Browsing by Subject "induction"
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Item A Biologically Inspired Networking Model for Wireless Sensor Networks(2011-02-22) Charalambous, CharalambosWireless sensor networks (WSNs) have emerged in strategic applications such as target detection, localization, and tracking in battlefields, where the large-scale na- ture renders centralized control prohibitive. In addition, the finite batteries in sensor nodes demand energy-aware network control. In this thesis, we propose an energy- efficient topology management model inspired by biological inter-cellular signaling schemes. The model allows sensor nodes to cluster around imminent targets in a purely distributed and autonomous fashion. In particular, nodes in the target vicinity collaborate to form clusters based on their relative observation quality values. Sub- sequently, the clustered sensor nodes compete based on their energy levels until some of them gain active status while the rest remain idle, again according to a distributed algorithm based on biological processes. A final phase of the model has the active cluster members compete until one of them becomes the clusterhead. We examine the behavior of such a model in both finite-size and infinite-size networks. Specifically, we show that the proposed model is inherently stable and achieves superior energy efficiency against reference protocols for networks of finite size. Furthermore, we dis- cuss the behavior of the model in the asymptotic case when the number of nodes goes to infinity. In this setting, we study the average number of cluster members.Item Authors, Audiences, and Elizabethan Prologics(2011-02-22) Heil, Jacob AllenIn examining examples of prologues, inductions, and choruses from early modern drama, Authors, Audiences, and Elizabethan Prologics tries to frame a more comprehensive picture of dramatists? relationships with the plays they write and the audiences for whom they write them. It suggests that these various prologics are imbued with an intrinsic authority that provides something of a rubric, perceptible by both playwright and playgoer, through which one can measure the crucial negotiations with and within the shifting valences of dramatic representation in the early modern period. The project develops a way of thinking about the prologic as a hermeneutics unto itself, one which allows us to contextualize more adequately the manner in which playwrights conceptualize and construct their own relationship to nascent notions of authorship and authority. My first body chapter (Chapter II) considers the rhetorical construction of audiences? silences in various Elizabethan interludes, suggesting that such ideal silences register one?s contemplative engagement with the performance and, thus, work to legitimize early drama. The prologues to John Lyly?s plays?my subject in Chapter III?exemplify the desire to legitimize, instead, the playwright. Reading Lyly?s plays alongside his letters of petition to Queen Elizabeth and Sir Robert Cecil, one can see the manner in which Lyly creates an authorial persona rooted in his rhetorical skills. In Chapter IV I examine Shakespeare?s sparse but measured use of prologues to manipulate his audiences? preconceptions of theatrical conventions and to guide them toward a consideration of what it means to have interpretive agency, how far that agency extends, and where to locate the limits of narrative in the necessarily liminal domain of the theater. Finally, I argue in Chapter V that Thomas Nashe?s Summer?s Last Will and Testament expands the prologic space, mimicking in the playspace the critical, interactive stance that he assumes in the printed marginalia of his prose writing. This is to say that Summer?s Last Will echoes?or in many cases prefigures?the authorial anxieties that Nashe expresses elsewhere in his work, and chief among them is an anxiety over the interpretational agency of the reader and auditor.Item High School Science Teacher Induction in Texas: Implications for Policy(2011-02-22) Ivey, Toni AnnTexas public high schools induct beginning science teachers each year; yet, little is known about how schools induct beginning teachers. The three studies included in this dissertation use a mixed methods approach to explore data collected by the Policy Research Initiative in Science Education (PRISE) Research Group during the 2007-2008 academic year. The first study focused on principals' perceptions of teacher induction. A content analysis of interviews collected from 50 principals examined principals' perceptions of teacher induction. Analyses indicated that high school principals had an overwhelmingly narrow focus of mentoring and provided mentor teachers with little support or training. Findings indicated that induction activities for beginning teachers were front-loaded before the school year began and were left in the hands of unprepared mentors during the school year. Further analyses indicated that the primary purpose of mentoring and induction for beginning teachers in Texas high schools revolved around orientation to campus policies and procedures. Beginning teachers' instructional needs appeared to be an afterthought. The second study explored beginning high school science teachers' evaluations of their induction experiences. Beginning teachers identified the best school-level induction supports received and recommended improvements for school-level induction. Teachers identified mentoring as one of the best received supports, yet also made recommendations for more structure in the mentoring experience. A comparison of beginning teachers' responses with teacher turnover found that: (a) Stayers (i.e., teachers retained at a campus) were most likely to report that they received induction support from other science teachers; (b) Movers (i.e., teachers who transferred to another campus) less frequently reported working conditions as a positive induction support; and (c) Leavers, (i.e., teachers not retained in the profession) most frequently did not identify induction support from the school. The final study compared principals' perceptions of induction and beginning teacher Movers and Leavers' evaluations of their induction experiences. Findings from this study indicated that principals were aware of induction components that were considered helpful by both Movers and Leavers. However, principals did not acknowledge what Movers and Leavers recommended for improvements to current induction practices. The final chapter provides a summary of all three studies. Recommendations are made for improving induction practices for high school science teachers. In particular, high school principals should discard their current "hands-off" approach to teacher induction and become more active in their induction experiences. Additionally, types of induction practices should increase to include more than mentoring. Moreover, policy makers should reform mentoring policies so that current practices, which have a narrow focus on school policies and procedures, are abandoned.Item Novice teachers' perceptions of their first year induction program in urban schools(2009-06-02) Charleston-Cormier, Phyllis AThe study examined and evaluated perceptions of first year teachers on the effectiveness of induction activities, assistance, and support following participation in their induction program. This was a quantitative study of novice teachers in an urban school district. Teachers from all teaching disciplines, both at the elementary and secondary level, participated in the study. The researcher used the Novice Teacher Perceptions Assessment to survey 171 teachers. Of the 171 surveys distributed, 144 were returned and analyzed for this study. From the survey data, descriptive statistics and frequency counts were obtained for demographic information items and specific induction activities, assistance, and support. All data were analyzed for the effectiveness of teacher induction program components. The results of this study revealed that novice teachers were provided with six factors that were important to them. The factors were: information concerning the school and its culture; support for emotional stress; assistance in instructional strategies; the allocation of resources; and overall support of the induction program in relation to mentors and reflection. Perceptions were consistent among the demographics; namely, the subject taught, grade level taught, gender, age, ethnicity and environment. Novice teachers ranked ten activities they valued while in the induction program. The activities most valued were the support they received in assistance with discipline problems; feedback from observations, and the opportunity to observe other teachers. On the contrary, novice teachers least valued the support given to them relating to the physical aspect of their classrooms. This included classroom arrangement, designing bulletin boards and learning centers.Item "Thrown in the deep end": the relationship of induction programs to new teacher retentionPortis-Woodson, Angela F.