Resource Allocation and Competition: A Case Study of Charter and Traditional Public School Spending in the New Orleans Educational Marketplace

School reforms in New Orleans have brought sweeping changes to the way public schools are governed and managed, and to the way in which students are assigned to public schools. Non-profit charter school boards now govern over 90% of public schools, and families are able to choose the public school in which they enroll. Competition within the system of schools is expected to compel schools to differentiate themselves from each other in order to attract and retain students. School-level budgetary data provide one source of information with which to examine the priorities schools establish as they seek to differentiate themselves. There is a significant body of research comparing the resource allocation patterns in traditional public schools to those in charter schools. Often, however, these comparisons are drawn between schools that do not operate in a single educational marketplace. Rather, they compare schools within different geographic areas that may not be in direct competition with each other. Many of the studies also fail to distinguish between non-network charter schools and those run by centralized charter school networks. This quantitative case study uses the New Orleans public school marketplace as a critical case for examining how governance and management structures impact school spending. Specifically, the study aims to identify, describe, and understand whether and how school-level resource allocation patterns differ across schools of different governance and management structures, and how those patterns might be influenced by market competition. This research uses linear regression models to estimate differences in resource allocation between traditional public and charter schools in the educational marketplace, after controlling for student and school-level characteristics. School expenditures are examined over a variety of expense categories and human resource indicators. Data from New Orleans suggest that privatization and decentralization have a significant impact on how resources are allocated at the school level. Importantly, however, no significant spending differences emerge when data are aggregated to the level of the local education agency. In other words, spending in the traditional public school district, charter management organizations, and single site charter schools appear similar, irrespective of governance and management structure of those organizations

All-healing weapon: the value of Oplopanax horridus root bark in the treatment of type 2 diabetes

While Indigenous Peoples live in an incredibly diverse geographical array with significant differences in language, culture, and history, there is a shared experience of an increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance as compared to the dominant or colonizer populations. Indigenous patients with type 2 diabetes face multiple barriers to disease self-management: poverty, chronic stress, cultural oppression, limited access to healthy food or exercise, inadequate housing and limited resources to pay for medications. Epidemiological models of type 2 diabetes disregard the social determinants that play a prominent role in the disease’s predominance among the world’s Indigenous Peoples, creating a chasm between health care providers and the sick. This division can be reconciled through the recognition of cultural and spiritual connotations in disease management and the incorporation of sacred foods and medicinal plants in diabetes treatment care programs. For millennia, Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest have administered the inner bark of the stalk and roots of Oplopanax horridus (devil’s-club) to treat illness and disease; including difficult childbirth, skin infections, cancer, lung hemorrhages, tuberculosis, and diabetes. Devil’s-club is mentioned in written records of oral traditions and ethnographies, confirming the presence of this plant as a powerful symbol of medicine. These oral traditions, rooted in the culture for hundreds of years, serve as testimonies that speak to the sacred and medicinal value of this plant. The antidiabetic capability of this prickly shrub has been the object of Western pharmacological inquiry since 1938 when scientists recorded the extract to effect hypoglycemia in rabbits, validating the use of devil’s-club tea to remedy symptoms of diabetes. These findings propelled my independent research in which I gathered and prepared the root bark to be extracted and tested against hyperglycemia in vitro by conducting a series of tests, especially focusing on the extracts’ activity with the digestive enzymes that break down carbohydrates into the simple sugars used by the body for energy. By synthesizing a discussion of Indigenous Knowledge systems, ethnopharmacological inquiry, and biochemical analysis, I will demonstrate that the inner bark of Oplopanax horridus (devil’s-club) contains antidiabetic activity as affirmed by oral testimonies of Pacific Northwest Indigenous Peoples

Development of a Procedural Analysis for Quantifying Safety Hazards Encountered in Non-Repetitive, Extended Time Work Cycles

Engineerin

Sensitivity of Second Harmonic Generation to Space Charge Effects at Si(111)/Electrolyte and Si(111)/SiO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e/Electrolyte Interfaces

The potential dependence in the surface second harmonic response from hydrogen terminated n‐Si(111) and oxidized n‐Si(111) surfaces has been examined in aqueous NH4F and H2SO4 solutions. The relative phase of the nonlinear response as measured by rotational anisotropy experiments is found to be highly sensitive to the presence of the oxide and the field applied across the Si(111)/oxide/electrolyte interface. These observations are attributed to field effects within the space–charge region of the semiconductor which vary with the presence and thickness of the insulating oxide layer on the Si(111) surface

The long-time chronoamperometric current at an inlaid disk electrode

Existing analytical solutions for the long-time chronoamperometric current response at an inlaid disk electrode are restricted to diffusion-limited currents due to extreme polarisation or reversible kinetics at the electrode surface. In this article, we derive an approximate analytical solution for the long-time-dependent current when the kinetics of the redox reaction at the electrode surface are quasi-reversible and the diffusion coefficients of the oxidant and reductant are different. We also detail a novel method for calculating the steady-state current. We show that our new method encapsulates and extends the existing solutions, and agrees with numerically simulated currents. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

DC-electric-field-induced and low-frequency electromodulation second-harmonic generation spectroscopy of Si(001)-SiO2_2 interfaces

The mechanism of DC-Electric-Field-Induced Second-Harmonic (EFISH) generation at weakly nonlinear buried Si(001)-SiO$_2$ interfaces is studied experimentally in planar Si(001)-SiO$_2$-Cr MOS structures by optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy with a tunable Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser. The spectral dependence of the EFISH contribution near the direct two-photon $E_1$ transition of silicon is extracted. A systematic phenomenological model of the EFISH phenomenon, including a detailed description of the space charge region (SCR) at the semiconductor-dielectric interface in accumulation, depletion, and inversion regimes, has been developed. The influence of surface quantization effects, interface states, charge traps in the oxide layer, doping concentration and oxide thickness on nonlocal screening of the DC-electric field and on breaking of inversion symmetry in the SCR is considered. The model describes EFISH generation in the SCR using a Green function formalism which takes into account all retardation and absorption effects of the fundamental and second harmonic (SH) waves, optical interference between field-dependent and field-independent contributions to the SH field and multiple reflection interference in the SiO$_2$ layer. Good agreement between the phenomenological model and our recent and new EFISH spectroscopic results is demonstrated. Finally, low-frequency electromodulated EFISH is demonstrated as a useful differential spectroscopic technique for studies of the Si-SiO$_2$ interface in silicon-based MOS structures.Comment: 31 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, figures are also available at http://kali.ilc.msu.su/articles/50/efish.ht

Reputation Uncorked: A Study of the California Wine Industry

This study investigates the concept of reputation exploring how producers’ reputations are created and maintained within the California wine industry. Through conducting 30 interviews with those involved in the production of wine, I conclude that pricing, scarcity, status, and relationships are the most significant factors. Stable pricing serves as an indicator of quality and helps retain the loyalty of customers. Scarcity send signals of quality. Status encompasses a producer’s identity, defined by the producer’s unique story and enhanced by great grapes and a great winemaker. Lastly, relationships between producers and consumers are crucial for success. When producers offer a positive and memorable experience to customers through tours and tastings, they create the grounds for a loyal relationship. The consumers serve as the producers’ marketing tools within their social networks and producers benefit from the consumers’ loyalty