Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / One of the most significant influences on the quality and character of a school is the school principal. With principals as the driving force behind their schools, evaluation of their performance is detrimental to their success as school leaders. Until very recently, however, school administrators have eluded the same level of scrutiny and intervention that teachers have undergone for years despite their high profile status in terms of leadership and instruction. The neglected area of principal evaluation, therefore, must be revisited. With the historic passage of Article 31, Rhode Island's Student Investment Initiative and S.A.L.T.- School Accountability for Learning and Teaching, increased attention has been placed on the effectiveness and quality of Rhode Island's schools. With this legislative mandate in mind, along with the extensive educational literature placing principals at the forefront of school effectiveness, this study investigated the various evaluation systems used to assess the performance of Rhode Island principals and the attitudes principals had toward these appraisals. Interviews were conducted with principals from each of Rhode Island's 36 school districts in order to examine current evaluation practices used to assess them and to uncover individual perceptions regarding the process. The study also included the collection of evaluation instruments, follow up questionnaires, and other artifacts such as contracts and job descriptions as a means of triangulation. This study confirmed that while Rhode Island principals indicated their desire to be held accountable for their work, they did not possess the necessary authority to carry out many of the duties and obligations inherent in their role as instructional leader. Staff selection and budget appropriations are key examples of the diminished authority they possess. The results of the study coupled with recommendations will be presented to Rhode Island's State Department of Education so that it can begin exploring administrative assessment procedures that can eventually be developed and implemented at the state level. With Rhode Island's many initiatives and mandates targeting accountability, it is recommended that Rhode Island retain a uniform method of assessing principal performance since a school's success or failure is often attributed to the school's principal. / 2031-01-01

Many animals that live near shorelines (X-axes) perfonn horizontal movements perpendicular (Y-axes) to the nearest shore, which is referred to as Y-axis orientation (Ferguson and Landreth, 1966). Shore-directed (Y-axis) orientation was studied in the intertidal purple shore crab, Hemigrapsus nudus. The crabs were collected fr001 several shorelines with different compass directions in southern British Columbia, Canada; i) in Barkley Sound, on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, ii) in the Nanaimo area on the east coast of Vancouver Island, and iii) in the Vancouver city area on the mainland coast. The directional preferences of the crabs were tested in orientation arenas. A seaward Y-axis orientation ability was established for crabs fr001 the Vancouver Island shorelines. Vancouver city crabs showed a bimodal orientation parallel to the beach (X-axis orientation). Potential factors influencing Y-axis orientation were investigated. The di recti anal preference and directivity of the orientation were not affected by the time of day, temperature, tidal cycles, level of activity, the moon, or the position of the observer. The crabs were presented with visual and non-visual orientation cues to determine the guiding mechanisms of the orientation. The results. indicate that visual cues present in clear day and night skies are important for Y-axis orientation since high cloud cover and experimental interference with the natural sky visibility severely disrupted the orientation ability. Y-axis orientation based on non-visual cues was tested by subjecting crabs to altered magnetic fields. Results of these and other experiments suggest that non-visual cues may also be used in Y-axis orientation. Transplant experiments were conducted in which crabs from one area were relocated to a new beach with a· different Y-axis. The directional preference in the seaward Y-axis direction of the original 11 home" beach persisted after 48 days on the new beach. / Graduate

Escherichia coli est le commensal aérobie le plus fréquent du tube digestif de l’homme et des animaux à sang chaud et le bacille à Gram négatif pathogène opportuniste le plus souvent impliqué dans les infections intestinales et extra intestinales de l’homme. C’est une espèce clonale chez laquelle 4 groupes phylogénétiques principaux, A, B1, B2 et D ont été décrits. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier l’adaptation de E. coli et les rapports de cette adaptation avec la structure génétique de l’espèce caractérisée par les 4 groupes phylogénétiques dans deux circonstances : le commensalisme intestinal de l’homme et de plusieurs espèces animales sauvages et domestiques, herbivores et omnivores d’une part et la virulence extra-intestinale mesurée par l’expression des gènes codants pour un sidérophore, la yersiniabactine, dont les gènes sont situés au sein de l’ilot de pathogénicité HPI (PAI IV). La répartition dans les 4 groupes phylogénétiques des souches commensales du tube digestif de 100 hommes et de 137 animaux a été étudiée par une technique de PCR en temps réel originale. Trois principaux entérocolitypes, correspondant à des associations préférentielles de phylogroupes ont été ainsi décrits comme plus fréquents en fonction de la nature des hôtes.Chez l’homme, les souches du groupe B2 ont été retrouvés exclusives chez 15 % des individus et ont été clairement distinctes des souches B2 des animaux sauvages par la plus grande fréquence de leurs facteurs de virulences (sfa/foc et pks). L’effet du fond génétique des sous groupes II, III et IX du groupe B2 sur l’expression de la virulence liée au HPI a été étudié dans un modèle murin de virulence extra-intestinale et dans un modèle d’amibe sociale Dictyostelium discoideum, pouvant être assimilé à un macrophage. Le HPI chez E. coli interagît avec la clonalité de l’espèce qui s’exprime par l’existence des sous-groupes de B2. Dans les modèles de virulence que nous avons développés, les mêmes gènes ont, en fonction du fond génétique des différents isolats naturels, des effets différents. / Escherichia coli is the most abundant aerobic bacteria of the human microbiota, and a major opportunistic pathogen in humans. It is the clonal species for wich main phylogenetic groups have been described. The aim of this thesis is to study E. coli adaptation through the genetic structure of the specis in two circumstances : the intestinal comensalism, and the extra-intestinal virulence estimated via expression of genes encoding for yersiniabactin, a major siderophore, located on a high patogenicity island (HPI). The repartition of the 4 phylogroups has been studied in faecal microbiota of 100 humans and 137 animals thanks to an original quantitative PCR assay. Three main enterocolitypes, corresponding to associations of phylogroups, have been described. In humans, B2 phylogroup strains were exclusive in 15% of individuals and were shown to be clearly distinct from animal B2 strains on the base of the presence of two virulence factors (sfa/foc and pks). The impact of the genetic background of the B2 sub-groups II, III an IX on the virulence based on HPI was studied in a mice model and in an amoeba model Dictyostelium discoideum. The HPI interacts with the clonality of the species represented by the existence of the B2 subgroups.

Christmas Island is situated in Long. 105°43' E and Lat. 10°25' S. The situation is climatically considered, strongly insular, being about 200 miles south of the Western part of Java. It is sheltered from the excessive rainfall of the East Indian Archipelago brought by the Easterly Trades which are greatly drained of their moisture by the time Java is passed. It is also outside the cyclonic region of the Indian Ocean, only one such storm being recorded since 1901, viz, that on 19th February 1904. The highest temperature recorded was 94.1° on 25th January 1903 and the lowest, 66.9° on 16th September 1902 - a range of 27.2°. The mean annual temperature is 80.8°. The mean is under 80.0° in the three months - July, August, September, but is above 80° during the other months of the year. The greatest variation of the temperature of Christmas Island is 20.0° or thereby and the least about 3.0°.

Vancouver Island forms one of the border ranges of the North American Cordillera, and is separated from the mainland of British Columbia by a submerged depression, the Strait of Georgia. In extent, Vancouver Island is some 280 miles long and 50 to 80 miles wide, with an estimated area of 13,000 square miles. A central, strongly dissected mountainous backbone comprises most of the Island and forms its main axis, lying in a N.W. — S.E. direction. On the east, the backbone is bordered by a relatively narrow coastal plain which slopes gently to the Strait of Georgia. Southeastern Vancouver Island as considered in this study, is that portion of the Island lying south and east of a line from the mouth of Muir Creek to the southern end of Saanich Inlet, thence following the Inlet to the northern tip of Saanich Peninsula. Southeastern Vancouver Island presents a varied picture to the geographer. The upland topography of the west and southwest, on the one hand, is characterized by forest industry, with attendant sparse population and relatively few roads. Inland, scattered areas of suitable soils are occupied by general farms, while along the coast, the many bays and harbours are centres of fishing activity. On the other hand, extensive areas of modified glacial tills in the central and northern portions are widely developed for a variety of agricultural pursuits. Population is concentrated here and transportation routes show a dense, rectangular pattern. An urban area has developed in response to the natural harbour and its agricultural hinterland. The present day hinterland of this urban area extends far beyond the regional boundaries so that it now includes most of Vancouver Island. Though not well endowed with metallic minerals, the region has extensive reserves of non-mettalics in the form of sands, gravels and clays. These glacial deposits are being exploited for use in local construction. Fishing is well developed along the ocean littoral and exploits several fishes of which the Pacific salmon are the most important. The most valuable primary industries are agriculture and forestry. Agriculture is favoured by the long frostless season, absence of extreme temperatures, and dry, relatively sunny summers. Berry culture, bulb and seed production are thriving operations on the glacially derived soils, Forestry utilizes the steep slopes and non-arable soils of the maturely dissected upland area in the west and southwest. Though ouch of the forest area has been out over, climatic and edaphic conditions are optimum for reforestation of Douglas fir, the most valuable species. Secondary industry in Southeastern Vanoouvor Island ie favored by presence of forest and soil resources and a ready source of labour, but is hindered by limited markets and energy supplies. At present, manufacturing is restricted to simple processing. A great variety of tertiary industries centred in the urban area of Victoria serve the large residential zone. Tourism is one of these industries which has been particularly successful, capitalizing the local climate and scenery, the recreational facilities and "British" atmosphere. The region's greatest potential rests on its soil and forest resources. Ultimately, the cultivated land could be approximately doubled. The non-arable soils and upland areas now supporting various stages of second growth forest, are well suited to sustained yield forestry. The expansion of local population and secondary industries would probably parallel increased development of these basic industries, thereby adding considerably to the regional wealth. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

The Hudson Bay Basin is the largest intracratonic basin in North America, but remains a frontier area for our knowledge of its stratigraphy and sedimentology and its hydrocarbon potential. Large domal reefs (up to 10 m thick and 500 m wide) in the Upper Ordovician Red Head Rapids Formation on Southampton Island developed on the margin of this shallow-marine evaporitic basin in which physical and chemical seawater parameters were distinct from the open ocean and in which a diverse community of reef-building and dwelling metazoans was unable to flourish. The main reef facies comprise boundstone and cementstone composed of various proportions of early-calcified sponge tissues, microbial encrusters, synsedimentary cement and small colonial metazoans. The accretionary mechanisms of the Red Head Rapids reefs were mainly the result of framebuilding by early-calcified sponges and small colonial corals and binding by calcimicrobial elements for the boundstone facies, and of massive aragonitic cement precipitation near the seafloor for the cementstone facies. These Upper Ordovician reefs, in which microbialites dominate but coexist with metazoans, were more widespread in the Early Ordovician immediately prior to the Middle to Late Ordovician expansion of skeletal-dominant reefs. The Upper Ordovician reefs on Southampton Island, porous and locally bitumen impregnated, underwent early marine, near-surface and progressive burial diagenesis; reducing its primary porosity but significantly increasing its secondary porosity. They represent one of the major untested petroleum play types identified in the Hudson Bay Basin.

This study provides the first quantitative analysis of the littoral and supralittoral arthropod assemblages of sub-Antarctic Marion Island. Seventeen mite species (126 203 individuals) from 11 families were found on the shore at Macaroni Bay. Three families dominated the assemblages in both abundance and diversity: the Hyadesiidae, Ameronothridae and Halacaridae. Six insect species from three orders were found on the shore. Species richness increased from one in the littoral, to four and two species in the Mastodia and Caloplaca zones, respectively. The littoral, chironomid midge, Telmatogeton amphibius was the most abundant insect species, constituting 80% of all insects counted. Arthropod assemblages corresponded closely to the cryptogram dominated zonation patterns previously identified for the Marion Island shore. This clear association between arthropod and cryptogam zonation patterns provided a clear indication of habitat specificity in many of the species, and a quantitative analysis of habitat specificity on a species by species basis supported this tenet. The specificity of most species to the shore, which forms part of the epilithic biotope, is most likely a consequence of the considerable age of this biotope compared to the younger, post-glacial vascular vegetation. Tourist species, i.e. species transient to an assemblage, inflated species richness in zones and the distribution ranges of species across zones. It is suggested that previous, qualitative analyses of shoreline arthropod communities may have overestimated species ranges and richnesses because of the inclusion of tourist species. It is suggested that if a sound understanding of patterns in and processes underlying Antarctic arthropod assemblages is to be achieved, quantitative analyses must be expanded in the region. In this study the spatial patterns of littoral and supralittoral arthropods from sub-Antarctic Marion Island are examined. Primary consumers were by far the most diverse group on the shore, with nine algivore and ten fungivore species from a total of 23 species. Positive species associations were found in the Mastodia and Caloplaca zones and positive abundance covariation in the Verrucaria, Mastodia and Caloplaca zones. There were no negative associations between any taxa, indicating that interspecific interactions on the shore are either minimal or absent. Significant interactions were related to the diversity of the respective habitats, with higher diversity resulting in higher levels of positive associations and abundance covariation. High levels of aggregation clearly demonstrated that species were not randomly distributed within habitats. Intraspecific aggregation was generally higher than interspecific aggregation in the five habitats and if competition was to occur it would most likely be among conspecifics. The absence of suitable biological information for species precluded further analyses of competition. However, if competitive interactions were found to occur between heterospecifics then coexistence would best be explained using the aggregated nature of superior competitors, allowing weaker competitors to coexist in zones. Positive associations between species were attributed to favourable environmental conditions, the availability of limiting resources (e.g. shelter) and the structure of the dominant cryptogram species. Body sizes, spanning five orders of magnitude (0.5 J.1g - 26 mg), were measured for 59 of the approximately 120 invertebrate species on Marion Island. Mass-length and fresh-dry mass relationships were calculated for orders, families and species (for those with sufficient data). A comparison of their slopes indicates that for prediction of body mass it may be useful to use regressions from the lowest taxonomic rank possible. Differences between the mass-length relationship for Marion Island insects (log mass = -4.294 + 3.151 log length) and other relationships on continental assemblages raises the questions as to the applicability of these results. This study should prove useful for estimating body sizes for other, similar taxa in the Antarctic and provide baseline information on an important species trait that seems to be changing with local and global environmental changes. / Dissertation (MSc (Entomology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Zoology and Entomology / unrestricted

This paper will examine the history of Hart Island, what led up to it being established, how it functioned as an institutional landscape in addition to a burial site, and what options are available for its preservation. Using Hart Island as a case study of the intersecting topics of politics, poverty, and preservation I hope to uncover what factors lead to the successful preservation of marginalized landscapes. Exploring how they come to be and how we as a society choose to remember them. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

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