy change. Although many states would like to provide universal preschool, very few have been successful in overcoming barriers to its policy adoption (Azzi-Lessing, 2009; Bushouse, 2009; Rose, 2010; Ackerman, 2004). While many studies focus on the effectiveness of preschool, to date little attention has been paid to how universal preschool policies are being adopted by states. This descriptive policy analysis used a multi-case study approach to examine how ten different states - large and small, red and blue , rich and poor - successfully adopted universal preschool. Findings indicate the presence of key policy conditions, strategies, and themes found across states with universal preschool policy on the books. Implications for states\u27 development of universal preschool policy are discussed

Rascals to Wise Men: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Emancipatory Education

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College

Comparing Professonal Development Practices of Low Performing Public Schools and High Performing Public Schools in the State of Mississippi

This study was designed to investigate the professional development practices of public schools in Mississippi. More specifically, the causal comparative design sought to discover if there were differences in professional development practices between low-performing public schools in Mississippi and high-performing public schools in Mississippi. For the purposes of this study, high-performing schools were classified A or B and low-performing schools were classified D or F by the Mississippi Department of Education. Classifications were based on student performance measures from the statewide testing system for the 2012-2013 school year. The review of literature guided the examination of differences in perceived value placed on professional development, perceived delivery of professional development, perceived follow-up of professional development, perceived collaborative process of professional development, perceived duration of professional development, and perceived integration of data into professional development. Data were obtained through survey methodology with survey instruments completed by principals and certified teachers employed in the 2013-2014 school year. The instruments were distributed to educators in both low-performing public schools in Mississippi and high-performing public schools in Mississippi. The results of this study revealed a statistically significant difference in the perceived collaborative process of professional development between teachers and principals of low-performing public schools in Mississippi and high-performing public schools in Mississippi. Furthermore, the results of this study also revealed a statistically significant difference in the perceived integration of data into professional development between teachers and principals of low-performing public schools in Mississippi and high-performing public schools in Mississippi

The Venus Balloon Project

On June 11 and 15, 1985, two instrumental balloons were released from the Soviet VEGA 1 and VEGA 2 spacecraft and deployed in the atmosphere of Venus. The VEGA probes flew by the planet on their way to a rendezvous with comet Halley in March 1986. Drifting with the wind at altitudes of 54 km, the balloons traveled one-third of the way around the planet during their 46-hour lifetimes. Sensors on-board the gondolas made periodic measurements of pressure, temperature, vertical wind velocity, cloud particle density, ambient light level, and frequency of lightning. The data were transmitted to Earth and received at the Deep Space Network (DSN) 64-m stations and at several large antennas in the USSR. Approximately 95 percent of the telemetry data were successfully decoded at the DSN complexes and in the Soviet Union, and were provided to the international science team for analysis. Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) data were acquired by 20 radio observatories around the world for the purpose of monitoring the Venus winds. The DSN 64-m subnet was part of a 15-station VLBI network organized by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) of France. In addition, five antennas of the Soviet network participated. VLBI data from the CNES network are currently being processed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Attitudes and Experiences of Clinicians After Mandated Implementation of Open Notes by the 21st Century Cures Act: Survey Study

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.Background: On December 13, 2016, the US Congress enacted the 21st Century Cures Act (hereafter the Cures Act), which contained the Final Rule mandate that took effect on April 5, 2021. Since then, health systems have been required to provide patients digital access to their eHealth information “without delay” and without charge. Objective: This study aimed to assess clinicians’ initial experiences with, and attitudes toward, sharing visit notes with patients after being mandated to do so by the Cures Act and to determine clinician preferences regarding instant record release. Methods: This cross-sectional survey study was conducted between June 10, 2021, and August 15, 2021, at the University of Kansas Health System, a large academic medical center in Kansas City, Kansas, United States. Participants included clinicians currently employed by the health system, including resident and attending physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and critical care and emergency medicine registered nurses. Results: A total of 1574 attending physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, as well as 506 critical care and emergency medicine nurses, were sent invitations; 538 (34.18%) and 72 (14.2%), respectively, responded. Of 609 resident physicians, 4 (response rate not applicable because it was unknown how many residents viewed the website while the link was available) responded. The majority of respondents were attending physicians (402/614, 65.5%) and within the department of internal medicine (160/614, 26.1%). Most agreed that sharing visit notes was a good idea (355/613, 57.9%) and that it is important to speak with the patients before they accessed their records (431/613, 70.3%). Those who agreed that sharing visit notes is a good idea tended to view the practice as a useful tool for engaging patients (“Agree”: 139/355, 39.2%; “Somewhat agree”: 161/355, 45.4%; P<.001) and experience no change in the clinical value of their notes for other clinicians (326/355, 91.8%; P<.001). Those who disagreed (or were neutral) tended not to encourage patients to read their notes (235/258, 91.1%; P<.001) and were more likely to experience a change in their charting practice (168/257, 65.4%; P<.001) and increased time charting (99/258, 38.4%; P<.001). Conclusions: The findings of this study may be generalizable to institutions similar to the University of Kansas Health System, and the clinician testimonies gathered in this study may provide valuable insight into the initial opinions and experiences of clinicians at these institutions. In addition, these clinician experiences collected early in the transition period may be used to guide future health policy implementation and to understand how best to prepare clinicians for these changes in practice