Vouchers: A Legitimate Tool for Immediate Improvement in Student Academic Achievement in Urban Schools?

Based on the growing debate surrounding vouchers, and the varying positions on the effect they may or may not have on student performance, this paper hopes to establish what immediate effects the use of a voucher system has on the academic performance of high school students in an urban setting. Does the use of a voucher offer a legitimate solution to raising student performance or does the voucher simply serve as a means of moving students from one school to another? In order to determine the legitimacy of a current voucher program, data will be collected that is directly linked to student academic performance. The importance of this study is to determine the validity and efficacy of voucher programs currently in place

A Survey of the Keyboard Prelude

A study of the prelude, the oldest form of idiomatic music for keyboard instruments, offers insight into the heart of piano music. This thesis, a survey of the genre, traces the evolution of the prelude from its roots in the organ improvisations of the fifteenth century to the present century. Although the paper deals exclusively with piano preludes in the chapters after Preludes of J. S. Bach, the chapters devoted to the organ and harpsichord preludes reveal crucial information necessary to enlightened appreciation of the development of the genre. Originally a purely functional piece, the prelude allowed the performer to limber his fingers or to evaluate the intonation of his instrument. Identified as unattached preludes, these pieces were antecedents to any other pice of the same key. By the time of the Baroque Period (1600), preludes were usually paired with fugues or used as preliminary suite movements; thus they have been described as attached preludes. It was Chopin who was responsible for the development of the independent prelude, a character piece. This thesis discusses each of these three types of preludes; several musical examples are included. The appendix lists selected preludes for piano, and the bibliography provides additional information on the subject

Some Public Reactions to Procedural Methods

An address delivered by Judge Michael L. Fansler of the Indiana Supreme Court at the mid-winter meeting of the Indiana State Bar Association, January 25, 1941

Simulation and Analysis of the Band-Agile Coaxial Backward-Wave Oscillator

Simulation of a Band-Agile Coaxial Backward-Wave Oscillator (BACoRBWO) pro- duced a device that is tunable to operate in two distinct bands: L-band (1.4GHz) at 1.9GW with an efficiency of 26%, and C-band (4.2GHz) at 1.1GW with an efficiency of 15%. The device does not perform as expected based on existing literature; how- ever the end result is not necessarily undesirable. The need for further exploration of the discrepancies between contemporary literature and our findings notwithstanding, this device operates well enough of its own accord to merit additional study

Molecular and Device Engineering Towards the Study of Potential Anti-MRSA Agents

At the intersection of bio-device engineering and bio-pharmaceutical studies, our project involved the design of a hydraulic manifold to be used in isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), with the ultimate goal of using ITC to study the thermodynamic binding parameters of potential anti-Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) agents to our drug target, Sortase A. The hydraulic manifold redesign included the analysis of materials such as high density polyethylene (HDPE), polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE, ‘Teflon’), and polycarbonate as well as the implementation of a new construct of the manifold itself. Sortase A is a transpeptidase found in Gram-positive bacteria and catalyses the attachment of virulent surface proteins to the cell wall by recognizing a specific amino acid motif (LPXTG). The ability of the bacterium to communicate with and infect host cells is linked to the Sortase A mechanism. We have identified pyridostigmine bromide as the primary drug target based upon the analysis of ITC data

On Board With Design

Review of On Board With Design, Reviewed December 2017 by Craig Fansler, Preservation Librarian ZSR Library Special Collections & Archives, Wake Forest University [email protected]

An Edition of Verse and Solo Anthems by William Boyce

The English musician William Boyce was known as an organist for the cathedral as well as the Chapel Royal, a composer of both secular and sacred music, a director of large choral festivals, and the editor of Cathedral Music, the finest eighteenth-century edition of English Church music. Among Boyce's compositions for the church are many examples of verse and solo anthems. Part II of this thesis consists of an edition of one verse and three solo anthems selected from British Museum manuscript Additional 40497, transcribed into modern notation, and provided with a realization for organ continuo. Material prefatory to the edition itself, including a biography, a history of the verse and solo anthem from the English Reformation to the middle of the eighteenth century, a discussion .of the characteristics of Boyce's verse and solo anthems, and editorial notes constitute Part I

Establishing native plants in crested wheatgrass stands using successional management

Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.) is a nonindigenous perennial grass that was introduced to North America to improve the condition of degraded rangelands. It has proven to be a successful revegetation species due to its superior ease of establishment, strong competitive ability, and ability to tolerate grazing. However, crested wheatgrass is criticized for its ability to form monotypic stands that result in low plant diversity. The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of crested wheatgrass control methods on native plant establishment using a successional-based approach. I also looked at the effects crested wheatgrass control methods and revegetation had on crested wheatgrass and cheatgrass density and cover, and on soil nitrate, ammonium and water contents. I hypothesized that control methodologies and revegetation would decrease crested wheatgrass density and cover, increase the presence of native species, increase cheatgrass and annual forb density and cover, and initially increase soil nitrate, ammonium and water contents. In 2005, at one site in southeastern Oregon, 10 hectares of an established crested wheatgrass stand was treated with two control methods at two intensities: partial mechanical control (once disked), full mechanical control (twice disked), partial herbicide control (1/4 recommended rate of glyphosate), full herbicide control (full recommended rate of glyphosate), and an undisturbed control. In October 2005, one half of each plot was seeded with 10 native species, representing three different functional groups. These same procedures were repeated again in 2006. In June of 2006 and 2007, the density and cover of crested wheatgrass, cheatgrass, seeded species, and any weedy species phenologically competitive with the seeded species was sampled. In the first year the density of seeded species was: 30.1 plants m-2 in the partial mechanical control treatment; 43.9 plants m-2 in the full mechanical control treatment; 21.0 plants m-2 in the partial chemical control treatment; 22.0 plants m-2 in the full chemical control treatment; and 18.2 plants m-2 in the undisturbed treatment. By the second year all treatments were similar in seeded species density to the undisturbed treatment at 18.2 plants m-2, suggesting that control strategies did not increase the density of seeded species. Crested wheatgrass density increased and cover increased with the control treatments. Cheatgrass and the annual forb alyssum (Alyssum alyssoides (L.)) increased in density and decreased in cover with the control treatments. Soil ammonium concentrations and water content increased the first year following control treatments and decreased in the second year. Soil nitrate concentrations increased the second year following control treatments. I believe that by using a successional approach to management, land managers can direct plant community dynamics to increase the establishment of native species and meet resource agency goals.Keywords: revegetation, cheatgras

Two-photon fluorescence laser sheet imaging for high contrast visualization of atomizing sprays

Two-photon excitation laser induced fluorescence (2p-LIF) is used here for imaging an optically dense atomizing spray. The main advantage of the approach is that very little fluorescence interference originating from multiple light scattering is generated. This leads to high image contrast and a faithful description of the imaged fluid structures. While point measurement 2p-LIF imaging is a well-known approach used in life science microscopy, it has, to the best of the authors' knowledge, never been tested for analyzing liquid structures in spray systems. We take advantage of this process, here, at a macroscopic scale (textblackslashsim 5textblackslashtimes 5$5texttimes5 mm field of view) by imaging the central part of a light sheet of 10 mm height. To generate enough 2p-LIF signal at such a scale and with single-shot detection, ultra-short laser pulses of 25 fs, centered at 800 nm wavelength and having 2.5 mJ pulse energy, have been used. The technique is demonstrated by imaging a single spray plume from a 6 hole commercial Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) system running at 200 bar injection pressure. The proposed approach is very promising for detailed analysis of liquid breakups in optically dense sprays and can be used for other fluid mechanics related applications

The S troke H yperglycemia I nsulin N etwork E ffort ( SHINE ) trial protocol: a randomized, blinded, efficacy trial of standard vs. intensive hyperglycemia management in acute stroke

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102726/1/ijs12045.pd