Steve Harvey & Carlos II

Foot patrols through Baghdad were slow. Nothing but time to think about sniper sightlines and IEDs hidden in the trash. We gridded the streets in our AO and sidestepped sewage-puddling ditches. Three months in, one block became our favorite. There were fewer adobe-like farmhouses, and beyond them lay the rural red-sanded expanse of the desert. The stagnant heat reminded me of running the firebreak roads at Camp Mackall during SFAS Team Week. I had twelve months to go, a full year to imagine a violent death on a repeating loop. I wanted to make it to my twenty-first birthday so I could walk into a liquor store back home in Fort Worth and buy my old man a nice bottle of Scotch, thank him for loving me, for sending me letters every week

Review of factors affecting ignition of metals in high pressure oxygen systems

Factors affecting ignition of metals in high pressure oxygen system

Analyzing Catalyst Bed Degradation in Monopropellant Thrusters

Recently there has been a push toward green monopropellants in rocket thrusters. The leading green monopropellant is AF-M315E. Its high stability, low toxicity, and ability to be stored for long periods of time in low temperatures without freezing gives it an advantage over the current hydrazine systems. Because testing the new monopropellant on thrusters would create an enormous cost, the Air Force Research Laboratories has created micro-reactors to simulate thruster firing. A 10 second lifespan micro-reactor has been completed and was used to test the reactivity between fuel and catalyst. Now there is an effort to complete a 10 min lifespan micro-reactor that will look at internal diagnostics. One aspect being looked at is degradation of catalyst over time. A digital microscope will be used to capture images of the catalyst before and after firing. From those images, a program is being written to look at images of catalyst grains and extract the shape and size of each grain. This can help to determine what happens to the catalyst in the firing process

Engaging Teachers to Improve Administrator Support in an Urban Middle School: an Action Research Study

Abstract High teacher turnover in urban schools, such as at the school in which this study was conducted, has persistently negatively impacted school reform efforts aimed at closing the achievement gap (Donaldson & Johnson, 2011; Ronfeldt, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2013). Since effective teachers have the greatest direct impact upon improving student achievement, high teacher turnover rates in low-performing schools that serve large populations of minority and low-income students help perpetuate the low performance of those schools (Ingersoll, 2002; Ronfeldt et al., 2013; Stronge, 2010; Wright, Horn, & Sanders, 1997). Furthermore, research indicates that teachers tend to stay in schools where a positive, supportive, collaborative school culture exists and where teachers play a role in decision making (Ado, 2013; Boyd et al., 2011; Ingersoll, 2002; Johnson, 2011). The purpose of this mixed methods action research study was to identify and explore a potential systemic intervention that would improve teachers’ perceptions of administrator support in order to eventually improve teacher retention in an urban middle school. By comparative analysis using a t-test of the pre- and post-survey results from the administration of the Principal Support Survey (DiPaola, 2012) that included the addition of three open-ended questions relating to teachers’ experiences with and wishes for administrative support, the study results indicated that after four months, implementation of a weekly observation and coaching protocol yielded a statistically significant increase in teachers’ perceptions of appraisal support. Recommendations included providing ongoing, individualized coaching support to teachers and to those coaching teachers, in addition to revising external accountability measures to ensure time for coaching and to reduce teacher stress

Evaluating Changes in PEAK and IQ Scores in Children With Autism Following a PEAK Treatment Program

The present study evaluated the relationship between scores on the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Pre-Assessments (Equivalence & Transformation Modules; PEAK) in one individual with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their corresponding performance on standardized IQ tests (WPPSI-IV Short Form), their performances on PEAK assessments following 10 weeks of treatment with four hours per week, and the corresponding obtained relational deceleration coefficient. The data indicated a strong, significant relationship between participation in PEAK treatment and an increase in scores on PEAK and IQ tests. The relational deceleration coefficient score did not change significantly. These results have the implications PEAK treatment is reliable and valid and should be used to help teach relational responding to children with developmental disabilities

Kinetic Conversations: Creative Dance-Music Performance and the Negotiation of Identity in Contemporary Havana, Cuba.

In this dissertation, I examine creative dance-music performance as a way that professional folkloric performers pursue individual agendas and negotiate identities central to everyday life. Based on ethnographic research carried out between 2009 and 2012 with members of Oba Ilú, a Havana-based Cuban/Afro-Cuban folklore ensemble, I present three case studies in which performers creatively alter standard genres in ways that are both aesthetically arousing and socially effective. The first case study examines the choreographic transvestism of Isnavi Cardoso Díaz, a woman who performs the traditionally male solo genre of columbia. The next case study explores how Miguel Martínez negotiates his identity as a seductive partner through a fusion of folklore and social dance that I call salsa cubana. In the final case study, performances of abakuá folklore by Gregorio “El Goyo” Hernández, who negotiates his identity as a patriot and public leader of this recently legalized but still controversial ritual community. Each case study is situated in contexts of interviews, autobiography, and historic processes of change in Cuba during the past two decades. I hypothesize that these creative performances operate as language-like domains of reflexive practice, which I call kinetic conversation. Taking the agents’ creative alterations as evidence of identity negotiations, I analyze their performances as a form of discursive interaction organized by musical sound and constitutive of a set of relationships including the protagonist, the interactive dyad, and a community of interpreters. Rather than treating these relationships as symbolic or representational, I consider them in terms of the embodied significance of performance informed by underlying neurobiological processes. Using the concept of habitus and theories of embodied cognition, I trace the kinetic performances of identity that arise through creative performance and how they reveal the intersections and slippages between the performances roles and identity as lived experience. The framework shows how contemporary identity discourses form part of the subjective significance of dance-music performance and suggests that music plays a part in shaping the kinetic dimension of individual identity and social roles.PhDMusic: MusicologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113360/1/ekbatiuk_1.pd

Experiment M115: Special hematologic effects: Dynamic changes in red cell shape in response to the space-flight environment

The significance of the transformations in red cell shape observed during the Skylab study must be considered relative to the limitation of man's participation in extended space flight missions. The results of this one study are not conclusive with respect to this question. Based on these examinations of red cells in normal, healthy men and based on other Skylab experiment data relative to the functional capacity of the red cells in vitro and the performance capacity of man as an integrated system, the changes observed would not appear to be the limiting factor in determining man's stay in space. However, the results of this experiment and the documented red cell mass loss during space flight raise serious questions at this time relative to the selection criteria utilized for passengers and crews of future space flights. Until the specific cause and impact of the red cell shape change on cell survival in vivo can be resolved, individuals with diagnosed hematologic abnormalities should not be considered as prime candidates for missions, especially those of longer duration

Functional preservation of vascular smooth muscle tissue

The ionic and cellular feedback relationships operating to effect the vascular decompensatory modifications were examined to reveal procedures for implementing protective measures guarding against vascular collapse when returning from a weightless environment to that of the earth's gravity. The surgical procedures for preparing the rat cremaster, and the fixation methods are described. Abstracts of publications resulting from this research are included

Nursing Students\u27 Attitude and Knowledge of Alzheimer\u27s Disease

As the population ages, nurses must be prepared to provide care for the large number of people with Alzheimer\u27s disease (PWAD). Research is limited on nursing students and people with AD, whether nursing education prepares students to care for this population, or the best methods to educate students in an insightful and collaborative environment. The aim of this mixed methods design study was to determine the effects of educational experiences on nursing students\u27 knowledge and attitudes towards people with AD. The qualitative piece identified factors that influenced and explained differences in nursing students\u27 knowledge and attitudes surrounding the care of people with AD. Findings indicated that students involved in an AD clinical experience had significant improvement in both AD knowledge and attitudes towards PWAD compared to students who completed the AD module and control group. Four themes emerged from exploring knowledge and attitudes surrounding the care of PWAD. Recommendations were provided to enhance the current nursing curriculum by integrating AD clinical experiences for nursing students to gain and assimilate AD knowledge to provide care for PWAD