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Evaluation of Catapult Learning Wraparound Supplemental Services in a Large Parochial School District
Get PDFIn this quasi-experimental design (QED) study, we examined the impacts of Catapult
Learning’s Wraparound Supplemental Educational Services program on Grades 6-8
student math and reading achievement in selected schools in a large parochial school
district. The primary focus of this report was Wraparound Supplemental Educational
Services’ impact on NWEA MAP Growth math and reading scores, as well as
associations between Wraparound Services Schools attendance metrics and
achievement outcomes.
• The present study used a student-level QED design, with students from five
Wraparound Services Schools identified as the treatment group. The matched
comparison group consisted of students from non-Wraparound Services Schools
that did not receive supplementary services. Students were matched at the
individual level on the basis of prior achievement and demographic variables.
• The present study was situated in a large parochial student district. The analytic
sample consisted of 385 Grades 6-8 students receiving Wraparound Services
Schools services and 385 matched (non-Wraparound Services Schools)
students.
• Data sources included NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth
math and reading scores, as well as Wraparound Services Schools attendance
metrics. The main attendance metrics of interest were counts of total program
sessions attended for each student, by subject.
• Impact analyses showed a significant positive impact of Wraparound Services
Schools on middle school math achievement, with treatment students
outperforming matched comparison students by nearly 4 points. Subgroup
analyses of this sample showed additional positive impacts for Grade 7,
Hispanic, female, and Title I students.
• No significant program impacts were evidenced for reading achievement, with a
small directionally positive impact observed.
• Counts of total program sessions were generally not associated with math or
reading achievement after controlling for prior achievement and demographic
variables
MODELING THE OPTIMAL ENERGY MIX FOR TEXAS, NEW JERSEY, AND ILLINOIS RESIDENTIAL ELECTRICITY DEMAND
Get PDFThis paper explored optimization of electricity generation and storage resources in three key deregulated U.S. markets: Texas, Illinois, and New Jersey. Each of these states presents distinct geographic and regulatory challenges, influencing the optimal mix of energy sources. The research analyzed residential hourly load profiles and compared them to supply profiles, Levelized Cost of Electricity, and social cost of carbon for various generation types in each region. Hourly residential load shapes and renewable performance for generation supply were used to identify optimal proportions of different generation sources and storage solutions. Residential customers generally have the lowest load factors and drive marginal demand that causes the dispatch of peaking generation. The findings highlight the role of demand response in aligning wholesale market operations with residential energy consumption, offering potential pathways to enhance grid reliability and economic efficiency. The analysis sheds light on how legacy policy frameworks and stranded assets hinder the full optimization of generation assets in deregulated markets and offers insights for future market structures and policy decisions
JUST ADAPTATION FINANCE: HOW CAN INTERNATIONAL FINANCE INSTITUTIONS BE MORE SYSTEMICALLY INTENTIONAL IN THEIR COMMITMENT TO A JUST TRANSITION FOR CLIMATE ADAPTATION PROJECTS?
Get PDFInternational climate policy has largely prioritized the rapid deployment of mitigation solutions, often at the expense of other critical areas like climate adaptation. As climate change accelerates despite such priorities, a renewed focus on adaptation is necessary to shield the most vulnerable communities from its worst impacts. Unfortunately, the international community has failed to mobilize and equitably allocate sufficient adaptation funds, leaving many increasingly at risk. This research project proposes that adaptation finance systems could be made more equitable using a Justice Adaptation Framework. Developed from existing literature and refined through a bottom-up, iterative development process, this framework incorporates feedback and recommendations from industry experts and community advocates at the grassroots level using a cyclical refinement process. This project demonstrated that such an approach can successfully operationalize the consideration of equity and justice principles in adaptation finance to uncover unique challenges and solutions. However, questions remain about whether such a framework could be comprehensive enough in its scope – remaining inclusive of the many nuances across diverse stakeholders – while maintaining its investigatory usefulness. Despite such challenges, this effort underscores the value of a structured, community-informed process in advancing equitable climate adaptation outcomes
OCULAR DRUG DELIVERY DEVICE SURROGATE GLIDE FORCE COMPARISON STUDY
Get PDFOur company has created a long-term, ocular drug delivery device which is designed to release a drug into the eye over a period of six months. This device circumvents the need for monthly intraocular injections which are known to place a considerable burden on patients, caregivers, and clinicians. We hope to expand the use of this device to encompass other drugs to treat a variety of ocular diseases: however, testing to ensure each prospective pharmaceutical product is safe to administer via this device is an incredibly long and resource-heavy process. In order to increase the efficiency of pre-clinical testing, we have implemented the use of surrogate solutions to study an important parameter of injectable drug products: the force necessary to expel drug product from a syringe into a patient or device, otherwise known as glide force. We utilized previous data comparisons between various surrogate substances and known drug product viscosities to determine sucrose to be the most suitable surrogate material to mimic drug properties. We then measured the maximum glide force necessary to inject various sucrose-water solutions with varying viscosities (verified via rheometer testing) into our drug delivery device. We used this data to create a mathematical model that relates injection force to solution viscosity. The relationship between the two variables was strongly correlated for both injection techniques (R2 over 0.99). We therefore concluded that our resulting mathematical equations had strong predictive power and were well suited to be used to predict the glide force for a given prospective drug product
IMPERIAL ENTERPRISE AND FORCED LABOR IN COLONIAL TURPAN, 1877-1911
No full textThis dissertation draws upon Chinese- and Turkic-language archival materials to explore the relationship between imperial state-building and forced labor mobilization in late Qing (1877-1911) Xinjiang, specifically in Turpan Subprefecture. Following a series of Muslim uprisings and foreign invasions that severed Xinjiang from its control in 1864, the Qing Empire reconquered the region in 1877 and quickly began radically transforming its government and people, most of whom were Turkic-speaking Musulmans, the ancestors of modern Uyghurs. In order to secure Qing power in the northwest, the empire maintained a massive military garrison in postwar Xinjiang. Supplying the army required enormous amounts of grain, fodder, timber, coal, precious metals, and more, but shipping these materials from Inner China was deemed impractical. As a result, Qing civil and military leaders imposed new labor taxes (chaiyao) to regularly mobilize thousands of Musulmans across Xinjiang to develop, procure, and transport supplies for the army and the new provincial government. To achieve this, local Han Chinese magistrates and commanders worked closely with collaborating Musulman elites who leveraged long-standing systems of Turko-Mongolic taxation and obligations (alban) to coerce their Musulman constituents into undertaking government labor assignments. For decades, Xinjiang officials forced Musulmans to harvest timber, transport supplies long distances, work in mines, and even serve in Xinjiang’s military garrisons. These routine forced labor requirements were unique to Xinjiang in the late Qing. Forced labor was, therefore, a mechanism for creating exceptional Musulman colonial subjects on the empire's northwestern borderland
Polymer Nanofiber Vascularized Electrodes with Enhanced Ion Transport for Extreme Fast-Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries
No full textIn a world facing the existential threat of climate change, we must do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint. The transition to the use of Electric Vehicles (EVs) is an essential part of bringing about a sustainable future for our planet. While progress has been made and EVs are becoming more popular, there are still problems that need to be addressed to make them attractive to the common consumer. One of the most significant deficiencies is the slow charging times of EVs batteries limited by their ionic transport capabilities. In this work, we propose a novel electrode design to improve ionic transport in both the anode and cathode. This will be accomplished by creating a vascularized network in the electrode using conductive polymer nanofibers. The fibers act as ion channels as well as additional Li-ion storage sites, allowing ions to flow quickly and easily throughout the bulk of the electrode. Porous polymer fibers were synthesized via electrospinning and were successfully dispersed throughout the electrodes. Various concentrations of polymer fibers were tested, and in the cathode, the optimized fiber concentration is 5%. At this concentration the improved transport properties of the fibers are able to outweigh the increased impedance they also cause. The polymer fibers improved the discharge capacity of cathode half cells in a multi-rate cycling procedure by an average of 10% as compared to the control cathode cell. Additionally, the degree of performance increase correlates with increased charging rates in polymer fiber containing cells. This indicates that the vascularized structure of the electrode improved the ionic transport capabilities and could represent an important component of future fast charging batteries
Essays on the Politics of North American Integration
Get PDFNo two countries impact Americans’ daily lives like Canada and Mexico. Geography and years of economic cooperation have made them primary US trading partners. The US pulls illegal drugs and irregular migration through its borders and sends back illicit cash and firearms. Consequently, American foreign policy to Mexico and Canada often overlaps with domestic policy. Meanwhile, since the end of the Second World War, through the Cold War and wars on terrorism, to the current great power competition era, the US has oscillated between primacy and pursuing liberal hegemony or both. Washington’s prioritization of North America has fluctuated in tandem. Competition with China and increasing skepticism of globalization in recent years has caused the US to refocus its North American policy, and not necessarily to Mexico and Canada’s liking.
As a national security professional, I have helped shape foreign policy toward North America and the broader region. The ongoing policy dilemmas from my military, diplomatic, and Intelligence Community experiences are tied together with international relations theory, resulting in the essays that follow. As a student of history and foreign affairs, I have toiled through countless hours of literature, archival research, and debates with scholars, including my esteemed advisor Dr Chris Sands—all to weave together the developments between 1987 and 2020 for a brief yet untold narrative about North American geopolitics. As we face an increasingly complex world, I hope to advance SAIS’s mission put forward eight decades ago by Paul Nitze and Christian Herter and bridge the elusive gap between foreign policy and scholarship
TIMELY PATHOGEN SEPARATION FROM HUMAN BLOOD AND TOWARD ACCURATE IDENTIFICATION OF BLOODSTREAM INFECTION
Get PDFBloodstream infections constitute a pressing global health concern due to their substantial morbidity and mortality implications. Timely and accurate pathogen detection is pivotal for effective clinical management. This thesis introduces novel blood processing techniques to enhance the precision and efficiency of pathogen identification, addressing conventional method limitations and highlighting unique advantages.
Three distinct blood processing methods are explored. The initial method employs blood sedimentation and dextrin-based concentration, coupled with digital PCR analysis, to enrich extracellular pathogens. The second method utilizes a two-step filtration approach with Sodium Polyanethole Sulfonate (SPS) incubation to maintain bacterial viability. This technique includes rapid osmotic lysis and protein digestion facilitated by CHAPS and trypsin, with a processing time under an hour. The third method leverages Mannose binding lectin (MBL) coated magnetic beads for efficient HIV virus capture and subsequent qPCR analysis.
The sedimentation-based approach achieved a detection limit of 20 CFU/mL for E. coli and A. baumannii, while K. pneumoniae and E. faecium require further investigation. The second filtration method successfully detected 50 CFU/mL S. aureus, highlighting its advantage over the first method. The MBL-based assay achieved a benchtop sensitivity of 5e2 virions/mL, though cartridge testing necessitates additional exploration.
Yet, challenges emerged. Hematocrit variations and limited blood expiration impacted consistent recovery rates in sedimentation. Data collection immediacy upon blood arrival introduced result variability. These factors also influenced other studies, like reduced blood passage through a 0.4-micron filter and MBL bead aggregation with blood cells, diminishing final signal.
These blood processing techniques collectively hold potential for advancing clinical diagnostics and rapid bloodstream infection identification. Hematocrit and expiration challenges emphasize the need for sample and timeline considerations. These methods contribute to targeted therapeutic development, potentially enhancing patient outcomes amidst bloodstream infections
The Role of Slc27a2 in the Development and Function of the Olfactory Epithelium
No full textLipids are essential components of the cell. How lipid uptake and metabolism influence the development and function of the olfactory epithelium (OE) is poorly understood. Slc27a2 transports long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) and activates very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) required for subsequent metabolic processes. Slc27a2 is observed in most of the proteomic and transcriptional analyses of the OE. However, its relevance in olfaction remains elusive. Utilizing in situ hybridization and a Slc27a2 knockout-reporter mouse model, I showed that Slc27a2 is broadly expressed in the adult OE, specifically in immature olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs), supporting cells, a small subset of mature canonical OSNs, and a large portion of non-canonical GC-D expressing OSNs. Using high-performance liquid-chromatography (HPLC), I analyzed the total OE lipid content and found that wild-type and Slc27a2 knockout mice have similar lipid compositions in major lipid classes but differ in several of the phospholipid HPLC peaks. Nevertheless, Slc27a2 knockout OE is grossly normal in morphology and odor responses. Per the expression of Slc27a2 in immature OSNs and supporting cells, I hypothesized a role of Slc27a2 in OSN maturation and tested this hypothesis in an injury-induced OE regeneration paradigm. The rapid regeneration of OE after injury is crucial for resumption of the olfactory function. During regeneration, immature OSNs, differentiated from local precursors, maturate into fully functional OSNs with a substantial requirement of lipids including LCFAs and VLCFAs. I found that Slc27a2 knockout mice displayed attenuated regeneration dynamics of the OE following methimazole-induced injury. Specifically, Slc27a2 knockout mice exhibited reduced incorporation of mature OSNs, increased cell death of immature OSNs, diminished odor responses, reduced olfactory bulb innervation, and attenuated olfactory behavior in comparison to wild-type mice at a timepoint around the middle of the wild-type regeneration time course.
My research determined a broad expression of Slc27a2 in the OE and revealed a critical role of Slc27a2 in OSN maturation during OE regeneration. Future lipidomic studies may reveal specific lipid species that are important for olfaction. Studies of how lipid metabolism is involved in the olfactory system will help us to better understand olfaction and olfactory dysfunction
Increasing Student Self-Efficacy: Through Meaningful Arts Experiences
Get PDFThe primary purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between student arts education access and student self-efficacy. The broader significance of this endeavor might involve aiding readers in cultivating a deeper comprehension of how historical injustices entrenched in race and class contribute to disparities in access to arts education for students from minoritized backgrounds. Students participated in a 7-week out-of-school time summer program in which students received over 20 hours of rigorous arts instruction each week for one summer. During the program, the researcher met with the arts instructors, previous participants, and the program director to facilitate reflection and support of the arts education implementation practice. Former participants completed a five-point Likert scale questionnaire with open-ended responses, a collection of hours-on-task in arts classes was recorded, and the culminating performance and interviews were reviewed. The findings indicate that access to the rich and holistic arts education instruction provided may increase student self-efficacy. Moreover, previous participants reported having increased self-efficacy and positive life experiences because of participation in the summer arts program. This study achieved its aim to fill in the gaps of the limited existing research connecting the benefits of arts education on increased self-efficacy