The LAIR at East Texas A&M
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The Elephant in the Classroom: A History of Linguistic Justice in Instructional Notes of Teaching English in the Two-Year College
No full textThis dissertation extends conversations on perspectives and tensions related to the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s “Students’ Right to Their Own Language” statements (1974, 2003, 2006, and 2014) and the 1996-2023 Instructional Notes from Teaching English in the Two-Year College (TETYC), the flagship journal for English instructors at the two-year college level. Using rhetorical analysis, this project examines TETYC Instructional Notes articles help or hinder linguistic justice-focused discussions about “language” that ultimately inform pedagogical decisions about grammar and language instruction in developmental and first-year writing as outlined in College Composition and Communication’s (CCC) 1974 “Students’ Right to Their Own Language,” Conference on College Composition and Communication’s (CCCC) 2020 “This Ain’t Another Statement! This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice!” and the 2021 “CCCC Statement on White Language Supremacy.” The project calls attention to the way Instructional Note authors’ engagement with language considers five sub-themes as they advocate for specific approaches to instruction: 1) student voice, 2) correctness, 3) communicative norms, 4) code-switching, and 5) study of other languages/dialects. TETYC Instructional Notes are articles that examine problems reflected in ongoing disciplinary discussions and offer evidence-based instructional strategies with clearly identified student outcomes. Each article includes sections that establish the exigency of a particular teaching problem, situate the proposed strategy in a literature review that reflects or challenges current disciplinary thinking, outline the strategy implementation, including discussion of problems and possible resolutions, and conclude with student-based evidence of clear outcomes. By identifying key terms from and rhetorical features relevant to the CCCC statements, I analyze the Instructional Notes (INs) over four periods: 1996–1999, 2000–2009, 2010–2019, and 2020–2023. The study identifies trends in articles’ topics and examines the patterns in the language and focus of these articles as they relate to linguistic justice, noting what is present and missing and identifying the limitations created by these silences
“Soft-Skilled” Principals and Building Teacher Self-Efficacy Through the T-Tess: A Descriptive Embedded Case Study
No full textThe Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) redefined expectations for the role of the principal from teacher appraiser to instructional coach (Templeton & Hammett, et al., 2016). The T-TESS is perceived to be better than its predecessor, the Professional Development and Appraisal System (PDAS); however, teachers most consistently relate negative feelings about the system to how principals are implementing it and their evaluator’s expertise in leading them through it successfully (Oliveras-Ortiz, 2018). Principals have a key role in developing self-efficacious teachers and effective implementation of emotionally-laden teacher evaluation systems (Derrington & Campbell, 2015; Lochmiller & Mancinelli, 2019a; Templeton & Hammett, et al., 2016). Therefore, principals must change their instructional leadership approaches in response to the demands of new teacher evaluation systems like T-TESS by using emotional intelligence to build relational trust with teachers (Donaldson & Mavrogordato, 2019; Lochmiller & Mancinelli, 2019a; Reid, 2020). However, principals are often poorly equipped with emotional intelligence and do not know how to use it to move teachers toward self-efficacy (Chen & Guo, 2020; Schmidt, 2010; Wallace, 2010). The purpose of this descriptive, embedded case study was to investigate how a principal in a small rural public school leverages emotional intelligence in T-TESS conferencing to move teachers toward professional efficacy and improved practice. An ancillary purpose was to describe how the principal’s emotional intelligence informs their use of situational leadership in leading each teacher on a unique, contextualized path of professional growth. Purposeful sampling in a small rural school district in the Texas panhandle was used to select principals and teachers to complete two surveys and a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis, the logic model, and the analytic strategy of rival explanations evaluated three theoretical propositions that postulated that the more capable a principal is at employing emotional intelligence and situational leadership, the more empowered teachers are to meet their professional goals. Further, a principal who uses emotional intelligence and situational leadership in tandem is more effective than a principal who uses them in isolation
How School Leaders Inspire Hope and the Power of Teacher Hope to Predict Self-Efficacy and Turnover Intention
No full textGuided by Snyder’s hope theory, I investigated the relationships between teacher hope, self-efficacy, and turnover intention. Specifically, I examined whether teachers\u27 levels of hope, which encompass pathway and agency thinking, predict their self-efficacy and intention to remain in or leave the teaching profession. Additionally, I sought to identify specific leadership behaviors that teachers believe contribute to their hopeful mindset and ability to pursue goals despite challenges. While previous researchers explored motivation as a factor in teacher recruitment, retention, and job performance, researchers have yet to examine comprehensively the potential of hope as a catalyst for enhancing teacher self-efficacy and reducing turnover intention within the education sector. This study aimed to address the growing challenge of teacher attrition by exploring the predictive power of hope and identifying leadership practices that foster hopeful attitudes and behaviors among teachers. For this exploratory study, I examined the correlations between teachers\u27 levels of hope, self-efficacy, and intention to leave the profession. Study instruments included the Adult Hope Scale, the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale, the Turnover Intention Scale, and a researcher-generated open-ended question. Qualitative data from the open-ended question provided insights into the specific leadership behaviors that teachers perceived as promoting hopeful mindsets and contributing to their pursuit of goals amidst obstacles. By exploring the interplay between hopeful leadership, teacher hope (as defined by pathway and agency thinking), self-efficacy, and turnover intention, this study aims to inform educational leadership practices and strategies for cultivating resilient, motivated, and committed teaching professionals. The findings indicate that both teacher hope and self-efficacy significantly predicted turnover intentions, with higher levels of hope and self-efficacy associated with lower turnover intentions. Additionally, hope was a strong predictor of teacher self-efficacy, indicating an interrelationship between these variables. Leadership behaviors that foster autonomy, support, and professional development were identified by teachers as contributors to their sense of hope. These results underscore the importance of cultivating hope and self-efficacy to improve teacher retention and effectiveness
Distributed Software Build Assurance for Software Supply Chain Integrity
No full textComputing and networking are increasingly implemented in software. We design and build a software build assurance scheme detecting if there have been injections or modifications in the various steps in the software supply chain, including the source code, compiling, and distribution. Building on the reproducible build and software bill of materials (SBOM), our work is distinguished from previous research in assuring multiple software artifacts across the software supply chain. Reproducible build, in particular, enables our scheme, as our scheme requires the software materials/artifacts to be consistent across machines with the same operating system/specifications. Furthermore, we use blockchain to deliver the proof reference, which enables our scheme to be distributed so that the assurance beneficiary and verifier are the same, i.e., the node downloading the software verifies its own materials, artifacts, and outputs. Blockchain also significantly improves the assurance efficiency. We first describe and explain our scheme using abstraction and then implement our scheme to assure Ethereum as the target software to provide concrete proof-of-concept implementation, validation, and experimental analyses. Our scheme enables more significant performance gains than relying on a centralized server thanks to the use of blockchain (e.g., two to three orders of magnitude quicker in verification) and adds small overheads (e.g., generating and verifying proof have an overhead of approximately one second, which is two orders of magnitude smaller than the software download or build processes)
Association Between Short Birth Spacing and Child Malnutrition in Bangladesh: a Propensity Score Matching Approach
No full textObjectives: This study aimed to explore the effects of short birth spacing (SBS), which is defined as a period of less than 33 months between two successive births, on multiple concurrent forms of child malnutrition (MCFCM) and at least one form of child malnutrition (ALOFCM) using propensity score matching (PSM). Methods: This study used data extracted from the 2017- 18 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. PSM with four different distance functions, including logistic regression, classification and regression tree, single hidden layer neural network and random forest, were performed to evaluate the effects of SBS on MCFCM and ALOFCM. We also explored how the effects were modified in different subsamples, including women’s empowerment, education and economic status (women’s 3E index)–constructed based on women’s decision- making autonomy, education level, and wealth index, and age at marriage, and place of residence. Results: The prevalence of SBS was 22.16% among the 4652 complete cases. The matched samples of size 2062 generated by PSM showed higher odds of MCFCM (adjusted OR (AOR)=1.25, 95% CI=1.02 to 1.56, p=0.038) and ALOFCM (AOR=1.20, 95% CI=1.01 to 1.42, p=0.045) for the SBS children compared with their counterparts. In the subsample of women with 3E index≥50% coverage, the SBS children showed higher odds of MCFCM (AOR: 1.43, 95% CI=1.03 to 2.00, p=0.041] and ALOFCM (AOR: 1.33, 95% CI=1.02 to 1.74, p=0.036). Higher odds of MCFCM (AOR=1.27, 95% CI=1.02 to 1.58, p=0.036) and ALOFCM (AOR=1.23, 95% CI=1.02 to 1.51, p=0.032) for SBS children than normal children were also evident for the subsample of mothers married at age≤18 years. Conclusion: SBS was significantly associated with child malnutrition, and the effect was modified by factors such as women’s autonomy and age at marriage
Factors Influencing Anticipated Migration Patterns Across Metropolitan Cities in the United States Between 2018 and 2022
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people’s lives in various cities across the United States. This study explored the factors influencing anticipated migration patterns as indicated by the house search on the Redfin platform in 132 United States cities before, during, and after the COVID-19 Pandemic. The research addresses a crucial gap in the existing literature on recent trends in migration patterns, factors influencing this, and the potential impact of the pandemic. We employed a multivariate regression model to study overall migration and additional models to examine yearly data, identifying key factors that drive people to relocate. We identified that regions with better healthcare services, lower income inequality, and lower unemployment rates increasingly attract residents. Cities with greater racial and ethnic diversity, as well as high school completion rates, were also appealing until 2020 when the importance of education in migration decisions was overshadowed by housing affordability issues. Meanwhile, proximity to larger cities played a significant role, with people favoring smaller cities nearby for better growth opportunities. Our findings suggest that developing cities with smaller populations are becoming preferred destinations due to their mix of affordability, job opportunities, and better living conditions. These insights are invaluable for policymakers, city planners, and community organizations, helping guide urban development strategies and address challenges such as income inequality, neighborhood segregation, and healthcare accessibility
A Search for Rotation in Cool DQ White Dwarfs
No full textThe goal of this research project is to search for evidence of rotation in cool DQ white dwarfs (WDs) using time-series photometry. We selected several DQ WDs that were suggested from Farihi, Dufour, & Wilson (2022). We used AstroImageJ to perform data reduction. Then, we used Period04 to do Fourier transformation analysis to identify any periodic variability and calculate their frequencies and amplitudes. We were able to determine the rotation period for only one DQ WD but not other DQ WDs due to poor data quality. One DQ WD is observed to vary and it shows sign of being a merger remnant. We will apply TESS data to confirm our ground-base discovery. At present, our data cannot support the conclusion that all DQ WDs are merger remnants
The Impact of Child-Parent Relationship Therapy on Parent Self-Esteem and Parenting Stress on Homeless Parents
No full textThe research study had a commitment to assess the impact of Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) on the homeless parent population as it pertains to self-esteem of the parent and parenting stress using an AB single case research design (SCRD). Two participants volunteered for the study, and completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF; Abidin, 2012) after each session to analyze a parent’s self-esteem and parenting stress. The 23-week study including 3 baseline sessions and 8 treatment sessions. The researcher utilized visual analysis and descriptive statistics (i.e. mean and standard deviation) to investigate the figures. To analyze practical significance the researcher utilized four outcome metrics: percent of non-overlapping data (PND; Scruggs & Castro, 1987), Percent exceeding the median (PEM; Ma, 2006), Percentage of all nonoverlapping data (PAND; Parker, Hagan-Burke, & Vannest, 2007), and non-overlap of all pairs (NAP; Parker & Vannest, 2009). A p value was attained from the PND score using an online calculator (Tarlow & Penland, 2016a). Participant 1 displayed a statistically significant reduction in parenting stress and parenting distress, a sub-category of the PSI-SF, and large practical significance was analyzing parenting stress. Participant 1 displayed non-statistically significant change when examining self-esteem and had large practical significance for self-esteem when the data was calculated by percentage exceeding the median (PEM). Participant 2 displayed non-statistically significant and practical change when examining parenting stress and self-esteem. Both participants described CPRT as a positive experience that was beneficial for the parent-child relationship. The findings support that CPRT is beneficial when working with the homeless parent population. Implications and clinical significance are discussed, and the researcher provides recommendations for future research and limitations
A Principal’s Leadership Disposition When Developing a Magnet Arts School: A Case Study
No full textMagnet schools provide the educational consumer with a unique set of programming, like visual and performing arts, and often require the leader to have a unique set of leadership skills to execute the school’s vision. In this study, the researcher used the case study method to examine the leadership disposition of a principal charged with leading an arts magnet school. Through the lens of transformational leadership, the study examined what behaviors the leader utilized to create a sustained culture in the developing organization. The participant in this study is an established elementary principal at a magnet arts program that allows current students and others within the district an opportunity to enroll. The researcher obtained data regarding the participant’s leadership behaviors through an interview with the principal, campus visits for observation by the researcher throughout the duration of the study, and supplemental instrument, multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) survey questions between the principal and researcher. The participant interview was conducted in-person and via digital conferencing as deemed appropriate due to COVID-19 protocols. The researcher’s intent is to evaluate the potential for transformational leadership traits needed to create and sustain an effective arts magnet school. These results will have potential impact on district leadership looking to invest in new magnet programming or improve magnet programs that has been defined unsuccessful. In addition, the evaluation of the principal’s leadership decisions will also provide a framework for campus administrators looking to create an innovative approach to new instructional models through a magnet’s unique programming potential
Competitive Dissociation Reactions of Ternary Complexes Containing Ni(II), Nitrilotriacetic Acid and Alternative Metal Binding Peptides
No full textImmobilized-metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) is a common technique used to purify recombinant proteins based on the affinity between a peptide tag attached to the end of the protein and Ni(II). The affinity tag is commonly used in this technique although in some cases the tag can affect the protein’s activity. To identify alternative metal binding (amb5) peptide tags for IMAC purification, an energy-resolved threshold collision-induced dissociation (TCID) method was employed to study a series of negatively-charged [amb5+Ni(II)+NTA]- ternary complexes. These complexes competitively will dissociate to generate [amb5+Ni(II)]- + NTA or [NTA+Ni(II)]- + amb5, where NTA is nitrilotriacetic acid. The study includes four amb tags with the fundamental structures acetyl-Aa1-Aa2-Gly3-Pro4-Aa5-Gly6-Cys7, where the amino acids Aa1 is either Asp or His, Aa2 is either His or Cys and Aa5 is either Tyr or Gly. The TCID was conducted using an instrument that combines electrospray – ion mobility – mass spectrometry to determine the reaction cross sections and the thermochemistry of the reactions