Performance Pressure and Resource Allocation in Washington

Based on interviews with state, district, and school officials, explores how performance pressures have changed resource allocation decisions. Examines reform goals and how Washington's finance system impedes efforts to link resources to student learning

Outcome Measures for Mild Balance and Cognitive Decline in a Pre-Old Adult: A Case Report

Background and Purpose. Early detection and treatment of age-related decline, particularly balance and cognition, are increasingly being emphasized in current research. However, the majority of research on older adults focuses on participants who are 65 years and older. For individuals who are 60-64 years old, this is an age range where they may or may not be considered an older adult. This poses a problem applying the results of these studies to pre-old adults to accurately diagnose, measure and classify risk in the areas of cognition and balance. Case Description. The patient is a 61-year-old woman with a clinical diagnosis of osteoporosis. She has had 5 falls and near-falls in the past year. She also experiences memory problems, which sometimes affects her ability to plan and organize her schedule. She is otherwise well, with no limits to participation. Outcomes Assessment. Frequently used clinical tools to assess for mild balance and cognitive deficits were performed in order to detect diagnosis and/or classify risk. A total of 14 tools related to balance and falls, and 4 tools related to cognition were chosen. Results. Of the assessment tools used, only the Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini BESTest), High Level Mobility Assessment Test (HiMAT), and the Falls Efficacy Scale- International (FES-I) were able to identify and classify risk of fall and/or balance deficits. Of the cognitive tools performed, only the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) produced abnormal results, suggesting cognitive decline. Conclusions. Many of the frequently used clinical assessment tools were unable to identify falls history and balance deficits in this patient. In view of the lack of sensitivity in balance assessment tools in pre-old adults and the multiple factors associated with falls risk, it is difficult to conclusively determine if she does have balance deficits and to quantify her risk of future falls. Cognitive screening in this patient suggests that an algorithmic approach using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the MoCA may be effective in screening for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). More research should be directed towards the development and validation of sensitive instruments to detect mild balance deficits and screening for MCI, especially in the pre-old adult

The Astronomy of Harry Potter

No abstract availabl

The Environmental Dependence of the Incidence of Galactic Tidal Features

In a sample of 54 galaxy clusters (0.04<z<0.15) containing 3551 early-type galaxies suitable for study, we identify those with tidal features both interactively and automatically. We find that ~3% have tidal features that can be detected with data that reaches a 3-sigma sensitivity limit of 26.5 mag arcsec^-2. Regardless of the method used to classify tidal features, or the fidelity imposed on such classifications, we find a deficit of tidally disturbed galaxies with decreasing clustercentric radius that is most pronounced inside of ~0.5R_200. We cannot distinguish whether the trend arises from an increasing likelihood of recent mergers with increasing clustercentric radius or a decrease in the lifetime of tidal features with decreasing clustercentric radius. We find no evidence for a relationship between local density and the incidence of tidal features, but our local density measure has large uncertainties. We find interesting behavior in the rate of tidal features among cluster early-types as a function of clustercentric radius and expect such results to provide constraints on the effect of the cluster environment on the structure of galaxy halos, the build-up of the red sequence of galaxies, and the origin of the intracluster stellar population.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in AJ. For a brief video explaining the key results of this paper, see http://www.youtube.com/user/OSUAstronom

Changing tradition: New frontiers in spelling instruction : a developmental spelling word study workshop

The purpose of this project is to create a three day workshop focused on a word study curriculum that is based on the developmental theory of spelling. The audience for this workshop would be elementary teachers (first through fifth grade) who are interested in developing a spelling curriculum that is based on current research and individual student needs. The workshop would introduce current research and teach teachers how to analyze student spelling errors. It would also focus on three main questions for developing a word study curriculum: How do I assess and evaluate students?; How do I group and manage students?; and What are daily classroom procedures and instructional practices? The workshop will include hands-on activities and time for teachers to begin designing their own word study curriculum

App for Adult Migrant Program

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Daryl R. Privott on April 18, 2020

Critical Early Childhood Mathematics For Children of Color

Early Childhood mathematics education often focuses only on counting, cardinality, and pattern recognition. Through a university/school partnership, we detail how a veteran prekindergarten teacher of color, working in a school serving a community of color in the United States, utilized democratic and inquiry-based early childhood pedagogical frameworks to mathematically empower her 4 and 5-year-old students. In this project session, we focus on the impact that a critical approach to mathematics education had on this veteran teacher’s school and practice, with reflective discussion led by the teacher herself

Palatability of teff grass by horses

Most forages commonly used to feed horses have potential detriments including blister beetles or excessive fiber concentrations. Teff grass (T), a warm-season annual forage, has the potential to be a good alternative for horses because of its lack of observed disorders. Our objective was to compare preference by horses for T harvested under different conditions with that of bermudagrass (B) harvested at two maturities. Six different forages were evaluated: T harvested at the late vegetative stage (TLV), at late bloom but that incurred 33 mm of rainfall between mowing and baling (TLBR), with caryopsis visible (TES), or at soft dough (TSD), and B harvested at late vegetative (BLV) and mid-bloom (BMB) growth stages. Five mature horses were used in a balanced incomplete block design where each horse received a different combination of 4 forages each day for 6 d. The 4 different forages were suspended in hay nets in each corner of each stall, and each hay was offered at 50% of the average daily hay consumption measured during a 12-d adaptation period. Forage preference as measured by individual forage dry matter (DM) consumption (kg and % of total DM consumed across the 4 forages) was greatest (P \u3c 0.05) from TLV followed by BLV. Preference (kg and % of total DM consumed) of BMB was greater (P \u3c 0.05) than that of TMBR, TES, and TSD, which did not differ from each other (P ≥ 0.63). Therefore, within a specific growth stage, horses apparently preferred teff grass, but effects of maturity and rainfall had a more dramatic effect on preference by horses than forage species

New world courtships: transatlantic alternatives to companionate marriage

The first scholarly study to recover a geographically diverse array of eighteenth and nineteenth-century countertexts that actively compare culturally diverse marriage practices from Canada to the Caribbean --Provided by publisher. Rights Information Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License © Trustees of Dartmouth Collegehttps://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/dartmouth_press/1021/thumbnail.jp

Cysteine Dioxygenase Enzyme Activity and Gene Expression in the Dimorphic Pathogenic Fungus \u3ci\u3eHistoplasma capsulatum\u3c/i\u3e Is in both the Mold and Yeast Morphotypes and Exhibits Substantial Strain Variation

In the dimorphism (mold/yeast) Histoplasma capsulatum (Hc) literature are reports that yeast (the so-called pathogenic form) uniquely expresses a cysteine dioxygenase (CDO, approx. 10,500 dal) activity which the mold morphotype (the so-called saprophytic soil form) does not express (C.F., Kumar et al., Biochem 22, 762, 1983). This yeast-specific CDO activity is postulated to play a critical role in the mold-to-yeast shift. A number of years ago, our lab isolated the gene encoding the Hc cysteine dioxygenase (CDO1, Genbank accession AY804144) and noted significant expression in the mold morphotype of several Histoplasma strains and also determined that the predicted protein would be over double the 10,500 dal reported by Kumar et al. Our report demonstrates (in the class 1 Downs strain, the class 2 G271B strain and two Panamanian strains, 184AS and 186AS) that the CDO1 gene is expressed in both the mold and yeast morphotypes and both morphotypes show significant CDO activity. Furthermore, we show via a FLAG-tag analysis that the expressed protein is approximately 24.7 ± 2.4 kd, in agreement with the putative protein sequence (determined from cDNA sequence) which yields 23.8 kd and is consistent with most other eukaryotic CDO enzymes. Additionally, we demonstrate that intracellular cysteine levels are actually significantly higher in the mold form of the two Panamanian strains, 184AS and 186AS, equal in both mold and yeast in the class 1 Downs strain and significantly higher in yeast of the more pathogenic class 2 G217B strain