Role of Elementary School Leaders in Special Education Decisions

Seger, Christa Mae Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This study was designed to gain an understanding of tasks elementary building leaders are personally involved with special education building tasks and identify building leaders who self-identify as highly engaged in special education. Instructional leaders must have a full understanding of educational practices as they relate to special education. Building level leaders are asked to perform many different tasks daily. With over 7.0 million students identified as needing special education services, many building leaders struggle with their knowledge of special education and their role. Many Educational Leadership programs do not require a building leader to be educated specifically in the area of special education practices and law thus creating a disconnect in instructional leadership. A case study design was used in answering the four research questions. A survey, Questionnaire on the Special Education Roles and Functions of the School District and/or Building Level Administrator, was administered to elementary building level leaders in one western urban school district in Denver, Colorado. Once quantitative data was collected and analyzed, a qualitative phase using interviews with self-identified highly engaged elementary leaders was conducted. The findings suggest principals who are highly engaged in special education tasks have an understanding of their role and what strategies are needed to be an effective special education instructional leader. These strategies include being (a) collaborative, (b) accountable, and (c) being in a position to create trusting, authentic relationships with stakeholders. It is important for building leaders to have appropriate training to (a) access information through on-the-job training, (b) to prevent a lack of knowledge in IDEA tasks, and (c) be held accountable for ensuring special education programs are adequately supported in their building.

"Steady Hammer": Origins of American Counterterrorism in the Dime Novel World of William J. Flynn

Roberts, Brent Sidney Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This dissertation traces the life and times of William J. Flynn (1867-1928) as a means of understanding popular attitudes toward anarchism and terrorism, as well as expectations for protection from these forces, at the dawn of the twentieth century. Flynn was constantly at the nexus of law enforcement, serving as jailkeeper in the New York County correctional system; as agent, regional director, and national director of the U.S. Secret Service; and as director of the Bureau of Investigation. He also led a creative literary life, penning memoirs of his cases as novels and newspaper serials, and writing stories and editing a detective fiction magazine after his retirement from government service. Drawing on theories of popular culture of Russel Nye, as well as concepts of power and discourse of Michel Foucault, this study examined Flynn's literary works, historical documents from the Secret Service, Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Railroad Administration, and popular dime novels to capture public perception of anarchists and expectations for protection from the terrorist threat. Anarchists were portrayed generally as unclean and often of foreign origin, while counter-anarchists appeared as capable, sharp-witted, affluent men and women. Temporality forms an important aspect of the study, demonstrating that Flynn's counterterrorist approach, as well as expectations for protection from terrorist violence, were rooted in elements of time. In a period when most detective work was financed by private individuals, Flynn built an identity for himself as a competent public official, and more importantly through his work and writings established the federal government as the primary entity capable of meeting the demands of protecting American citizens in the early twentieth century. Following retirement, Flynn continued his literary endeavors, always blurring the line between fact and fiction, generally cloaking his own adventures, all worthy of dime novels themselves, with a veneer of fiction.

Eccentric Gravitational Wave: Modeling and Data Analysis Implications

Moore, Blake Carroll Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The ground based advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Obser- vatory (LIGO) has now made numerous detections of compact objects, ushering in an era of gravitational wave astronomy. Soon the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will become operational and allow for even more detections of gravitational waves. With these detections we are able to characterize the physical properties of the sources – the nature of the orbit, the parameters of the individual compact object, and the parameters of the final merged object. Beyond these source measurements, gravitational waves have proven an important test bed for validating General Relativity, as well as testing theoretical astrophysical formation scenarios of these compact binaries. In order to reach these ends, we require accurate and efficient models for the gravitational waves as seen in the detector. While current detections by ground based detectors are consistent with compact binaries in quasi- circular orbits, there are formation scenarios which suggest that some small number of detectable events will be from compact objects in eccentric orbits, and certainly a healthy number of sources detectable by LISA will be in eccentric orbits. We have derived, validated, and explored the data analysis properties of a waveform model for compact objects in eccentric orbits. In the derivation of the waveform we have employed a truncated sum of harmonics, the stationary phase approximation, and a bivariate expansion in eccentricity and orbital velocity. To explore the data analysis implications of this model we have implemented Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms to produce the posterior distributions on the waveform parameters. We find that our model is highly accurate for the inspiral phase of compact objects in orbits with eccentricity as high as 0.8, and very computationally efficient – taking only 90ms to evaluate on average. System parameters are best measured when the source eccentricity is about 0.4, sometimes providing two orders of magnitude better measurement than its quasi-circular counterpart, and eccentric signals can provide more stringent constraints on alternative theories of gravity.

Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of Novel Antimicrobials for the Eradication of Biofilms

Walsh, Danica Jade Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The majority of microorganisms live in association with surfaces as biofilms. Biofilm communities are encased in a robust, extracellular matrix that reduces their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. This poses a health concern due to the potential for pathogenic bacteria to cause serious infections. For example, hospital-acquired infections are among the top ten leading causes of death in the U.S. and are responsible for nearly 23,000 deaths per year. The goal of my research is to develop efficient antimicrobial agents capable of eradicating biofilms.In this project, I have focused on three different derivatizations of small, phenolic compounds in effort to increase efficacy towards biofilms. An initial study compared the potency of small, naturally occurring phenols and their corresponding allyl, propyl, and methallyl derivatives against bacteria. This study showed that in parent and derivative pairs potency increased towards free floating cells but decreased towards biofilms. This illustrated the importance of evaluating antimicrobial efficacy toward biofilms when the bacteria they intend to treat has the propensity to form biofilms. This was in contrast to a second studyishowing that trichloromethylsulfenate ester derivatives generally increased potency towards both biofilms and planktonic cells.In a third study, we found that iminodiacetoxy-methylester (AM) appendages increase potency towards planktonic cells and biofilms. AM appendages are ester groups that are employed as part of a prodrug design. Prodrugs are biologically inactive compounds until metabolized. Ester groups are commonly used in prodrug intracellular dyes, where, once inside the cell, ester groups are cleaved enzymatically, resulting in a negatively charged dye that is retained in the cell. Similarly, after the cleavage event, the AM antimicrobial compound will concentrate within the cell. This design serves two functions to increase potency: increasing permeability towards the biofilm matrix and achieving cellular retention. We have shown that the efficacy of antimicrobial agents towards biofilms can be increased through this strategic design. This class of prodrugs presents a wide array of potential applications, from controlling hospital-acquired infections to incorporation into household cleaning products and addresses the need for novel treatments of pathogenic bacteria.

Characterizing Excited State Transport and Charge Carrier Dynamics in Lead Halide Perovskites

Hickey, Casey Lynn Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Understanding fundamental processes which drive the behavior of photoexcited charge carriers is essential to the development of novel semiconducting materials. The studies presented in this work combine ultrafast microscopy with a novel data analysis technique to provide an in-depth characterization of the excited state transport and recombination dynamics which occur in a series of lead halide perovskites. An investigation of the impact halide composition has on recombination dynamics in CsPbI2Br revealed that trap-mediated recombination dominates at low fluences, with Auger recombination becoming increasingly important as the excitation density increases. Additionally, the average diffusivity measured for CsPbI2Br (DA = 0.27 cm2/s) is nearly 10x lower than that observed in MAPbI3. Further, it was determined that the dielectric constants relevant to photoexcited charge carriers in CsPbBr3 and MAPbBr3 perovskites (11.5 and 13, respectively) are intermediate between the high and low frequency limits, and that halide chemistry plays an integral role in determining the screening ability of lead halide perovskites. By correlating charge carrier diffusivities to locally measured crystal quality, it was found that solution processing methods can cause subtle lattice defects which act to impede transport and risk going undetected by bulk measurement techniques. Finally, to improve upon the traditional method for extracting diffusivities from transport measurements, which relies on perfectly Gaussian point spread functions, a new method was developed which instead relies on a numerical convolution of the actual point spread function with the diffusion equation. Compared to the traditional Gaussian method, the numerical convolution method proved to more accurately determine the diffusion coefficient, especially in the case of an anomalous point spread function.

Examining the Experiences of Teachers in Online Professional Development: A Teacher Education Twitter-Based Professional Learning Network

Nusbaum, Rebecca Mae Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Understanding Hydrogeomorphic Influences on Stream Network Denitrification and Temperature Dynamics

Carlson, Sam Paul Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Coalbed Methane Reclamation Activities in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming: Social and Policy Dimensions of Environmental Legacy Management

Walsh, Kathryn Bills Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Inbreeding and Inbreeding Depression in Linebred Beef Cattle

Hieber, Jordan Kelley Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This research applied genomics and phenotypic information in three different beef cattle populations. The methods applied were association analyses, runs of homozygosity, and genetic correlations. This incorporated both genomic and phenotypic approaches to identify the results of linebreeding in two closed Hereford populations. Further work evaluated carcass and maternal traits from the American Simmental Association Carcass Merit Program using genomic and phenotypic information to identify how carcass-based selection decisions impact maternal performance of Simmental-based cattle. Line 4 pedigree inbreeding, genomic inbreeding, and genomic pedigree inbreeding ranges were 0 – 36%, 0 – 49%, and 0 – 29%, respectively, and average inbreeding was 12.6%, 12.3%, and 17.7%, respectively. Line 1 pedigree inbreeding, genomic inbreeding, and genomic pedigree inbreeding ranges were 0 – 71%, 0 – 46%, and 0 – 63%, respectively, and average inbreeding was 42.1%, 14.4%, and 31.0%, respectively. Average rate of change in inbreeding per year was 0.03% over 55 years for Line 4 and -0.03% over 83 years for Line 1. Identified for Line 4 were 45 ROH regions, 35 strongly significant single nucleotide polymorphisms, three strongly significant SNP within ROH, and some significant SNP within 12 previously identified genes. Identified for Line 1 were 50 ROH regions, 93 strongly significant SNP, three strongly significant SNP within ROH, and some significant SNP within 11 previously identified genes. Within the Simmental dataset, nine chromosomes had genome-wide significance, explaining 0.2142 percent of total phenotypic information. The single-locus model identified 365 novel regions and 251 novel positional candidate genes. The multi-locus model identified 393 novel regions and 283 novel positional candidate genes. Also, detrimental genetic correlations between carcass characteristics and maternal traits were less than previously reported. Analyses utilized in this study indicate ROH and significant SNP can be used to identify regions of the genome affected by inbreeding. Also, simultaneous selection for carcass and maternal traits reduced the negative impact seen with single-trait selection for carcass traits.

Mechanisms of Gating Nucleotide-driven Electron Transfer in Nitrogenase

Pence, Natasha Kathrine Montana State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The Mo-nitrogenase from Azotobacter vinelandii reduces N2 to ammonia in an ATP-dependent process. It has two-components, the MoFe protein (MoFe) with the active site for N2 reduction, and the Fe protein (FeP) that delivers electrons to MoFe. The less efficient alternative nitrogenases (Fe- and V-nitrogenases) have FeFe and VFe proteins with an additional subunit, termed gamma, whose role is unknown. Electron delivery to MoFe occurs through the Fe protein cycle (FeP cycle). This involves association between the FeP(MgATP2) and MoFe, followed by electron transfer, ATP hydrolysis, release of Pi, and dissociation of the FeP(MgADP2) from MoFe. A study of the Fe protein cycle with the physiological electron donor flavodoxin (Fld), changed the rate-limiting step for nitrogenase catalysis, highlighting the important role of physiological protein donors in nitrogenase catalysis. However, it is unknown if Fld interacts with the MgADP or MgATP-bound state of the FeP. Insights from ClusPro 2.0 in silico docking models, time-resolved limited proteolysis and chemical cross-linking coupled with LC-MS and MALDI-TOF MS analysis show that the FeP(MgADP2) forms a more productive complex with Fld, reducing competition between Fld and MoFe for the FeP(MgATP2) to drive catalysis. To confirm our model, MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST) was developed to measure binding affinity between the FeP and nucleotides which agreed with previous measurements from isothermal calorimetry, confirming its application for nitrogenase. In silico docking models with ClusPro 2.0 and HADDOCK 2.2 identified structural differences between the Mo-nitrogenase and the alternative V- and Fe-nitrogenases that allow discrimination of protein-protein interactions that enable complex formation. The gamma subunit of the V- and Fe-nitrogenases mediates interactions between the nitrogenases, preventing competition between the least efficient Fe-nitrogenase and the Mo-nitrogenase. Finally, a pipeline was developed for homology modeling of potential physiological donor ferredoxin proteins (VnfF, FdxN, FixFd) associated with expression of the Mo-, V- or Fe-nitrogenases. Insights from in silico docking and assessment with the PRODIGY server were used to identify structural features that differentiate how these ferredoxins interact with the FePs of the three nitrogenases. Ultimately, nucleotide-dependent control of protein-protein interactions is necessary to support N2 reduction and funnel electrons to the most efficient Mo-nitrogenase.