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The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine perceptions of East Tennessee State University (ETSU) cohort members on the experience of redesigning the leadership preparation program requirements. Particularly, cohort participants in the Greene-King cohort were chosen by an admission process to participate in a grant program as governed by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in partnership with ETSU and local school agencies in Greeneville and Kingsport. The ETSU Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA) in the Claudius G. Clemmer College of Education collaborated with Kingsport City and Greeneville City school districts to redesign educational leadership programs. The SREB partnership initiative was eventually part of a broader effort designed to improve the quality of principal training throughout the state of Tennessee. This research was designed to document the Greene-King cohort member experience of redesigning leadership program expectations and outcomes. Moreover, the descriptive case study was an attempt to assimilate student perceptions of the effectiveness of cohort participation and the emergent design aspect of program expectations as they relate to leadership preparation. This research reinforced the view that the emergent design can provide for more meaningful participation on behalf of learners. Six research questions guided this study and qualitative data derived from the focus group interview and document reviews of cohort member reflection journals were analyzed. Results indicated that Greene-King cohort members were provided more meaningful school-leadership development experiences due to the following: emergent design of curriculum, meaningful and relevant internship experiences, mentoring, and collaborative learning within the cohort.

Reading is not an easily learned skill for most students. I chose to look at the methodology being used by teachers in East Tennessee to instruct emerging readers. Through my review of literature, I researched reading approaches implemented in American classrooms in the last 150 years. I compared and contrasted data to determine current researchers' findings concerning the most effective techniques for teaching reading and how teachers have implemented this knowledge base into their teaching strategies. Teachers cannot teach what they do not know. Therefore, I also researched literature addressing the growing concern among educators with teachers' preparation and professional development opportunities as well as the amount of specific preparation teachers received regarding the reading methods they are using. After compiling the data from my interviews with 30 East Tennessee first-grade teachers, I found that most said they did not feel adequately prepared to teach emergent readers. These teachers reported they had not had instruction that provided foundations in a wide range of research-based approaches to reading. The professional development offerings for teachers already in the classroom were often sporadic and did not compensate for their lack of preparation in college. There is a need for colleges and universities to re-evaluate the current teacher preparation programs. School systems should strive to provide quality inservice opportunities for instructors of emergent readers as well as hiring reading coaches or specialists to assist the reading instructors.

The growth patterns of emergent vegetation can be a useful indicator for factors affecting lake health. However, field data to characterize emergent vegetation at many reservoirs may not be available or may be limited to small, isolated areas. We present a case study using remotely sensed data from the Landsat satellite to generate data to represent emergent vegetation in the near-shoreline and tributary delta areas of Malheur Lake, Oregon. We selected late June images for this study as vegetation is relatively mature in late June and visible, but has not completely grown-in providing a better indication of vegetation coverage in satellite images. We investigated the correlation of vegetation coverage (an indicator of emergent vegetation) with lake area on the day of the satellite collection, average daily maximum temperatures for April, May, June, and July, and average daily precipitation in June, all parameters that could affect vegetation. To estimate historic emergent vegetation extent, we computed the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for 30 years of Landsat satellite images from 1984 to 2013. Around Malheur Lake we identified eight regions-of-interest (ROI): three inlet areas, three wet-shore areas (swampy areas), and two dry-shore areas (less swampy areas). For each ROI we generated time-series data to quantify the emergent vegetation as determined by the percent of area covered by pixels with NDVI values greater than 0.2. We measured lake area by computing the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) and computing the area by summing the pixels that indicated water. We compared NDVI time-series values with the time series for lake area, June precipitation, and maximum daily temperatures for April, May, June, and July to determine if these parameters were correlated. Correlation would imply that emergent vegetation was influenced by the parameter. We found that correlations of vegetative extent in any of the eight ROIs with the selected parameters were minimal, indicating that there are other factors besides the ones chosen that drive emergent vegetation levels in Malheur Lake. This study demonstrates that Landsat data have sufficient spatial and temporal detail for quantification and description of ecosystem changes and thus offer a good source of information to understand historic trends in reservoir health. We expect that future work will explore other potential drivers for emergent vegetation extent, such as carp populations in Malheur Lake which are known to affect emergent vegetation. Carp were not considered in this study as we did not have access to data that reflect carp numbers over this 30 year period.

Early Childhood educators agree on the significant influence of a parent on a child’s literacy development. The environment a parent provides, in addition to the opportunities a child has in the early years, have a major influence on a child’s literacy development. This study sought to determine how parents in a low-income socioeconomic group perceived literacy development and how their preschool-age children performed on an emergent literacy assessment. The 64 study participants were recruited from a Head Start program in the central Appalachian Mountains. An overwhelming majority of participants were mother/child dyads, every participant spoke English as a primary language, and the majority of the participants identified their race as white. Participants were asked to complete a demographic survey and a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to identify parents as either having a more emergent or more traditional perception of literacy development. This data was used to determine if identifying characteristics, such as education level or caregiver role, have an influence on a parent’s perceptions (emergent or traditional) of literacy development. Additionally, parents were asked to document the 5 most important things they are doing to help their child become a successful reader. It was concluded that no significant relationship exists between the parental perceptions and the child’s emergent literacy skills. The significance of this finding is two-fold. First, parent trainings in literacy development must focus on specific skills or methods that parents need to encourage literacy development, instead of the theoretical approach behind literacy development. Additionally, the sample overwhelmingly reported “reading to their child” as something they value; therefore, parent trainings should focus on how to share stories with a child, instead of simply asserting the necessity of reading to a child.

A deeper understanding of human development and disease is made possible partly through the study of genetically modified model organisms, such as the common mouse (Mus musculus). By genetically modifying such model organisms, scientists can activate, deactivate, or highlight particular characteristics. A genetically modified animal is generated by adding exogenous (foreign) genetic material to one or more embryonic cells at their earliest stages of development. Frequently, this exogenous genetic material consists of specially engineered DNA, which is introduced into a fertilized egg cell (zygote). When successfully introduced into the zygote, the exogenous DNA will be incorporated into the cell's own genome, and the animal that develops from the zygote will exhibit the genetic modification in all of its cells. The current devices and methods for generating genetically modified animals are inefficient, and/or difficult to use. The most common and efficient method for inserting new DNA into zygotes is by directly injecting a DNA solution through a tiny glass tube into the cell in a process called microinjection. Unfortunately, microinjection is quite inefficient (success rates are commonly between 1 and 5%), but often it is the only method for inserting DNA into eggs, zygotes, or early stage embryos. This thesis presents the design and testing of a micrometer sale, pumpless microelectromechanical system (MEMS) nanoinjector. Rather than use pumps and capillaries, the nanoinjector employs electrostatic charges to attract and repel DNA onto and off of the surface of a solid lance. The nanoinjector also includes a mechanical system for constraining the target cells during injection. Initial testing indicates the nanoinjector does not decrease cell viability, and it has a very high initial success rate (up to 90%). With the addition of an on-chip actuator, the nanoinjector could be packaged as an inexpensive, fully automated system, enabling efficient, high volume genetic modification of developing animals. Such a device would greatly increase the ease and speed of generating the model organisms needed to study such critical diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and diabetes.

This thesis introduces new revolute and torsional lamina emergent mechanism (LEM) flexure designs that are suited for use in metals. Previous LEM flexures have been designed for use in highly elastic materials, such as polymers. In extending LEM flexure designs to metals, a LEM flexure design criteria is also introduced. The LEM flexure criteria is based on relative performance between the LEM flexure and a performance datum which the LEM flexure must improve upon. This performance datum, or benchmark, is a section of lamina that is of the same overall length, width, and thickness as the LEM flexure. An analysis of the revolute and torsional metal LEM flexures, based on the LEM flexure criteria, is performed and both are found to successfully meet the criteria. A brief comparative performance study is also carried out between a basic crank-slider mechanism to which the revolute and torsional metal LEM flexures have and have not been applied. The revolute and torsional metal LEM flexures are found to improve the crank-slider performance.

Limited resources are currently available to assist engineers in implementing compliant members into mechanical designs. As a result, engineers often have little to no direction incorporating compliant mechanisms. This thesis develops a conceptual design framework and process that utilizes a proposed classification scheme and a library of mechanisms to help engineers incorporate compliant mechanisms into their applications. As the knowledge related to the synthesis and analysis of compliant mechanisms continues to grow and mature, and through the classification scheme established in this thesis, compliant mechanisms may become more extensively used in commercial mechanical designs. This thesis also demonstrates a design approach engineers can use to convert an existing rigid-body mechanism into a compliant mechanism by using the established classification scheme and a library of compliant mechanisms. This approach proposes two possible techniques that use rigid-body replacement synthesis in conjunction with a compliant mechanism classification scheme. One technique replaces rigid-body elements with a respective compliant element. The other technique replaces a complex rigid-body mechanism by decomposing the mechanism into simpler functions and then replacing a respective rigid-body mechanism with a compliant mechanism that has a similar functionality. These techniques are then demonstrated by developing and designing a competitive and feasible compliant road bicycle brake system.

Lamina emergent mechanisms (LEMs) can provide a way to meet the demand for more compact and inexpensive mechanisms. Previous research has developed LEM designs and identified applications for them, but many applications would benefit from suitable actuation techniques. This thesis presents the design considerations and a variety of applicable methods for internal and external LEM actuation in the macro scale. Integrated LEM actuator possibilities have been identified, each with its advantages and disadvantages depending on the application. Shape memory alloys are especially compatible with LEMs. Traditional actuators have also been discussed as a way of actuating a LEM from the outside for cases in which space constraints allow it. The feasibility of new internal actuators using basic actuation principles, especially flat solenoids, has been explored. The magnetic field distribution along the axis of a high-aspect-ratio solenoid has been derived. Analytical and experimental results show that the output force of a high-aspect-ratio solenoid is suitable for LEMs. A pseudo-solenoid conceptual prototype was manufactured and evaluated, revealing challenges for which solutions have been recommended.