The Application of Self-Instruction to Elementary School Music

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of self-instruction on achievement in elementary school music at the fourth grade level. In order to study this effect, the investigator will seek answers to the following questions: Which methods of self-instruction are most applicable to children at the fourth grade level? What concepts are basic to the understanding of music? What studies have been concluded to define the range of conceptual developments among fourth graders? What materials and activities are most effective in achieving the desired results based on the above considerations? Is I.Q. a significant factor in musical achievement in this particular investigation? Can musical achievement be directly affected by the addition of self-instruction

Review of \u3ci\u3eSandhill and Whooping Cranes: Ancient Voices over America\u27s Wetlands\\u3c/i\u3e by Paul Johnsgard

Paul Johnsgard has long been captivated by wild cranes and their unique vocalizations, courtship dances, and wide-ranging migrations. As a scientist and an admirer, Johnsgard has watched their migrations and behaviors for decades as hundreds of thousands of cranes staged each spring by the central Platte River, not far from his home in Lincoln, Nebraska. As an artist, he has skillfully captured their courtship dances and other behaviors in his exceptional line drawings. And, as an author, he has written extensively on their ecology in three earlier books: Cranes of the World (1983), Those of the Gray Wind: The Sandhill Crane (1986), and Crane Music: A Natural History of Cranes (1991). Much has happened relative to North American cranes in the 20 years since Johnsgard published Crane Music, including increased crane abundance in many areas and the completion of multiple studies on crane ecology and conservation. This new crane book serves as an update to Crane Music and provides the reader with many useful resources for observing and learning about cranes

Second Twenty-five Year Index: Volumes 26–50, 1994–2018

The first 50 years of the Prairie Naturalist reside on the shelves of libraries and personal collections. The articles and notes published over those years provide invaluable knowledge about Great Plains biota, communities, conservation, and landscape ecologies. Awareness of the wealth of information in those 50 print volumes has been limited, relying on references from other published papers or the limited number of articles that have been made available online by authors. This index serves as resource for individuals to digitally tap into the information published since 1994. This index, together with the first 25-year index, serves to complement the growing number of Prairie Naturalist volumes that are being available online at the University of Nebraska’s Digital Commons (https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tpn/). This index to the Prairie Naturalist is the third to be completed. The first, covering the first 10 volumes was compiled by Virginia Steinhaus. That material was incorporated by editor Dr. Paul Kannowski into the second index that covered the first 25 years of the Prairie Naturalist (1969-1993). That index is available online as a searchable PDF at the University of Nebraska’s Digital Commons under 1997, the year it was published (https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tpn/index.4.html#year_1997). This index covers the second 25 years, 1994–2018. Along with regular articles, notes, and book reviews, it also includes two special issues: Lesser Prairie Chickens (2000, 32[3]) and the Proceedings of the 23rd North American Prairie Conference (2014, 42[Special Issue]). Journal editors during 1994–2018 include Dr. Paul Kannowski (1969–1995), Dr. Elmer Finck (1996–2009), and Dr. Christopher Jacques (2009–2018). The journal is a product of the Great Plains Natural Science Society, formerly the North Dakota Natural Science Society. The society’s name was changed in 2004 to better reflect the greater breadth of regional interests and journal content. The structure used here follows that established in the first 25-year index, with some modifications. The Author Index provides full citations for articles, notes, book reviews, and editorials; the end of that section includes Corrections, cross-referenced to the original paper. The following sections provide shorter citations (author, year, volume:pages) for readers to refer back to the Author Index. Books Reviewed are listed by book author, year, and book title, with a short citation to the book review in the Author Index. The Subject Index was developed using key words and additional information representative of papers’ content. Some decisions to include additional subject words were subjective but always focused on core findings and study objectives. Locations included in the Geographic Index represent the location of actual field work or findings. The Taxonomic Index includes scientific and common names of taxa studied. One of the challenges in compiling this section was the changes in taxonomy since the papers were published. A cross-reference is provided from the original taxonomy to the current taxonomy, as determined in January 2022 with online authorities, to the best of my ability using information in the original article. I have benefited from the contributions of various individuals during the development of this index. Larry Igl provided constructive comments during development and final drafts. I appreciate the assistance of several individuals who reviewed the Taxonomic Index sections or provided valuable guidance: Andre DeLorme (invertebrates), Keith Geluso (amphibians, reptiles, mammals), David Lambeth (birds), and Steve Chipps (fishes)

Patterns of Habitat Use by Whooping Cranes During Migration: Summary from 1977-1999 Site Evaluation Data

We used site evaluation data collected during 1977–1999 to examine patterns of habitat use by whooping cranes (Grus Americana) during migration through the United States portion of the Wood Buffalo–Aransas flyway. We examined characteristics of 3 types of stopover habitats: 1) roost sites (n = 141 records), 2) feeding sites (n = 306), and 3) dual-use sites (i.e., where observer recorded cranes as using a site for both roosting and feeding (n = 248). Results in spring were influenced by the large number of records from Nebraska (\u3e 67% of spring records) and in fall by frequent observations on Salt Plains and Quivera National Wildlife Refuges and Cheyenne Bottoms State Wildlife Area. Palustrine wetlands were the most commonly recorded wetland system (68.8%) used by whooping cranes; riverine wetlands accounted for 21.6% and lacustrine wetlands 9.6% of site evaluation records. Riverine sites were common only in Nebraska, where they accounted for 59.0% of roost sites. All social groupings of whooping cranes used palustrine wetlands for both roosting and feeding, whereas most of the whooping cranes found on riverine roosts were single cranes or nonfamily groups. Most wetlands used by cranes were seasonally or semipermanently flooded. Observers found whooping cranes on a wide range of wetland sizes. River widths ranged from 36 to 457 m and averaged 227 ± 88 (SD) m. Maximum depths of wetlands on which observers saw cranes ranged from 3 to 305 cm and averaged 51 ± 41 cm. Specific sites within wetlands where observers recorded cranes feeding or roosting averaged 18 ± 11 cm (range 3&#;-61 cm). Observers described most wetlands as having soft substrates, low shoreline slope (\u3c 5%), and clear or turbid water. Riverine roost sites and dual-use sites were consistent in their lack of vegetation, but palustrine sites varied in types of emergent vegetation and their distribution. Feeding sites were largely upland crops, with lower occurrence of seasonal or permanent wetlands, or upland perennial cover. At dual-use sites, cranes were most often found in palustrine permanent or seasonally flooded wetlands. In spring, observers recorded cranes most frequently feeding on row-crop stubble, with lesser use of small grain stubble and green crops. In fall, observers found cranes frequently on green crops, small-grain stubble, and row-crop stubble. Woodland habitat occurred adjacent to \u3e 70% of riverine roost sites but adjacent to \u3c 8% of palustrine roost sites. All riverine roosts and about half of palustrine roost sites also had adjacent upland cover; upland cropland was common for both. The most common habitats adjacent to feeding and dual-use sites were cropland and upland perennial cover. About two-thirds of feeding sites were \u3c 0.8 km from palustrine roost sites, whereas over half of riverine roost sites were \u3e 1.2 km from feeding sites. More than two-thirds of sites where observers found cranes were \u3c0.8 km from human developments; 58% of observations were \u3e 0.8 km from utility (power or phone) lines. Visibility varied by site use and wetland system. Private ownership accounted for \u3e 80% of feeding sites used by whooping cranes; federal ownership accounted for most ownership of roost sites. More than 90% of roost sites that were under federal or state ownership were considered secure, whereas security of roosts on private lands was evenly split between secure and threatened. These observational data provide further insights into habitats used by migrant whooping cranes, but further investigations into habitat use patterns are needed

Factors involved in the initial employment of African-American graduating seniors at a predominantly white university.

This study was designed to investigate factors involved in the initial employment of African-American graduating seniors at a predominantly white university. More specifically, this study focused on examining the job activities which contributed to African-American seniors securing entry-level professional positions and the role played by the Mather Career Center in the job search of graduating seniors. Questionnaires were sent to the graduating seniors of the Class of 1992. From the ninety seven respondents, a subset of twenty four were selected for indepth interviews. Theses interviews provided the primary data for the study. Data was obtained by the use of two instruments. A survey was constructed using a Likert-type scale combined with open and closed form questions to assess how many job-seeking activities the seniors participated in at the Mather Career Center. One thousand questionnaires were distributed; ninety-seven were returned completed. The questionnaire included four categories: Self-Development and Marketing Skills, Networking System, Career Planning and Placement, and Post-Placement Information. Sixteen questions focusing on the individual experiences of twenty four African-American and white graduating seniors were used to determine those factors that may have been involved in securing an entry-level professional position. The findings of this study revealed that several factors are a consideration for sampled African-American graduating seniors in their job search activities: networking with relatives and other support systems, lack of support from faculty, focus on race and ethnicity, heavy course and workloads, and spirituality. A significant difference was found between African-American participants and white participants in the amount of hours worked during their college careers. One important finding is that, while 66.6% of the African-American graduating seniors of this study did take advantage of the Mather Career Center, most relied upon external resources outside of the University, such as their support systems to assist with actual employment. The study suggests that there must be a collaborative effort among faculty, administrators, students, parents and the private and public sectors to facilitate a smoother transition for graduates in becoming future professionals

An Evaluation of Phonetic Spell Checkers

In the work reported here, we describe a phonetic spell-checking algorithm integrating aspects of Soundex and Phonix. We increase the number of letter codes compared to Soundex and Phonix. We also integrate phonetic rules but use far less than Phonix where retrieval may be slow due to the computational cost of comparing the input to a large list of transformation rules. Our algorithm aims to repair spelling errors where the user has substituted homophones in place of the correct spelling. We evaluate our algorithm by comparing it to three alternative spell-checking algorithms and three benchmark spell checkers (MS Word 97 & 2000 and UNIX `ispell') using a list of phonetic spelling errors. We find that our approach has superior recall (percentage of correct matches retrieved) to the alternative approaches although the higher recall is at the expense of precision (number of possible matches retrieved). We intend our phonetic spell checker to be integrated into an existing spell checker so the precision will be improved by integration thus high recall is the aim for our approach in this paper

Response of Vegetation in Open and Partially Wooded Fens to Prescribed Burning at Seney National Wildlife Refuge

The health and function of northern peatlands, particularly for fens, are strongly affected by fire and hydrology. Fens are important to several avian species of conservation interest, notably the yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis). Fire suppression and altered hydrology often result in woody encroachment, altering the plant community and structure. Woody encroachment and its effects on biodiversity have become an increasing concern in the conservation and management of plant communities. This study evaluated the effects of spring and summer prescribed burns on the plant community, cover, and structure in open and partially wooded fens at Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Michigan, using a before-after-control-impact design. Paired, 1-hectare blocks were established in two fen areas, C3 and Marsh Creek, and data were collected for 2 years before burning (2006–7) and 3 years after burning (2008–10). We used generalized linear mixed models and ordination to assess differences among four treatments: C3 control, C3 spring burn (May 2008), Marsh Creek control, and Marsh Creek summer burn (July 2008); results from a block burned under drier conditions in July 2007 also are reported. Variables include water depth; litter depth; graminoid height; species richness and diversity; percent cover of plant taxa, mosses, and open area; shrub height, number of patches, and cover; and visual obstruction readings. The 2008 prescribed burns were done under moderate fire conditions, whereas the 2007 summer burn on one block was done under high fire conditions because of prolonged drought. We identified 104 plant taxa over the 5 years and noted differences between C3 and Marsh Creek communities. We examined data for effects of treatment, year, and year × treatment interactions for percent open and the 28 most common taxa. Most differences among treatments were related to natural differences in the plant community and hydrology between the two areas rather than fire effects; year effects were likely related to annual differences in water conditions. We detected few effects of spring burning in C3, even in the same year of burning. In Marsh Creek, most treatment effects were in 2008, when data were collected within 3 weeks of burning. Some fire effects there, however, persisted one to two growing seasons (2009, 2010) and two to three growing seasons in the block burned in the more intense summer 2007 fire. Effects of burning on shrub measures were more apparent on summer-burned blocks, but most measures returned to preburn conditions by 2010. Our results demonstrate the heterogeneity of plant community and environmental conditions of fens within and among years and the interactions of water conditions with burning. The results also demonstrate that neither single spring nor summer burning under moderate fire conditions are effective in setting back woody cover. Maintaining more open conditions in fens may require different approaches to water management, more frequent fires, more aggressive fire management, or a combination of tools to control woody cover

Frontmatter for PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTEENTH NORTH AMERICAN CRANE WORKSHOP, 11-15 January 2017 Chattanooga, Tennessee

List of Previous Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshops: Suggested citation formats PREFACE Memorials: ROBERT H. HORWICH 1940-2017; WILLIAM A. LISHMAN 1939-2017; THEODORE A. BOOKHOUT 1931-2018; JAMES T. HARRIS 1950-2018 CONTENTS Front and back covers The North American Crane Working Group (NACWG) is an organization of professional biologists, aviculturists, land managers, non-professional crane enthusiasts, and others interested in and dedicated to the conservation of cranes and crane habitats in North America. Our group meets approximately every 3 years to exchange information pertaining to sandhill cranes and whooping cranes and occasionally reports about some of the other cranes species. The NACWG held the 14th North American Crane Workshop in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on 12-13 January 2017 preceded on 11 January by a social at the Chattanooga Zoo, and followed by field trips to nearby Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge on 14 January and to Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (near Decatur, Alabama) on 15 January. The field trips coincided with the crane festivals held annually at both sites. Board member David Aborn did an outstanding job with local planning and arrangements. There were 70 registrants. The scientific program consisted of 37 oral and 14 poster presentations on North American cranes. Both field trip locations are major wintering areas for sandhill cranes and whooping cranes, and unusually warm weather resulted in great viewing. The L. H. Walkinshaw Crane Conservation Award, NACWG’s highest honor, was presented to Tom Stehn (Frontispiece). A special Award of Recognition was presented to local resident Ken Dubke, who was instrumental in Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge becoming a major sandhill crane migration stopover and wintering area and in raising historical awareness that led to creation of the Cherokee Removal Memorial. For many years Ken organized the annual Sandhill Crane and Cherokee Heritage Festival. During the NACWG business meeting, members voted to increase the size of the NACWG Board of Directors to 11 members, including a student representative; these currently include President Richard Urbanek, Vice-president Sammy King, Treasurer Barry Hartup, Secretary Daryl Henderson, David Aborn, Tommy Michot, Glenn Olsen, and new members George Archibald, Megan Brown, Paige Smith, and Hillary Thompson. The papers in these Proceedings represent 8 presentations from the workshop and 10 manuscripts submitted later. Abstracts of oral and poster presentations for which a paper is not published here are included at the end of the volume. Papers submitted for publication in the Proceedings are peer-reviewed according to scientific journal standards. We thank the following referees for their contribution to the quality of this volume: Ken F. Abraham, Jeb A. Barzen, David A. Brandt, Daniel P. Collins, Timothy A. Dellinger, Bruce D. Dugger, Taylor A. Finger, David L. Fronczak, Jeremy E. Guinn, Matthew A. Hayes, Jerome J. Howard, Gary L. Ivey, Eileen M. Kirsch, Susan N. Knowles, Anne E. Lacy, James R. Lovvorn, Robert G. McLean, Misty E. McPhee, Kim A. Miller, Neal D. Niemuth, Lovisa Nilsson, Gunter Nowald, Glenn H. Olsen, David Olson, Aaron T. Pearse, Brandon S. Reishus, Lisa A. Shender, Andrew P. Stetter, Thomas V. Stehn, Eva K. Szyszkoski, Josh L. Vest, Scott J. Werner, Brook J. Wilke, Jeffrey R. Wozniak, and Sara E. Zimorski. Daryl S. Henderson and Sara E. Zimorski were instrumental in final editing and proofing. This volume retains use of the genus Grus for 4 crane species (sarus, brolga, white-naped, and sandhill). Until analysis of nuclear DNA supports reclassification, the NACWG will continue to endorse the conclusions of Krajewski et al. (2010, Auk 127:440-452) and Krajewski (2018, Chapter 2 in Whooping Cranes: Biology and Conservation, Academic Press). Krajewski (personal communication, 2016) considers recent reclassification to the genus Antigone to be premature

A Binary Neural Network Framework for Attribute Selection and Prediction

In this paper, we introduce an implementation of the attribute selection algorithm, Correlation-based Feature Selection (CFS) integrated with our k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) framework. Binary neural networks underpin our k-NN and allow us to create a unified framework for attribute selection, prediction and classification. We apply the framework to a real world application of predicting bus journey times from traffic sensor data and show how attribute selection can both speed our k-NN and increase the prediction accuracy by removing noise and redundant attributes from the data

Empreendedorismo social e comercial: iguais, diferentes ou ambos?

O empreendedorismo tem sido o motor que vem impelindo uma boa parcela do crescimento do setor dos negócios, além de ser a força motriz responsável pela rápida expansão desse setor. Neste artigo, oferece-se uma análise comparativa do empreendedorismo comercial e do social, valendo-se de um modelo analítico pre-valecente, proveniente da área de empreendedorismo comercial. Na análise, destacam-se as principais similaridades e diferenças entre essas duas formas de empreendedorismo e apresenta-se um arcabouço para uma abordagem mais sistemática e eficaz do processo empreendedor. Exploram-se as implicações dessa análise de empreendedorismo social tanto para seus praticantes como para seus pesquisadores.O emprendedurismo ha sido el motor que viene impeliendo una buena cuota del crecimiento del sector de negocios, además de ser la fuerza motriz responsable por la rápida expansión de este sector. Este artículo ofrece un análisis comparativo del emprendedurismo comercial y del social, valiéndose de un modelo analítico prevaleciente, proveniente del área del emprendedurismo comercial. El análisis destaca las principales semajanzas y diferencias entre esas dos formas de emprendedurismo y presenta un marco para un abordaje más sistemático y eficaz del proceso emprendedor. Exploramos las implicaciones de este análisis de emprendedurismo social tanto para sus practicantes como para sus investigadores.Entrepreneurship has been the engine propelling much of the growth of the business sector as well as a driving force behind the rapid expansion of the social sector. This article offers a comparative analysis of commercial and social entrepreneurship using a prevailing analytical model from commercial entrepreneurship. The analysis highlights key similarities and differences between these two forms of entrepreneurship and presents a framework on how to approach the social entrepreneurial process more systematically and effectively. We explore the implications of this analysis of social entrepreneurship for both practitioners and researchers