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This work explores the notion of Augustine's mature theology of friendship as belonging to the body of Christ-the Ecclesia Catholica. The In Iohannis euangelium tractatus provides a unique prism through which to glimpse this settled theology of friends and friendship. Friendship was a central feature of Augustine's life; this work explores how it comes to furnish his notion of membership of the Universal Church. Within the context of the Donatists schism, in which the Tractatus is born, Augustine engages with the issues on an ecclesial as well as an emotional level. Within the Tractatus, Augustine finds an expedient account of the life of Jesus, which enables him to draw out the notion of the Church (bride of Christ) as bonded to his notion of friendship which is less noticeable from the non-Johannine New Testament canon. Within Augustine's polemic, he reveals and exploits the notion that belonging to the Church is a belonging to the Body of Christ which constitutes the whole Christ (Totus Christus) as central to his entire notion of love. Upon this ecclesial foundation, Augustine weaves within it his trinitarian principles which undergird this notion of the Church, in order to appeal to his listeners to value membership and for others to belong. Augustine through this polemic, seeks to enfranchise his listeners in becoming active signs of God's unity on earth as friends of Christ as common members through his own body-the Church.

The Achilles tendon is the largest tendon in the human body, which elastically stores and releases energy to facilitate walking and running. Tendons can suffer from a range of pathologies, most notably that of complete rupture, which affects athletes, physically active workers and the aged. There is a growing demand for in vivo methods of objectively measuring tendon health for aiding diagnosis, monitoring therapy and for assessment of new treatments. Knowledge of the changes in mechanical properties during the healing process is also limited and new methods to accurately and consistently estimate these could provide insights into the healing process and guide future research efforts. This thesis presents the development and use of 2D ultrasound elastography, a quantitative strain estimation imaging technique, as a tool to measure changes in the tensile mechanical properties of the Achilles tendon. This technique performs frame-to-frame block matching of image texture to track motion in an ultrasound signal sequence and create a strain estimation field from the spatial derivative of the motion. Elastography in the image-lateral direction of sagittal plane scans is of particular interest as this is in line with the longitudinal axis of the tendon, but presents extra accuracy issues from out of plane motion and lower image spatial resolution. Tendon rupture also presents unique problems to image acquisition and analysis- patient pain and safety are important considerations and disruption of the ultrasound texture can make 2D motion tracking more difficult. A new 2D elastography block matching algorithm, named `AutoQual', was developed to enable accurate tracking of motion in the image-lateral direction and reduce the impact of artefacts and errors common with damaged Achilles tendons image sequences. It was shown to outperform a multiscale block matching method when tested using ultrasound sequences from in vivo and gelatine phantom experiments. The input parameters of this algorithm were then optimised using the phantom data for benchmarking. The AutoQual algorithm was then used to analyse ultrasound sequences from a 24-week longitudinal study of 21 subjects with ruptured Achilles tendons to assess lateral, axial and principal strains during controlled passive motion of the foot or axial palpation of the ultrasound probe. Lateral and principal strains from controlled dorsiflexion were shown to be more repeatable and more sensitive to change than axial strains with manual palpation. This experience with lateral strain imaging from ruptured Achilles tendons gave an increased knowledge of the strain imaging artefacts and features that can occur. These are described in detail in order that they may be further mitigated in quantitative analysis by optimising acquisition protocols, further amendment of the block tracking algorithm, or exclusion of erroneous areas when selecting regions of interest. Regularisation is a potential solution to some common artefacts such as discontinuities from poor tracking in shadow regions. Regularisation of the lateral displacement fields is investigated using 2D bicubic smoothing splines. The regularisation parameters used are shown to have minimal effect on quantitative analysis and can aid visual clarity or reduce artefacts within certain settings. However, regularisation was also shown to cause large errors when parameters were set more aggressively. Finally, it is identified that cumulative lateral strain measurement of the Achilles and other tendons is feasible but that future work is needed to further improve the quality of force and cross sectional area measurements in order to infer mechanical properties accurately. Repeatable high force motion protocols also need to be developed to measure healthy tendons and to ensure comparable results between different patients and research groups.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the perceptions of co-teachers concerning their professional development needs for co-teaching and to determine the level of training they received to prepare them for co-teaching. Sixty-one co-teachers (general education teachers: n = 36, 59%; special education teachers: n = 25, 41%) in the state of Kentucky completed the Professional Development for Co-teaching Survey for Teachers (PDCST). Survey data demonstrated mean ratings for 14 content-related items ranging from 5.57 to 7.31 indicating teachers generally perceived all were important to their professional development. The items identified as the most critical content were: co-teaching strategies that allow both co-teachers to play active instructional roles, strategies for sharing roles and responsibilities among co-teachers, strategies for building and sustaining co-teaching partnerships, and co-teaching formats. Teachers also identified content area training and planning for co-teaching in open ended queries. Second, co-teachers prioritized content, formats, and follow-up activities for professional development. Top content priorities included strategies for building and sustaining co-teaching partnerships, co-teaching formats, and strategies for sharing roles and responsibilities. Participants identified single day workshops, multiple day workshops, and professional learning communities as their top professional development formats. Top follow-up activities were observing experienced co-teachers, additional professional development, and mentoring from an experienced co-teacher or co-teaching team. Co-teachers validated suggestions on professional development for co-teaching. The items with the highest validation included: train co-teachers prior to co-teaching, train co-teachers with their co-teaching partners, and provide three to five days of preparation for co-teachers. Additionally, the following suggestions were made: include planning time during and after training, provide opportunities for practice and feedback during and after training, and provide opportunities for teachers to observe model co-teaching teams. Lastly, nearly half the co-teachers (n = 28, 46.7%) reported receiving no professional development for co-teaching. Sixteen teachers (26.2%) reported between one to six hours of training, while seven (11.5%) reported having between seven to 12 hours. The results may be used to guide professional developers and teacher educators in preparing future and current co-teachers. Additionally, recommendations for training, policy, and future research are provided. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The rapid urbanization of the Williamson Road area of Roanoke during the late 1940's and early l950's brought about the plugging of the natural passageways for the escape of surface waters and the ponding of the urban runoff became a problem. In order to solve this, the city drilled several drainage wells. These wells gave the author I an opportunity to study: the effect of the geology on the ground-water, the ground-water quality, and the direction of flow of the ground-water. In order to study these, the author constructed a water-surface contour map, analyzed water samples after five minutes of pumping of four wells periodically during a two week period, analyzed ground-water samples, and performed a dye test. In conclusion, the water table is controlled by the geology and topography of the district. The reaction of the urban runoff and the ground-water is one of dilution with loads of pollutants going into the aquifer after each rain. The over-all quality of the ground-water is effected greatly by the rock in the aquifer. The flow of the ground-water seems to be toward Tinker Creek where it is discharged at large springs corresponding to major fault systems.