13251 research outputs found
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Parent Style of Coping Based on Attachment in the NICU
No full textThis quantitative study sought to identify any relationship between attachment type and coping style in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, to better understand and provide resources and support to families in this environment. This study included ten participants who had an infant in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for at least five days. Each participant met the additional criteria of being older than the age of 18 and speaking English. Responses were recorded through a self-report survey, consisting of 115 Likert scale statements. Results indicated that most parents self-report secure attachment and that styles of coping varied within those securely attached, with escape-avoidance being most prominent. Analysis of the secondary categories of attachment indicated the following results: in insecure avoidant attachment, escape-avoidance is the most common coping style; in insecure ambivalent attachment, problem solving is the most common; and in disorganized attachment, escape-avoidance is the most common. Therefore, amongst the primary and secondary attachment types, escape-avoidance was indicated as the most commonly utilized coping style. By exploring and analyzing these parent self-reports, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit resources and support may be adapted to cater to all types of attachment and all styles of coping
US Strategic Culture, Homeland Ballistic Missile Defense, and Mutual Vulnerability
No full textStrategic scholars have long understood the indispensable linkage between culture and security policymaking. By shaping the perceptions through which decision-makers formulate security policy, strategic culture analysis adds vital context to the perilously difficult science of understanding and predicting state security outputs. One area where this analytical framework fails to generate the expected result is American missile defense policy. Salient themes of US strategic culture, including an optimistic and problem-solving mindset, positive role of machines, and ahistorical exceptionalism, are reflected in the American way of war – a technologically driven, leadership casualty averse, moralistic, apolitical, and firepower focused enterprise. These factors would strongly indicate a preference for comprehensive deterrence by denial measures, most prominently homeland ballistic missile defense (BMD), to protect American lives in the case of deterrence failure or catastrophic accident. However, such preferences have failed to consistently materialize over three-quarters of a century of missile defense policymaking. Instead, the US has often settled for a strategy of mutual vulnerability synonymous with the theory of Thomas Schelling’s “balance of terror” and Robert McNamara’s mutually assured destruction (MAD) philosophy. While the US has slowly accepted more expansive attitudes regarding BMD, including decades of bipartisan consensus regarding its necessity vis-à-vis “rogue states,” MAD continues to dominate the approach to Russian and Chinese missile arsenals. Despite the disconnect between culture and security outputs, little scholarship exists to explain this incongruity. This thesis advances three possible theories to fill this research gap, including the requirement of compromise in forming policy in a pluralistic democracy, the lack of ballistic missile threat immediacy to the general American public, and the concerted effort of US adversaries to manipulate the international and domestic perceptions of US missile defense efforts. The enduring influence of MAD on BMD policy in spite of a dearth of cultural support indicates that progress of future missile defense efforts will likely depend upon the ability of policymakers to communicate the utility of damage limitation measures to deterrence and connect the benefits of expanded missile defense to deeply held American values
Testing the Impact of a Silencing Suppressor on Infectivity of Grapevine Vein Clearing Virus Infectious Clone in Nicotiana Benthamiana
No full textGrapevine vein clearing virus (GVCV), the first DNA virus of the Badnavirus genus discovered in grapevines, is closely associated with grapevine vein-clearing disease. Through earlier research, Koch\u27s postulates were partially met: GVCV was in all diseased plants; GVCV was introduced into a healthy grapevine through grafting and by aphids and caused the disease. However, more shreds of evidence are required to fulfill the last postulate, the same virus must be reisolated from the inoculated diseased grapevine (1). A full-length infectious clone of GVCV was previously constructed to provide evidence; however, its infectivity was not consistent. Therefore, the goal of this thesis research was to increase infectivity. I hypothesized that the low infectivity of GVCV infectious clones is due to virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in host plants. It is known that P19 of tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) is a viral suppressor of VIGS. I tested the hypothesis by adding TBSV P19 to the agroinfection. I used the agrobacterial strain GV3101 as control, as well as GV3101-LBC, which carries the 1.4 GVCV genome, At-pKYLX7-P19, and At-pKYLX7-GFP. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for GVCV detection and real-time quantitative PCR was used for qualifying the number of GVCV genomes in plant tissue. The results showed that GVCV effectively infected N. benthamiana. The GVCV genome number was not statistically different in the plants that were agroinfected with GVCV infectious clones with or without the addition of TBSV P19. Therefore, there was insufficient evidence to support that P19 can improve the infectivity of the GVCV infectious clone
Synthesis of Novel NiO/CoMn2O4 Heterostructured Nanoparticles and the Effects of Variable Size and Metal Concentrations on Their Magnetic and Surface Chemical Properties
No full textI studied the effect of core size and metal concentration on the structural, morphological, and magnetic properties of NiO-based magnetic heterostructured nanocrystals (HNCs) generated hydrothermally. The NiO nanocrystals were created by a thermal decomposition technique, while the surrounding Mn and Co-based phases were created through a hydrothermal procedure, with core diameters ranging from 9.31 nm to 24.51 nm and total metal concentrations of 0.05 M and 0.08 M. The resulting inverted AFM-FiM NiO/CoMn2O4 bimagnetic systems make up the heterostructured nanocrystals. The magnetic HNCs were thoroughly characterized using XRD, SEM-EDX, TEM, PPMS magnetometry, and XPS analysis. Investigations into the structure of the HNCs indicated that they were mostly faceted and pseudospherical, with topotaxially formed CoMn2O4 spinel overlayers shell/nanoislands. Magnetic measurements show that as core particle size decreases, coercivity, exchange bias, and remanent magnetization values increase significantly. At 5 K, the 19 nm core-sized sample exhibited the greatest exchange bias of 1.48 KOe and coercivity of 3.47 Koe. Improving exchange bias depends on a number of factors, including interface crystallinity, surface effect, and uncompensated spins. Finally, the XPS spectra delineates the surface chemical composition of the bimagnetic heterostructured nanocrystals. This work on the core-shell system’s synthesis technique and on understanding the large exchange bias effect could lead to the use of heterostructured nanoparticles in magnetic devices and biomedical applications
Walk of Wild Things: A cross-grade collaboration teaches first- and third-grade students research skills.
No full textNext, the classroom teachers provided a list of animals that the students could explore, and then the research partners ranked their top five choices. In closing, we found that multi-age collaboration was an enjoyable teaching tool that increased teacher efficacy, built student knowledge, and strengthened students\u27 ability to work cooperatively with others. TEACHER COLLABORATION AND EFFICACY This cross-grade collaboration provided time for the teachers to work together in facilitating learning and increased teacher efficacy
Evaluating Exploitation of White Crappie and Black Crappie in Three Southeast Kansas Reservoirs
No full textPopulations of white crappie Pomoxis annularis and black crappie P. nigromaculatus were studied in three southeast Kansas reservoirs to assess exploitation and determine if current regulations were conducive for sustainable populations. Trap nets were used to sample crappie in Elk City Reservoir, Big Hill Reservoir, and Parsons City Lake. Crappie with length 210 mm and greater were tagged with FloyFD-94 tags that served as entries into a drawing for a US$300-valued reward to encourage tag reporting. Harvest and angler demographic information were collected when tags were reported. Postcard surveys and motion-sensed cameras were used in conjunction to estimate angler effort and reporting rate on Parsons City Lake. Exploitation rates determined by tag returns, and corrected for non-reporting and tag loss, were 28.3%, 21.8%, and 3.9% on Elk City Reservoir, Big Hill Reservoir, and Parsons City Lake, respectively. Overfishing was not occurring, so current statewide regulations were likely appropriate, and no changes may be necessary
The Impact of Freewriting on Writing Teachers\u27 Self-Perceptions
No full textI present a study of eight graduate assistants who teach introductory composition courses as part of their graduate assistantships. Each participant was asked to freewrite for ten minutes a day, five days a week, for ten weeks. Participants were interviewed about their teacher and writer identities prior to the freewriting, at week five, and at week ten. Graduate assistants offer a unique perspective, as many of them are neither professional writers nor trained teachers, yet they are hired to teach writing. Using Peter Elbow’s Embracing Contraries (1986) as a theoretical framework, I determine that freewriting offered the participants a space to explore the contradictions of their teacher and writer identities, eventually moving into a wider frame of reference through which they understood themselves and their profession. I find that this study provided a space for identity exploration that these instructors did not have elsewhere. Implications of this study are that teachers need an opportunity to explore issues of teacher and writer identity in a low-stakes, unevaluated environment that allows for the interaction of contradictions. It cannot be assumed that writing teachers have explicitly considered their notions of writing and teaching; many of these participants had not done so prior to the study. If teachers of writing must be writers themselves, then teachers must be given an opportunity to explore their identity as writers, and freewriting provides one means of doing so
The Effects of Pyramidal Training of Behavioral Skills Training on Staff Interactions With Students With Developmental Disabilities
No full textWell-trained staff are critical for quality care in human service settings, but training requires resources that are often unavailable or restricted. This results in staff with inadequate training and worse outcomes for those in their care. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) is an effective training strategy with empirical support. The current study implemented a pyramidal training procedure with BST to train staff to increase staff use of positive interactions and behavior-specific praise statements when working with children with developmental disabilities in a public-school setting. Instruction, modeling, practice, and feedback were used to teach lead classroom teachers and their paraprofessionals how to interact positively and use behavior-specific praise. Lead teachers were trained by the experimenter to train their paraprofessionals to interact positively and use behavior-specific praise with students in a special education classroom. An AB experimental design was used to assess the effectiveness of the pyramidal training program. Participants increased positive interactions and/or behavior-specific praise statements as a result of the pyramidal training program
Structural, Electrical and Optical Properties of Copper Oxide Phase Mixture: An Active Layer of Solar Cell
No full textBoth CuO and Cu2O have been well studied and implemented individually as an active layer of a solar cell from early age of manufacturing. A mixture of these two-phase contents at different ratios can bring variance in absorbance which can present new and diverse aspect in solar cell fabrication with added efficiency. Previous works were successful to vary the phase mixture, and the nanostructures provided very high absorption co-efficient but poor optical response on electrical conductivity. The goal of this research is to find out the optimum parameter for the phase mixture of copper oxide with high absorption coefficient as well as good optical response on electrical conductivity. Pulsed laser deposition and subsequent controlled annealing have been used to find the optimum phase mixture of copper oxide thin films to maximize the opto- electrical conductivity and absorption in the solar spectrum. To obtain the structure-property correlation, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, opto- electronic transport measurements, and UV-VIS spectroscopy were carried out on thin film samples. Owing to the change in the phase content in the copper oxide thin films some consistent variations in the electrical and optical properties have been observed. And so far, a thin film copper oxide phase mixture (CuO 87.30%, Cu2O 12.70%) with a thickness of 200 nm yielded an absorption co-efficient of 3.0E+5 cm-1 which is greater than that of a standard CuO (1.19E+5 cm- 1), and also a large change in electrical conductivity with light has been found. This phase mixture with the maximum absorption coefficient and large opto-electronic response can be implemented as an active layer of a solar cell which would help attaining maximum efficiency in copper oxide-based heterojunction solar cell. To understand the opto- electronic properties, band structure calculation on copper oxide was also performed using density functional theory
Investigation Into Karst of Southwest Missouri Using Electrical Resistivity
No full textNixa, Missouri is located on the southwestern edge of the Ozark Dome which has a karst geomorphological environment. Near surface geophysical methods can be used in determining the location and nature of karst features such as caves and sinkholes. Electrical resistivity methods have been shown to be among the most useful methods in deciphering sinkholes and caves. To investigate a known cave and related sinkholes and faults within Mississippian carbonates south of Nixa, Missouri, a series of two-dimensional electrical resistivity profiles were collected using the dipole-dipole and Schlumberger arrays. Terrain data was collected to include in modeling. The data were modeled using a robust two-dimensional inversion method where the inversion parameters were varied to determine the statistically most reasonable model. Using these methods new unexplored cave passages have been detected around the existing cave. The data collect has been used to estimate the location and dimensions of these new cave passages. These new cave passages were found to the northwest and northeast of the known cave passages