The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002) mandated that every teacher be highly qualified by the close of the 2005-2006 school year. However, the means by which newly certified teachers are prepared has been questioned. In addition to understanding how teachers enter the field, researchers have indicated a vested interest in examining who comes into the field. More specifically, the characteristics and experiences of pre-service and in-service special educators are of great interest (McKlesky & Ross, 2003; Rosenberg & Sindelar, 2001). The present study examined the characteristics of six teachers in the final internship phase of a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program in Varying Exceptionalities at a Research I/Research Extensive University in the Southeast.This study was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods, employing a concurrent triangulation mixed-methods design for data collection and analysis. The quantitative phase included descriptive statistics gleaned from pre-existing Haberman Urban Teacher Selection Interview data, results from the Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale self-report survey, and an adapted Pathwise Classroom Observation System protocol. The qualitative data collected for complementarity included thick, rich case descriptions, descriptive data from semi-structured interviews with mentors and a focus group interview with participants.Results showed that the participants entered the program with a variety of experiences and backgrounds. Also, the participants demonstrated and reported a range of variability in terms of their classroom effectiveness and their sense of efficacy. Further, the participants discussed several factors that they perceived as contributing to or impeding their professional success. The findings have implications for teacher preparation programs, school districts, and educational policymakers.

ABSTRACT BENEFITS OR HARMS OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND by Judy Block The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 reauthorizes and extensively amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and establishes control over the majority of federal programs and spending that affect public education. Embedded in the Act are various requirements that states and schools must adhere to as a condition of receiving federal education funds as well as harsh sanctions for failing to meet the requirements. No Child Left Behind notably shifts federal education policy by expanding its role into the areas of standards and assessment, accountability, curricula, discipline and administration, and providership. The Act also exacerbates tensions and blurs the line between competing ideologies of the role and nature of public education. NCLB's dominant reliance on proven research methods and statistical data, and its provisions regarding student assessment, failing schools, and parental choice open the schoolhouse door to commercial marketteers, further transforming public education into a consumer good, classrooms into marketplaces, and students and teachers into immaterial byproducts. No Child Left Behind's requirements often have more than one result, with some results doing more harm than the Act's stated good. The principle of double effect (PDE) provides a lens to evaluate instances where there are two effects of a single act; that is,PDE can explain the permissibility of an action that causes an undesired or harmful effect secondary to promoting some good end. By using philosophical analysis generally, and the principle of double effect specifically, this dissertation examines No Child Left Behind’s implementation requirements, specific programs, and their effects to determine the Act's benefits or harms. The dissertation proceeds with a review of NCLB's historical context and key features, an introduction to the principle of double effect, and a discussion of democratic and market ideologies and their relationship with education. This dissertation recognizes the various populations affected by the Act, but focuses specifically on students with disabilities and the relationship of the principle of double effect to the implications of NCLB. Chapter Four extends the principle of double effect to NCLB's implementation requirements and specific programs to identify their consequences or effects. The dissertation concludes with a synthesis of the questions and problems presented by NCLB and the implications for students, teachers, public education, and our communities.

Vainikinių arterijų tyrimas daugiapjūviu kompiuteriniu tomografu (DKT) į klinikinę praktiką įdiegtas nesenai. Tai neinvazyvus tyrimo metodas, kurį galima atlikti ir ambulatoriniams pacientams. Tačiau greta savo privulumų, jis turi ir trūkumų – dėl nuolatinio vainikinių arterijų judėjimo širdies ciklo metu gali atsirasti liekamųjų judesio artefaktų atkuriant vaizdus. Jų tikimybė priklauso ne tik nuo aparato, kuriuo atliekamas tyrimas, techninių charakteristikų, bet ir nuo širdies veiklos ypatumų. Yra atlikta nemažai tyrimų, įvertinančių vainikinių arterijų vaizdų kokybės priklausomybę nuo širdies susitraukimų dažnio, jo variabilumo, kitų faktorių. Kairiosios Hiso pluošto kojytės blokados, sąlygojančios nesinchronišką skilvelių susitraukimą ir atsipalaidavimą, įtaka vaizdų kokybei tyrinėta mažai. Šiame tyrime buvo palyginta vaizdų kokybė tarp pacientų, kuriems nustatyta visiška kairiosios Hiso pluošto kojytės blokada ir nėra laidžiosios sistemos sutrikimų, grupių. Analizuota vainikinių arterijų įvertinimo visuose širdies ciklo rekonstrukciniuose intervaluose įtaka vaizdų kokybės vidurkiui. Nustatyta, kokia yra DKT tyrimo diagnostinė vertė identifikuojant hemodinamiškai reikšmingas vainikinių arterijų stenozes. Kadangi DKT tyrimas susijęs su jonizuojančia spinduliuote, įvertinti rentgeno vamzdžio srovės stiprumo moduliavimo ypatumai. Taip pat nustatyta širdies susitraukimų dažnio, jo variabilumo įtaka vaizdų kokybei, esant visiškai kairiosios Hiso pluošto kojytės blokadai. / Multislice computed tomography (MSCT) coronary angiography is one of the latest usage area of the computed tomography technology. It s a non-invasive diagnostic tool, wich can be performed in ambulant patients. MSCT coronary angiography beside it's advantages has some drawbacks. The main drawbacks are lower spatial resolution and residual motion artifacts in MSCT images. Therefore quality of coronary images and diagnostic value of MSCT angiography differs, depending on patient's clinical characteristics, especially on heart contraction features during scanning. Asynchronic contraction and relaxation of the right and left ventricles, caused of bundle branch block can also influence image quality of MSCT coronary angiography. To date, there are only few studies, conducted to analyse diagnostic performance of MSCT coronary angiography in patients with left bundle branch block. Although influence of heart rate, heart rate variability and the other factors (for example, age, sex, body mass index) on MSCT image quality are quite well investigated. Thus, the present study were designed to investigate the influence of complete left bundle branch block on image quality of MSCT coronary angiography more detail in comparison with control patients group without electrical conduction disturbances, reveal the diagnostic value of MSCT angiography to identify hemodinamicaly significant coronary stenosis.

ABSTRACT Ursula K. Le Guin is an American author of novels, short stories, poems, children's books, and essays; she predominantly writes science fiction and fantasy. Le Guin first began publishing in the 1960s and continues her work today including speaking engagements in and around her home in Portland, Oregon. Her most recent publication is The Real and Unreal: Selected Stories (2 vol) from 2012. Le Guin is particularly known for her books set in the Hainish Universe. These short stories and novels comprise what is sometimes referred to as the Hainish Cycle and discuss various themes of gender, ecology, religion, and politics. The universe is believed to be seeded from and governed principally by the world known as Hain. The Hainish global government undergoes a transformation from its original iteration as the imperial League of All Worlds into the more cosmopolitan peace-keeping Ekumen and while the publication chronology of the works and the internal chronology of the universe differ there is a notable political evolution from the League to the Ekumen. By studying the characters of Raj Lyubov, Genly Ai, and Havzhiva from the novels The World for World is Forest (1972), The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), and Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995) this paper will examine assumed cultural understandings regarding themes of empire, imperialism, cosmopolitanism, and governance by building on the criticism of James W. Bittner and David M. Higgins. I will utilize the theoretical science fiction frameworks of Steve Shaviro and Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. in conjunction with Michael Ignatieff's theory Empire Lite to demonstrate Le Guin's capacity to continually envision new parameters for alien contact and negotiation and explain how her work in world building and character development challenges readers to question existing concepts of empire through the evolution and exhaustion of two systems of global governance.

The left ventricle of the heart relaxes when it fills with blood and contracts to eject blood into circulation to meet the body’s metabolic demands. Dysfunction in either relaxation or contraction of the left ventricle can lead to heart failure. Transmural heterogeneity is thought to contribute to normal ventricular wall motion but it is not well understood how transmural modifications affect the failing left ventricle. The overall hypothesis of this dissertation is that normal left ventricles exhibit transmural heterogeneity in cellular level contractile properties and with aging and heart failure there are region-specific changes in cellular level contractile mechanisms. Age is the biggest risk factor associated with heart failure and therefore we investigated transmural changes in Ca2+ handling and contractile proteins in aging F344 rats before the onset of heart failure. We found that in 22-month old F344 rats there is a region-specific decrease in cardiac troponin I phosphorylation in the sub-epicardium that may contribute to slowed myocyte relaxation in the sub-epicardial cells of the same age. We then investigated the transmural patterns of contractile properties in myocardial tissue samples from patients with heart failure. Force and power output reduced most significantly in the samples from the mid-myocardial region when compared to sub-epicardium and sub-endocardium of the failing hearts. There was a region-specific increase in fibrosis is the mid-myocardium of the failing hearts. Myocardial power output was correlated with key sarcomeric proteins including cardiac troponin I, desmin and myosin light chain-1. The results in this dissertation reveal novel region-specific modifications in contractile properties in aging and heart failure. These transmural effects can potentially contribute to disruption in normal wall motion and lead to ventricular dysfunction.

This study focuses on public opinion of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The act is a federal reform act, therefore politicians will pay attention to voters’ opinions of the law when considering if they should pass future legislation like it. Data were collected from a sample population of United States citizens by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International. People’s educational views, political views, group interests, and authoritarian views were all used to measure which groups have a positive attitude toward NCLB. Logistic regression was used to test several models to predict which groups have the strongest opinion of the law. The results indicate people’s views toward standardized testing, Republicans, and parents are the groups most likely to have a positive view of the law, followed closely by people with authoritarian attitudes.

The purpose of this study was to gain insights into the educational system in Finland, where art seem to be valued, and America, where it seems to struggle. I first studied how policies that promote a business-like ideology and standardized testing in schools have impacted art education in the United States. Then I investigated Finland’s educational system, which does not rely on standardized testing to monitor student learning and teachers. During my research I noticed that Finland uses a noncompetitive approach to education, which I assumed was connected to the art Folk School that originated in Denmark and moved throughout Europe. Based upon this information, I anticipated that art education was valued more in Finland than in the United States. I also anticipated that Finland’s educational success had a connection to its non-competitive system and its inclusion of the arts. In order to explore this idea, I investigated Finland’s approach to art education by interviewing Finnish professionals in the art education field.

The purpose of the study was to determine the impact, if any, of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on middle level characteristics (e.g. interdisciplinary teams, common planning time, heterogeneous grouping, interdisciplinary curriculum, and advisory programming) in Indiana middle level schools as assessed by building principals, and if those characteristics have increased, decreased, or remained consistent as a result of NCLB. The research also included demographic information (e.g. age of respondents, years in administration, years in current position), university/certification training on the specific needs of young adolescents, current Adequate Yearly Progress status under NCLB, improvement in mathematics and/or language arts as measured by ISTEP, and adjustments to the daily schedule to provide more time for mathematics and/or language arts classes. In addition, respondents were surveyed regarding the increase in remediation classes, both in place of elective and core classes, and the expansion of grade retention.The population for the study included all Indiana public schools that include grade seven as reported by the 2006-2007 Indiana Department of Education School Directory. The sample did not include principals of Indiana Department of Correction schools or alternative schools. The survey instrument was mailed to 420 principals. At the close of the survey window, 274 surveys had been returned for a 65 % return rate.The findings indicate a greater level of implementation of middle level characteristics as a result of No Child Left Behind in all areas with the exception of wide participation in exploratory activities. Data also indicates a narrowing of the curriculum for young adolescent students as more students are removed from core classes and exploratory classes to spend extended time in mathematics and/or language arts classes, There has also been a dramatic increase in schools utilizing grade retention as a result of NCLB. / Department of Educational Leadership

The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the use of Doppler echocardiography markers ofglobal dyssynchrony [total isovolumic time (t-IVT)] in the following 6 studies: 1) Its prognostic role in predicting cardiac events in patients undergoing CABG surgery,compared with conventional global systolic and diastolic measurements. 2) Its additional value in predicting six minute walk test (6-MWT) in patients with leftventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) <45%. 3) Its prognostic value in comparison with other clinical, biochemical and echocardiographicvariables in patients with chronic systolic heart failure (HF). 4) The relationship between 6-MWT and cardiac function measurements in a consecutivegroup of patients, irrespective of EF and to identify predictors of exercise capacity. 5) To investigate the effect of age on LV t-IVT and Tei index compared with conventionalsystolic and diastolic parameters. 6) To assess potential additional value of markers of global LV dyssynchrony in predictingcardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) response in HF patients. Study I Methods: This study included 74 patients before routine CABG who were followed up for18±12 months. Results: At follow-up, 29 patients were hospitalized for a cardiac event or died. LV-ESD wasgreater (P=0.003), fractional shortening (FS) lower (p<0.001), E:A ratio and Tei index higher(all P<0.001), and t-IVT longer (P<0.001) in patients with events. Low FS [0.66 (0.50–0.87),P<0.001], high E:A ratio [l4.13 (1.17–14.60), P=0.028], large LV-ESD [0.19 (0.05–0.84),P=0.029], and long t-IVT [1.37 (1.02–1.84), P=0.035] predicted events and deaths. Conclusion: Despite satisfactory surgical revascularization, long t-IVT and systolicdysfunction suggest persistent ventricular dyssynchrony that contributes to post-CABGcardiac events. Study II Methods: We studied 77 patients (60±12 year, and 33.3% females) with stable HF using 6-MWT.iii Results: E’ wave (r=0.61, p<0.001), E/e’ ratio (r=-0.49, p<0.001), t-IVT (r=-0.44, p<0.001),Tei index (r=-0.43, p<0.001) and NYHA class (r=-0.53, p<0.001) had the highest correlationwith the 6-MWT distance. In multivariate analysis, only E/e’ ratio [0.800 (0.665-0.961),p=0.017], and t-IVT [0.769 (0.619-0.955), p=0.018] independently predicted poor 6-MWTperformance (<300m). Conclusions: In HF, the higher the filling pressures and the more dyssynchronous the LV, thepoorer is the patient’s exercise capacity. Study III Methods: We studied 107 systolic HF patients; age 68±12 year, 25% females and measuredplasma NT-pro-BNP. Results: Over a follow-up period of 3718 months, t-IVT ≥12.3 sec/min, mean E/Em ratio≥10, log NT-pro-BNP levels ≥2.47 pg/ml and LV EF ≤32.5% predicted clinical events. Theaddition of t-IVT and NT-pro-BNP to conventional clinical and echocardiographic variablessignificantly improved the χ2 for the prediction of outcome from 33.1 to 38.0, (p<0.001). Conclusions: Prolonged t-IVT adds to the prognostic stratification of patients with systolicHF. Study IV Methods: We studied 147 HF patients (61±11 year, 50.3% male) with 6-MWT.Results: The 6-MWT correlated with t-IVT (r=-0.49, p<0.001) and Tei index (r=-0.43,p<0.001) but not with any of the other clinical or echocardiographic parameters. Group Ipatients (<300m) had lower Hb (p=0.02), lower EF (p=0.003), larger left atrium (p=0.02),thicker septum (p=0.02), lower A wave (p=0.01) and lateral wall a’ (p=0.047), longerisovolumic relaxation time (r=0.003) and longer t-IVT (p= 0.03), compared with Group II(>300m). Only t-IVT ratio [1.257 (1.071-1.476), p=0.005], LV EF [0.947 (0.903-0.993),p=0.02], and E/A ratio [0.553 (0.315-0.972), p=0.04] independently predicted poor 6-MWTperformance. Conclusion: In HF, the limited 6-MWT is related mostly to severity of global LVdyssynchrony, more than EF or raised filling pressures. Study V Methods: We studied 47 healthy individuals (age 62±12 year, 24 female), arbitrarilyclassified into: M (middle age), S (seniors), and E (elderly). Results: Age strongly correlated with t-IVT (r=0.8, p<0.001) and with Tei index (r=0.7,p<0.001), E/A ratio (r=-0.6, p<0.001), but not with global or segmental systolic function measurements or QRS duration. The normal upper limit of the t-IVT (95% CI) for the three groups was 8.3 s/min, 10.5 s/min and 14.5 s/min, respectively, being shorter in the S compared with the E group (p=0.001). T-IVT correlated with A wave (r=0.66, p<0.001), E/Aratio (r=-0.56, p<0.001), septal e’ (r=-0.49, p=0.001) and septal a’ (r=0.4, p=0.006), but notwith QRS. Conclusions: In normals, age is associated with exaggerated LV global dyssynchrony anddiastolic function disturbances, but systolic function remains unaffected. Study VI Methods: We studied 103 HF patients (67±12 year, 82.5% male) recruited for CRTtreatment. Results: Prolonged t-IVT [0.878 (0.802-0.962), p=0.005], long QRS duration [0.978 (0.960-0.996), p=0.02] and high tricuspid regurgitation pressure drop (TRPD) [1.047 (1.001-1.096),p=0.046] independently predicted response to CRT. A t-IVT ≥11.6 s/min was 67% sensitiveand 62% specific (AUC 0.69, p=0.001) in predicting CRT response. Respective values for aQRS ≥ 151ms were 66% and 62% (AUC 0.65, p=0.01). Combining the two variables had asensitivity of 67% but higher specificity of 88% in predicting CRT response. In atrialfibrillation (AF) patients, only prolonged t-IVT ≥11 s/min [0.690 (0.509-0.937), p=0.03]independently predicted CRT response with a sensitivity of 69% and specificity of 79% (AUC0.78, p=0.015). Conclusion: Combining prolonged t-IVT and broad QRS had higher specificity in predictingresponse to CRT, with the former the sole predictor of response in AF patients.

Purpose: Patients living with advanced heart failure experience dyspnea, fatigue, poor quality of life, depression and cognitive impairment which may threaten their ability to provide informed consent to undergo heart transplant (HTx) or mechanical support (LVAD). Using qualitative and quantitative methods, we asked how patients with advanced heart failure make decisions regarding HTx and LVAD. The variables chosen to reflect the elements of consent included quality of life and symptom severity (voluntariness), depression and cognitive impairment (capacity) and treatment preferences (decision-making). Methods: 76 patients enrolled in the quantitative arm completed the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire; Visual Analog scales for dyspnea, fatigue and overall health; Beck Depression Inventory; Montreal Cognitive Assessment; Standard Gamble and Time Tradeoff. Qualitative methods were used to discover concepts, relationships and decision-making processes described by 17 of the 76 patients considering HTx and LVAD. Results: Patients reported poor quality of life and high symptom severity scores which compelled them to consider surgery as a way to relieve unpleasant symptoms and improve quality of life. Although 30% of patients had evidence of depression and/or cognitive impairment, no patient was deemed incapable of decision-making. Patients were willing to take considerable risk (35%) and trade considerable time (4months) to improve their health. While heart failure-related concepts were important to the decision, entrustment emerged as the meaningful process for decision-making. Conclusions: Patients who participated in this study were capable of decision-making and understood the risks associated with the surgery. Voluntariness was diminished by disease but not absent, and decisions were free of coercion. These results suggest the entrustment model of decision-making is the dominant process for patients considering high-risk surgical procedures and meets criteria for informed consent. Understanding the process of decision-making will help clinicians support and enable treatment decisions made by patients living with advanced heart failure.