Pursuing the Principalship: Factors in Assistant Principals’ Decisions

School administrators who are hired to lead and guide schools and districts must possess a number of characteristics that allow them to become successful leaders. The presence or absence of a strong educational leader can make all the difference in school climate and student achievement (Kelley, Thornton, & Daugherty, 2005). Educational leaders need to be cognizant of what constitutes an effective leader and which characteristics have the most effective impact on student achievement. Alford et al. (2011) stated, while principals are engaged in the managerial tasks of the school, securing the building for safety, ensuring bus routes, student schedules, and the day-to-day management tasks, the instructional needs of the faculty and students compete for attention (p. 29)

Do Resources Matter? The Relationship Between Instructional Expenditures and College Readiness Indicators

Public schools face seemingly endless scrutiny. Educators have experienced an increased level of accountability and demand to graduate students who are college ready or well prepared to enter the workforce. The topic of educational funding is often at the forefront of public discussion and debate in Texas. While policymakers recurrently examine the way public schools have been funded (Fermanich, 2009), school district leaders are forced to unrelentingly evaluate and assess the efficacy and results of instructional programs and performance measures. With the push for college readiness for all students, the topic of funding adequacy has continued to be an issue

An Examination of Student Disengagement and Reengagement from an Alternative High School

Each year, 20% of U.S. students drop out of high school (Balfanz, Bridgeland, Bruce, & Fox, 2013). There is an abundance of research on student behaviors from researchers who explored the process of student disengagement from school (Bowers, Sprott, & Taff, 2013; Lessard, Butler-Kisber, Fortin, Marcotte, Potvin, & Royer, 2008), however there is a lack of understanding of why students disengage in the first place. This study was conducted to examine students’ perceptions of the effect of an alternative high school on their decision to either graduate or drop out. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with ten former students and three staff members from an alternative high school. Half of the former student participants who reengaged by attending the alternative high school graduated and half of them did not. The former students perceived that relationships between staff members and students led to the success of the alternative high school. They believed that push-out factors at the traditional high school caused their disengagement, and that they exercised autonomy in their choices of whether pull-out factors would impact their decision to graduate or drop out. The former students shared that personalized instruction and peer-to-peer learning encouraged them to feel ownership for their learning and taught them to respect fellow students and teachers. Data from the teacher and administrator interviews provided additional information about the workings of the alternative high school

A True Threat to First Amendment Rights: United States v. Turner and the True Threats Doctrine

The Supreme Court has carved out several exceptions to what qualifies as protected speech under the First Amendment, including true threats and incitement. The majority rule in the circuit courts is that speech qualifies as a true threat if the speech would be interpreted by an objectively reasonable person as an intent to commit serious harm or injury. Most courts apply a true threats analysis to cases involving a charge under 18 U.S.C. § 115(a)(1)(B). Furthermore, most courts do not require that the speaker actually intend to carry out the threat in order to be convicted. Although courts have generally treated the doctrines as separate, the Court in United States v. Turner agreed with the Government\u27s argument that being charged with threatening federal judges under § 115 is essentially being charged with incitement. Therefore, this Note argues that the Turner Court should have applied the true threats doctrine as it was applied in the seminal Supreme Court case, Watts v. United States, in the relevant Second Circuit cases, United States v. Kelner and United States v. Malik, and in accordance with the statutory scheme established by other circuit court cases dealing with charges under § 115. This Note further analyzes how issues presented by the Turner case might have been resolved if the Second Circuit had applied the proper true threats analysis. Finally, this Note calls for reversal and remand of the Turner case by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and for Supreme Court clarification of issues left unresolved by the circuit court

Setting Sights on Campus Safety: The Possibility of Firearms on Campus and Campus Violence Prevention

PK-12 school leaders spend a sizeable amount of time discussing, facilitating, and contemplating school safety and security. University administrators do as well, although their discussion and contemplation in some states has been scattered with controversies of allowing weapons on university campuses. School administrators seek to keep weapons out; many university administrators do also, although the legislatures of multiple states have allowed their presence on university campuses

An empirical analysis of the effects of climate variables on national level economic growth

The influence of climate on economic growth is a topic of growing interest. Few studies have investigated the potential role that climate hazards and their cumulative effects have on the growth prospects for a country. Due to the relatively stationary spatial patterns of global climate, some regions and countries are more prone to climate hazards and climate variability than others. This study uses a precipitation index that preserves the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation and differentiates between precipitation maximums (such as floods) and minimums (such as droughts). The authors develop a year and country fixed effects regression model to test the influence of climate variables on measures of economic growth and activity. The results indicate that precipitation extremes (floods and droughts) are the dominant climate influence on economic growth and that the effects are significant and negative. The drought index is associated with a highly significant negative influence on growth of growth domestic product, while the flood index is associated with a negative influence on growth of gross domestic product and lagged effects on growth. Temperature has little significant effect. These results have important implications for economic projections of climate change impacts. In addition, adaptation strategies should give new consideration to the importance of water resources given the identification of precipitation extremes as the key climate influence on historical growth of gross domestic product.Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Science of Climate Change,Global Environment Facility,Climate Change Economics,Climate Change Impacts

The Persistence and Attrition of Online Learners

Student retention is a growing concern as more university programs move toward online learning. With a continual increase in online program choices, it is important to recognize course elements that affect the success of online learners (Kane, Shaw, Pang, Salley, & Snider, 2015). University professors need strategies to provide assistance for students and to decrease the number of students who fail to progress in online programs. It is important that faculty support students, but just as important that universities provide time, opportunities, and resources for such support to occur

Socio-ecological drivers of resource selection and habitat use by moose in Interior Alaska

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016Sustainably managing wildlife with diverse utilization values is one of the greatest challenges facing contemporary wildlife management. These challenges can be amplified under changing environmental and socio-economic conditions. In Alaska, boreal forest systems are experiencing rapid change as a result of climate warming. Alaska’s boreal region has warmed twice as rapidly as the global average, affecting a host of processes including an increase in wildfire frequency, extent, and severity. Wildfire is the most common ecological disturbance in the Alaskan boreal forest and an important driver of landscape heterogeneity, burning on average 1 to 2 million acres per year. Fire severity is a particularly important factor dictating the regeneration of deciduous species, and one that can influence the overall quality of habitat for herbivores, such as moose (Alces alces). However, the relationships between the availability and duration of biomass production and moose habitat selection are largely unknown. Additionally, the effects of fire on wildlife resources in Alaska can have important consequences for boreal social-ecological systems as well. Fire-related changes to the community composition of forest stands would likely affect the densities of species that human communities rely on for hunting and trapping. In Interior Alaska, where natural wildfire is the primary means of increased browse production for moose, managers may want to consider incorporating burns into management plans while paying particular attention to hunter accessibility. However, an increase in hunter activity into moose habitat could result in changes to moose distribution and activity patterns near trails and roads. To examine these questions I utilized telemetry data from 26 moose along with methods in spatial ecology, plant-animal interactions, resource selection and human dimensions of wildlife research to predict the influence of an ecological disturbance (fire) and an anthropogenic disturbance (hunter activity) on moose habitat use. I used dynamic Brownian bridge movement models (dBBMM) in conjunction with browse assessment surveys to examine how fire severity, via its control over vegetation composition, forage production and nutritional quality, affect habitat use patterns of moose across their seasonal home ranges and core use areas. To assess the effects of hunter activity on moose habitat use, I created fine-scale stepselection models to test whether habitat selection and movement patterns were affected by spatio-temporal variation in risk from hunting activity. Additionally, from August-October, I used a camera trap array to collect field data on human activity (off-road vehicles, automobiles, 4x4 trucks, dirt bikes, and hunters afoot) together with the RandomForests algorithm to create high-resolution hunter distribution models. Finally, to integrate my research within a socialecological framework, I examined the interactions between wildfire, forage production and hunter access on management scenarios overtime. In winter, moose preferred low-severity sites more than high and moderate-severity sites, but in summer, moose selected for high-severity sites. Forage biomass production ranged from 62 to 243 kg/ha/yr across all sites during winter within the Hajdukovich Creek Burn, but production and availability varied depending on fire severity and browse species. These results indicate that differing distributions of wildfire severity across a landscape can create a dynamic, mosaic of habitat patches that may optimize and extend the value of burns over time for moose. I found that while moose selected habitat closer to trails and roads, they also avoided areas with more hunting activity. Finally, my management scenarios provide a framework for managers to adapt goals and actions to changing conditions that can affect moose-hunter systems. I recommend that wildlife conservation and management decisions consider these methods as we seek to sustainably manage wildlife for future generations during a time of rapid socio-ecological change in Alaska.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Applications of resilience theory in management of a moose hunter system in Alaska -- Chapter 3. Fire-mediated patterns of habitat use by male moose in boreal Alaska -- Chapter 4. Connecting moose movement and habitat selection to spatio-temporal variation in risk during the hunting season -- Chapter 5. General conclusions

The chemical compatibility of thermoplastic hose used in umbilicals

The effects of solvents and temperature on thermoplastic hose for umbilical service are reported in this paper. Accelerated ageing tests were undertaken and analysed by gravimetric, mechanical and calorimetric measurements. Water and methanol were found to cause physical degradation of the polymer, mainly at high temperatures, whereas xylene caused chemical degradation, which increased with increasing temperature. The activation energy for the alpha-process within polyethylene (PE) was found to be 96.3 kJ mol(-1) for un-aged PE and increased to 106.2 kJ moll after 64 days of ageing in water at 100degreesC. The changes in activation energy will be used to make a life-time prediction of umbilical line