The passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Act increased the need for special education teachers, but a shortage of qualified teachers currently exists. The high number of special education teachers who are making the choice to leave special education contributes to this shortage. It is widely accepted that stressors related to the profession impact the high attrition rate. One of the highest rates of attrition is found in self-contained Comprehensive Development Classes (CDC) where teachers provide highly individualized special education services in self-contained settings, often for the majority of the studentÆs day. The purpose of this study was to identify significant stressors experienced by teachers working in CDCs and their effects on teacher attrition from those programs. In this phenomenological study the guided interview approach was used to identify the specific stressors, methods of stressor identification, intensity of specific stressors, long- and short-term effects, possible outcomes related to identified stressors, and techniques used to relieve the effects of the stressors. Interviews were conducted with current and past CDC teachers, an assistant from each classroom, building administrators, and any support persons identified by the teachers. Information was also gathered from school and classroom records. The findings of this study identified specific stressors, sources of the stressors, effects on the teachers, and related information. The findings support that there is a relationship between stressors and the high rate of CDC teacher attrition for both experienced and novice teachers. Recommendations for practice related to the identified stressors include those made directly by the participants as possible methods of stressor alleviation that could result in a positive impact on teacher attrition.

Abstract This study focuses on the process of communication between government agencies and the public during crisis situations, and the development of an effective response strategy when a significant threat to public health and/or safety is believed to exist. My specific research interests are (1) the nature of the decision-making process that influences the communicative choices made during such events, and (2) how decision-makers make sense of an evolving, ambiguous, and unpredictable situation, in order to establish credibility with the public, determine the appropriate response strategy, and gain the public's trust in order to influence its behavior. This is a qualitative research study based on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with key staff members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding the CDC's organizational response to the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic. As global public health threats have the potential to significantly affect critical areas of the U.S. economy, national security policies are evolving to include strategic planning for issues related to global public health threats. However, despite having faced several serious public health threats during the past decade, governments worldwide and the global public health community continue to struggle with developing sufficient contingency plans and effective response strategies to meet the challenges of unexpected, highly unpredictable, and potentially devastating public health crises. My research addresses gaps identified in exploring the experience of crisis response participants in order to understand the process of response development. Additionally, I identify practices, processes, and recommendations that will be useful for future response teams confronted with equally challenging emerging threat and/or crisis scenarios.

La polarité épithéliale est un processus essentiel au cours du développement d'un organisme. Ici, nous nous focalisons sur le tissu épithélial intestinal et épidermal de C. elegans pour comprendre comment la cellule maintient sa polarité en définissant un pôle apical et un pôle basolatéral. Afin d'assurer la mise en place et le maintien de cette polarité, des protéines appelées déterminants de polarité interviennent. Parmi ces déterminants, le module PAR-3/PAR-6/aPKC et CDC-42 sont des acteurs majeurs pour spécifier la polarité apicale. Nous avons montré que le complexe adaptateur pour la clathrine AP-1, un régulateur clé du trafic intracellulaire remplit une fonction inattendue dans ce processus. En effet, nous avons confirmé le rôle d'AP-1 dans le tri basolatéral observé chez les mammifères, mais de façon intéressante nous avons démontré qu'AP-1 contrôle également le tri apical d'une protéine transmembranaire ainsi que la localisation asymétrique apicale de CDC-42 et PAR-6. En effet, l'inhibition d'AP-1 cause une délocalisation basolatérale de CDC-42 et PAR-6. La perte de fonction d'AP-1 induit une conversion de la membrane latérale en membrane apicale et la formation de lumières intestinales ectopiques. La perte de fonction du complexe AP-1 induit également une létalité embryonnaire qui peut s'expliquer par le phénotype identifié dans l'épiderme. Dans cet épithélium, AP-1 contrôle l'intégrité des jonctions cellulaire et notamment le tri apical de la E-cadhérine. Nos résultats démontrent une fonction essentielle d'AP-1 dans le tri apical, directement responsable du maintien de la polarité épithéliale.

<p>The complex work of designing new ASICs today and the increasing costs of time to market (TTM) delays are putting high responsibility on the research and development teams to make fault free designs. The main purpose of implementing a static rule checking tool in the design flow today is to find errors and bugs in the hardware definition language (HDL) code as fast and soon as possible. The sooner you find a bug in the design, the shorter the turnaround time becomes, and thereby both time and money will be saved.</p><p>There are a couple of tools in the market that performs static HDL analysis and they vary in both price and functionality. In this project mainly Atrenta Spyglass was evaluated but similar tools were also evaluated for comparison purpose.</p><p>The purpose of this master thesis was to evaluate the need of implementing a rule checking tool in the design flow at the Digital ASIC department PDU Base Station development in Kista, who also was the commissioner for this project. Based on the findings in this project it is recommended that a static rule checking tool is introduced in the design flow at the ASIC department. However, in order to determine which of the different tools the following pointers should be regarded:</p><p>• If the tool is only going to be used as for lint checks (elementary structure and code checks) on RTL, then the implementation of Mentors Design Checker is advised.</p><p>• If the tool is going to be used for more sophisticated structural checks, clock tree/reset tree propagation, code checks, basic constraints checks, basic Clock Domain Crossings (CDC) checks, then Synopsys LEDA is advised.</p><p>• If the tool is going to be used as for advanced structural checks, extensive clock tree/reset tree propagation, code checks, constraints checks, functional Design For Test (DFT) checks (as testmode signal propagation) and functional CDC checks on RTL as well as on netlist level, then Atrenta Spyglass is advised.</p><p>The areas regarding checks that could be of interest for Ericsson is believed to be regular lint checks for RTL (naming, code and basic structure), clock/reset tree propagation (netlist and RTL), constraints and functional DFT checks (netlist and RTL).</p>

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary inclusion level of a low lignin hull, high-oil groat (CDC SO-I) oat on the performance, carcass characteristics and rumen degradation characteristics of feedlot cattle. In the first trial, 200 crossbred steers (average weight of 427.3 ± 22.4 kg) were allocated to 20 pens. Five treatments, formulated by replacing barley with increasing levels of CDC SO-I oat (Barley grain:CDC SO-I oat ratios of 100:0; 75:25; 50:50; 25:75 and 0:100 ; DM basis) were used. Four pens were randomly allocated to each treatment diet. Over the entire study there was a linear decrease (P< 0.01) in DMI and ADG with increasing inclusion level of CDC SO-I oat, whereas feed efficiency (gain:feed) decreased (P= 0.03) quadratically. Days on feed also increased (P= 0.03) quadratically for the steers fed the higher levels of CDC SO-I oat. Increasing the inclusion level of CDC SO-I oat in the diet also decreased (P< 0.01) carcass weight, dressing percentage and grade fat linearly. However, there was no effect of treatment on rib eye area and lean yield percentage. There was no significant effect of treatment on marbling score. While the results of this trial point to a negative effect of CDC SO-I oat on finishing performance, there were minimal differences between cattle fed 100% barley as the concentrate versus those fed 75% barley: 25% oat blend.<p> Trial 2 involved a metabolism trial to determine the effect of CDC SO-I oat inclusion level on rumen fermentation parameters of 5 fistulated heifers fed the same diets used in Trial 1. A 5 × 5 Latin square experiment design was used. Rumen degradation parameters (rumen pH, VFA, osmolality and ammonia nitrogen levels) and feeding behavior (time spent eating, ruminating, chewing and drinking) were measured. Mean rumen pH for the barley-based diet was 5.88 which was not different (P> 0.05) than the mean pH of 5.5 for the oat-fed cattle. Treatment did not affect (P> 0.05) time spent below pH cutoff values of 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2. No effect of oat inclusion level (P> 0.05) was observed on total VFA levels, molar proportion of individual fatty acids and osmolality while isobutyrate (P= 0.05) and ruminal ammonia nitrogen concentrations decreased linearly (P= 0.02) with the higher inclusion of CDC SO-I oat. Time spent eating was linearly (P< 0.01) increased with higher inclusion level of CDC SO-I oat.<p> Over all, the results of this study indicate that the replacement of barley by CDC SO-I oat in finishing diets decreases dry matter intake and as a result leads to reduced ADG, increased days on feed and lower slaughter and carcass weights. The reduced performance might be the result of higher fat content, high hull and/or faster degradation rate of oat starch leading to subacute ruminal acidosis in cattle fed higher levels of oat. However, replacing barley with CDC SO-I oat does not significantly change the rumen environment. The results of this study indicate that CDC SO-I oat can be successfully included up to a maximum level of 25% without any adverse effect on performance and carcass characteristics in the diets of finishing cattle.

Flax is one of the major cash crops in Canada. Approximately seventy percent of Canadian flaxseed was exported to European Union (EU) annually until 2009. In 2009, the EU imposed an import ban on Canadian flaxseed due to the adventitious presence of a GM flax variety - CDC Triffid was identified in Canadian flaxseed exported to the EU. The EUs decision to apply zero tolerance on CDC Triffid flax has been based on its interpretation of the precautionary principle. According to the World Trade Organisations Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), however, precautionary measures are subject to a scientific risk assessment. As the EU did not base its zero tolerance for CDC Triffid flax on any scientific risk assessment, the EU is in violation of the SPS Agreement. Moreover, the EU has ignored the available scientific information regarding CDC Triffid flax. The EU did not consider the possibility of following the guidelines given by Codex Alimentarius Commission in the case of CDC Triffid flax. There are non-scientific reasons behind the EUs zero tolerance on CDC Triffid flax and they overweigh the available scientific information. The EU position would be unlikely to be supported if a complaint was brought to the World Trade Organisation Disputes Panel. A partial equilibrium model was used to provide a theoretical background to examine the changes in the flaxseed industry and the linseed oil industry due to the CDC Triffid event. A model of the supply chain of Canadian flaxseed was developed to illustrate the operationalisation of the Protocol developed by the EU and Canada to address the zero tolerance policy. Empirical estimation suggests that the operationalisation of the Protocol incurred additional cost of $7.5 million to the flax seed industry of Canada in 2009/ 2010. Out of that, cost of testing was approximately $1.2 million and cost of segregation was $4.2 million. Estimation of changes in revenue suggests that there was a loss of revenue in flaxseed trade between the EU and Canada in 2009/2010. Imports of Canadian flax by China provided an alternative market, at a considerably lower price than typically realised from the EU market. Interestingly, the EUs zero tolerance policy on CDC Triffid flax has resulted in a larger additional cost on the EU than Canada.

This qualitative analysis of the framing of health issues by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the world’s premier health organizations, and by major U.S. newspapers analyzes the frames present in a sample of the CDC’s press releases, and the frames present in the contemporaneous (and often resulting) press coverage. This study focuses on communication surrounding public health events that occurred in the six-year period 2002–2007.

This research uses data from the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to determine dietary and other factors associated with serum 25(OH)-Vitamin D concentration for 5,474 adults age 20 years and older. After multivariate adjustment, we found that serum 25(OH)-Vitamin D concentration was positively associated with diets high in fruits, vegetables, and lean meats, while diets high in processed foods and high-fat meats were inversely associated with vitamin D level. Serum 25(OH)-Vitamin D concentration was also signifi-cantly associated with age, gender, race/ethnicity, BMI, physical activity, supplementation, and the season of survey administration. Self-reported cardiovascular and kidney disease were significantly associated with serum 25 (OH)-Vitamin D concentration after adjustment for significant confounders.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary inclusion level of a low lignin hull, high-oil groat (CDC SO-I) oat on the performance, carcass characteristics and rumen degradation characteristics of feedlot cattle. In the first trial, 200 crossbred steers (average weight of 427.3 ± 22.4 kg) were allocated to 20 pens. Five treatments, formulated by replacing barley with increasing levels of CDC SO-I oat (Barley grain:CDC SO-I oat ratios of 100:0; 75:25; 50:50; 25:75 and 0:100 ; DM basis) were used. Four pens were randomly allocated to each treatment diet. Over the entire study there was a linear decrease (P< 0.01) in DMI and ADG with increasing inclusion level of CDC SO-I oat, whereas feed efficiency (gain:feed) decreased (P= 0.03) quadratically. Days on feed also increased (P= 0.03) quadratically for the steers fed the higher levels of CDC SO-I oat. Increasing the inclusion level of CDC SO-I oat in the diet also decreased (P< 0.01) carcass weight, dressing percentage and grade fat linearly. However, there was no effect of treatment on rib eye area and lean yield percentage. There was no significant effect of treatment on marbling score. While the results of this trial point to a negative effect of CDC SO-I oat on finishing performance, there were minimal differences between cattle fed 100% barley as the concentrate versus those fed 75% barley: 25% oat blend.<p> Trial 2 involved a metabolism trial to determine the effect of CDC SO-I oat inclusion level on rumen fermentation parameters of 5 fistulated heifers fed the same diets used in Trial 1. A 5 × 5 Latin square experiment design was used. Rumen degradation parameters (rumen pH, VFA, osmolality and ammonia nitrogen levels) and feeding behavior (time spent eating, ruminating, chewing and drinking) were measured. Mean rumen pH for the barley-based diet was 5.88 which was not different (P> 0.05) than the mean pH of 5.5 for the oat-fed cattle. Treatment did not affect (P> 0.05) time spent below pH cutoff values of 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2. No effect of oat inclusion level (P> 0.05) was observed on total VFA levels, molar proportion of individual fatty acids and osmolality while isobutyrate (P= 0.05) and ruminal ammonia nitrogen concentrations decreased linearly (P= 0.02) with the higher inclusion of CDC SO-I oat. Time spent eating was linearly (P< 0.01) increased with higher inclusion level of CDC SO-I oat.<p> Over all, the results of this study indicate that the replacement of barley by CDC SO-I oat in finishing diets decreases dry matter intake and as a result leads to reduced ADG, increased days on feed and lower slaughter and carcass weights. The reduced performance might be the result of higher fat content, high hull and/or faster degradation rate of oat starch leading to subacute ruminal acidosis in cattle fed higher levels of oat. However, replacing barley with CDC SO-I oat does not significantly change the rumen environment. The results of this study indicate that CDC SO-I oat can be successfully included up to a maximum level of 25% without any adverse effect on performance and carcass characteristics in the diets of finishing cattle.

Flax is one of the major cash crops in Canada. Approximately seventy percent of Canadian flaxseed was exported to European Union (EU) annually until 2009. In 2009, the EU imposed an import ban on Canadian flaxseed due to the adventitious presence of a GM flax variety - CDC Triffid was identified in Canadian flaxseed exported to the EU. The EUs decision to apply zero tolerance on CDC Triffid flax has been based on its interpretation of the precautionary principle. According to the World Trade Organisations Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), however, precautionary measures are subject to a scientific risk assessment. As the EU did not base its zero tolerance for CDC Triffid flax on any scientific risk assessment, the EU is in violation of the SPS Agreement. Moreover, the EU has ignored the available scientific information regarding CDC Triffid flax. The EU did not consider the possibility of following the guidelines given by Codex Alimentarius Commission in the case of CDC Triffid flax. There are non-scientific reasons behind the EUs zero tolerance on CDC Triffid flax and they overweigh the available scientific information. The EU position would be unlikely to be supported if a complaint was brought to the World Trade Organisation Disputes Panel. A partial equilibrium model was used to provide a theoretical background to examine the changes in the flaxseed industry and the linseed oil industry due to the CDC Triffid event. A model of the supply chain of Canadian flaxseed was developed to illustrate the operationalisation of the Protocol developed by the EU and Canada to address the zero tolerance policy. Empirical estimation suggests that the operationalisation of the Protocol incurred additional cost of $7.5 million to the flax seed industry of Canada in 2009/ 2010. Out of that, cost of testing was approximately $1.2 million and cost of segregation was $4.2 million. Estimation of changes in revenue suggests that there was a loss of revenue in flaxseed trade between the EU and Canada in 2009/2010. Imports of Canadian flax by China provided an alternative market, at a considerably lower price than typically realised from the EU market. Interestingly, the EUs zero tolerance policy on CDC Triffid flax has resulted in a larger additional cost on the EU than Canada.