This study involved analyses of an existing database conducted for the purposes of identifying and understanding factors that are associated with the delivery of school-based mental health services by school psychologists. The study examined the average number of hours per week in which school psychologists engage in mental health services and the types of mental health services in which they engage. Factors such as training, desire to deliver mental health services, time available and support for mental health services were investigated. The database that served as the basis for these analyses had been created by mailing a survey to 1000 randomly selected practicing school psychologists who were Regular Members of the National Association of School Psychologists. The survey asked for responses to questions relating to a range of issues about the delivery of school-based mental health services. Training and support for mental health services were also identified by school psychologists as major factors in their ability to deliver such services to students and families. The implications of the findings are discussed.

The dependence of dielectric permittivity on the applied electric field, high dielectric constant and low cost makes barium strontium titanate (BST) a promising ferroelectric material for applications in tunable microwave devices. High tunability and low dielectric loss is desired for tunable microwave devices. The primary objective of this research was to optimize the tunability and dielectric loss of BST thin films at microwave frequencies with different deposition techniques. Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 thin films were grown on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si, by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and sputtering. Parallel plate capacitor structures were designed using ADS and fabricated. The microstructural and phase analysis of the BST films were performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. The diffraction patterns are attributed to cubic (perovskite) crystal system. The analysis of surface morphology was done using atomic force microscopy. Electrical properties of parallel plate capacitors were measured using LCR meter and tunability of 2.4:1 and loss tangent of 0.05 was achieved at low frequencies for laser deposited BST thin films. Tunability of 2.8:1 and loss tangent of 0.03 was achieved at low frequencies for sputtered BST thin films. The correlation of optimized structural and dielectric properties of thin films deposited by pulsed laser deposition and sputtering technique was analyzed and compared. The structural characterization of sputtered BST thin film on MgO, Alumina and LaAl2O3 was achieved for the fabrication of interdigital capacitors. Interdigital capacitor has been designed using ADS momentum.

"I would have been better off using the tuition money to heat my apartment last winter." "Three of my friends got As in his class and my friends are dumb." "The movies are so bad, even he has to leave the room." These are just a few of the "Funny Ratings" from a page on RateMyProfessors.com, a web site dedicated to providing information to students so they may make a difference in (their) education (http://www.RateMyProfessors.com/ faq.jsp). The online evaluations differ in origin, use and content from traditional teaching evaluations as they are the result of a virtual atmosphere created for students and perpetuated by students, where comments and ratings are instantaneously available to anyone with Internet access for application and critique. This paper includes a review of literature on the rationalization of the university system, on the image of students as reluctant consumers, on the use and future of traditional teaching evaluations, and on previous attempts to obtain data from web sites. Through a content analysis of RateMyProfessors.com, I observe evidence that students have discovered a new way of participating in their education. Instead of being the property of professors and schools, these online evaluations reveal for anyone some popular ideas of what constitutes a good course and a good professor. The categories created by the students differ in subtle but important ways from traditional teaching evaluations. While traditional evaluations give professors and administrators insight on teaching effectiveness, these online evaluations act more as advice columns and mini-syllabi for future students.

This thesis tests the hypothesis that increasing public awareness of the anti-globalization movement fuels its growth. The independent variable in this thesis is public awareness of the anti-globalization movement and is operationalized/measured using a database of anti-globalization protest events covered by the global media created by Dr. Bruce Podobnik. The dependent variable in this thesis is the growth of the anti-globalization movement and is measured through a content analysis of anti-globalization related postings to an anti-corporate transnational advocacy network known as the Independent Media Center in 2002. It purports to measure such growth in two dimensions, action and discourse, using 11 different classifications of growth. The results of a bivariate linear regression conclude that it is not possible to disprove the null hypothesis that no relationship exists between the two variables as operationalized and measured herein and the central hypothesis is left unproven. Consequently, this thesis ends in an examination of its methodological construction with specific focus on the conceptualization and measures of the variables adopted and calls for future research utilizing more effective concepts and measures of the variables to test the hypothesis.

The overall focus of this research was to achieve the first detailed understanding of temporal and geographical distributions of inorganic-nitrogen-nutrients within an oligotrophic euphotic zone. In addition to low supply of nutrients, the uptake of nutrients by phytoplankton within the euphotic zone draws the nutrient concentrations down, resulting in very low concentrations of these nutrients and results in these regions being classified as oligotrophic. The site selected for the research was the West Florida Shelf (WFS). There were two main challenges. One was that the detection limits of the standard chemistries used to determine inorganic nitrogen nutrients are not low enough to permit the evaluation of the concentration of these nutrients within an oligotrophic euphotic zone. The other challenge was the adaptation and design of highly sensitive, robust, and simple instrumentation to resolve and evaluate horizontal nutrient distributions within the euphotic zone for both ship-based and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) based platforms in near real time. With these obstacles in mind three major goals were set. First was the development of a simple and robust chemistry that could detect nitrite and nitrate with a suitably low detection limit (approximately 10 nanomolar) and could also be coupled with a highly sensitive chemistry previously developed for ammonium with the same characteristics, and incorporate these chemistries into a single laboratory analyzer designed to monitor the surface distribution of these nutrients in the water sampled with a ships flow-through system.

Much of the scholarly work on professional wrestling is based on the assumption that beyond a simple mimicking of sporting combat, the wrestling show is a spectacle that constructs and interrelates socially situated, morally significant categories. In this thesis, I focus on wrestlers themselves, and treat wrestling as a traditional practice that guides how wrestlers relate to their bodies and how they interact with their audience. This project was carried out using ethnographic methods of observation and interviewing. While participant-observation of three independent wrestling promotions provided context, twelve semi-structured interviews carried out with wrestlers at the Florida Wrestleplex in St. Petersburg yielded a model of what wrestlers experience inside the ring. The model emphasizes shifts of consciousness, performer-crowd intersubjectivity, and anomalous experiences of resistance to pain. Respondents describe an in-ring shift in consciousness, alternately referring to it as an altered state, high, or trance. After interpreting these results with reference to anthropological discussions of ritual, embodiment and practice, I argue that hardcore wrestling and the phenomenon of backyard wrestling are best understood as bodily practices that elicit altered states of consciousness for participants. By understanding what it feels like to wrestle, and what the experience of wrestling means to wrestlers, we can re-interrogate the coded messages of wrestling with regard to the practice by which they are produced. This project is intended to contribute to greater anthropological understanding of altered states of consciousness such as channeling or possession trance, as well as broader issues such as how cultural life is variably mediated by the body and by transcendent social narratives. It is my hope that by describing how they relate to their craft, this paper will humanize wrestlers, and place firmly in context some of the aspects of the genre that lead critics to suggest that wrestling contributes to social problems of violence, misogyny, homophobia, or jingoism.

Sputum induction by inhalation of hypertonic saline has been used for more than15 years. It has become one of the most intriguing methods to study airway inflammation. It is the only direct, non-invasive method for measuring airway inflammation indices.Sputum induction has been used in the diagnosis of many respiratory illnesses including asthma, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, tuberculosis, chronic cough, lung cancer and Pneumocystis Carinii on patients who are unable to produce sputum spontaneously. There are currently many different methods used worldwide to induce sputum, but there is a lack of one generally accepted gold standard method. The proposed protocols for sputum induction proved to be safe, simple and produced satisfactory amount of expectorate. However, it did not contain enough cells from the lower respiratory tract and was contaminated by squamous cells when compared to another method based on the work of F. E. Hargreave. Investigation demonstrated that the use of impulse oscillometry, which requires no effort from patients, needs further research with larger study samples before it could be used instead of spirometry to evaluate airway obstruction. Initial methylene blue stain of the fresh expectorate smear was shown to be useful tool for identifying grossly contaminated sputum samples by squamous epithelial cells.Our first study group included 20 volunteers in good health. Sputum was induced by inhalation of 3% saline mist created by ultrasonic nebulizer at maximum output (4ml/min). Sputum induction intervals lasted 4-5 minutes with cumulative duration of induction about 4-15 minutes which was tolerated well. Lung function was evaluated for obstruction at baseline and every 5 minutes with spirometry and impulse oscillometry.The whole expectorated sample was processed and slides were stained with HEMA 3stain. With this method we were able to collect a mean of 6.1 ml expectorate. The mean total cell count was 804 000 with high proportion of squamous cells. The second study group included 5 volunteers in good health. This method utilized 3%, 4% and 5% saline mist for inhalation, 7 minutes each. Ultrasonic nebulizer was set at low output of 0.9 ml/min. This procedure was also tolerated well without major adverse effects. Lung function was evaluated at baseline and every 7 minutes for obstruction. Only dense portions of expectorate were selected and processed. Slides were stained with Wright stain. This method produced much more total cells with a mean of 3 385 000 per gram of sputum which came from the lower airways and were not contaminated by squamous cells. The second method was far superior producing adequate sputum sample with cells from the lower airways and minimal squamous cell contamination and will be used in our Breath Lab.

This thesis examines the relationship between the imagery and glosses displayed on folios from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, the Codex Magliabechiano, and the Codex Ixtlilxochitl through the application of Leon Festingers concept of cognitive dissonance in order to introduce an alternative approach to the study of codices as points of culture contact. The work analyzes the ways in which this psychological condition manifested itself in post-contact codex production as a result of sixteenth century political and social circumstances. Festinger (1957:14) identifies the existence of cultural mores as a source of potential dissonance between culturally specific consonant elements. According to this idea, a culture may dictate the acceptance of certain actions, ideas, or beliefs and the rejection of others. Thus, at places of cultural confrontation, dissonance may result as each group relies upon authorized referents to deal with the introduction of new information. Among surviving post-contact manuscripts, these three codices contain folios with both pictorial and textual descriptions of annual Nahua pre-contact festivals and their corresponding deities. This particular group of codices allows comparisons and cross-references to be made among three different interpretations of the same feasts. Each manuscript presents a unique visual and alphabetic explanation of each festivals deities and celebratory activities created at different points during the sixteenth century. According to Festingers concept, the divergent descriptions of the same festivals found among these folios illustrate my position that the discrepancies came from inclinations on both sides to reach levels of consonance despite the unfamiliar circumstances of culture contact. This thesis asserts that the imagery and annotations associated with each festival became outlets for expressions of familiar forms and ideas. By locating these codices within the dynamic atmosphere of the early post-contact period, based upon their estimated dates of production, the discrepancies between the imagery and glosses serve as examples of dissonance resulting from larger sixteenth-century cultural frameworks. The disruption and psychological discomfort experienced by natives and Europeans by Spains pressure to colonize and Christianize its new territory directly affected the visual organization of early colonial codices and the selective display of information presented in the folios.

Why was coffee so fashionable yet so divisive a political symbol during the latter half of the seventeenth century? Historians have offered several answers, including the suggestion that the nascent Orientalism generated its popularity. Undeniably seventeenth century England imported exotic commodities, including coffee and tea, and began to appropriate them for the English culture. Did that also imply maintaining the cultural superiority over the natives? I argue that coffee was symbolically transformed during the political and revolutionary turmoil of the seventeenth century. Coffee was first introduced in the early part of the century to the Stuart court where it was an item of sophisticated curiosity. After the Restoration, the City of London and its many newly opened coffee houses created the alternative to the courtly culture of the Stuarts transforming coffee into a political symbol, indeed a symbol of distinction in taste. The emerging political parties began a bitter struggle over coffee. The Tories considered coffee unpatriotic, not adequate for an Englishman, and too “Mohammedan.” The Whigs emphasized its more pleasant qualities. When king James II implied that the Whigs harbored sympathies for the Ottoman Sultans, coffee became a symbol of “anti-popery” and English patriotism. James’ calls to a crusade against the Turk besieging Imperial (and Catholic) Vienna went unanswered because the English were more afraid of absolutism at home and across the channel. In this way the last call to crusade fell on deaf ears, and drinking coffee became a patriotic statement. At that point, we can see the beginnings of Orientalism.

Little is known about the perceived changes in identity and sense of self in individuals with aphasia. Seminal research using qualitative methods and personal narratives has been conducted in England regarding the experience of living with aphasia (see for instance Parr, Byng, Gilpin & Ireland, 1999; Parr, Duchan & Pound, 2003; Byng, Pound & Hewitt, 2004), but the use of such methodologies is still emergent in the United States. In addition, despite the great achievements of the disabilities movement in countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., individuals with aphasia have remained largely at the margins due to the very nature of their impairment (Pound & Hewitt, 2004). How can one reflect upon and adjust to the changes brought about by a disability when one is devoid of words? According to Brumfitt (1993), individuals with aphasia, especially during the acute stages of recovery, have the tendency to idealize their "prior self." However are these identities transformed in relation to the acquired disability as individuals enter the chronic stages? If so, are these changes perceived in the same manner by survivors and caregivers? The purpose of the present study was to investigate these perceptual changes in identity using a qualitative ethnographic methodology. Seven individuals with aphasia and five caregivers participated in in-depth ethnographic interviews addressing perceived changes in sense of self after the onset of aphasia. Interview analysis resulted in ethnographic narratives in which participants and caregivers reflected on their perceptions of change and adaptation to disability. Common themes included the discovery of new identities, the gradual compromise between rehabilitation and adaptation, divergent perceptions of change, and the role of support groups during the rehabilitation process. The study was concluded with reflections from the investigator and the participants on how the results from this research could be used in our clinical practice.