Best Selling Books by Jonathan Thomas

Tim, Oliver, and Emilia are the top students at their school for the gifted. They have dedicated their entire lives to science and the rules of physics. Now they have been trapped in a world where the laws of physics don''t apply, and the only way home is to abandon logic and embrace what it means to be children. To make matters worse, something is looking for them, something that feeds on fear and wants nothing more than to keep them trapped forever.

The boxing term "gloves off"--frequently used as a metaphor to characterize brutal political campaigns and post-9/11 military interrogation--aptly describes the subtle aggressions in American popular culture that Sara Greenberger Rafferty lays bare. Blurring the lines between two and three dimensions, Rafferty attaches her wall-mounted works using custom-painted screws that break up the images. She also deploys cracked paint resembling viscous bodily fluids, further "wounding" the objects. Over the past decade, Rafferty has referenced the language, gestures, and props associated with stand-up comedy. This exhibition includes a new large-scale work entitled "Jokes on You," featuring images of ephemera from the collections of the National Museum of American History, which was part of Rafferty''s study during her Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. Index cards from the Phyllis Diller "Gag File," scanned and recontextualized by Rafferty, underscore the trauma associated with cultural mores that assert control over women''s bodies, such as marriage and consumerism.

With so many students attending summer programs, it is remarkable that there is little research available aiming to investigate achievement differences in participants versus non-participants. This study examined the place of a summer program within a school district budget and curriculum. The study was designed to better understand the achievement gains, or lack thereof, of students who were invited to a summer program in one Northeast school district. The research design attempted to provide a better understanding of how the summer program impacted reading achievement of students who attended the program. The study compared the reading achievement of students who attended the summer program to the reading achievement of students who were invited to the summer program, but did not attend. The results of the study revealed there was a statistical difference in the test scores of the students who attended the summer reading program compared to those that did not attend. That statistical difference showed that students who attended the program scored higher on the formative reading assessments than did students who did not attend the program during the October assessment. Also, it was discovered that students who attended the summer reading program maintained their difference in reading achievement level over the course of the school year, in between October and May. It was concluded that attending the summer reading program set forth a difference in reading achievement that was maintained throughout the school.

The basic tenets of gametogenesis are conserved among metazoans. After lineage commitment, germ cells proliferate, complete meiosis, and then differentiate into gametes capable of fertilization. In the mouse, spermatogenesis begins at approximately postnatal day (P) 3-4, as prospermatogonia transition into distinct populations of spermatogonia. Some prospermatogonia become spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) that provide a consistent source of gametes throughout the male reproductive lifespan. The remaining prospermatogonia proliferate and directly differentiate (without going through an SSC stage) in response to retinoic acid (RA) to eventually enter meiosis at P10. The pathways and cellular mechanisms that direct this critical cell fate decision are poorly defined. This dissertation summarizes the results of an examination of the cellular and molecular changes that occur downstream of RA signaling that direct prospermatogonia at P0-2 to transition to differentiating spermatogonia at P3-4. The results support a novel mechanism by which RA directs spermatogonial differentiation during spermatogenesis.

Kristopher is the new kid at his school. He''s being teased on a daily basis. Will he let the teasing stop him from living his dream?

Soil is a heterogenous mixture, an accumulation of material from a particular place generated over time. Its components, be they grains, molecules, or microorganisms, are collaborators, working together to support the emergence of something new. It is with the idea of soil in mind, of complex and productive mixtures, that material about a small charter school in New Jersey, the School for the Renewal of Soil (SRS) was collected and is presented here. The school''s mission, ''education for a hopeful, sustainable future'' is infused in much of what they do, and was the primary reason it was chosen as the focal site for this study. The heart of this inquiry, the idea explored throughout the words that follow, is the belief that schooling has an important role to play as people look for ways to foster sustainable communities, that is, places that are socially just and ecologically sound. Accompanying this belief, and inseparable from it, is a concern: that schooling, as it is now, is part of the mechanism that transmits and reproduces a set of beliefs, or root metaphors, that underlie both the mistreatment of people and of the e/Earth. This work begins by naming these root metaphors, exploring some of their sources and manifestations, and discussing the role of education in their dissemination and, potentially, their disruption. Soil, a metaphor for complex, messy, placed collaborations is introduced, and is used to frame both how material about SRS was collected and how it is offered here. A collection of stories about the school is then presented -- a complex mixture of distinct, but collaborative pieces of writing. These stories are generative: they produce questions and ideas and offer opportunities to explore important connections between sustainability and schooling. Specifically, the school''s curricula, explicit, implicit, and null, are imbued with e/Earth and various aspects, from class content to school practices and administrative structure, challenge a hierarchical, value-laden view of the world. In addition to these findings, questions are raised and ideas are explored related to a school practice that influenced curricular decisions and left students without essential social and historical context during a class fieldtrip. In conclusion, the author explores his own teaching over the past year and wonders why, despite a strong commitment to bringing these ideas into his classroom, it was so difficult to do. In the midst of this wondering, the school''s mission, ''education for a hopeful, sustainable future,'' emerges again -- this school-wide commitment provides a structure that allows teachers to create and deliver earthen curriculum that challenges root metaphors and hierarchies, and connects the students with the land.

"3D printing is the process of creating three-dimensional objects using an automated additive manufacturing process. The 3D printing process has been used with materials such as metals and polymers, but application with cement based materials for the construction industry has yet to be developed. In this research, two main problems were investigated for printing cement based composite materials: extrudability and tensile reinforcement. Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) was studied as an internal reinforcing system to increase tensile/flexural strength. First, FRC was studied to investigate mechanical properties and use of fibers from waste tires as an environmentally friendly option. A reference mixture with no fibers, three mixtures with manufactured steel fibers, three mixtures with recycled steel fibers, and a hybrid mixture were studied. Three-point bending, compression, and modulus of elasticity tests were performed. In addition, three mixtures were made for cast and printed beams to compare the effect of printing process on fiber orientation and strength. An automated extrusion device was developed for printing and to quantitatively analyze extrusion. Test methods were developed to investigate blockage and extrusion force. Particle size, rheology, nozzle diameter, and extrusion speed were evaluated. Results showed that fibers improves flexural performance and recycled fibers provide a similar benefit to manufactured fibers. Printing fibers improved fiber orientation and post-crack properties. Different cracking mechanism were found when printing versus casting beams. The developed extrusion tests provided a successful way to quantify the extrudability. It was found that the extrusion force and energy depend on nozzle size, yield stress, and extrusion speed"--Abstract, page iii.

My thesis is about my experience designing the set for fall 2018 production of A Midsummer Night''s Dream in Randall Theater, Tomlinson in Temple University. It will explain how I started with the design from reading the script to the final step of the production. Being deaf helped me to visualize the concept of the scenic design for the play. I learned so much about communication with the director and creative team. The chapter one explains the production meeting with the director, where we shared our ideas for the design of the scenic. Chapter two explains my research and inspiration, progressing from rough sketches to final color model set. Chapter three explains how we started to build and paint the set from drafting and paint elevations. It also outlines the progress of building and painting in the black box theatre. It will also briefly explain how we created props such as the flower, and the technical rehearsals. Chapter 4 explains about my evaluation of the set such as what it would need to work on or fix and how proud I was with my work. Chapter 5 is a reflection on this production and my experience in the graduate program. Appendices include research pictures for inspiration, drafting, production pictures, renderings, white model, color models, resume, headshot, technical rehearsal notes, director''s concept and previous productions I designed from first 2 years.

This paper examines the main issues involved in translating domestic bankruptcy procedures to the sovereign context. It considers some of the principles by which domestic bankruptcy procedures operate, and the extent to which they apply to international lending. Two recent proposals are considered in more detail, that of Krueger (A New Approach to Sovereign Debt Restructuring) and that of Pettifor (ch. 9/11, Resolving International Debt Crises - the Jubilee Framework for International Insolvency). The paper also considers the question of the ex ante effects of a procedure which makes default less costly, and concludes that despite a negative impact on the ability to borrow, the overall welfare effect need not be negative.