<p> This study aims to investigate programmatic and curricular support systems in place for ESL instructors to readily and appropriately address mental well-being concerns amongst their student populations. Furthermore, the study evaluated instructors&rsquo; involvement with local counseling and trauma-based training with refugee and immigrant populations in mind. As refugees, along with a percentage of the immigrant population, enter the United States with a pre-flight history of war, violence, and persecution the ESL classroom exists as a social point of entry to establish communal ties. Additionally, an ESL classroom may be the first educational context an immigrant or refugee experiences after a protracted period of time. To determine the knowledge and practices of instructors and their institutions, an online survey was sent to program directors and ESL instructors at adult ESL programs throughout Illinois. The survey questions were created to examine ESL instructors' awareness of mental well-being of their students and identify types of training and resources at ESL instructors&rsquo; disposal and whether ESL professionals were able to assist with their students&rsquo; mental well-being. Findings from this study indicated that instructors need more support from their programs to effectively respond to trauma and other mental well-being concerns manifested in both social and cognitive behaviors in the classroom. Findings showed that instructors with clear protocols and procedures for mental well-being concerns were more likely to know of and refer students to mental health providers. Additionally, instructors indicated a desire for more training on the subject of trauma and mental health and methods to incorporate this knowledge into their lesson planning and classroom instruction.</p><p>

<p> In St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands (USVI), the growing population of English language learners (ELLs) are expected to meet the standards of the Smarter Balanced assessment and take the test during their first year of school on the island. However, meeting the accountability measures while acquiring academic language proficiency is overwhelming. The lack of language proficiency in English prevents ELLs from achieving academic success in high-stakes standardized testing. For this reason, it was necessary to study this phenomenon. This study addressed the problem of educational policies concerning strategies to help ELLs to demonstrate success on standardized assessments (Modiga, 2013). Results will give leaders and teachers a voice regarding ways to improve practices to assist ELLs on standardized assessments. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the struggle of ESL teachers in the USVI to meet not only the language needs of ELLs but also the requirements for them to pass the Smarter Balanced assessment in the St. Croix School District. Eight themes emerged from the data analysis: lack of professional development (PD), language support, commonly used assessments, language proficiency, cultural diversity, language background experience and expectations, district and school-wide initiatives, and lack of understanding how to meet the provisions of the constructivism theory or ESSA. The first recommendation is to extend the scope of the research to involve more mainstream middle school teachers across the USVI who also serve ELLs and must prepare them for the Smarter Balanced assessment. The second recommendation is to identify instructional practices that can best meet the needs of ELLs in content-area classes in the USVI. The third recommendation is to compare the perceptions of best practices of mainstream teachers from two districts in the USVI, one not making statistically significant gains with ELLs and the other making statistically substantial gains on the Smarter Balanced assessment. The last recommendation is to conduct a study in the USVI on the alignment of the core curriculum with English language proficiency and Common Core State Standards with mainstream teachers using ESL strategies to serve ELLs&rsquo; language needs to see if there is improvement on standardized test scores.</p><p>

<p> This study investigated the effect of first language (L1) transfer on Arabic ESL learners&rsquo; acquisition of the relative clauses, the passive voice and the definite article. I used Contrastive Analysis (CA) and Error Analysis (EA) to analyze 50 papers written by Arabic ESL students at the ACTFL Advanced Mid proficiency level. The analysis was paired with interviews with five advanced students to help determine whether L1 transfer was, in fact, influencing students&rsquo; errors predicted by CA. </p><p> Students in this study made L1 errors along with other errors. Although no statistical difference was found between the frequency of transfer and other (non-transfer) errors, L1 transfer errors were still common for many learners in this data. The frequency of the relative clause L1 transfer errors was slightly higher than other errors. However, passive voice L1 errors were as frequent as other errors whereas definite article L1 errors were slightly less frequent than other errors. The analysis of the interviews suggested that L1 still played a crucial role in influencing learners errors. </p><p> The analysis also suggested that the frequency of transfer errors in the papers used in this study might have been influenced by CA-informed instruction students received and students&rsquo; language level. Specifically, learners reported that both factors helped them reduce the frequency of L1 transfer errors in their writing. </p><p> The teaching implications of this study include familiarizing language instructors with possible sources of errors for Arabic ESL learners. Language instructors should try to identify sources of errors by conducting their own analyses or consulting existing literature on CA paired with EA. Finally, I recommend adopting a CA-informed instruction to help students reduce and overcome errors that are influenced by their L1.</p><p>

abstract: The goals of science and myth go hand in hand. Both seek to see beyond the senses. Both seek to understand the environment and the human mind. Both seek patterns. Both invent, through narrative, reasons for things happening the way they do. This considered, how do writers use myths in contemporary literature? How do they use science? Myth and science are stories that belong to everyone, stories that are shared. For those who are brought up learning science in school or who are raised in a religious society, how can writers take advantage of these shared associations, these shared memories, when writing fiction? What is the power of science in fiction? This essay seeks to answer these questions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis English 2015

<p> With the significant increase in the number of immigrants entering the United States, schools and adult programs must prepare teachers to teach English Language Learners. The problem is that educators are unsure of what is the most effective method to teach the increasing number of ELLs who are in the silent/pre-production and production stages of learning the new language, and these learners are not engaging in appropriate cooperative learning strategies. Teachers are overwhelmed since many are not equipped to teach ELLs. This impact has left a greater need for educators to identify strategies to assist learners in acquiring the English language to gain employment and enter higher education. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to discern the effectiveness of cooperative learning strategies, a theory supported by Johnson and Johnson cognitive developmental and social interdependence perspective. Participants for this study were ELLs who were at least 18 years old and did not speak English. Participants had to be enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL) Adult Education program. Data were collected by observing students interacting in groups and with their peers in a classroom. ESL teachers were also part of the data collection process through interviews, using an open-ended, semi-structured process. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis in (a) Strategies, (b) Evaluating Success, and (c) Teaching. Findings suggested that cooperative-learning strategies not only increased students&rsquo; acquisition, it also improved social interactions; as such, teachers should be encouraged to use the approach. The study concluded with potential implications that ELLs were at different levels; secondly, some ELLs might become dependent on others to speak for them, and that teachers in the setting did not evaluate their own students. Future studies should observe ELLs for longer periods to identify if their goals were realized, in addition, ELL&rsquo;s pre-test scores should be compared with their post-test scores to ascertain their growth in language acquisition</p><p>

This Practice as Research thesis is a contribution to and intervention in the fields of intermedial performance studies and live media practice. Its arguments are formulated through live intermediality, a mode of practice whereby the solo performer activates image, sound, object and body in the presence of and sometimes with the ‘experiencers’ (Nelson 2010), in order to compose a series of shifting intermedial combinations. The thesis interrogates current discourses around intermediality in performance, the role and actions of the live media performer and the generation of events in intermedial and live media practice, arguing that each can be productively re-­-viewed through live intermedial practice. In positioning the practice clearly within the various lineages from which it draws and positing the particular ‘knowings’ it produces, live intermediality is formulated as distinctive ‘praxis’ or ‘doing-thinking’ (Nelson 2013). In addition, the specific characteristics of live intermediality – the dualities, discourses and collisions it generates - are presented both as form of new knowledge through practice and employed as the tools to pierce existing thinking from an ‘insider’ perspective. Working from a Practice as Research methodology, live intermediality is placed in dialogue with resonant conceptual frameworks, such as the work of intermedial theorists, Kattenbelt (2008) and Lavender (2006), new media theorists, Bolter and Grusin (2000), as well as broader paradigms of presence (Power 2008), autopoiesis (Fischer-­-Lichte 2008, Maturana and Varela 1987) and event (Derrida 1978, Deleuze 2006). The praxis, through its dialogue with such frame works, reconfigures current theories around the activation, operation and experience of intermediality in live media forms. In addition, through its distinctive features and the ‘knowings’ they generate, live intermediality is proposed as new mode of praxis within these fields.

The response of wheat to soil fertilised with varying quantities of the water fern Azolla filiculoides was investigated. Experiments were conducted to differentiate between the effects of increased soil mineral status and water status. In the preliminary investigation, experiments were carried out in the greenhouse using potted wheat grown in sand with varying proportions of A. filiculoides that had been subjected tovarious pre-treatments. The pre-treatments were fresh, dry and heated A. filiculoides applied at 20%, 50% and 80% volume per 3000 ml. There were significant differences in the measured growth parameters between the plants grown in the various treatments. In addition, the grain yield of wheat plants varied with the different treatments. Results of the preliminary study showed that the addition of heated and dried A. filiculoides resulted in significantly better growth than the addition of fresh A. filiculoides in sand. For fresh biomass, grain weights, Leaf area ratio (LAR) and relative growth rate (RGR), the performance of dried A. filiculoides was as good as that of the heated A. filiculoides. Productivity of wheat in the heated treatments increased significantly with increasing proportion of A. filiculoides added to sand, while in dry treatments there were no significant increases in productivity in the preliminary study. This supported the hypothesis that A. filiculoides, a notorious water weed can be put to agricultural use under dryland conditions in poor nutrient soils. Further investigations using dried A. filiculoides in sand and topsoil showed that the use of the same amounts of the dried fern made no significant short term impact on topsoil grown winter wheat but significantly improved the productivity of wheat in sand. Results showed that the addition of dried 20% Azolla to sand improved the soil fertility to levels equalling the quality of the control topsoil, but the addition of 80% Azolla to sand led to significantly greater wheat productivity than all other treatments. The addition of dried 20% Azolla (8.14 × 10^3 kg ha^(-1)) in sand produced as much wheat biomass as the addition of the recommended NPK fertiliser (30 kg N ha^(-1)) to sand. A comparison between the topsoil and sand-grown plants showed differences in flowering time but these had no effect on the final grain and above ground biomass.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc Agric (Pasture Science))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Plant Production and Soil Science / unrestricted

Twenty-eight beef-type animals were divided into four groups and fed four rations consisting of equal amounts of basal ration, to which increments of alder sawdust (Alnus rubra) were added (0, 13%, 21%, and 35%) (Experiment I). The addition of the sawdust had no significant effect on total gain although the three groups of animals receiving sawdust in their diet had a higher rate of gain than the group receiving no sawdust. The effects of the ration on the carcass grade and the acceptability (tenderness and juiciness) of the meat as studied by a trained taste panel, were non-significant. When the rations used in the above trial were subjected to a digestion trial using mature wethers, the results coincided with the growth data collected from the steers used above. If the digestion of the basal rations were taken as constant, the wood material had a digestion coefficient ranging from 46.5% to 13.5%, depending on the level of sawdust in the diet. It was felt that a figure of 13% digestion for sawdust was close to being correct, and that the variation in measurement of the digestion of sawdust was due to the increased utilization of the basal ration when the sawdust was present. Analysis of the rumen fluid of the steers in the growth trial for total and individual volatile fatty acids (VFA) showed a decrease (p<.05) in the molar percent of propionic acid as the level of wood in the diet increased, while the total concentration of VFA and the molar percent acetic acid remained relatively constant. Thirty-six yearling Hereford steers, assigned to six treatments consisting of a basal ration and three roughage sources (hay (H), alder sawdust (W), and extruded alder sawdust (E)), fed at two levels (15% and 20%), were used in a study to determine the effect of heat and pressure treatment of wood on the utilization. The growth of the animals on the H rations was significantly (p< .01) greater than those on the other treatments. The effect of treating the sawdust by extruding it was non-significant although the animals on the extruded wood diet had a slight increase in gain over those on the W ration. The effect of level of roughage was nonsignificant. The effects of level of protein in the diet and the interaction with roughage source were studied. Protein levels of 13% and 15% were studied, along with two roughage sources (hay (H), and alder sawdust (W)), fed at two levels (15% and 20%). The H rations again had a significantly (p<.01) greater gain. The effect of increasing the protein level in the diet was found to be non-significant. When the above rations were subjected to analysis using the in vitro technique, results showed that the H rations had a significantly (p < .01) higher digestion than either the W or E rations. It was also found that the E rations had a higher digestion coefficient than the W rations (p <«05). Increasing the roughage level from 15% to 20% caused a significant (p<.01) decrease in digestion. When the same rations were subjected to an in vivo digestion study using growing wethers, the results were similar to the in vitro study with the H rations having a greater digestion (p <.01) than the W or E rations. However the difference between the W and E rations was non-significant. An equation for predicting the in vivo dry matter digestion is given: In vivo dry matter digestion = 60.1252 + 0.0221 (in vitro dry matter digestion) + 0.4799 (acid detergent fibre) - 3.5855 (lignin) - 0.8395 (cellulose). / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

The photocyclization and photosolvolysis of a series of hydroxy-substituted biaryl methanols [special characters omitted] have been studied. The proposed mechanism involves deprotonation of the HOAr moiety and heterolytic cleavage of the C-O bond of the hydroxymethyl group [special characters omitted] in the first excited singlet state (S1), to give biaryl quinone methide intermediates, which subsequently cyclize to the corresponding chromene product and/or react with solvent to give the solvolysis product. The formation of these quinone methide intermediates is facilitated by the excited state planarization and the subsequent charge polarization (negative charge transferred from the HOAr ring into the [special characters omitted] ring) of the biaryl. Although both of these processes are influenced by steric and electronic factors, the latter turns out to have a more significant effect on reaction efficiency. When the geometry of the molecule goes from a twisted conformation to a more planar form, the molecule becomes more conjugated and thus gains delocalization energy. This energy is generally larger for the planarization in the S1 state than in the ground state. When it is large enough to overcome the steric repulsion for twisting, biaryls can planarize efficiently in the excited state, which is true for most biphenyl systems. However, it is shown that the deprotonated forms [special characters omitted] of these biaryls have an even larger driving force for S1 planarization than the neutral forms [special characters omitted]. Thus, biaryls with naphthalene ring(s) joined at the 1-position which do not planarize efficiently in the neutral form can still reach a more planar geometry after adiabatic deprotonation of the phenolic hydroxy group in S1. That is, the photocyclization of these molecules proceeds via initial adiabatic deprotonation from the twisted S1 state, followed by twisting (to the planar form) and subsequent charge polarization which expels the hydroxy group at the benzylic position [special characters omitted], to give the required quinone methide intermediate. The o,o'-biaryl quinone methides derived from the o,o'-substituted biaryl methanols are very short-lived due to rapid intramolecular ring closure and are therefore not detectable by nanosecond laser flash photolysis. The o,p’- and p,p'-biphenyl quinone methides, however, do not cyclize and as expected, are readily observable by nanosecond laser flash photolysis. When the benzylic hydroxy group is replaced by other leaving groups, the reaction can be used, in principle, as a photodeprotecting reaction and also to photogenerate acid. These and other results of the Thesis have uncovered many interesting mechanistic details of this new class of reaction and hence have increased our general knowledge of the excited state behavior of aromatic molecules. / Graduate