This quantitative, non-experimental study was conducted to determine whether there is a link between the principal’s behavioral agility, the organization’s culture, and school performance as defined by the state’s Value Added Measure (VAM). Additionally, this study examined if there was a moderator influence of contextual factors to behavioral agility and school culture and school culture and school performance. Data collection was obtained through the use of two validated scales, the Strategic Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). Multiple regression was conducted to determine the extent each independent variable predicts school performance. Hayes’s (2012) PROCESS macro for SPSS was completed to determine if school culture mediated the relationship between behavioral agility and school performance and school culture and school performance. Significant correlations were found between and within the two instruments measured unidimensionally and multidimensionally. The OCAI findings included significant, high effect correlations with the four culture types, although market was not correlated with clan or adhocracy. All subscales of the SLQ had positive significant correlations within the instrument. School size was significantly negatively correlated with clan and adhocracy culture types. School performance was found to be significantly correlated with hierarchy culture type and school level. The contribution this study makes is both theoretical and practical. Theoretically, this study offers insights into school level and its moderation of culture and school performances as well as the influence culture types have on school performance. Practically, the study could identify a new culture type valuable to principals for improving school performance. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This study investigates affect coding within the therapeutic relationship, by exploring the client's and therapist's perception of the relationship and the facial and vocal affect expressed by both parties. A sample of 14 therapy sessions each having 1800 data points was collected. The Working Alliance Inventory Short Form (WAI-S) and Real Relationship Inventory (RRI) were completed after each recorded session. The participants were therapists and clients at a university counseling center in South Florida. Data were analyzed using one-tailed t tests, descriptive statistics, scores from RRI and the WAI-S and percentages of negative, neutral and positive affect. Statistically significant relationships were found between seconds of therapist negative affect (t(13)= -2.065, p. <.05) and seconds of therapist neutral affect (t(13)= -1.959, p. <.05) for clients who dropped out of therapy. The seconds of negative affect coded for clients (t(13) = -1.396, p. >.05) was approaching statistical significance for clients who drop out of therapy. This study provides theoretical and empirical support for linking the presence of facial affect in the first session and its effects on the therapeutic relationship and thus client retention or drop out. The clinical implications of these findings are also discussed. / by Ashley J. Luedke. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Cheung, Yu Hin Ray. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-66). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts also in Chinese.

The identification of drug treatments that are useful in diverse therapeutic settings is a significant driving force in biomedical research [Macarron et al., 2011], [Poureetezadi et al., 2014], [Lamb, 2007]. Typical means for measuring the efficacy of a drug for a given clinical application include protein-protein interactions, cell death, mitochondrial respiration and cell growth as well as broader measurements of absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET), specifically related the the drug or drugs being tested [Szakcs et al., 2008]. A wide array of methods are routinely employed to perform these screens, from ligand binding assays [Wagner et al., 2016] to high-throughput proteomics [Verheul, 2014]. One method that is currently underutilized in small-molecule drug screens and drug discovery is high-throughput transcriptome sequencing, such as RNA-Seq. Although RNA-Seq is routinely used to profile patterns of genetic changes following perturbations such as drug treatment [Young et al., 2014], it has not, to my knowledge, yet been used as the primary readout of a drug screen.

The in-class learning environments of a traditional and hybrid mathematics course were compared. The hybrid course had half the face-to-face meetings as the traditional course; outside of class, the students in the hybrid section completed asynchronous online assignments that involved watching content-delivery videos. Moving the content delivery outside of the classroom for the hybrid format had an impact on the interactions between the students and the professor inside the classroom. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of verbal discourse determined that the hybrid class format reduced the amount of in-class time devoted to direct instruction and increased the level of student discourse. Students assisted other students, had the freedom to make mistakes, and were able to receive personal guidance from the professor. The professor was able to address student misconceptions on formative assessments in class. Previous studies of the hybrid class model had focused on comparing differences in examination scores, GPAs, and pre- and post-test scores between the traditional and hybrid class model rather than comparing what is occurring inside the classroom. Quantifying what effect the shift from the traditional to the hybrid class model had on discourse inside the classroom is a first step towards confirming how the different methods of content delivery affects the in-class learning environment, and provides insight into certain pedagogic advantages the hybrid format may offer.

The coastal landscape currently known as British Columbia, Canada represents a complex and rapidly evolving site of collaboration, negotiation, and conflict in environmental management, with important implications for Indigenous community well-being. I ground this work in the understanding that settler-colonialism and its remedies, resurgence and self-determination, are the fundamental determinants of Indigenous health and related inequities. Through a case study of eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus) in Nuxalk territory, I take interest in systemic mechanisms of dispossession and resurgent practices of (re)connection and knowledge renewal as mediators of the relationship between environmental management and Indigenous health and well-being. This work is based in four years of observation, participation, and leadership in the Nuxalk Sputc (Eulachon) Project, a community-directed process that aimed to document and articulate Nuxalk knowledges about eulachon. Functionally extirpated from the region since 1999, these valued fish provide an example of contested management jurisdiction and resurgent Indigenous environmental practice. As a resurgent research and management process, the Sputc Project re-centered Nuxalk knowledges, voices, priorities, and leadership while advocating Indigenous leadership in environmental management. This case study was conducted within the context of the Sputc Project, aiming to share substantive and methodological learnings gleaned from the project, which served as an ideal focal point for the interrogation of relationships between Indigenous well-being, research methodologies, engagement and representation of Indigenous knowledges, and environmental management. Applying a critical, decolonising, community-engaged approach, this work comprises four papers, each drawing on a particular thread of the knowledge generated through this work. In Paper 1, I seek to establish the connection of eulachon and their management to Nuxalk health and well-being. Detailing three stages of this relationship (abundance, collapse, and renewal), I show how the effects of environmental management, and resulting dispossession or reconnection, are mediated by cultural knowledges, practices, responsibilities, and relationships. Turning to research methodology in Paper 2, I examine how Nuxalk people and knowledges guided the Sputc Project process, interrogating the role of critical, decolonising, and Indigenous theories in the elaboration of Indigenous research methods in environmental management and beyond. In Paper 3, I consider how the Sputc Project respectfully articulated and represented Nuxalk knowledges in order to retain relational accountability and strengthen Nuxalk management authority, while promoting values, practices, and relationships essential to Nuxalk well-being. In Paper 4, I demonstrate how the Sputc Project strengthened Nuxalk management authority from the ground up, detailing the practical management priorities that arose through the project process, including those related to interjurisdictional engagement of Indigenous leadership. I end with a reflection on this work’s implications for decolonising health equity and environmental impact assessment frameworks. Highlighting how Indigenous health and well-being is supported by ancestral knowledges and reconnecting relationships, including those involving people, places, and practices related to environmental management, I emphasize the importance of Indigenous leadership (vs. knowledge integration) in environmental management research and practice. A final section seeks to inform decolonising community-engaged research, sharing limitations and learnings related to appropriate engagement, articulation, and representation of Indigenous knowledges. / Graduate

Conclusion. The missing data is a common problem in clinical trial. The methodology development is urgently needed to detect the difference of two treatments drug in patient quality of life. The modified pattern mixture model incorporating generalized estimating equation method or multiple imputation method provides a solution to tackle the non-ignorable missing data problem. Different clinical trials with various treatment schedules, missing data patterns will be formed. Further studies are needed to study the optimal choice of patterns under the methods. / Introduction. Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL) has now been included as a major endpoint in many cancer clinical trials in addition to the traditional endpoints such as tumor response and survival. It refers to how illness or its treatment affects patients' ability to function and whether it induces symptoms. Toxicity, progression and death are common outcome affecting patient's QOL in cancer trial. Since this type of missing data are not occurred at random and are called non-ignorable missing data, conventional methods of analyses are not appropriate. It is important to develop general methods to deal with this problem so that treatment effectiveness for improving patient's QOL or those with serious side effect that is detrimental to patient's QOL can be identified. / Methods. The generalized estimating equation based on modified pattern mixture model is constructed to deal with non-ignorable missing data problem. We conducted a simulation study to examine performance of the model for different types of data. Two scenarios were examined. The first case assumes that two groups have quadratic trend but with different rates of change. The second case assumes that one group has linear trend with time while the other group has quadratic trend with time. Moreover, the second methodology is the multiple imputation based on modified pattern mixture model. The main idea is to resample the data within each pattern to create the full data set and use the standard method to analyze the data. Comparison between two methods was carried out in this study. / Recently, joint models for the QOL outcomes and the indicators of drop-outs are used in longitudinal studies to correct for non-ignorable missing. Two broad classes of joint models, selection model and pattern mixture model, were used. Most of the methodology has been developed in the selection model while the pattern mixture model has attracted less attention due to the identifiability problem. Although pattern mixture model has its own limitation, a modified version of this model incorporating Generalized Estimating Equation can be used in practice. / Result. The power of generalized estimating equation alone is higher than pattern mixture model when the missing data is missing at random. Moreover, the bias of generalized estimating equation is less than that of pattern mixture model when the missing data is missing at random. However, the pattern mixture model performs well when the missing data is missing not at random. On the other hand, the modified pattern mixture model has higher power than the standard pattern mixture model if one group has quadratic trend and other group has linear trend. However, the power of modified pattern mixture model is similar or worst than the standard when the data is both quadratic trends with different rates of change. On the other hand, the results of multiple imputation based on modified pattern mixture model were similar but the power was less than the generalized estimating equation model. / Mo Kwok Fai. / "August 2006." / Adviser: Benny Zee. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: B, page: 6051. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-93). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

I conducted 2 experiments to analyze the effects of a reading curriculum, Corrective Reading, which has a sequence that trains derived relations, on the emission of (a) derived relations defined as combinatorial entailment in Relational Frame Theory and (b) metaphors with first grade students. In Experiment 1, I compared the curriculum, which has the sequence to train derived relations to a well-known reading curriculum, RAZ Kids. RAZ Kids served as the content control. I used an experimental group design with a simultaneous treatment and a crossover feature. I selected 14 participants, who were matched then randomly assigned into 2 groups of 7. Both groups received matched instructional trials either in Corrective Reading or RAZ Kids condition, and each group was post-tested. Upon completion of the Post intervention 1 probes, each group was placed in an alternative condition, where Group 1 received the content control intervention, and Group 2 received instruction from the curriculum that has the sequence to train derived relations. Both groups increased in number of correct responses following the Corrective Reading intervention. Two kinds of analyses were done, small group and individual. In Experiment 2, I replicated Experiment I using a delayed multiple probe design across 2 first-grade dyads without a content control curriculum. I tested the effects of 5 lessons of the curriculum that has the sequence to train derived relations on the same dependent measures with an addition of implicit/explicit reading comprehension probes. The results showed that the curriculum sequence found within Corrective Reading was effective in increasing the number of correct derived relation responses, while also improving reading comprehension responses.

Orientador: Ana Carla Pereira Latini / Banca: Alessandra Pontillo / Banca: James Venturini / Resumo: A hanseníase é uma doença infecciosa crônica, que acomete pele e sistema nervoso periférico e tem como agente etiológico o Mycobacterium leprae, um patógeno exclusivamente intracelular, que tem predileção por macrófagos e pelas células de Schwann. É um traço complexo e fatores genéticos do hospedeiro têm sido repetidamente implicados com o risco para a doença. A região cromossômica 6p21 vem sendo sistematicamente envolvida com a hanseníase, não só pelos genes do HLA de classe II, como também pelos estudos envolvendo marcadores em genes como o TNF e a LTA. O gene TLR1 também é um importante candidato e polimorfismos deste já têm sido associados com hanseníase per se e com reação hansênica. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi conduzir estudo de associação de base populacional do tipo caso-controle em hanseníase testando marcadores do tipo tag SNPs em genes candidatos da região cromossômica candidata 6p21 e do gene TLR1. Oitenta e nove marcadores do tipo tag SNPs, localizados em trinta e seis genes foram genotipados. O presente trabalho envolveu 1718 indivíduos, 981 casos e 737 controles, provenientes de dois estados brasileiros: Mato Grosso e São Paulo. As genotipagens da população de Rondonópolis, MT foram realizadas em plataforma de médio rendimento (VeraCode GoldenGate Genotyping Assay - Illumina) e as genotipagens da população de São Paulo foram feitas usando discriminação alélica baseada na tecnologia TaqMan (Applied Biosystems). Para as análises estatísticas foi empregado modelo de regressão logística, com correção para as co-variáveis etnia e sexo, usando o software R, para Windows. Treze genes localizados na região 6p21 tiveram marcadores associados com hanseníase per se. O alelo S do polimorfismo N248S do gene TLR1 também foi associado com susceptibilidade para hanseníase per se. Estes dados ressaltam o papel destes genes na susceptibilidade genética para a ... / Abstract: Leprosy is an chronic infectious disease that attacks skin and peripheral nervous system. The causative agent is Mycobacterium leprae, an obligate intracellular pathogen that infects macrophage and Schwann cells. It is a complex trait and host genetic factors have been extensively implicated in leprosy susceptibility. The chromosomal region 6p21 has been involved with leprosy susceptibility due to HLA class II, and TNF and LTA genes, as well. The TLR1 gene is also an important candidate gene and polymorphisms at this locus have been associated to leprosy per se and leprosy reactions. This research is a population-based association study in leprosy which tested tag SNPs located at candidate genes in chromosomal region 6p21 and in TLR1 gene. Eighty-nine markers distributed in thirty-six genes were genotyped. The present work enrolled 1,718 individuals, 981 cases and 737 controls from Mato Grosso and São Paulo States, Brazil. The genotypes for Rondonópolis population were obtained using by medium-scale genotyping platform (VeraCode GoldenGate Genotyping Assay - Illumina), while to São Paulo samples the genotyping were done by allelic discrimination based on TaqMan technology (Applied Biosystems). Statistical analysis were performed by logistic regression models adjusted for the covariates sex and ethnicity, using R software. Thirteen genes located at 6p21 region presented markers associated to leprosy per se. The S allele for N248S polymorphism at TLR1gene was also associated to leprosy susceptibility. These data show the role of these genes in genetic host resistance and susceptibility to leprosy and suggest the necessity of replication and functional studies in order to better explain their involvement with the disease / Mestre

This research project investigates the processes of capturing corporate knowledge in an Australian local government context. The City of Perth, the capital city local government of Perth, Western Australia, is the organisation within which this study was conducted. A qualitative research methodology was utilised for this study in order to understand all the factors involved in knowledge sharing, including the human aspects. Data was collected exclusively through structured interviews consisting of a series of open questions. Digital transcripts of these interviews were produced and analysed by the researcher using qualitative data analysis software. The application of the research methodology has produced a rich set of results. The different types and sources of corporate knowledge used by participants and their views on knowledge capture processes are explored. Participants provide insight into their motivations in undertaking knowledge capture, the extent knowledge is shared in the organisation and barriers to sharing knowledge that they had encountered. The utilisation of the organisation’s information management processes and the overall purposes of knowledge capture were also explored by the study. Some of the results are quite predictable and generally supported by the literature, such as a preference for interpersonal communication in the sharing of knowledge. Other results are more unexpected including strongly expressed altruistic support for the good of the employing organisation as their motivation in supporting knowledge management activities and an understanding of the need for knowledge codification.