The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 required that states set clear standards for what all students should learn, and hold schools accountable for student progress in the areas of language arts, reading, and mathematics to assess their abilities (USDOE, 2002). However, while NCLB emphasizes the core academic subjects (i.e., English, reading/language arts, mathematics science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography), it neglected to address Career and Technical Education (CTE) (i.e., agriculture; business and information technology; family and consumer sciences; marketing; health and medical sciences; technology; or trade and industry) in any part of the legislation. The purpose of this study was to compare the academic performance of CTE completers and non-CTE completers in the Commonwealth of Virginia on the Standards of Learning (SOL) Reading and mathematics assessments, and graduation rates. This study was modeled after and was an extension of a previous study by Blowe (2011), and represented a quantitative, quasi-experimental, correlational evaluation of ex post facto data to determine the effects of being a CTE completer on student academic success in high school. The findings show that the mean pass rate for CTE completers was higher than the mean pass rate for non-CTE completers for both the EOC Reading and EOC Algebra II SOLs, and that the mean graduation rate for CTE completers was higher than the mean graduation rate for non-CTE completers for each of the graduation cohorts years included in the study. An additional finding was the discovery of reporting discrepancies in division-reported data published by the VDOE. The findings in this study provided the researcher with valuable insight into the potential role of CTE in an improving schools model, including the utilization of a rigorous CTE curriculum as a strategy for improving SOL scores and graduation rates for all students. Additionally, this information may prove beneficial to educational and legislative leaders in developing policies governing CTE curriculum throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. / Ed. D.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by a tauopathy in the form of aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau throughout the CNS. Individuals suffering from CTE experience many different symptoms that result in dementia and severe cognitive decline along with a heightened occurrence of suicide. Repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries, such as concussions or subconcussive blows, are responsible for the development of CTE. Therefore, individuals who participate in contact sports, such as football and hockey, are at a high risk of developing this disease. Currently, there is no method for detecting CTE during life and the diagnosis can only be made at autopsy. At present nothing is known about the eye pathology of CTE. But if a distinctive profile of ocular abnormalities could be identified, it would raise the possibility that CTE could be diagnosed during life by an eye exam. For this research, ten eyes of individuals suffering from varying stages of CTE were collected, dissected, and observed under a microscope to find pathology associated with CTE. The antibodies of interest are pTDP-43, p62, αβ crystallin, and CP13. Pathology was found in the retina, mostly in the ganglion cell layer, throughout the different stages of CTE with the most severe pathology occurring in the most severe cases. These results can serve as a foundation for continued CTE research in the eye and ultimately result in potential ophthalmological diagnostic tests in individuals suffering from CTE.

Mip1p is the highly processive monomeric mitochondrial DNA polymerase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Despite differences in enzyme structure, substrate topology, and possible nucleoid interactions, Mip1p continues to be used as a model for human mitochondrial DNA polymerase (POLG) variants associated with various human mitochondrial diseases. Structurally, Mip1p functions as a monomer, whereas, the POLG holoenzyme contains a catalytic subunit (POLGA) complexed with a dimeric form of an accessory subunit (POLGB) which functions by loading the enzyme onto mitochondrial DNA and enhancing processivity. However, Mip1p does contain a 279-residue carboxyl-terminal extension (CTE) absent in the structure of POLG. The function of the CTE has not yet been determined although studies of truncation variants identify 74 N-terminal residues are essential for Mip1p wild-type activity. Furthermore, regions encompassing Mip1p residues N1033 – E1038 and Y1039 – A1049 are suggested to function in mitochondrial DNA maintenance and fidelity, respectively. This study has developed a mutagenic strategy to systematically replace the residues in the mitochondrial DNA maintenance region with glycine in order to identify residues critical for Mip1p function. Using in vivo respiratory competence and erythromycin resistance assays accompanied by an in vitro non-radioactive DNA polymerase assay, this study has identified two key residues, E1036 and D1037 that may function in the exonuclease-polymerase coupling mechanism of Mip1p.

Mip1p is the highly processive monomeric mitochondrial DNA polymerase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Despite differences in enzyme structure, substrate topology, and possible nucleoid interactions, Mip1p continues to be used as a model for human mitochondrial DNA polymerase (POLG) variants associated with various human mitochondrial diseases. Structurally, Mip1p functions as a monomer, whereas, the POLG holoenzyme contains a catalytic subunit (POLGA) complexed with a dimeric form of an accessory subunit (POLGB) which functions by loading the enzyme onto mitochondrial DNA and enhancing processivity. However, Mip1p does contain a 279-residue carboxyl-terminal extension (CTE) absent in the structure of POLG. The function of the CTE has not yet been determined although studies of truncation variants identify 74 N-terminal residues are essential for Mip1p wild-type activity. Furthermore, regions encompassing Mip1p residues N1033 – E1038 and Y1039 – A1049 are suggested to function in mitochondrial DNA maintenance and fidelity, respectively. This study has developed a mutagenic strategy to systematically replace the residues in the mitochondrial DNA maintenance region with glycine in order to identify residues critical for Mip1p function. Using in vivo respiratory competence and erythromycin resistance assays accompanied by an in vitro non-radioactive DNA polymerase assay, this study has identified two key residues, E1036 and D1037 that may function in the exonuclease-polymerase coupling mechanism of Mip1p.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by repeated concussive or subconcussive blows to the head. Clinically, this disease is characterized by cognitive dysfunction, short-term memory loss, and motor deficits. Pathologically, deposition of the abnormal protein tau, cerebral atrophy, and white matter degeneration is common. CTE has been categorized into Stages I-IV based on increased severity of protein deposition and cerebral atrophy. Acutely, mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) damages the long white matter tracks in the corpus callosum. In addition, it initiates a neuroinflammatory cascade aimed at protecting healthy tissue by clearing any toxic or damaging debris. This cascade results predominantly from the activation of the resident immune cells of the brain, microglia. Inflammation begins immediately and then subsides weeks or months after injury. However, pathological chronic activation of microglia can occur that can cause cell death and degeneration. Several studies have linked traumatic brain injury as well as chronic neuroinflammation to a variety of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The present study quantifies the level of inflammation found in the brains of those diagnosed with varying stages of CTE compared to normal, healthy controls. The thickness of the corpus callosum was measured to investigate the correlation between microglial density and white matter degeneration. Cases were selected from the donated brains of former athletes and military veterans who had a history of repetitive mild TBI. Eleven healthy control cases, ten early stage (Stage I/II), and nine late stage (Stage III/IV) CTE cases were selected for analysis. Tissue sections of the anterior and posterior cingulate of each case were stained for microglia, reactive astrocytes, and macrophages using IBA-1, GFAP, and CD68 markers. The percent area stained of each section was calculated to compare inflammatory cell density across progressive stages of the disease. Analysis showed a significant thinning of the corpus callosum of Stage III/IV CTE cases compared to normal controls. There was a significant decrease in microglia and reactive astrocytes of both the anterior and posterior portions of the corpus callosum in both early and advanced stage CTE cases compared to healthy controls. Corpus callosum thickness was significantly decreased in advanced stage (III-IV), but not early stage (I-II) disease. Overall, this suggests that neuroinflammation is decreased in the corpus callosum in CTE despite marked degeneration. Repetitive mild TBI might impair mechanisms of brain inflammation and repair.

Short-term and long-term neurological damage as a result of sports-related brain trauma is a major concern for athletes today. In the last decade, studies of subconcussive repetitive head impacts (RHI) in contact sports have found associations with functional and structural brain changes, even in the absence of diagnosed concussion. Risk and thresholds for brain dysfunction in the setting of sports-related RHI remain poorly understood. This prospective study enrolled 119 athletes (72 contact, 47 noncontact) of both sexes (79 male, 40 female), to explore the effect of one season of subconcussive RHI on brain function in high school football, boys lacrosse, and boys and girls soccer versus a comparison group of noncontact athletes. This study is the first to assess the effects of one season of RHI exposure on traditional and novel cognitive measures as well as self-reported emotion, sleep and headache in high school athletes. Contact sport athletes wore a commercial accelerometer to investigate if there is a dose-response relationship between RHI exposure and brain function. Paired t-test comparisons of all measures revealed contact sport athletes were not different than noncontact athletes in experiencing negative changes over the course of one season on the assessment battery. Given the number of subjects evaluated and the resultant power to detect change, this study had an 82.5% power to detect a Cohenʼs d of 0.66. Regression analysis of multiple measures of RHI among contact sport athletes did not identify a significant relationship between exposure and changes in cognition, emotion, sleep or headache over one season. Secondary analyses found significant relationships between a greater number of total head impacts at postseason assessment and higher scores on NIH Emotion Battery elements Perceived Stress (p=0.0002) and Perceived Hostility (p=0.0004), but it was unrelated to total years of football exposure. Overall, this study showed that there does not appear to be an association between one season of RHI exposure and short-term changes in cognition or self-reported aspects of emotion, sleep, or headache. Results from this study may help in the design of future investigations that will increase our understanding of the short-term consequences of RHI. Future studies should concentrate on the question of a clinically significant threshold at which RHI above a certain magnitude is more likely to cause brain dysfunction.

The purpose of this study was to identify leadership characteristics of technical school principals as perceived by technical center school principals, the superintendents, and the center's Joint Control Board of the regional technical centers of the Commonwealth of Virginia. A regional technical center principal position deals with a different administrative governing board, students from different high schools, and courses in the field of career and technical education. This study gathered and evaluated perspectives from the participating superintendents, Joint Control School Board members, and regional technical center principals to determine similarities and differences between the perceptions among these groups. The population selected for this study was comprised of the participating superintendents, school board members, and principals from all ten K-12 public school regional technical centers in the Commonwealth of Virginia during the 2014-15 school year. The results showed that the survey respondents ranked visionary and instructional leader as the top two characteristics for regional technical center principals. The results showed that superintendents and Joint Control School Board members ranked having a background or experience in career and technical education higher than principals ranked that characteristic. Joint Control Board Members ranked having a CTE degree significantly higher than principals and superintendents. Superintendents and Joint Control Board Members rated the principal's ability to articulate an instructional vision as having a significant relation to academic success higher than principals rated that characteristic. Survey respondents rated statement ten; persuasion is the ultimate tool for a technical center principal of public education, mean responses the lowest. All three survey respondents rated statement six; personal and professional integrity, honesty, and fairness are essential leadership characteristics for the public school regional technical center principal, mean responses the highest. Open-ended question sixteen, what other characteristics that are needed for the CTE leader of a regional technical center that have not been addressed?, revealed results that superintendents and principals indicated that personnel management was a valuable skill, that superintendents believed that building relationships with students and recruiting students along with having the ability to work with various stakeholders was important. / Ed. D.

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This research focuses on studying the microstructure of alloy 909, its susceptibility to oxidation at elevated temperatures (~700°C) and substrate coatings compatibility with high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) sprayed oxidation resistance coatings. The characterization work involved in studying the microstructure of Incoloy 909 at three heat treated conditions namely solution treated condition (ST), commercially recommended solution heat treated and aged condition (STA), and solution treated and over aged condition (STOA) using optical microscopy, analytical scanning electron microscopy, and analytical transmission electron microscopy. The oxidation susceptibility were investigated at elevated temperatures of bare and coated alloy 909 substrates by subjecting test materials to isothermal and thermal cycle testing. The microstructure of alloy 909 in the ST condition showed only the presence of blocky Laves phase. The Laves phase in this alloy is a well known for its grain pinning effect that prevents excessive grain growth. In the STA condition, the microstructure revealed the presence of fine gamma prime, intergranular and intragranular Laves phase and occasionally gamma prime precipitates orienting in a platelet form ready to transition into the epsilon phase. In the STOA condition, the microstructure consisted of Laves phase in inter and intragranular locations, and a copious amount of Widmanstatten type epsilon phase. Incoloy 909 was observed to form oxide scales in both isothermal and cyclic thermal exposures, the oxide scale consisted of distinct outer and inner scales in the micrographs. The comparison base alloy (alloyl 718) used in this study surprisingly did not show any visible presence of oxide scale after 1000 hour exposure at ~700°C. Three coatings (CoNiCrAlY, 718 , and NiAl) were sprayed on alloy 909 and alloy 718 test coupons using the HVOF process to investigate the compatibility of the coatings with the substrate. The test results points out that all the coatings were compatible with 718 substrate and only one coating (NiAl) was found compatible with the Alloy 909 substrate, indicating that the coatings that are compatible with one substrate may not be compatible with another alloy within the same family of alloys.

This research focuses on studying the microstructure of alloy 909, its susceptibility to oxidation at elevated temperatures (~700°C) and substrate coatings compatibility with high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) sprayed oxidation resistance coatings. The characterization work involved in studying the microstructure of Incoloy 909 at three heat treated conditions namely solution treated condition (ST), commercially recommended solution heat treated and aged condition (STA), and solution treated and over aged condition (STOA) using optical microscopy, analytical scanning electron microscopy, and analytical transmission electron microscopy. The oxidation susceptibility were investigated at elevated temperatures of bare and coated alloy 909 substrates by subjecting test materials to isothermal and thermal cycle testing. The microstructure of alloy 909 in the ST condition showed only the presence of blocky Laves phase. The Laves phase in this alloy is a well known for its grain pinning effect that prevents excessive grain growth. In the STA condition, the microstructure revealed the presence of fine gamma prime, intergranular and intragranular Laves phase and occasionally gamma prime precipitates orienting in a platelet form ready to transition into the epsilon phase. In the STOA condition, the microstructure consisted of Laves phase in inter and intragranular locations, and a copious amount of Widmanstatten type epsilon phase. Incoloy 909 was observed to form oxide scales in both isothermal and cyclic thermal exposures, the oxide scale consisted of distinct outer and inner scales in the micrographs. The comparison base alloy (alloyl 718) used in this study surprisingly did not show any visible presence of oxide scale after 1000 hour exposure at ~700°C. Three coatings (CoNiCrAlY, 718 , and NiAl) were sprayed on alloy 909 and alloy 718 test coupons using the HVOF process to investigate the compatibility of the coatings with the substrate. The test results points out that all the coatings were compatible with 718 substrate and only one coating (NiAl) was found compatible with the Alloy 909 substrate, indicating that the coatings that are compatible with one substrate may not be compatible with another alloy within the same family of alloys.