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Teacher preparation programs are critical to the induction of new teachers into the field. Research has shown student teaching and embedded field experiences are essential components of these teacher preparation programs and are therefore included as a culminating element of teacher preparation programs. However, little is known of the effectiveness of these programs to prepare new teachers adequately to enter the self-contained special education classrooms in which less than 1% of students in New York State are educated. The purpose of this qualitative research was to understand the self-efficacy of novice self-contained special education teachers and the perceptions of faculty and staff of several Hudson Valley teacher preparatory programs toward teachers' preparation to meet the myriad needs of students in this low-incidence special education setting. Major findings of this study revealed novice special education teachers in self-contained settings who work with students with significant disabilities feel unprepared. Teacher preparation staff concurred their programs devote limited attention to the needs of teachers to work with high-needs students in self-contained classrooms. A document analysis indicated that programs do not provide specific coursework for preparation for these specialized settings. This study urged decision makers in teacher preparation programs to introduce courses and fieldwork in self-contained settings to simulate those situations in which novice teachers may work. Suggestions were also offered to special education administrators charged with introducing new teachers to better acclimate them to a setting that may be unfamiliar. Mentoring and other induction processes can be useful in supporting these new teachers. Such programs can impact the delivery of services positively, assist new teachers in their relationships with related service providers and para-educators, and increase new teacher retention. [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 aim of this project was to down-regulate ACC oxidase (ACO) 1 and 2 and ACC synthase (ACS) in broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) to lengthen post-harvest shelf-life. The ACO 1 and 2 and ACS cDNAs of broccoli were ligated into pSCV1.0 in sense and antisense orientations in relation to a CaMV 35S promoter and nos terminator. They were electroporated into the Agrobacterium rhizogenes co-integrate strain LBA 9402 pRi1855::GFP, and used to co-transform GDDH33, a doubled haploid line derived from the calabrese cultivar Green Duke. 150 transgenic hairy roots were identified by GFP fluorescence, and 18 were regenerated into whole plants. Four of these lines showed severe rol phenotype, which did not appear to be related to TL₋ DNA insert copy number. The floral buds from T₀ broccoli heads were assayed for post-harvest production of ethylene and chlorophyll levels. T₀ lines with ACC oxidase 1 and 2 constructs produced significantly less ethylene than the control plants, and chlorophyll loss was significantly reduced. A positive correlation between post-harvest bud ethylene production and chlorophyll loss was described by the equation y= 0.2386x-23.041. There were two copies of aco1 and aco2 in the Brassica oleracea genome of which one was mapped for each to linkage group 1 and 8, respectively.

Many non-conjugated dienes are known to polymerize by an alternating inter-intramolecular reaction mechanism that is now commonly known as cyclopolymnrization. This thesis describes the free radical homopolyterization of several of these monomers and, for the first time, investigates the effects of high pressure on cyclopolymerization. The monomers examined were the symmetrical 1,6 dienes diallyl ether, acrylic anhydride, diallylamine,hydrochloride and diallyl cyanamide; the unsymmetrical 1,6 diene allyl methacrylate; the unsymmetrical 1,6 diene allyl methacrylate; and the symmetrical 1,5 diene vinyl sulfone. Also, some comparative experiments were carried out with irdene in bulk and styrene in solution. Where possible, the effects of pressure on the overall rate of polymerization, the degree of cyclization, the activation energy and the volute of activation were determined. Good results were achieved for the cyalopolymerizations of the 1,6 dienes allyl nethacrylate, diallyl cyanamide and acrylic anhydride. In a few cases it was possible to deduce the probable individual termination reaction mechanism by comparison of the experimental results with derived theoretical expressions. Less satisfactory results were obtained using diallyl ether, vinyl methacrylate and vinyl sulfone. The rate of cyclopolymerization was usually found to be greatly increased by pressure, but in the cyclopolymerization of acrylic anhydride in diliethylformamide solution, the rate was found to decrease slightly for pressures up to 2500 atm. pressure. It was also found that pressure increased both the molecular weight and the degree of cyclization in the cyalopolyiers. It was considered that microgel formation and other heterophase effects were factors in those cyclopolymerizations which yielded high molecular weight polymers. It was shown that, in certain solvents, soluble cyclopolymers could be obtained at monomer concentrations and conversions not previously achieved.

Shifts in the timing of key life history events are some of the most documented biological responses to climate warming. Synchronous timing between a consumer and ephemeral resource can be important for consumer fitness, with asynchrony between the two parties often having a negative effect, as outlined by the match-mismatch hypothesis (MMH). Differences in the thermal sensitivity of phenology among species occupying different trophic levels leave consumers at risk of asynchrony within time-sensitive trophic interactions under climate warming. There is abundant evidence that secondary consumers shift their phenology by less than their resources, resulting in them lagging behind the resource as temperatures increase. As such, phenology and the MMH have become prominent in research regarding the impacts of climate warming on biological systems. The phenology of individuals within a population is often summarised using the mean. However, interactions are not just sensitive to the mean of each trophic level, but instead the synchrony among individuals. The range of timings among individuals forms the phenological distribution, described by the maximum number of individuals (height), the range of dates over which the event will occur (duration), and the relative shape (width). Differences in the height, duration and width of the phenological distribution of an ephemeral resource are likely to have implications for the MMH, affecting the prevalence of food available to the consumer at any point in time, and also at different levels of asynchrony to the mean timing of the resource. For example, with a wider resource distribution, the difference in food available to synchronous consumers versus asynchronous consumers will be less than when there is a narrower resource distribution. As such, if the fitness of consumers is affected by variation in the phenological distribution of food availability, differences in the distribution of a resource could affect consumer mean population fitness and the strength of selection on timing. Given the possible implications that shifts in these aspects of the full phenological distribution have for trophic interactions, it is surprising that it has been the focus of minimal research to date. In this thesis, I utilise data on the spring peak in arboreal caterpillars within deciduous woodland systems and the breeding phenology and breeding success of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). I explore variations in the phenological distribution of caterpillars and the implications for the phenological fitness function of blue tits, an insectivorous bird that relies on caterpillars to feed young. Data have been collected across 44 sites spanning an elevation range of 10-433m and 2o latitude through Scotland over nine years. The sites vary both in woodland tree composition and in temperature. In Chapter 1, I introduce phenology, the MMH, the full phenological distribution and the deciduous woodland study system. Chapters 2 and 3 then focus on habitat and temperature as drivers of the phenological distribution of caterpillars. In Chapter 4, I examine the consequences of the full phenological distribution of caterpillars for blue tit fitness relative to breeding phenology, and in Chapter 5 I discuss the broader implications of my work, limitations and future directions and opportunities. In Chapter 2 I examine variation in the phenological distribution of caterpillars in relation to woodland tree composition using data on the abundance and mass of caterpillars on ten different tree taxa throughout spring, and information about the local tree taxa composition more specifically. I find that there is substantial variation in the abundance of caterpillars supported by different deciduous tree taxa and that the prevalence of oak trees in the local woodland has an additional effect, increasing the abundance of caterpillars found throughout the site. I also found that there is substantial variation in the height of the caterpillar peak hosted by different tree taxa, and some minimal variation in the timing of the peak and the duration. There was no significant difference in the ultimate mass of caterpillars among taxa meaning that the differences in the peak in biomass among tree taxa largely mirrored patterns seen for the peak in abundance. These results show that woodland tree composition contributes to variation in the phenological distribution of caterpillars between locations, suggesting that studying the MMH in a range of woodland types may be of benefit to accurately predict the consequences of climate warming at the meta-population level. In Chapter 3, I identified the time periods within spring during which average temperature best predicted the timing, height and width of the phenological distribution of caterpillar abundance. I found mean timing to be better predicted by temperatures earlier in spring with height predicted by temperatures that were slightly later, whilst there was substantial uncertainty in the period over which average temperature best predicted width. In this chapter I develop a novel method to phenology research, testing for thermal sensitivity in the mean timing, height and width of the phenological distribution of caterpillars from raw data of abundance over time. I found that the height of the phenological distribution increases substantially with an increase in temperature and that the shape becomes more steeply peaked, falling over a similar duration of time. These results suggest climate warming is having a substantial impact on the phenological distribution of a key resource in temperate woodlands and provides additional insights into the impacts of climate change past shifts in mean timing alone. In Chapter 4 I present an extension to the MMH in which the full phenological distribution of caterpillars affects the full phenological fitness function of blue tits. I achieve this by extending the statistical method from Chapter 3 and use site and year specific estimates of the mean timing, height and width of the caterpillar peak to predict the equivalent metrics in the blue tit fledging success fitness function. This framework has the potential to allow tests of how the timing of the caterpillar peak affects the optimal breeding timing for blue tits, whether the maximum height of the caterpillar peak affects the maximum fitness of blue tits, and whether the width of the caterpillar peak affects the width of the phenological fitness function which may have implications for the strength of selection. However, having identified no optimum hatch date for blue tits within the fledging success data, the data do not conform with the structure of the framework described. As an alternative, I examined the effect of the mean timing, height and width of the caterpillar phenological distribution among site by year combinations on a straight-line fitness function for the birds, allowing the intercept and slope of fledging success over time to vary with each caterpillar parameter. I found no effect of the mean timing, height or width of the caterpillar peak on the blue tit phenological fitness function which shows no evidence of the MMH affecting these populations. Alternatively, I suggest parental quality may have a stronger effect than environmental factors on fledging success. As the effect of the MMH has varied among fitness traits in other passerine species this does not rule out any effect of the phenological distribution extension of the MMH, but presents an opportunity for further work on this topic. Nevertheless, the conceptual framework put forwards holds an interesting progression for how we perceive the dynamics within these ephemeral trophic interactions. In this thesis, I have introduced approaches that allow more nuanced insights into the impacts of climate change on phenology and the consequences of phenology for fitness. The phenological distribution of caterpillars varies with woodland tree composition, contributing to spatial heterogeneity in a key resource and guild of herbivores. The increase in height and narrowing shape of the phenological distribution with an increase in temperature shows that reducing the caterpillar peak to mean timing misses important information about how the resource is responding to a warming climate. By extending the conceptual framework of the MMH we gain insight into how the resource distribution can influence the strength of selection and population persistence, highlighting the value of considering the full phenological distribution in phenology and MMH research. The theory and statistical methods employed in this thesis are transferable to a vast range of species and interactions. To accurately interpret and predict the impacts of climate warming in biomes driven by the strong seasonality of events, it may be essential to move on from focusing on mean timing and begin to incorporate the full phenological distribution.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have significantly lowered the cost of remote aerial data collection. The next generation of UAVs, however, will transform the way that scientists and practitioners interact with the environment. In this thesis, we address the challenges of flying low over water to collect water samples and temperature data. We also develop a system that allows UAVs to ignite prescribed fires. Specifically, this thesis contributes a new peristaltic pump designed for use on a UAV for collecting water samples from up to 3m depth and capable of pumping over 6m above the water. Next, temperature sensors and their deployment on UAVs, which have successfully created a 3D thermal structure map of a lake, contributes to mobile sensors. A sub-surface sampler, the “Waterbug” which can sample from 10m deep and vary buoyancy for longer in-situ analysis contributes to robotics and mobile sensors. Finally, we designed and built an Unmanned Aerial System for Fire Fighting (UAS-FF), which successfully ignited over 150 acres of prescribed fire during two field tests and is the first autonomous robot system for this application. Advisers: Carrick Detweiler and Carl Nelson