University at Albany, State University of New York
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Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports: A Quasi-Experimental Study Of Academic Outcomes
Get PDFDistricts and schools are under pressure to increase student academic outcomes while meeting their various social-behavioral needs. This pressure is compounded by the responsibility of creating climates that are safe and equitable for all students where teachers can teach, and all students can learn. However, far too often, negative, and disruptive school climates are counteracting efforts being made by teachers to increase academic outcomes (Warren et al., 2006). Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) offers a proactive approach to promote positive school climate while reducing punitive and reactionary discipline procedures. However, the relationship between PBIS implementation fidelity and academic achievement remains an area of ongoing inquiry (Algozzine, et al., 2011). This study examined the relationship between PBIS implementation and academic outcomes on English Language Arts (ELA) and math achievement over two years. Participants included 65 schools in New York State implementing PBIS. A multiple regression was conducted to assess whether the implementation of PBIS influenced ELA and math achievement scores. The implementation of PBIS did not show statistically significant effects on either academic subject. However, several predictive variables such as TFI scores, school size, and student demographics resulted in statistically significant effects on both ELA and math scores
Running For School Board: Motivations And Perceived School Board Challenges
Get PDFThis study provided a detailed analysis of why newly elected school board members ran for school board in New York from 2017–2022 and the governance challenges they expected to face. Secondary survey data of 1,064 school board members collected by the New York State School Boards Association were examined to explore how personal and professional traits influenced member decisions to run and the shifting challenges they perceived in school board governance during this period. Analytical methods included categorical data analysis, chi-square tests, and logistic regression, with the aid of ATLAS.TI software for thematic coding of open-ended responses regarding perceived challenges. Results revealed a varied demographic profile of school board members, who were predominantly women, parents, highly educated, and employed, with many having a teaching background. Motivations for board service shifted from reactive problem solving toward proactive use of expertise, shaped by factors including age and parental involvement. Challenges identified by board members evolved over time, with the COVID-19 global pandemic bringing issues of governance, leadership, and financial oversight to the forefront. The School Board Motivations and Competencies Matrix is introduced, focusing on the connection between competencies stemming from educational and employment backgrounds, and motivations driven by existing problems or the member’s expertise. This research provides timely insights into educational governance by highlighting how the diverse backgrounds of school board members shape their motivations and perceptions of governance challenges. These findings offer valuable guidance for researchers and stakeholders, providing crucial insights to inform future strategies and policies aimed at enhancing local educational governance
Modeling The Wall Background In The Lux-Zeplin (Lz) Dark Matter Experiment
Get PDFDark matter is still one of the greatest unsolved enigmas of modern science. There is a wealth of evidence for dark matter, yet the detection and the fundamental properties of dark matter particles, which make up about 86% of the mass of our Universe, are still elusive. Direct detection experiments probe the interactions between the dark matter particles and some target nuclei inside particle detectors in a low background environment. LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a direct detection dark matter experiment located at the 4850 ft. level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, United States. The LZ experiment employs a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC), in combination with integrated veto systems, to detect Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), a highly motivated dark matter candidate. With an exposure of 60 live days and a fiducial mass of 5.5 t, LZ has set world-leading limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-sections for WIMP masses above 9 GeV/c^{2}. The first dark matter search results are consistent with the background-only hypothesis, achieving a minimum of 9.2 \times 10^{-48} cm^{2} for a WIMP mass of 36 GeV/c^{2} in the sensitivity limit curve
Gender Construction, Inequality, And Lgbt Participation In The Politics Of Myanmar
Get PDFThis study explores the complex relationships between gender dynamics, inequality, and LGBT participation within Myanmar’s political landscape in general. The aim was to identify the challenges and experiences LGBT individuals and women encounter as they navigate their political engagement in Myanmar. I strived to achieve this by conducting a qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles and reports from rights-based organizations between 2011 and 2023. In this study, I found that there are several challenges that LGBT people and women encounter; these challenges are a result of ingrained gender norms, religious beliefs, social expectations, and legal frameworks. I found that LGBT people face significant challenges when it comes to engaging in political activities due to the legal and social norms that are related to their sexual orientation and gender identity. On the other hand, women encounter significant barriers to their involvement in political activities and public affairs, primarily resulting from institutional structures and deeply rooted gender norms that limit their roles and participation in the political sphere. Moreover, this study not only provides insights into the challenges experienced by LGBT individuals and women but also offers implications for stakeholders, rights-based organizations, and activists to promote inclusivity and address the obstacles. By highlighting these issues, this study provides a way for further research into improving political participation and equality for women and LGBT people in Myanmar
What Does it Mean To Stand Out? How Visual Design and Presentation Affects Attention and Memory in a Warning Message.
Get PDFIn emergency communication, it is essential to call attention to key information that can be interpreted quickly and remembered easily. Individuals possess a limited number of cognitive resources to allocate to message processing in an emergency. Because of this, they are more likely to allocate attention to messages they are motivated to care about, or to message attributes that stand out. In this study, we focus on how warning messages are attended to when they are viewed in a busy media environment and ask the question: “What does it mean to stand out?” To address the research questions, we used a sequential explanatory design, mixed methods approach. We employed eye tracking, a memory exercise, and think-aloud interviews to investigate visual attention, memory, and perceptions in response to warnings communicated via Twitter and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) for snow squall (SS) and dust storm (DS) hazards. Our findings revealed insights to assist message designers as they develop warning messages without burdening the message receiver with contents that require additional cognitive load. Colors help to draw attention to key elements and evoke a feeling of risk. Icons also draw attention and can serve as a signal that catches the eye, especially when actively viewed in a busy messaging environment. Additionally, techniques to make key text stand out through bold or the use of ALL CAPS may reduce effortful processing and eliminate the need for conscious fixations while resulting in easily remembered content
Investigating Grain Size and Precipitation Relationships in the Context of Past Monsoon Variability
No full textChanges in the strength of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) can lead to an increased threat of drought and reduction of crop yield or conversely, a threat of flooding and damage to infrastructure. Sediment cores taken from lakes can provide many valuable details about past environmental and climatic conditions. In this study we examine a sediment core taken from Loktak Lake in India which is affected by the ISM. Loktak is a very shallow and wide lake, with a considerable amount of evaporation; consequently, lake level is very sensitive to hydroclimate changes. In the last 70 years, historical and meteorological records document a weakening of the ISM. Our hypothesis is that this led to a decreasing lake level and increases in mean sediment grain size. Results support our hypothesis; thus, our interpretation may be applied to the rest of the core in order to reconstruct the last 3,000 years of ISM strength. This research is part of a larger, multi-proxy, multi-millennial, multi-institutional project that looks to examine connections between lake level, climate, and drivers of the ISM
The Retention of Urban Secondary Special Education Teachers: Why Stay?
Get PDFUtilizing interview data collected from six urban secondary special education teachers (SETs), this qualitative study explored why these individuals chose a teaching position in special education in urban secondary schools and why they remained in those positions despite the challenges inherent to that setting. From role and organizational theory, we know that retention is the result of a complex set of socialization factors that either support successful integration into the SET role or impede the individual’s efforts to achieve fit within the given organization. This study sought to understand how these six SETS experienced the socialization process and which factors within the process were most critical when making their decisions to stay. Research sought to identify: What best explained the relationship between anticipatory, professional, and organizational socialization and the urban secondary SET’s decision to stay in the field? Did these urban secondary SETs experience entry shock and if so, how did it influence their intent to stay or leave? What was the relationship between urban secondary SETs’ initial role learning and their respective role identities and preferences? And how did their identities and preferences shape their decision to stay? This study found that the socialization process was effective, but not strictly because of organizational efforts to address the SETs’ needs. The defining factor leading to retention was that each of these individual teachers possessed an innate sense of self-efficacy and agentic ability to utilize their organizational setting to achieve their stated goal of “making a difference.” The study found that most participants were a particular kind of late decider who had other careers and chose this profession purposively to fulfill their personal mission. The successful integration and the achievement of person-organizational fit by these SETs was due primarily to their own ability to strategically use their skills from prior work experiences to build the collegial support structures that addressed their informational and practice needs. SETs viewed their special education career as a means for carrying out their life calling and not as a routine job. The teaching role became part of their identity, unifying their personal and professional sense of self. Rather than being role takers that complied strictly with organizational role expectations, they were active agents in role making and the shaping of the SET position to achieve their personal professional goals. Each of the participants possessed high levels of motivation and the agency with which to act autonomously in achieving fit within the organizational structure—despite a less than ideal induction process. This study provides insight into the role that autonomy plays in the socialization process and the degree to which the socialization process can facilitate or impede the SET’s utilization of that autonomy to achieve a person-organizational fit. Building off concepts presented by Lawson and Claiborne (2005) around retention planning, a framework for understanding person-organizational fit as a function of the socialization process is presented. These findings indicate that a one-size-fits-all induction program to facilitate role learning and fit within an organization may be ineffective. Induction activities to support the achievement of role and organizational centrality (i.e., integration into the role and organization) should be targeted to the individual’s strengths and needs
Outcome-Based Patient-Therapist Matching Implementation: A Study of Clinician Beliefs and Attitudes
Get PDFBackground. Implementation science aims to identify methods that support the adoption of evidence-based practices (EBPs), including measurement-based care (MBC) and MBC-informed patient-therapist matching. Examining clinician attitudes can elucidate potential barriers to implementing EBPs, and attitudinal differences may exist across groups of therapists. In the context of a patient-therapist matching implementation project, this multi-method study investigated the relationship between clinician characteristics, attitudes toward EBPs/MBC, and implementation climate. Method. A sample of N = 72 therapists completed measures of demographic and clinical characteristics, attitudes toward EBPs, perceptions of implementation climate, and attitudes toward monitoring and feedback. A subset of N = 15 therapists participated in supplemental semi-structured interviews. Results. EBP attitude scores were positively correlated with measurement-feedback attitude scores and implementation climate perception scores. An overall effect of demographic variables was not observed. However, between-group correlation results indicated the relationship between measurement-feedback and EBP attitudes was stronger for clinicians identifying as cisgender men and the association between implementation climate and EBP attitudes was moderated by education level. Interview findings revealed clinicians hold generally positive views toward MBC and matching yet have concerns about the implications of outcome data and matching for professional development. Discussion. Clinician perceptions of implementation climate and attitudes toward monitoring and feedback are significantly associated with attitudes toward EBPs across demographic groups. However, our findings suggest clinician gender and education level may influence the degree of receptiveness to implementation in clinical settings. These results have implications for tailoring implementation strategies to facilitate MBC use and MBC-informed clinical decision making
Structural Biology of Diaphanous-1 and Its Role in Human Pathology
No full textDIAPH1 is diaphanous related formin which polymerizes actin into filaments and is important to cytoskeleton dynamics.[1, 2] The dysregulation and aberrant activation of DIAPH1 is known to cause deafness[3, 4] and clotting disorders,[5] and is recently implicated in the inflammatory responses associated with cardiovascular and diabetic pathology.[6-9] Despite this, activation of the full length structure and its regulation are poorly understood.[10-12] Therefore, the main objective of this dissertation is to explore the structural, autoinhibitory, and regulatory properties of DIAPH1 in the context of disease pathology. Herein, I show that DIAPH1 has a dynamic structure which is regulated through negative cooperativity, and describe the structural interactions with proteins involved in inflammatory responses
Argonaute 2 Binding Affinity to Determine Repression of miRNA-mRNA Pairs
Get PDFMicroRNAs (miRNA) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that play a key role in gene silencing. miRNAs form an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) with the argonaute 2 (AGO2) protein in order to control gene expression through silencing messenger RNAs (mRNA). The ability for a miRNA-mRNA complex to fit into AGO2 and form the RISC is based on the location and characteristics of a central bulge, but the mechanism and interactions that lead to a functional RISC remain unknown. Using available experimental data, we modeled complexes composed of a miRNA (miR-34a) and different mRNA sequences inside of AGO2. The resulting structures were then simulated in all atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with and without magnesium ions. To quantify how well the miRNA-mRNA complex fits into AGO2, the bonds between the seed region of the miRNA and mRNA as well as the contacts between the miRNA phosphate backbone and AGO2 were measured over the course of the simulation