The influence of Parent Portal Access on Student Efficacy and Parental Involvement

This study examined the influence of Parent Portal access on student achievement and parental involvement defined as home-to-school communication. The population was students in sixth grade in a suburban district in New Jersey. Academic achievement was defined through GPA at the end of sixth grade and performance on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) in both Math and Language Arts Literacy in Grade 6. Attendance was measured using attendance rates. Parental involvement was measured by the number of parent logins to Parent Portal. Multiple regression analyses, backward entry method, were used to determine the influence of Parent Portal access on both achievement and attendance. Chi square analysis was used to analyze the influence of Parent Portal access on both home-to-school communication and parent-to-student communication. The results of this study indicate that Parent Portal access has a statistically significant effect on achievement as defined by GPA but not on NJ ASK 6 scores or attendance. It was also determined that communication between parent and teacher as well as parent and student was influenced by access to and use of Parent Portal

The influence of Parent Portal Access on Student Efficacy and Parental Involvement

This study examined the influence of Parent Portal access on student achievement and parental involvement defined as home-to-school communication. The population was students in sixth grade in a suburban district in New Jersey. Academic achievement was defined through GPA at the end of sixth grade and performance on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) in both Math and Language Arts Literacy in Grade 6. Attendance was measured using attendance rates. Parental involvement was measured by the number of parent logins to Parent Portal. Multiple regression analyses, backward entry method, were used to determine the influence of Parent Portal access on both achievement and attendance. Chi square analysis was used to analyze the influence of Parent Portal access on both home-to-school communication and parent-to-student communication. The results of this study indicate that Parent Portal access has a statistically significant effect on achievement as defined by GPA but not on NJ ASK 6 scores or attendance. It was also determined that communication between parent and teacher as well as parent and student was influenced by access to and use of Parent Portal

On inferring isoprene emission surface flux from atmospheric boundary layer concentration measurements

We examine the dependence of the inferred isoprene surface emission flux from atmospheric concentration on the diurnal variability of the convective boundary layer (CBL). A series of systematic numerical experiments carried out using the mixed-layer technique enabled us to study the sensitivity of isoprene fluxes to the entrainment process, the partition of surface fluxes, the horizontal advection of warm/cold air masses and subsidence. Our findings demonstrate the key role played by the evolution of boundary layer height in modulating the retrieved isoprene flux. More specifically, inaccurate values of the potential temperature lapse rate lead to changes in the dilution capacity of the CBL and as a result the isoprene flux may be overestimated or underestimated by as much as 20%. The inferred emission flux estimated in the early morning hours is highly dependent on the accurate estimation of the discontinuity of the thermodynamic values between the residual layer and the rapidly forming CBL. Uncertainties associated with the partition of the sensible and latent heat flux also yield large deviations in the calculation of the isoprene surface flux. Similar results are obtained if we neglect the influence of warm or cold advection in the development of the CBL.We show that all the above-mentioned processes are non-linear, for which reason the dynamic and chemical evolutions of the CBL must be solved simultaneously. Based on the discussion of our results, we suggest the measurements needed to correctly apply the mixed-layer technique in order to minimize the uncertainties associated with the diurnal variability of the convective boundary layer

Composition, distribution and supposed origin of mineral inclusions in sessile oak wood - consequences for microdensitometrical analysis

SEM and light-microscopical observations, supported by chemical microanalysis with an EDXA system, revealed that light-saturated pixels observed in X-ray negatives of sessile oak (Quercus petraea Liebl.) wood were caused by inorganic deposits present inside multiseriate ray and axial parenchyma cells. Calcium oxalate crystals, silica grains and amorphous granules with varied mineral compositions have been identified. The wood strips of three out of six sampled trees contained measurable amounts of mineral inclusions which were quantified using image analysis. Based on the variations of mineral content observed between trees and within and between annual rings of the same tree, some hypotheses were formulated concerning the factors involved in the formation of inorganic deposits in oak wood. Their occurrence varies depending on the mineral concerned and seems to be controlled largely by a tree effect. The time of formation appears to coincide with a shifting of the oak wood’s functions as a result of heartwood formation processes (inter-annual scale) or changes in leaf phenology and climate (intra-annual scale). In addition, the technical consequences of their presence as well as their effects on wood density measurements through microdensitometry are discussedComposition, distribution et origine supposée d’inclusions minérales dans le bois de chêne sessile – conséquences pour l’analyse microdensitométrique. Des observations à l’aide de microscopes électronique à balayage et optique, appuyées par des analyses élémentaires au moyen d’un système EDXA, ont révélé que les points-images saturés en niveau de gris, constatés dans les négatifs de radiographies de bois de chêne sessile (Quercus petraea Liebl.), étaient dus à des dépôts inorganiques présents à l’intérieur des cellules parenchymateuses des rayons ligneux multisériés et du parenchyme axial. Des cristaux d’oxalate de calcium, des grains de silice et des granules amorphes ayant des compositions minérales variées ont été identifiés. Des barrettes de trois sur six arbres échantillonnés contenaient des quantités mesurables d’inclusions minérales qui ont été quantifiées par analyse d’images. En se basant sur les variations du contenu en dépôts minéraux observées entre arbres ainsi qu’à l’intérieur d’un arbre, aux niveaux intra- et intercerne, quelques hypothèses ont été avancées concernant les facteurs potentiellement responsables de la formation de dépôts minéraux chez le chêne. Leur présence dépend du minéral concerné et semble être contrôlée par un fort effet arbre. L’apparition des minéraux coïncide apparemment avec des changements de fonctions du bois relatifs aux processus de duraminisation (échelle interannuelle) ou correspondant à des évolutions phénologiques ou climatiques (échelle intra-annuelle). Enfin, les conséquences techniques ainsi que les effets de leur présence sur des mesures de la densité du bois par analyse microdensitométrique sont discuté

Vertically coupled microring resonators using one epitaxial growth step and single-side lithography

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Tame Functions with strongly isolated singularities at infinity: a tame version of a Parusinski's Theorem

Let f be a definable function, enough differentiable. Under the condition of having strongly isolated singularities at infinity at a regular value c we give a sufficient condition expressed in terms of the total absolute curvature function to ensure the local triviality of the function f over a neighbourhood of c and doing so providing the tame version of Parusinski's Theorem on complex polynomials with isolated singularities at infinity.Comment: 20 page

Extreme tunability of interactions in a 7^7Li Bose-Einstein condensate

We use a Feshbach resonance to tune the scattering length a of a Bose-Einstein condensate of 7Li in the |F = 1, m_F = 1> state. Using the spatial extent of the trapped condensate we extract a over a range spanning 7 decades from small attractive interactions to extremely strong repulsive interactions. The shallow zero-crossing in the wing of the Feshbach resonance enables the determination of a as small as 0.01 Bohr radii. In this regime, evidence of the weak anisotropic magnetic dipole interaction is obtained by comparison with different trap geometries