1941 research outputs found
Sort by
"Legal status of Palestine"
Get PDFFaculty Advisor: David Skidmore, Professor
Department of Politics and International Relations, College of Arts and Sciences
Drake University. Student editorial board members for the Spring 2006 issue include: Teresa Abbey, Brittany Buchholz, Brett Myrick and Jeff Scheiber.Drake Undergraduate Social Science Journal is sponsored by the Department of Economics, Department of History, Department of Politics and International Relations, Department of Psychology, Department of Culture and Society,
and the International Relations Program, all within the College of Arts and Sciences at Drake University
"Islamic Fascism?"
Get PDFIsmael Hossein-zadeh is a professor of economics at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. He is the author of the newly published book, The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism. His Web page is http://www.cbpa.drake.edu/hossein-zade
"Protective effect of Placenta Growth Factor (PIGF) against hypoxia-reoxgyenation and serum-deprivation induced apoptosis in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes"
No full textKyle Bohman, Marin Schweizer and Bob Berendt are all Drake University students. Ronald J. Torry is Associate Professor of Pharmacology at Drake University. Donald S. Torry is a faculty member at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.Placenta growth factor (PlGF) is known to induce angiogenesis and protect placental trophoblast from apoptosis. We have shown that PlGF mRNA expression is increased in hypoxic human myocardium and in rat neonatal cardiomyocytes. However, little is known regarding the function of PlGF in heart tissue. Others have shown that PlGF or PlGF/VEGF significantly inhibited apoptosis in endothelial cells from PlGF knockout mice and we have shown that PlGF rescues cultured trophoblast from apoptosis induced by serum deprivation. Accordingly, our hypothesis is that PlGF protects cardiomyocytes from ischemia-induced or serum deprivation-induced apoptosis. The role of PlGF will be investigated during cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by serum-deprivation and hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R)--physiological conditions relevant to ischemic cardiomyopathy. Hypoxic conditions were established by culturing the cells at 1-2% O2. Caspase-3,7 luminescence assay (Promega) was used to determine the level of activated Caspases 3 and 7. The caspase family of cysteine proteases, especially caspase-3, is central in amplifying the cascade of proteolysis that culminates in cell death. Serum-deprivation and H/R have been found to be consistent methods of creating ischemic stresses and inducing apoptosis in rat cardiomyocytes. Serum-deprivation produced a 1.55 fold increase of apoptosis over normoxic values (n=10). H/R lead to a 1.98 fold increase of apoptosis (n=1). Our preliminary data suggest that a PlGF (25ng/ml) or PlGF/VEGF (25ng/ml each) does not reduce apoptosis induced by serum-deprivation. However, an 8 hour pretreatment of PlGF (25ng/ml) by itself reduced caspase 3 activity by 25.5% (n=1) and 30.7% (n=3) during hypoxia or serum deprivation, respectively. The preliminary data show an 8 hour pretreatment with PlGF/VEGF (25ng/ml each) decreased caspase activity more than PlGF (25ng/ml) alone. Thus, early evidence indicates that pretreatment with PlGF or PlGF/VEGF may protect cardiomyocytes from hypoxia-reoxygenation and/or serum deprivation-induced apoptosis.Drake University, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
"The rat P300 ERP to signaled occurrence and omission of expected reinforcers following extended training"
No full textBrooke Schneider, Ryan J. Brackney, Jennifer Schwabe and Bryce Young are students at Drake University. William D. Klipec is Associate Professor of Psychology in Department of Psychology at Drake.A series of experiments in our laboratory have shown that rat P300 ERP amplitude is an incremental function of conditioned stimulus proximity to primary reinforcement in simple behavioral chains, suggesting that the P300 is a correlate of the brain’s response to conditioned reinforcers. The present experiment was designed to investigate the P300 response to stimuli correlated with reinforcement (S+) and non-reinforcement (S-). A 500 msec 2.5 KHz non-target stimulus was presented on an 8:1 ratio with a 500 msec 3.5KHz stimulus that predicted the insertion of a lever. Lever responses on VR-6 reinforcement schedule produced a 500 msec tone with a frequency of either 4.5 or 5.5 KHz on a random 50% schedule. One tone predicted the delivery of a 45 mg food pellet while the other predicted the non-delivery of the pellet. S+ and S- tones were counterbalanced across rats. The P300 ERP to the S+ and S- tones were analyzed across 60 days of training. The results showed the development of a P300 ERP to both tones with the amplitude increasing across first the 12 days and maintained across the entire experiment. While the latency of the P300 to S+ was initially greater than the latency to S-, both latencies declined and converged across the first 12 days and did not differ significantly through the remainder of the experiment. These results demonstrate that the P300 ERP extends to the recognition of conditioned aversive stimuli as well as conditioned positive reinforcers. The similarity and stability of both S+ and S- P300 ERPs suggest that the P300 may be independent from reward affect and more related to the informativeness of the stimuli.Drake University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology
A Portrait of an Iowa Woman Superintendent: A Study of Attributes and Barriers for Women Assessing the Position of Superintendent in Iowa
No full text[xiii], 326 leaves. Advisor: Catherine Gillespie.The problem: 10.5% of the superintendents and 71 % of teachers in lowa are
female. The problem for this study was to identify barriers that women face in
accessing the superintendency and the attributes needed to overcome those
barriers, in order to answer the question: What does it take to for a woman to
become a superintendent in lowa?
Procedure: A survey was electronically mailed to all 37 2003-2004 lowa female
superintendents, with 37 randomly selected male superintendents from an lowa
Department of Education list. The response rate to this survey was 97.2% for
males and 75.6% for females. Frequency response tables and data analysis,
primarily the Wilcoxon/Mann-Whitney/U Test, were used to determine significant
differences between the groups. Qualitative interviews were conducted with three
female superintendents and representatives of the three major superintendent
search firms in the state. Qualitative data were analyzed using iterations of the
constant comparative method. Stories were represented using characteristics of
the testimonio genre.
Findings: Quantitative: Significant differences included: Female superintendents
accessed the superintendency at older ages than males, were less likely to be
married, were more likely to be employed in schools of less than 3,000 students,
and 55% earned less than the average superintendent salary for the state.
Approximately 26% of female superintendents felt they received low support from
recruiters. Qualitative: Search consultants and school board presidents were the
gatekeepers in the selection process. Mentors and networking were critical to
women's career advancement. Women must exhibit perseverance, business
acumen, and "grit" in order to access a superintendency. Overt and covert
discrimination against women still exists which inhibits the advancement of more
women to positions of school leadership. The field of education demonstrated a
hegemonic and androcentric system which does not favor women in leadership.
Recommendations: (1) The disparity between the number of females certified in
lowa and those practicing as superintendents. (2) Perceptions of school boards,
especially school board presidents about hiring women as superintendents. (3)
Female superintendents' career stories, particularly about how they accessed the
superintendency. (4) Occurrences of bullying and mobbing in school
administration
Public school libraries: their history, curriculum, and impact on student achievement
Get PDFPhysical description: x, 217 leaves.
Dale Vande Haar, a Drake University alum, is currently the Libraries and Information Services Coordinator for the Des Moines Public Schools.He can be contacted at [email protected] dissertation explores the development of public school libraries from their origins in the late 18th century in New England to today’s dynamic, modern places where students and faculty use 21st century technology to access information sources. Staffed with trained professionals and support staff, these school libraries have specific curricula that teach information literacy skills – how to find, evaluate, and use resources – and promote the love of reading and teach lifelong learning skills. Since 1990 the school library field has been fortunate to have seen a flurry of activity in the area of quantitative research, which has shown consistently how important school libraries are in helping all students, regardless of socio-economic or community conditions increase their personal achievement. Professionally staffed, well funded libraries with large, current collections and electronic access to numerous online databases have been shown to consistently increase student achievement scores on standardized tests. Specifically, the research in this study compares the achievement scores of 5th grade elementary students taking the Reference Materials test of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), by comparing the scores between schools with and without professional librarians to see what impact there is on student achievement, especially with the various racial groups found within the district. A descriptive study, there are no specific answers to questions, but outcomes are revealed and recommendations for further study and use of the information found during the researching of this paper are offered
"Star formation in UV-bright interacting galaxies"
No full textAlan Hulsebus is a Drake University student, majoring in Physics and Astronomy. Charles H. Nelson is Assistant Professor of Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be emailed at [email protected] interacting pair NGC3395 and NGC3396 and the interacting trio and NGC3991, NGC3994, and NGC3995 emit strongly in the ultraviolet, indicating multiple regions of active star formation. To investigate the nature of the star formation, we obtained U, B, V, and R images using the 40-inch telescope at Mt. Laguna. Our goal is to determine the sequence of star-formation episodes in these systems. Possibilities include a "chain reaction" - one burst triggering another burst and so on - or a continuity of stellar formation that remains approximately constant with time.Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Arts and Sciences, Drake University
"Green chemistry: Phase-transfer catalyzed oxidation of cholesterol and elated compounds with sodium hypochlorite"
No full textRyan E. Biniak and Bryan M. McCarthy are both students at Drake University. Gholam A. Mirafzal is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Drake University and can be contacted at [email protected] transfer catalyzed oxidation of cholesterol and related compounds with sodium hypochlorite in ethyl acetate resulted in good to excellent yields of oxidized products. These reactions are mild, eficient, and safe. The experimental procedures and work-ups are very convenient. A representative sample of our oxidation results using primary, secondary, and benzylic alcohols as well as some of our recent results on selective oxidation of alcohols using this system will be presented.Drake University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry
"Development of the rat P300 ERP during backward chaining"
No full textKacey Stanley and Katherine Lem are students at Drake University. William D. Klipec is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Drake.Several experiments in our laboratory shown P300 amplitude to be an incremental function of proximity to conditioned reinforcers in simple behavioral chains. In this paradigm, one tone predicts lever insertion while a second tone signals the click of the food magazine. Since the P300 is consistently strongest to seeing the food pellet, and becomes progressively weaker to the click, pellet tone, and lever tones respectively, we concluded that the P300 is a function of the strength of the conditioned reinforcer. The present experiment was designed to further examine this hypothesis systematically by adding a second lever to the chain leading to food reinforcement. Rats were initially trained in a paradigm where lever insertion (LEV 1) was cued by a 4.5 KHz tone with a non-target (NT) 2.5 KHz tone presented on a variable time schedule at an 8:1 non-target to target ratio. Meeting criterion on a VR-6 schedule produced 5.5 KHz followed by the click of the pellet dispenser signaling delivery of the food pellet. After about seven weeks of training, a second lever (LEV 2) cued by a 3.5 KHz tone was introduced preceding LEV 1. LEV 2 responses, on a VR-6 schedule, produced the LEV 1 cue- sequence. This training continued for about 8 additional weeks. Contrary to what we expected, the P300 amplitude to the LEV 2 tone was consistently greater than the P300 to the LEV 1 tone. One explanation for this is that the LEV 1 cue represents redundant information about the sequence leading to food. LEV 2 is the most informative about the opportunity to engage in the entire sequence leading to food, compared to the NT. To test this we are introducing a third lever into the sequence to see if the greatest P300 amplitude shifts from LEV 2 to LEV 3.Drake University, College of Arts and Science, Department of Psychology
Student perceptions of academic service and instructional quality over a four-year academic experience
Get PDFThe text is published here with the permission of the
Journal of Research in Education
Pages in the published version are identified
with the symbols, “[ ].”
Additional information is at the end of this document.
Keith Greiner is a Drake graduate and can be contacted at [email protected]. Tom Westbrook is a Professor of Education in the Leadership and Adult Development program at Drake University and can be contacted at [email protected] article reports the results of a study of student perceptions of expected and experienced academic service and instructional quality
across 4 years of college enrollment. Results indicated a pattern of perceived change over 4 years with a significant difference between
students’ expectations to experienced quality. The largest pre- to post- assessment change was a negative gap during the first semester in both
academic service and instructional quality. Subscale scores revealed both positive and negative variations over the 4-year period. The
findings suggested a continued support for linking in-class and out-of-class faculty and student development initiatives