Developing a Technology Plan Within the Small Rural School District

Technology in education is currently a topic of much interest and study due to the fact that the future demands a work force capable of functioning in the Information Age. This study was designed to help small rural school districts formulate a technology plan which would enable them to procure the necessary technological components and resources essential to incorporating technology into the learning environment. A survey was conducted of the superintendents in Edwards, Gallatin, Hardin, Pope, Saline, Wabash, Wayne, and White counties in Southern Illinois. This survey endeavored to determine the components of a technology plan. Major findings were sought in the areas of mission statements and objectives, types of technology to be included in a plan, staff development, and resources in developing the technology plan. At the conclusion of the study, guidelines for developing a technology plan were established as an available resource to the superintendents within the eight county region

Developing a Technology Plan Within the Small Rural School District

Technology in education is currently a topic of much interest and study due to the fact that the future demands a work force capable of functioning in the Information Age. This study was designed to help small rural school districts formulate a technology plan which would enable them to procure the necessary technological components and resources essential to incorporating technology into the learning environment. A survey was conducted of the superintendents in Edwards, Gallatin, Hardin, Pope, Saline, Wabash, Wayne, and White counties in Southern Illinois. This survey endeavored to determine the components of a technology plan. Major findings were sought in the areas of mission statements and objectives, types of technology to be included in a plan, staff development, and resources in developing the technology plan. At the conclusion of the study, guidelines for developing a technology plan were established as an available resource to the superintendents within the eight county region

Mercury in the environment

Problems in assessing mercury concentrations in environmental materials are discussed. Data for situations involving air, water, rocks, soils, sediments, sludges, fossil fuels, plants, animals, foods, and man are drawn together and briefly evaluated. Details are provided regarding the toxicity of mercury along with tentative standards and guidelines for mercury in air, drinking water, and food

F100(3) parallel compressor computer code and user's manual

The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft multiple segment parallel compressor model has been modified to include the influence of variable compressor vane geometry on the sensitivity to circumferential flow distortion. Further, performance characteristics of the F100 (3) compression system have been incorporated into the model on a blade row basis. In this modified form, the distortion's circumferential location is referenced relative to the variable vane controlling sensors of the F100 (3) engine so that the proper solution can be obtained regardless of distortion orientation. This feature is particularly important for the analysis of inlet temperature distortion. Compatibility with fixed geometry compressor applications has been maintained in the model

A Hierarchial Neural Network Implementation for Forecasting

In this paper, a hierarchical neural network architecture for forecasting time series is presented. The architecture is composed of two hierarchical levels using a maximum likelihood competitive learning algorithm. The first level of the system has three experts each using backpropagation and a gating network to partition the input space in order to map the input vectors to the output vectors. The second level of the hierarchical network has an expert using fuzzy ART for producing the correct trend coming from the first level. The experiments show that the resulting network is capable of forecasting the changes in the input and identifying the trends correctl

Responsibilities of Washington Industrial Arts Teachers for Classroom Budgetary and Financial Procedures

The study will attempt to show the present methods employed by industrial arts instructors in the school districts of the state of Washington in establishing (1) the industrial arts department budget, (2) various systems of collecting or handling money received from students in industrial arts courses, and (3) various disbursing methods or policies

A soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator, BAY 41-8543, preserves pulmonary artery endothelial function in experimental pulmonary embolism

Background: BAY 41-8543 reduces pulmonary vascular resistance and right ventricle injury in experimental PE. Objective: Test if BAY 41-8543 protects pulmonary artery (PA) endothelial function in PE. Methods: PE was induced (anesthetized, Sprague-Dawley rats, 25 µm polystyrene microspheres, 1.95 million/100g, IV) with BAY 41-8543 (50 ug/kg, IV) or solvent treatment. Controls had vehicle for microspheres. Rings isolated from primary PA branches (5hr. PE) were contracted (phenylephrine, 10-6M) and dilation was endothelium-dependent (acetylcholine, 10-7M – 10-5M) or with BAY 41-8543 (10-8M – 10-6M). Oxidant stress was assessed: PA tissue 4-hydroxynoneal (4-HNE) immunohistochemistry; plasma malondialdehyde (MDA). Other Control rings received red blood cell (RBC) lysate. Results: PE inhibited dilation to acetylcholine vs. Control (dose x group interaction p=0.001), while dilation to BAY 41-8543 was minimally changed. PE raised plasma hemoglobin (30-fold, p=0.003), 4-HNE stain and plasma MDA (2.2-fold, p=0.009). Treating PE rats with BAY 41-8543 reduced plasma hemoglobin, 4-HNE and MDA to levels not different from Control. Dilation to acetylcholine significantly improved in PE + BAY 41-8543 rats vs. PE (dose x group interaction p=0.04). Addition of RBC lysate to Control rings reduced dilation to acetylcholine, while BAY 41-8543 responses remained strong. Conclusion: PE caused PA endothelial dysfunction, elevated plasma hemoglobin and oxidant stress. Treating rats with BAY 41-8543 lowered plasma hemoglobin, oxidant stress and endothelial dysfunction in PE. Treating isolated rings with BAY 41-8543 bypassed endothelial dysfunction with PE or RBC lysate

Political Corruption and Corporate Risk-Taking

We use variation in corruption convictions across judicial districts in the US to examine the relationship between political corruption and risk-taking of public firms. Firms headquartered in regions with high levels of political corruption have lower total risk and lower idiosyncratic risk on average. Further analysis shows that corruption tends to encourage firms to pursue risk-decreasing investments, lower the riskiness of their operations, and decrease asset liquidity. While managerial ownership is intended to align the interests of managers and shareholders, the presence of corruption appears to encourage undiversified managers to decrease risk-taking. Our evidence is consistent with agency theory and the asset-shielding argument that political corruption discourages managers from taking risks that expose firms to expropriation by politicians, resulting in suboptimal corporate policies

Algorithmic aspects of disjunctive domination in graphs

For a graph $G=(V,E)$, a set $D\subseteq V$ is called a \emph{disjunctive dominating set} of $G$ if for every vertex $v\in V\setminus D$, $v$ is either adjacent to a vertex of $D$ or has at least two vertices in $D$ at distance $2$ from it. The cardinality of a minimum disjunctive dominating set of $G$ is called the \emph{disjunctive domination number} of graph $G$, and is denoted by $\gamma_{2}^{d}(G)$. The \textsc{Minimum Disjunctive Domination Problem} (MDDP) is to find a disjunctive dominating set of cardinality $\gamma_{2}^{d}(G)$. Given a positive integer $k$ and a graph $G$, the \textsc{Disjunctive Domination Decision Problem} (DDDP) is to decide whether $G$ has a disjunctive dominating set of cardinality at most $k$. In this article, we first propose a linear time algorithm for MDDP in proper interval graphs. Next we tighten the NP-completeness of DDDP by showing that it remains NP-complete even in chordal graphs. We also propose a $(\ln(\Delta^{2}+\Delta+2)+1)$-approximation algorithm for MDDP in general graphs and prove that MDDP can not be approximated within $(1-\epsilon) \ln(|V|)$ for any $\epsilon>0$ unless NP $\subseteq$ DTIME$(|V|^{O(\log \log |V|)})$. Finally, we show that MDDP is APX-complete for bipartite graphs with maximum degree $3$