21st Century Workforce Readiness Skills: How Are Students Being Prepared

Throughout history, schools have strived to prepare students for future educational and workplace success. This is made evident through the many federal and state policies enacted. While the specific skills required for careers have changed, the goals of the educational system have not. The 21 Century international workplace requires a generation of skilled workers with specific attributes. To prepare students for gainful employment and to combat the high percentage of high school students who drop out of school unprepared for the workforce, school districts across the country have instituted Career and Technical Education and Industry Certification programs. These programs strive to prepare students for both career and college readiness. In The School District of Palm Beach County, Florida, the 1 lth largest school district in the country, each high school offers varying programs to assist students in their preparation for future educational opportunities and successful careers. Through the lens of The Southern Regional Education Board and Steinberg, several of these programs are evaluated. This study replicates and extends research by Tyrone Bennett (2012) and Kane (2012). The study evaluates the effectiveness in preparing students for the 21st Century workforce by interviewing and surveying District leaders, school-based administrators, teachers and employers. Both career specific skills and general skills necessary for workplace success are evaluated. It is the goal of the researcher that the results of this study be used to guide district-wide improvement of programs to prepare students for the 21st Century workforce

The 1988 Solar Maximum Mission event list

Information on solar burst and transient activity observed by the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) during 1988 pointed observations is presented. Data from the following SMM experiments are included: (1) gamma ray spectrometer; (2) hard x ray burst spectrometer; (3) flat crystal spectrometers; (4) bent crystal spectrometer; (5) ultraviolet spectrometer polarimeter; and (6) coronagraph/polarimeter. Correlative optical, radio, and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) x ray data are also presented. Where possible, bursts, or transients observed in the various wavelengths were grouped into discrete flare events identified by unique event numbers. Each event carries a qualifier denoting the quality or completeness of the observation. Spacecraft pointing coordinates and flare site angular displacement values from sun center are also included

The 1984 - 1987 Solar Maximum Mission event list

Information on solar burst and transient activity observed by the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) during 1984-1987 pointed observations is presented. Data from the following SMM experiments are included: (1) gamma ray spectrometer; (2) hard x-ray burst spectrometer; (3) flat crystal spectrometer; (4) bent crystal spectrometer; (5) ultraviolet spectrometer polarimeter; and (6) coronograph/polarimeter. Correlative optical, radio, and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) x ray data are also presented. Where possible, bursts or transients observed in the various wavelengths were grouped into discrete flare events identified by unique event numbers. Each event carries a qualifier denoting the quality or completeness of the observations. Spacecraft pointing coordinates and flare site angular displacement values from sun center are also included

The 1989 Solar Maximum Mission event list

This document contains information on solar burst and transient activity observed by the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) during 1989 pointed observations. Data from the following SMM experiments are included: (1) Gamma Ray Spectrometer, (2) Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer, (3) Flat Crystal Spectrometer, (4) Bent Crystal Spectrometer, (5) Ultraviolet Spectrometer Polarimeter, and (6) Coronagraph/Polarimeter. Correlative optical, radio, and Geostationary Operational Satellite (GOES) X-ray data are also presented. Where possible, bursts or transients observed in the various wavelengths were grouped into discrete flare events identified by unique event numbers. Each event carries a qualifier denoting the quality or completeness of the observations. Spacecraft pointing coordinates and flare site angular displacement values from sun center are also included

Role stressors, service worker job resourcefulness, and job outcomes: An empirical analysis

This article expands upon previous research on the job resourcefulness construct by examining the influence of role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity and conflict) on job resourcefulness and by examining the influence of job resourcefulness on job satisfaction and intentions to leave the firm. Given the current focus of businesses to ‘‘do more with less’’, the research highlights the importance of role stressors in improving overall organizational efficiency and work outcomes. Drawing from previous work in both hierarchical personality and fit theories, the authors propose that situational determinants play an important role in overall job resourcefulness. An empirical study which utilized data obtained from a financial services institution supports the hypothesized relationships between role stressors, job resourcefulness, and job outcomes. Implications for practitioners and suggestions for future research in the area are discussed

Antivitamin K drugs in stroke prevention.

Among the different subtypes of ischaemic strokes, almost 20 % are of cardiac origin. Different are the causes of cardioembolic stroke, but the most common is the atrial fibrillation, a supraventricular arrhythmia. Appropriate use of antiplatelet drugs and anticoagulants after transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or ischaemic stroke depends on whether the underlying cause is cardioembolic or of presumed arterial origin. Adequate antiplatelet therapy is recommended for secondary prevention after cerebral ischaemia of presumed arterial origin, whether for patients with TIA and ischaemic stroke of cardiac origin, mainly due to atrial fibrillation. Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) are highly effective in preventing recurrent ischaemic stroke but have important limitations and are thus underused. Current guidelines still regard Vitamin K Antagonists at INR 2·0-3·0 to be the standard treatment after cerebral ischaemia of cardiac origin for patients who can tolerate them. In this setting antiplatelet therapy provides an alternative when oral anticoagulation is contraindicated or when patient choice or compliance limits choice of therapy, but is much less effective than VKAs. Recent trial data performed with new anticogulants such as the factor Xa and thrombin inhibitors will need to be taken into account, in order to prevent several of the clinical problems actually related to VKAs use

Posterior parietal cortex guides visual decisions in rats

Neurons in putative decision-making structures can reflect both sensory and decision signals, making their causal role in decisions unclear. Here, we tested whether rat posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is causal for processing visual sensory signals or instead for accumulating evidence for decision alternatives. We optogenetically disrupted PPC activity during decision-making and compared effects on decisions guided by auditory vs. visual evidence. Deficits were largely restricted to visual decisions. To further test for visual dominance in PPC, we evaluated electrophysiological responses following individual sensory events and observed much larger response modulation following visual stimuli than auditory stimuli. Finally, we measured trial-to-trial spike count variability during stimulus presentation and decision formation. Variability sharply decreased, suggesting the network is stabilized by inputs, unlike what would be expected if sensory signals were locally accumulated. Our findings argue that PPC plays a causal role in processing visual signals that are accumulated elsewhere.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTDefining the neural circuits that support decision-making bridges a gap between our understanding of simple sensorimotor reflexes and our understanding of truly complex behavior. However, identifying brain areas which play a causal role in decision-making has proved challenging. We tested the causal role of a candidate component of decision circuits, the rat posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Our interpretation of the data benefitted from our use of animals trained to make decisions guided by either visual or auditory evidence. Our results argue that PPC plays a causal role specifically in visual decision-making, and that PPC may support sensory aspects of the decision, such as interpreting the visual signals so that evidence for a decision can be accumulated elsewhere

PNPLA3 GG Genotype and Carotid Atherosclerosis in Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

BACKGROUND AND AIM: To evaluate if the presence of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with NAFLD, could be related to gene variants influencing hepatic fat accumulation and the severity of liver damage. METHODS: We recorded anthropometric, metabolic and histological data(Kleiner score) of 162 consecutive, biopsy-proven Sicilian NAFLD patients. Intima-media thickness(IMT), IMT thickening(IMT≥1 mm) and carotid plaques(focal thickening of >1.3 mm at the level of common carotid artery) were evaluated using ultrasonography. IL28B rs12979860 C>T, PNPLA3 rs738409 C>G, GCKR rs780094 C>T, LYPLAL1 rs12137855 C>T, and NCAN rs2228603 C>T single nucleotide polymorphisms were also assessed. The results were validated in a cohort of 267 subjects with clinical or histological diagnosis of NAFLD from Northern Italy, 63 of whom had follow-up examinations. RESULTS: Carotid plaques, IMT thickening and mean maximum IMT were similar in the two cohorts, whereas the prevalence of diabetes, obesity, NASH, and PNPLA3 GG polymorphism(21%vs.13%, p = 0.02) were significantly higher in the Sicilian cohort. In this cohort, the prevalence of carotid plaques and IMT thickening was higher in PNPLA3 GG compared to CC/CG genotype(53%vs.32%, p = 0.02; 62%vs.28%, p<0.001, respectively). These associations were confirmed at multivariate analyses (OR2.94;95%C.I. 1.12–7.71, p = 0.02, and OR4.11;95%C.I. 1.69–9.96, p = 0.002, respectively), although have been observed only in patients <50years. Also in the validation cohort, PNPLA3 GG genotype was independently associated with IMT thickening in younger patients only (OR: 6.00,95%C.I. 1.36–29, p = 0.01), and to IMT progression (p = 0.05) in patients with follow-up examinations. CONCLUSION: PNPLA3 GG genotype is associated with higher severity of carotid atherosclerosis in younger patients with NAFLD. Mechanisms underlying this association, and its clinical relevance need further investigations