PRESERVATION OF ETDs ON NDLTD Version 1.0

Theses and dissertations published at a university are important research resources. ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) are simply the theses and dissertations published in electronic form (e.g., in PDF). Many universities are implementing a requirement that theses and dissertations be submitted in electronic form, thus making it easier for other people to access these works. These ETDs typically are archived on a server at each local university. We have developed a mirroring system which will store additional copies of remote ETDs, and thus will preserve and enhance access to them. The local archive of ETDs will be updated regularly. If someday the university (Publisher) fails to provide access to one of its ETDs or an ETD copy is corrupted, the user will still have access to another copy of ETD. The above system will be used for NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations). NDLTD is an initiative to encourage the creation of ETDs by student authors, and to make ETDs easily accessible to students via World Wide Web, thus improving graduate education. There are currently over 150 members in NDLTD. Users can browse or search ETDs through the NDLTD website. The NDLTD website also provides a union catalog to search for ETDs. The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) is dedicated to solving problems of digital library interoperability. OAI has developed a metadata harvesting protocol to support streaming of metadata from one repository to another, ultimately to a provider of user services such as browsing, searching, or annotation. An OAI harvester implements the OAI protocol for metadata harvesting. We use an OAI harvester to harvest metadata about ETDs and then a simple web crawler is used to get the actual data and store it on a local machine. This ensures that we have a local copy of data even if the publisher of data is somehow unable to provide us with data. Our OAI harvester harvests metadata, which was not harvested since the last time it was run. Hence, updating the mirror site is easily accomplished. This is a very effective scheme, which can be used to mirror any collection of data, provided the collection has an associated OAI server

Teachers\u27 Support in Implementing the Standards for Mathematical Practice

Teachers\u27 support in implementing the standards for mathematical practice has been an area of study since the implementation of the Common Core state standards initiative. The research problem was a gap in the literature regarding what teachers perceive as the supports needed to implement the Common Core standards for mathematical practice in the classroom. The Common Core initiative\u27s standardized educational reform goal is to better prepare students for career and college readiness in the United States. Fidelity in implementation is essential to the success of the reform. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore what teachers perceive as the supports needed to implement the Common Core standards for mathematical practice in the classroom. The conceptual framework of this study was the interconnected model of professional growth. Twelve middle school mathematics teachers participated in semistructured interviews to provide data on their use of the standards and their perception of support needs. The data collected was analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The results of the study indicated a reported gap in practice regarding the use of the standards from the teachers’ account. They further identified the need for formal training to understand better and use the standards. The support teachers seek is to have training that can allow them to learn more about the purpose of the standards and training that can be adapted to their needs based on their current practices and experiences. The research findings can help with the fidelity of implementation, and possibly influence social change by assisting teachers in using best practices to prepare students for college and career readiness in mathematics

A Deeper Look at Leo IV: Star Formation History and Extended Structure

Photometric study of the structure and star formation history of the Leo IV dwarf galaxy. --author-supplied descriptio

Embracing Common Core Standards for Mathematical in Secondary Mathematical Practice

Teachers' support in implementing the standards for mathematical practice has been an area of study since the implementation of the Common Core state standards initiative. The research problem had a gap in the literature regarding what teachers perceive as the supports needed to implement the Common Core standards for mathematical practice in the classroom. The Common Core initiative's standardized educational reform goal is to better prepare students for career and college readiness in the United States. Fidelity in implementation is essential to the success of the reform. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore what teachers perceive as the supports needed to implement the Common Core standards for mathematical practice in the classroom. Twelve middle school mathematics teachers participated in semistructured interviews to provide data on their use of the standards and their perception of support needs. The conceptual framework of this study was the interconnected model of professional growth. The results of the study indicated a reported gap in practice regarding the use of the standards from the teachers’ account. They further identified the need for formal training to understand better and use the standards. The support teachers seek is to have training that can allow them to learn more about the purpose of the standards and training that can be adapted to their needs based on their current practices and experiences. The research findings can help with the fidelity of implementation, and possibly influence social change by assisting teachers in using best practices to prepare students for college and career readiness in mathematics. Keywords: Common core, college readiness, fidelity, mathematics instruction, college career readiness DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-8-02 Publication date:March 31st 202

Clinical outcomes of ankle fractures in sub-Saharan Africa:a systematic review

Purpose Ankle fractures may cause disability and socioeconomic challenges, even when managed in a high-resource setting. The outcomes of ankle fractures in sub-Saharan Africa are not widely reported. We present a systematic review of the patient-reported outcomes and complications of patients treated for ankle fractures in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods Medline, Embase, Google Scholar and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched, utilising MeSH headings and Boolean search strategies. Ten papers were included. Data included patient demographics, surgical and non-surgical management, patient-reported outcome measures and evidence of complications. Results A total of 555 patients with ankle fractures were included, 471 of whom were followed up (range 6 weeks–73 months). A heterogenous mix of low-quality observational studies and two methodologically poor-quality randomised trials demonstrated mixed outcomes. A preference for surgical management was found within the published studies with 87% of closed fractures being treated operatively. A total of five different outcome scoring systems were used. Most studies included in this review were published by well-resourced organisations and as such are not representative of the actual clinical practice taking place. Conclusion The literature surrounding the clinical outcomes of ankle fractures in sub-Saharan Africa is sparse. There appears to be a preference for surgical fixation in the published literature and considering the limitations in surgical resources across sub-Saharan Africa this may not be representative of real-life care in the region

Environmental tipping points and food system dynamics: Main report

First paragraph: Environmental tipping points occur when there are step changes in the way the biophysical world works – whether loss of soil fertility, collapse of a fishing stock, or sudden changes in weather patterns, such as those that caused the grasslands in North Africa to become deserts, 6000 years ago. These non-linear shifts arise following a critical degree of change, resulting from either many small cumulative changes or one large shock, “tipping” the system over a threshold and into a new stable state. Entering an alternative stable state is associated with a change to system function, usually being difficult to reverse or “tip” back into the original state. Increasingly we recognise that human-environment interactions are affecting the likelihood that critical thresholds for tipping points will be crossed, leading to step-changes in the provision of environmental goods and services, and impacting upon food security