This dissertation examines teacher’s perspectives regarding the classroom strategies, behaviors, and approaches they believed best support the development of African American students. Educator perceptions are valuable to understand because perceptions and attitudes undergird behavior and practices. This study focused on perceptions of teachers toward pedagogical strategies, approaches, and teacher behaviors that perceived to best support African American students because of the persisting achievement gap between African American students and their White, middle class counterparts. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy was used as the theoretical framework for this study as it describes approaches to teaching students from historically marginalized groups in ways that are more relevant to their cultural strengths, assets, and knowledge-bases. Q methodology was selected for this study because it was designed to examine human subjectivity using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Forty-two teachers sorted 36 statements, each representing a practice, strategy, or behavior identified by participants as being culturally relevant to African American students, based on their perceived effectiveness. These 42 Q sorts were then correlated. Principal component analysis and Varimax rotation were used to examine the relationships among the correlations and extract 4 factors, 1 of which was bipolar, or containing two different, but mirrored perspectives. The factor arrays of these 5 perspectives were then examined, described, and named: Responsive to Students Cultural Backgrounds, Responding through Honoring and Exploring Culture, Responding through Structure, Routines, and Direct Advocacy, Conducive and Inclusive Learning Environment, Non-responsive Culture Free Pedagogical Practices. Implications and recommendations for practice, theory, and policy were also discussed.

Global student mobility has become a dynamic force in American higher education. Integrating international students into diverse campus environments provides domestic as well as foreign students with enriched learning opportunities. However, a diverse campus climate itself will not make college students interculturally competent. Intentional curricular design is critical for overcoming issues such as resistance and reinforcement of stereotypes, but the research literature is extremely limited on effective pedagogical strategies for cultivating college students' intercultural sensitivity. This paper explicates a research study to investigate college students' development of intercultural sensitivity through an intentional course design utilizing Kolb's (1984) learning styles cycle and Hammer's (2009) Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC). Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to explore domestic and international students' intercultural learning experiences and to potentially identify pedagogical approaches that facilitate students' intercultural competence. These findings show that the four pedagogical strategies associated with Kolb's learning cycle were effective and crucial when designing an intercultural course in order to develop college students' intercultural competence. This study also revealed a gap in intercultural development through the intentional intercultural course between American students and Japanese exchange students due to their vastly different intercultural experiences.

The dramatic demographic shift occurring in this country makes it essential that our nation examines its policies, practices, and values as they relate to culturally diverse learners. That this student population remains underserved needs immediate attention. One arena that can become a part of the solution to the underachievement of diverse learners is teacher education and preparation programming. The purpose of this research study was to give attention to this issue and to understand what an urban teacher education program (UTEP) with an educational equity and social justice mission does to prepare its secondary teacher candidates (STCs) to work successfully with diverse learners. An additional purpose was to determine what role culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) played in STC's perceptions of their readiness to work with our nation's ever-growing culturally diverse school-age learners. Using a multi-phase mixed methods case study research design, data was collected from secondary teacher educators using interviews and artifacts as well as from secondary teacher candidates' pre-and-post Likert scale and open-ended responses to the Learning to Teach for Social Justice/Beliefs scale survey. This survey was adapted from the work of Ludlow, Enterline, and Cochran-Smith (2008). I coded and analyzed the data to shed light on the following research questions: 1. What does an urban teacher education program do to operationalize it educational equity and social justice missions? 2. How do secondary teacher candidates' perceptions of their readiness to work with culturally diverse learners change from the beginning of their teacher education program to the end? 3. To what extent if any, is culturally responsive pedagogy associated with secondary candidates' perceptions of readiness? The findings indicate that several factors influence teacher candidates' perceptions; reflection, critical consciousness of the educational landscape and a willingness to embrace diversity as it presents itself in the classroom were common among participants.

Heart valve tissue engineering (HVTE) stands as a potential intervention that could reduce the prevalence of congenital heart valve disease in juvenile patients. Prior studies in our laboratory have utilized mechanobiological testing to quantify the forces involved in the development of heart valve tissue, utilizing a Flow-Stretch-Flexure (FSF) bioreactor to condition bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs)-derived valve tissue. Simulations have demonstrated that certain sets of flow conditions can introduce specific levels of oscillatory shear stress (OSS)-induced stimuli, augmenting the growth of engineered valves as well as influencing collagen formation, extracellular matrix (ECM) composition and gene expression. The computational findings discussed in this thesis outline the methods in which flow conditions, when physiologically relevant, induce specific oscillatory shear stresses which could not only lead to an optimized valve tissue phenotype (at 0.18≤ OSI≤ 0.23), but could identify native valve tissue remodeling indicative of aortic valve disease.

The Church lives in times of change. In times of change Christ builds and equips his Church, through the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the gospel to the world and to make disciples. As part of the congregation, it is important to ask what the role of the youth and youth ministry plays in the building and equipment of the church, which Christ is busy doing. The aim of this dissertation is to examine the possibility that discipleship can be used as a model for ministry for congregation–building to the baptized members (13 to 18 years of age) of the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The following working method was used in order to reach this particular aim: * Firstly, a basis–theoretical investigation was conducted ascertaining the subject, object, aim and nature of congregation–building. * Secondly, a basis–theoretical investigation focused on discipleship was done. In this investigation the aim was to find a workable definition for 'disciple' and 'discipleship' as well as the aim and nature of discipleship. This investigation concluded by showing the relation between congregation–building and discipleship. * Thirdly, an empirical study was launched to determine the situation in the Reformed Churches in South Africa pertaining to youth and youth ministry. In this study the first priority was to determine the aim for youth ministry as determined by the Deputies for Catechesis and Youth nurture of the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The second priority is to determine the present tendencies under the youth in classis KwaZulu–Natal–North of the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The findings of this study were then weighed against the perception of the teachers of Catechesis in this particular classis. * Lastly, the findings of the basis–theoretical investigation and the empirical study was synthesised into a practical theory for discipleship as `n ministry model for church–building for the baptized members (13 to 18 years of age) in the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The finding of this study is that discipleship can indeed be applied as a ministry model for church–building for the baptized members (13 to 18 years of age) in the Reformed Churches in South Africa. Through this ministry model the baptized member can be equipped in a contextual–relevant manner to bring the gospel to the world, through his or her love for God to his or her neighbour, as a member of the faith community of the church. / Thesis (M. Th. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The Church lives in times of change. In times of change Christ builds and equips his Church, through the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the gospel to the world and to make disciples. As part of the congregation, it is important to ask what the role of the youth and youth ministry plays in the building and equipment of the church, which Christ is busy doing. The aim of this dissertation is to examine the possibility that discipleship can be used as a model for ministry for congregation–building to the baptized members (13 to 18 years of age) of the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The following working method was used in order to reach this particular aim: * Firstly, a basis–theoretical investigation was conducted ascertaining the subject, object, aim and nature of congregation–building. * Secondly, a basis–theoretical investigation focused on discipleship was done. In this investigation the aim was to find a workable definition for 'disciple' and 'discipleship' as well as the aim and nature of discipleship. This investigation concluded by showing the relation between congregation–building and discipleship. * Thirdly, an empirical study was launched to determine the situation in the Reformed Churches in South Africa pertaining to youth and youth ministry. In this study the first priority was to determine the aim for youth ministry as determined by the Deputies for Catechesis and Youth nurture of the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The second priority is to determine the present tendencies under the youth in classis KwaZulu–Natal–North of the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The findings of this study were then weighed against the perception of the teachers of Catechesis in this particular classis. * Lastly, the findings of the basis–theoretical investigation and the empirical study was synthesised into a practical theory for discipleship as `n ministry model for church–building for the baptized members (13 to 18 years of age) in the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The finding of this study is that discipleship can indeed be applied as a ministry model for church–building for the baptized members (13 to 18 years of age) in the Reformed Churches in South Africa. Through this ministry model the baptized member can be equipped in a contextual–relevant manner to bring the gospel to the world, through his or her love for God to his or her neighbour, as a member of the faith community of the church. / Thesis (M. Th. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Physical Education, Health, and Sport Studies, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-60).

La présente thèse de doctorat en informatique propose un modèle pour une recherche d'information intelligente possibiliste des documents Web et son implémentation. Ce modèle est à base de deux Réseaux Petits Mondes Hiérarchiques (RPMH) et d'un Réseau Possibiliste (RP) : Le premier RPMH consiste à structurer les documents retrouvés en zones denses de pages Web thématiquement liées les unes aux autres. Nous faisons ainsi apparaître des nuages denses de pages qui traitent d'un sujet et des sujets connexes (assez similaires sémantiquement) et qui répondent toutes fortement à une requête. Le second RPMH est celui qui consiste à ne pas prendre les mots-clés tels quels mais à considérer une requête comme multiple en ce sens qu'on ne cherche pas seulement le mot-clé dans les pages Web mais aussi les substantifs qui lui sont sémantiquement proches. Les Réseaux Possibilistes combinent les deux RPMH afin d'organiser les documents recherchés selon les préférences de l'utilisateur. En effet, l'originalité du modèle proposé se décline selon les trois volets suivants qui synthétisent nos contributions. Le premier volet s'intéresse au processus itératif de la reformulation sémantique de requêtes. Cette technique est à base de relations de dépendance entre les termes de la requête. Nous évaluons notamment les proximités des mots du dictionnaire français « Le Grand Robert » par rapport aux termes de la requête. Ces proximités sont calculées par le biais de notre approche de recherche des composantes de sens dans un RPMH de dictionnaire de mots par application d'une méthode basée sur le dénombrement des circuits dans le réseau. En fait, l'utilisateur du système proposé choisit le nombre de mots sémantiquement proches qu'il désire ajouter à chaque terme de sa requête originelle pour construire sa requête reformulée sémantiquement. Cette dernière représente la première partie de son profil qu'il propose au système. La seconde partie de son profil est constituée des choix des coefficients de pertinence possibilistes affectés aux entités logiques des documents de la collection. Ainsi, notre système tient compte des profils dynamiques des utilisateurs au fur et à mesure que ces derniers utilisent le système. Ce dernier est caractérisé par son intelligence, son adaptativité, sa flexibilité et sa dynamicité. Le second volet consiste à proposer des relations de dépendance entre les documents recherchés dans un cadre ordinal. Ces relations de dépendance entre ces documents traduisent les liens sémantiques ou statistiques évaluant les distributions des termes communs à des paires ou ensembles de documents. Afin de quantifier ces relations, nous nous sommes basés sur les calculs des proximités entres ces documents par application d'une méthode de dénombrement de circuits dans le RPMH de pages Web. En effet, les documents peuvent ainsi être regroupés dans des classes communes (groupes de documents thématiquement proches). Le troisième volet concerne la définition des relations de dépendance, entre les termes de la requête et les documents recherchés, dans un cadre qualitatif. Les valeurs affectées à ces relations traduisent des ordres partiels de préférence. En fait, la théorie des possibilités offre deux cadres de travail : le cadre qualitatif ou ordinal et le cadre quantitatif. Nous avons proposé notre modèle dans un cadre ordinal. Ainsi, des préférences entre les termes de la requête se sont ajoutées à notre modèle de base. Ces préférences permettent de restituer des documents classés par préférence de pertinence. Nous avons mesuré aussi l'apport de ces facteurs de préférence dans l'augmentation des scores de pertinence des documents contenant ces termes dans le but de pénaliser les scores de pertinence des documents ne les contenant pas. Pour la mise en place de ce modèle nous avons choisi les systèmes multi-agents. L'avantage de l'architecture que nous proposons est qu'elle offre un cadre pour une collaboration entre les différents acteurs et la mise en œuvre de toutes les fonctionnalités du système de recherche d'information (SRI). L'architecture s'accorde parfaitement avec le caractère intelligent possibiliste et permet de bénéficier des capacités de synergie inhérente entre les différentes composantes du modèle proposé. Dans le présent travail, nous avons donc pu mettre en exergue à travers les expérimentations effectuées l'intérêt de faire combiner les deux RPMH via un réseau possibiliste dans un SRI, ce qui permet d'enrichir le niveau d'exploration d'une collection. Ce dernier n'est pas limité aux documents mais l'étend en considérant les requêtes. En effet, la phase de reformulation sémantique de requête permet à l'utilisateur de profiter des autres documents correspondants aux termes sémantiquement proches des termes de la requête originelle. Ces documents peuvent exister dans d'autres classes des thèmes. En conséquence, une reclassification proposée par le système s'avère pertinente afin d'adapter les résultats d'une requête aux nouveaux besoins des utilisateurs. / This Ph.D. thesis proposes a new model for a multiagent possibilistic Web information retrieval and its implementation. This model is based on two Hierarchical Small-Worlds (HSW) Networks and a Possibilistic Networks (PN): The first HSW consists in structuring the founded documents in dense zones of Web pages which strongly depend on each other. We thus reveal dense clouds of pages which "speak" more or less about the same subject and related subjects (semantically similar) and which all strongly answer user's query. The second HSW consists in considering the query as multiple in the sense that we don't seek only the keyword in the Web pages but also its semantically close substantives. The PN generates the mixing of these two HSW in order to organize the searched documents according to user's preferences. Indeed, the originality of the suggested model is declined according to three following shutters' which synthesize our contributions. The first shutter is interested in the iterative process of query semantic reformulation. This technique is based on relationship dependence between query's terms. We evaluate in particular the semantics proximities between the words of the French dictionary "Le Grand Robert" and query's terms. These proximities are calculated via our approach of research of the semantics components in the HSW of dictionary of words by application of our method of enumeration of circuits in the HSW of dictionary. In fact, the user of the suggested system chooses the number of close words that he desire to add to each word of his initial query to build his semantically reformulated query. This one represents the first part of user's profile which he proposes to the system. The second part of its profile makes up of its choices of the coefficients of relevance possibilistic of the logical entities of the documents of the collection. Thus, our system takes account of the dynamic profiles of its users progressively they use the system, which proves its intelligence, its adaptability, its flexibility and its dynamicity. The second shutter consists in proposing relationship dependence between documents of the collection within an ordinal framework. These relationships dependence between these documents represent the semantic or statistical links evaluating the distributions of the general terms to pairs or sets of documents.  In order to quantify these relationships, we are based on the calculations of the proximities between these documents by application of a method enumerating of circuits in the HSW of Web pages. Indeed, the documents can thus be clustered in common classes (groups of close documents). The third shutter is related to the definition of the relationships dependence between query's terms and documents of the collection, within a qualitative framework. The assigned values to these relations translate preferably partial orders. In fact, possibilistic theory offers two working frameworks:  the qualitative or ordinal framework and the numerical framework.  We proposed our model within an ordinal framework. Thus, we add to our basic model preferences between query's terms. These preferences make it possible to restore documents classified by relevance's preference. We also measured the contribution of these preferably factors in the increase of the relevance's scores of  documents containing these terms with an aim of penalizing the relevance's scores of the documents not containing them. For the installation of this model we chose multiagent systems. The advantage of the proposed architecture is that it offers a framework for collaboration between the various actors and the implementation of all the functionalities of the information retrieval system. Architecture agrees perfectly with the possibilistic intelligent character and makes it possible to profit from the capacities of inherent synergy in the suggested model. We thus could put forward, through the carried out experiments, the goal of combining the two HSW via a possibilistic network in an information retrieval system, which makes it possible to enrich the exploration level of a collection. This exploration is not only limited to the documents but it extends by considering also the query. Indeed, the semantic query reformulation phase makes it possible to benefit user from other documents which contain some close terms of the initial query. These documents can exist in other topics classes. Consequently, a reclassification suggested by the system proves its relevance in order to adapt query's results to new user's needs.

This thesis deals with the internal control concept according to the COSO Integrated Framework for Internal Controls. Internal control definition, objectives and components are reviewed and commented. The emphasis is put on the auditor's understanding the entity's internal control and his responsibility to identify and assess the risk of material misstatement in the financial statements.

L’utilisation de molécules issues d’une synthèse maîtrisée est une approche très intéressante pour les biologistes car elle met à leur disposition des molécules bien caractérisées et d’une grande pureté. Dans un premier temps, nous avons synthétisé des triglycérides structurés. Ce sont des molécules lipidiques dans lesquelles les acides gras d’intérêt sont estérifiés sur le squelette glycérol en position connue. Les acides gras introduits appartiennent à la série oméga 3 (acides linolénique (ALA), eicosapentaènoique (EPA) et docosahexaènoique (DHA). Ils sont estérifiés spécifiquement en position interne ou externes car la biodisponibilité des lipides alimentaires, apportés sous forme de triglycérides, varie en fonction de la position de l’acide gras sur le squelette glycérol. L’utilisation de ces lipides structurés a été validée par des études de biodisponibilité, in vivo, chez le rat, qui ont montré que l’ALA était très bien assimilé quelle que soit sa position sur le glycérol. Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons synthétisé un acide a-linolénique fluorescent, sous forme d’ester méthylique, pour obtenir in fine un TG fluorescent. Celui-ci nous permettra suivre, par imagerie, le devenir de l’ALA dans des cellules en culture, modèles de la barrière intestinale. Les différentes molécules synthétisées sont apparues comme un outil fondamental permettant de mieux connaître le devenir métabolique des triglycérides dans l’organisme. / Biologists are very interested in the use of molecules obtained by a well-controlled synthesis because such molecules are well characterized and of high purity. First, we synthesized pure structured triglycerides in other words lipid molecules in which fatty acids are esterified onto a known position of the glycerol backbone. The introduced polyunsaturated fatty acids belong to the omega 3 series (linolenic (LNA),eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA acids). As the bioavailability of lipids depends upon their position on the glycerol skeleton , we prepared triglycerides esterified with omega 3 fatty acids either qt one of the external positions or at the internal one. The use of these structured lipids was validated byr in vivo studies on rats that showed a good assimilation of LNA whatever its position was. Secondly, we synthesized an ? linolenic acid as methyl ester labeled with a fluorophore To obtain in fine a fluorescent triglyceride. This last one will be use for the spatio-temporal follow-up, in culture cell, of the LNA. The synthesized molecules are a promising tool to better understand the triglycerides’ metabolism in the human being.