The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine school psychologists' use of evidence- based practices (EBP), in general, and more specifically in the area of social skills training (SST) for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Study participants, consisting of 498 school psychologists from across the nation, participated in an online survey that gathered information about their training, attitudes, and practices. The frequency with which specific EBP practices for social skills training for students with ASD was examined, as was prediction of use of these practices. Multiple-regression analyses revealed multiple independent variables that were predictors for overall use of EBP. Results indicated that over half of the participants provide SST for students with ASD. Although the majority of participants indicated that their graduate program included at least one course with information about ASD and EBP practices, in general, nearly half indicated that their coursework did not include any courses that directly addressed social skills training for students with ASD. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to determine the extent to which the data fit the factor model. Participants' perception of the importance placed on EBP by their school district, scores on the openness subscale of the Evidence Based Practices …

The research program reported here is focused on critical issues that represent conspicuous gaps in current understanding of rapid solidification, limiting our ability to predict and control microstructural evolution (i.e. morphological dynamics and microsegregation) at high undercooling, where conditions depart significantly from local equilibrium. More specifically, through careful application of phase-field modeling, using appropriate thin-interface and anti-trapping corrections and addressing important details such as transient effects and a velocity-dependent (i.e. adaptive) numerics, the current analysis provides a reasonable simulation-based picture of non-equilibrium solute partitioning and the corresponding oscillatory dynamics associated with single-phase rapid solidification and show that this method is a suitable means for a self-consistent simulation of transient behavior and operating point selection under rapid growth conditions. Moving beyond the limitations of conventional theoretical/analytical treatments of non-equilibrium solute partitioning, these results serve to substantiate recent experimental findings and analytical treatments for single-phase rapid solidification. The departure from the equilibrium solid concentration at the solid-liquid interface was often observed during rapid solidification, and the energetic associated non-equilibrium solute partitioning has been treated in detail, providing possible ranges of interface concentrations for a given growth condition. Use of these treatments for analytical description of specific single-phase dendritic and cellular operating point …

This thesis presents first measurements of moments of the hadronic n{sub X}{sup 2} distribution measured in inclusive semileptonic decays of B mesons to final states containing a charm quark, B {yields} X{sub c}{ell}{nu}. The variable n{sub X}{sup 2} is a combination of the invariant mass of the charmed meson m{sub X}, its energy in the B-meson rest-frame E{sub X;BRF}, and a constant {tilde {Lambda}} = 0.65 GeV, n{sub X}{sup 2} = m{sub X}{sup 2}c{sup 4}-2{tilde {Lambda}}E{sub X,BRF} + {tilde {Lambda}}{sup 2}. The moments <n{sub X}{sup k}> with k = 2,4,6 are measured as proposed by theory to constrain assumptions made in the theoretical description of inclusive observables in semileptonic B-meson decays. This description uses Heavy Quark Expansion (HQE), an effective QCD combined with an Operator Product Expansion. The measurement is based on a sample of 231.6 million e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} {Upsilon}(4S) {yields} B{bar B} events recorded with the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II e{sup +}e{sup -}-storage rings at SLAC. We reconstruct the semileptonic decay by identifying a charged lepton in events tagged by a fully reconstructed hadronic decay of the second B meson. Correction procedures are derived from Monte Carlo simulations to ensure an unbiased measurement of the moments …

The Standard Model (SM) is a very successful description of particle physics, and its predictions have stood up to a multitude of precision experimental tests. But one of the central elements of the SM, the Higgs mechanism, has yet to be verified. The Higgs mechanism (and the associated Higgs Boson) generates electroweak symmetry breaking and consequently allows for W and Z bosons and fermions to be massive. This thesis presents a search for the SM Higgs boson at the D0 experiment using the Tevatron particle accelerator at Fermilab in the final state {tau}{tau} + jet jet with 4.3 fb{sup -1} of data. This final state is sensitive to the Higgs production mechanisms gluon-gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion, and to the Higgs produced in association with a W or Z, for Higgs masses from 100 to 200 GeV. We see no evidence for the Higgs boson, but by itself our search does not rule out the SM Higgs. When this analysis is combined with other searches at the Tevatron the Higgs can be ruled out at a 95% confidence level for the mass range from 156 to 177 GeV.

This thesis reports on the first helicity asymmetry measurement for single neutral pion photoproduction using the CLAS detector in Hall B at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). This measurement used longitudinally polarized protons and circularly polarized photons at energies between 350 MeV and 2400 MeV. The experimental results are compared to three available model calculations.

The development of fast magic angle spinning (MAS) opened up an opportunity for the indirect detection of insensitive low-{gamma} nuclei (e.g., {sup 13}C and {sup 15}N) via the sensitive high-{gamma} nuclei (e.g., {sup 1}H and {sup 19}F) in solid-state NMR, with advanced sensitivity and resolution. In this thesis, new methodology utilizing fast MAS is presented, including through-bond indirectly detected heteronuclear correlation (HETCOR) spectroscopy, which is assisted by multiple RF pulse sequences for {sup 1}H-{sup 1}H homonuclear decoupling. Also presented is a simple new strategy for optimization of {sup 1}H-{sup 1}H homonuclear decoupling. As applications, various classes of materials, such as catalytic nanoscale materials, biomolecules, and organic complexes, are studied by combining indirect detection and other one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) NMR techniques. Indirectly detected through-bond HETCOR spectroscopy utilizing refocused INEPT (INEPTR) mixing was developed under fast MAS (Chapter 2). The time performance of this approach in {sup 1}H detected 2D {sup 1}H{l_brace}{sup 13}C{r_brace} spectra was significantly improved, by a factor of almost 10, compared to the traditional {sup 13}C detected experiments, as demonstrated by measuring naturally abundant organic-inorganic mesoporous hybrid materials. The through-bond scheme was demonstrated as a new analytical tool, which provides complementary structural information in solid-state systems in …

The Advanced eLectron-PHoton fAcility (ALPHA) is a compact electron accelerator under construction and being commissioned at the Indiana University Center for Exploration of Energy and Matter (CEEM). In this thesis, we have studied the refurbished Cooler Injector Synchrotron (CIS) RF cavity using both the transmission line model and SUPERFISH simulation. Both low power and high power RF measurements have been carried out to characterize the cavity. Considering the performance limit of ferrite, we have designed a new ferrite loaded, co-axial quarter wave like cavity with similar structure but a more suitable ferrite material. We have also designed a traveling wave stripline kicker for fast extraction by POISSON and Microwave Studio. The strips geometry is trimmed to maximize the uniformity of the kicking field and match the impedance of the power cables. The time response simulation shows the kicker is fast enough for machine operation. The pulsed power supply requirement has also been specified. For the beam diagnosis in the longitudinal direction, we use a wideband Wall Gap Monitor (WGM) served in CIS. With proper shielding and amplification to get good WGM signal, we have characterized the injected and extracted beam signal in single pass commissioning, and also verified the debunching …

This dissertation explores lanthanide speciation in liquid solution systems related to separation schemes involving the acidic ligands: bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (HDEHP), lactate, and 8-hydroxyquinoline. Equilibrium speciation of neodymium (Nd3+), sodium (Na+), HDEHP, water, and lactate in the TALSPEAK liquid-liquid extraction system was explored under varied Nd3+ loading of HDEHP in the organic phase and through extraction from aqueous HCl and lactate media. System speciation was probed through vapor pressure osmometry, visible and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, 22Na and 13C labeled lactate radiotracer distribution measurements, Karl Fischer titrations, and equilibrium pH measurements. Distribution of Nd3+, Na+, lactate, and equilibrium pH were modeled using the SXLSQI software to obtain logKNd and logKNa extraction constants under selected conditions. Results showed that high Nd3+ loading of the HDEHP led to Nd3+ speciation that departs from the ion exchange mechanism and includes formation of highly aggregated, polynuclear [NdLactate(DEHP)2]x; (with x > 1). By substituting lanthanum (La3+) for Nd3+ in this system, NMR scoping experiments using 23Na, 31P nuclei and 13C labeled lactate were performed. Results indicated that this technique is sensitive to changes in system speciation, and that further experiments are warranted. In a homogeneous system representing the TALSPEAK aqueous phase, Lactate protonation behavior …

High temperature alloys are essential to many industries that require a stable material to perform in harsh oxidative environments. Many of these alloys are suited for specific applications such as jet engine turbine blades where most other materials would either melt or oxidize and crumble (1). These alloys must have a high melting temperature, excellent oxidation resistance, good creep resistance, and decent fracture toughness to be successfully used in such environments. The discovery of Ni based superalloys in the 1940s revolutionized the high temperature alloy industry and there has been continued development of these alloys since their advent (2). These materials are capable of operating in oxidative environments in the presence of combustion gases, water vapor and at temperatures around 1050 C. Demands for increased f uel efficiency, however, has highlighted the need for materials that can be used under similar atmospheres and at temperatures in excess of 1200 C. The current Ni based superalloys are restricted to lower temperatures due to the presence of a number of low melting phases that result in softening of the alloys above 1000 C. Therefore, recent research has been aimed at exploring and developing newer alloy systems that can meet the escalating requirements. …

The Higgs boson is the only elementary particle predicted by the Standard Model (SM) that has not yet been observed experimentally. If it exists, it explains the spontaneous electroweak symmetry breaking and the origin of mass for gauge bosons and fermions. We test the validity of the SM by performing a search for the associated production of a Higgs boson and a W boson in the channel where the Higgs boson decays to a bottom-antibottom quark pair and the W boson decays to a charged lepton and a neutrino (the WH channel). We study a dataset of proton-antiproton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy {radical}s = 1.96 TeV provided by the Tevatron accelerator, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.7 fb{sup -1}, and recorded using the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF).We select events consistent with the signature of exactly one charged lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse energy due to the undetected neutrino (MET) and two collimated streams of particles (jets), at least one of which is required to be identified as originating from a bottom quark. We improve the discrimination of Higgs signal from backgrounds through the use of an artificial neural network. Using a Bayesian statistical inference approach, we …

A 'true' critical current density, j{sub c}, as opposite to commonly measured relaxed persistent (Bean) current, j{sub B}, was extracted from the Campbell penetration depth, {lambda}{sub c}(T,H) measured in single crystals of LiFeAs, and optimally electron-doped Ba(Fe{sub 0.954}Ni{sub 0.046}){sub 2}As{sub 2} (FeNi122). In LiFeAs, the effective pinning potential is nonparabolic, which follows from the magnetic field - dependent Labusch parameter {alpha}. At the equilibrium (upon field - cooling), {alpha}(H) is non-monotonic, but it is monotonic at a finite gradient of the vortex density. This behavior leads to a faster magnetic relaxation at the lower fields and provides a natural dynamic explanation for the fishtail (second peak) effect. We also find the evidence for strong pinning at the lower fields.The inferred field dependence of the pinning potential is consistent with the evolution from strong pinning, through collective pinning, and eventually to a disordered vortex lattice. The value of j{sub c}(2 K) {approx_equal} 1.22 x 10{sup 6} A/cm{sup 2} provide an upper estimate of the current carrying capability of LiFeAs. Overall, vortex behavior of almost isotropic, fully-gapped LiFeAs is very similar to highly anisotropic d-wave cuprate superconductors, the similarity that requires further studies in order to understand unconventional superconductivity in cuprates and …

In this dissertation we focus on the investigation of the pairing mechanism in the recently discovered high-temperature superconductor, iron pnictides. Due to the proximity to magnetic instability of the system, we considered short-range spin fluctuations as the major mediating source to induce superconductivity. Our calculation supports the magnetic fluctuations as a strong candidate that drives Cooper-pair formation in this material. We find the corresponding order parameter to be of the so-called ss-wave type and show its evolution with temperature as well as the capability of supporting high transition temperature up to several tens of Kelvin. On the other hand, our itinerant model calculation shows pronounced spin correlation at the observed antiferromagnetic ordering wave vector, indicating the underlying electronic structure in favor of antiferromagnetic state. Therefore, the electronic degrees of freedom could participate both in the magnetic and in the superconducting properties. Our work shows that the interplay between magnetism and superconductivity plays an important role to the understanding of the rich physics in this material. The magnetic-excitation spectrum carries important information on the nature of magnetism and the characteristics of superconductivity. We analyze the spin excitation spectrum in the normal and superconducting states of iron pnictides in the magnetic scenario. …

The major challenges facing resource constraint wireless devices are error resilience, security and speed. Three joint schemes are presented in this research which could be broadly divided into error correction based and cipher based. The error correction based ciphers take advantage of the properties of LDPC codes and Nordstrom Robinson code. A cipher-based cryptosystem is also presented in this research. The complexity of this scheme is reduced compared to conventional schemes. The securities of the ciphers are analyzed against known-plaintext and chosen-plaintext attacks and are found to be secure. Randomization test was also conducted on these schemes and the results are presented. For the proof of concept, the schemes were implemented in software and hardware and these shows a reduction in hardware usage compared to conventional schemes. As a result, joint schemes for error correction and security provide security to the physical layer of wireless communication systems, a layer in the protocol stack where currently little or no security is implemented. In this physical layer security approach, the properties of powerful error correcting codes are exploited to deliver reliability to the intended parties, high security against eavesdroppers and efficiency in communication system. The notion of a highly secure and reliable …

The purpose of the thesis is to look at the presentation of vocabulary related to new technologies in four French and four Spanish textbooks for first-year university students to examine the relevance of the language presented in terms of its authenticity to French and Spanish as it is used today. The focus is on authenticity to show the correlation between what is presented to students versus what they will need to communicate effectively in ways that are linguistically, socially, and sociopragmatically appropriate with native speakers. The thesis also provides teachers with a pedagogical framework that will help them integrate new technologies and their related vocabularies into curriculum when textbooks fail to do so.

This study assessed students’ satisfaction with Ramkhamhaeng University regional library services (RURLs) and the perceived quality of information retrieved from other information sources. In particular, this study investigated factors relating to regional students’ selection of information sources to meet their information needs. The researcher applied the principle of least effort and Simon’s satisficing theory for this study. The former principle governs and predicts the selection of these students’ perceived source accessibility, whereas the latter theory explains the selection and use of the information retrieved without considering whether the information is optimal. This study employed a web-based survey to collect data from 188 respondents. The researcher found that convenience and ease of use were the top two variables relating to respondent’s selection of information sources and use. The Internet had the highest mean for convenience. Results of testing a multiple linear regression model of all four RURCs showed that these four independent variables (convenience, ease of use, availability, and familiarity) were able to explain 69% of the total variance in the frequency of use of information sources. Convenience and ease of use were able to increase respondents’ perceived source accessibility and explain the variance of the frequency of use of sources …

Although studies have addressed high school English language arts (ELA) instruction, little is known about the decision-making process of ELA teachers. How do teachers decide between the resources and instructional strategies at their disposal? This study focused on two monolingual teachers who were in different schools and grades. They were teaching mainstream students or English Language Learners. Both employed an approach to writing instruction that emphasized cultural mediation. Two questions guided this study: How does the enactment of culturally mediated writing instruction (CMWI) in a mainstream classroom compare to the enactment in an ESL classroom? What is the nature of teacher decision-making in these high school classrooms during English language arts instruction? Data were collected and analyzed using qualitative methodologies. The findings suggest that one teacher, who was familiar with CMWI’s principles and practices and saw students as partners, focused her decisions on engagement and participation. The other teacher deliberately embedded CMWI as an instructional stance. Her decisions focused on empathy, caring and meaningful connections. These teachers enacted CMWI in different ways to meet their students’ needs. They embraced the students’ cultural resources, used and built on their linguistic knowledge, expanded thinking strategies to make difficult information comprehensible, provided authentic …

Spain underwent drastic social and political changes in the last decades of the twentieth century which also affected the nation’s patterns of emigration. Contemporary Spanish literature and film that portray these decades reflect the country’s fluctuating characteristics of migration. ¡Vente a Alemania, Pepe! (1971) by Pedro Lazaga, Coto vedado (1985) by Juan Goytisolo, El hijo del acordeonista (2003) by Bernardo Atxaga, and Yoyes (2000) by Helena Taberna demonstrate Spain’s migration trends during the last years of Franco’s dictatorship and the transition to democracy. The nation’s highly increased socioeconomic development in the 1970s and 1980s which eventually led to a first-world status also affected emigration, which can be seen in Carlota Fainberg (1999) by Antonio Muñoz Molina, Kasbah (2000) by Mariano Barroso, Restos de carmine (1999) by Juan Madrid, and Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009) by Isabel Coixet.

This study focuses on how perceived security environment affect U.S. unilateral, military intervention in civil conflicts, using the concept of Bayesian learning to illustrate how threat perceptions are formed, how they change, and how they affect the U.S. decision to intervene militarily in civil conflicts. I assess the validity of two primary hypotheses: (1) the U.S. is more likely to intervene in civil conflicts with connections to a threatening actor or ideology; and (2) the U.S. is more likely to intervene in civil conflicts for humanitarian motives in a less threatening security context. To test these hypotheses, I compare U.S. military intervention in three temporal contexts reflecting more threatening security contexts (Cold War and post-9/11) and less threatening security contexts (1992-2001). Results of logit regression analysis reveal that a conflict’s connection to a threatening actor or ideology is the most statistically and substantively significant determinant of U.S. military intervention in civil conflicts, both in more and less threatening security contexts. They also indicate that humanitarian motives are not a statistically significant determinant of U.S. military intervention in civil conflicts, even in a more benign security environment. These findings imply that U.S. unilateral military intervention is reserved for more direct national …

A disintegration of measure is a common tool used in ergodic theory, probability, and descriptive set theory. The primary interest in this paper is in disintegrating σ-finite measures on standard Borel spaces into families of σ-finite measures. In 1984, Dorothy Maharam asked whether every such disintegration is uniformly σ-finite meaning that there exists a countable collection of Borel sets which simultaneously witnesses that every measure in the disintegration is σ-finite. Assuming Gödel’s axiom of constructability I provide answer Maharam's question by constructing a specific disintegration which is not uniformly σ-finite.

The purpose of this study was to examine the career development of African-American male athletes and non-athletes. The study utilizes Gottfredson’s circumscription and compromise model of career development as a framework for understanding the way individuals go about selecting different career paths based on various contextual variables and career development processes. A sample of 71 African-American male college students completed self-report questionnaires measuring different aspects of their background make-up, relevant career development processes, and career development outcome variables. Results of the study suggest that non-athlete students have a more developmentally appropriate approach to careers. Results also suggest that perceived career barriers and career locus of control mediate the relationship between athletic status and maturity surrounding careers. Career development is a complicated process and further study on this population is very important, especially when considering athletes. Implications for the findings are discussed as are suggestions for directions of new research concerning African-American career development.

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of history and culture on the passage of the comic book to the animated film. Although the comic book has both historical and cultural components, the latter often undergoes a cultural shift in the animation process. Using the Smurfs as a case study, this investigation first reviews existing literature pertaining to the comic book as an art form, the influence of history and culture on Smurf story plots, and the translation of the comic book into a moving picture. This study then utilizes authentic documents and interviews to analyze the perceptions of success and failure in the transformation of the Smurf comic book into animation: concluding that original meaning is often altered in the translation to meet the criteria of cultural relevance for the new audiences.

What influence Alevi-Sunni intermarriage has on spouses’ individual religious affiliation after marriage was the initial research question addressed in this study. No official or unofficial data exist regarding the Alevi-Sunni intermarriage in Turkey. This study responded to the need to describe extant relationships by using a qualitative approach to gather detailed information from a sample of married couples in Corum city, Turkey. A case study method was applied to a sample of ten couples. Couples were selected using snowball and purposive sampling techniques. A team of researchers conducted forty face-to-face interviews. Each of the ten husbands and ten wives in Alevi-Sunni intermarriages were interviewed twice using semi-structured questionnaires. Additional demographic and observational data were gathered. Spouses in the Alevi-Sunni intermarriages sampled did not change their religious affiliation after marriage. The spouses reported few if any problems in their marital relationships and in child rearing. However, spouses did report many problems with parental families, in-laws, and other relatives. The disapproval and punishments from extended family members are related to the social stigma attached to Alevi-Sunni intermarriages. However, intermarriage, modernization including secularism and pluralism are challenging this stigma. Because of this transition further interdisciplinary studies on Alevi-Sunni intermarriage that explore different dimensions …

The relationship between life stress and working memory capacity (WMC) has been documented in college students and older adults. It has been proposed that intrusive thoughts about life stress are the mechanism responsible for the impairments seen in WMC. To examine the mechanism responsible for these impairments the current study attempted to induce intrusive thoughts about personal events. The current study allowed for a test of predictions made by two theories of mind wandering regarding the impact of these intrusive thoughts on WMC task performance. One hundred fifty undergraduates were assigned to a control group, positive event group, or negative event group. Participants in the positive and negative event groups completed a short emotional disclosure about an imagined future positive or negative event, respectively, to induce positive or negative intrusive thoughts. WMC measures were completed prior to and following the emotional writing. Results indicated a significant relationship between WMC and mind wandering, however the writing manipulation did not result in any consistent changes in intrusive thoughts or WMC. The results suggest a causal relationship between WMC and mind wandering. The emotional valence of the intrusive thought altered the impact on WMC. No relationship was seen between the measures of stress …

This project seeks to serve two purposes: first, to investigate various semantic and grammatical aspects of mixed conceptual metaphors in reference to anger; and secondly, to explore the potential of a corpus-based, TARGET DOMAIN-oriented method termed metaphor pattern analysis to the study of mixed metaphor. This research shows that mixed metaphors do not pattern in a manner consistent with statements made within conceptual metaphor theory. These metaphors prove highly dynamic in their combinability and resist resonance between SOURCE DOMAINS used. Also shown is the viability of metaphor pattern analysis as a methodology to approach mixed metaphor research.