Faculty Perceptions of Teacher Professionalism in Christian Schools

Able school administrators understand that teachers are their most valuable asset. If Christian schools are to effectively serve the families who entrust their children to their care, teachers must demonstrate both professional competency and godly character. This study was an investigation of faculty perceptions of teacher professionalism at ten Christian schools in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. An online survey of 24 items was completed by 230 teachers (males=30; females=200). The survey instrument was a modified version of Tichenor and Tichenor’s (2009) four dimensions of teacher professionalism. Data were analyzed using a multivariate analysis-of-variance (MANOVA) with gender as the independent variable. Results demonstrated statistically significant variance in totals on 18 of 24 individual items, three of the four dimensions, and on the total score

Visualizing data mining results with the Brede tools

A few neuroinformatics databases now exist that record results from neuroimaging studies in the form of brain coordinates in stereotaxic space. The Brede Toolbox was originally developed to extract, analyze and visualize data from one of them --- the BrainMap database. Since then the Brede Toolbox has expanded and now includes its own database with coordinates along with ontologies for brain regions and functions: The Brede Database. With Brede Toolbox and Database combined we setup automated workflows for extraction of data, mass meta-analytic data mining and visualizations. Most of the Web presence of the Brede Database is established by a single script executing a workflow involving these steps together with a final generation of Web pages with embedded visualizations and links to interactive three-dimensional models in the Virtual Reality Modeling Language. Apart from the Brede tools I briefly review alternate visualization tools and methods for Internet-based visualization and information visualization as well as portals for visualization tools

Alternative monetary constitutions and the quest for price stability

This article reviews the various means through which governments and central banks have sought to guarantee long-run price stability. Finn Kydland and Mark Wynne argue that monetary regimes or standards can all be viewed as more or less successful attempts to overcome the well-known time-consistency problem in monetary policy. The classical gold standard, which prevailed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, can be interpreted as a monetary policy rule that delivered long-run price stability. The fiat monetary standard adopted by countries following the abandonment of gold allows greater discretion on the part of monetary policymakers and has been characterized by greater long-run price instability. Countries have tried through a variety of means to regain the benefits of price stability that prevailed under the earlier gold standard by limiting the scope for discretionary actions on the part of central bankers. A close analogy exists between the gold standard and the currency board arrangements proposed for many emerging market economies in recent years.Money

The generation of a Gaussian random process in a position parameter

Analog computer method for approximating stationary Gaussian random process depending only on position paramete

Indentation of a floating elastic sheet: Geometry versus applied tension

The localized loading of an elastic sheet floating on a liquid bath occurs at scales from a frog sitting on a lily pad to a volcano supported by the Earth's tectonic plates. The load is supported by a combination of the stresses within the sheet (which may include applied tensions from, for example, surface tension) and the hydrostatic pressure in the liquid. At the same time, the sheet deforms, and may wrinkle, because of the load. We study this problem in terms of the (relatively weak) applied tension and the indentation depth. For small indentation depths, we find that the force--indentation curve is linear with a stiffness that we characterize in terms of the applied tension and bending stiffness of the sheet. At larger indentations the force--indentation curve becomes nonlinear and the sheet is subject to a wrinkling instability. We study this wrinkling instability close to the buckling threshold and calculate both the number of wrinkles at onset and the indentation depth at onset, comparing our theoretical results with experiments. Finally, we contrast our results with those previously reported for very thin, highly bendable membranes.Comment: 24 pages, revised version submitted to Proc. R. Soc.

Ireland's great depression

We argue that Ireland experienced a great depression in the 1980s comparable in severity to the better known and more studied depression episodes of the interwar period. Using the business cycle accounting framework of Chari, Kehoe and McGrattan (2005), we examine the factors that lead to the depression and the subsequent recovery in the 1990s. We calculate efficiency, labor, investment and government wedges, and evaluate the contribution of each to the downturn and subsequent recovery. We find that the efficiency wedge on its own can account for a significant portion of the downturn, but predicts a stronger recovery in output. The labor wedge also helps account for what happened during the depression episode. We also find that the investment wedge played no role in the depression.

D-branes and Strings as Non-commutative Solitons

The non-commutative geometry of a large auxiliary $B$-field simplifies the construction of D-branes as solitons in open string field theory. Similarly, fundamental strings are constructed as localized flux tubes in the string field theory. Tensions are determined exactly using general properties of non-BPS branes, and the non-Abelian structure of gauge fields on coincident D-branes is recovered.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figures, harvmac; v2: crucial sign error in vortex solution corrected, additional comments on electric flux tube, references adde

Field boundary habitats and their contribution to the area of semi-natural habitats on lowland farms in east Galway, western Ireland

peer-reviewedSustainable agriculture and the provision of environmental public goods are key deliverables for European farming and food production. Farmland biodiversity, cultural landscapes, soil functionality and climate stability are among the environmental public goods provided through agriculture. Future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) direct payments are intended to be more targeted at the provision of these agricultural deliverables. Field boundaries are an example of such deliverables. They are widespread features that have both environmental and aesthetic functions in farmed landscapes. However, research on their variety, density and contribution to semi-natural habitat cover on farms in Ireland is lacking. This study investigates the diversity and density of all field boundary habitat types on 32 lowland farms in east County Galway, western Ireland. A total of 286km of field boundaries were surveyed across six study sites. Five types of field boundary habitats were recorded. The density of field boundaries on the farms studied was high and could have positive implications for delivery of environmental public goods and sustainable farming metrics. In more intensively farmed areas, field boundaries were the only remaining semi-natural habitat on some farms highlighting the need to retain, and improve the ecological quality, of these features. The condition of one field boundary type (hedgerows) was also investigated in further detail. While the density of field boundaries was high on many of the surveyed farms, we found that the hedgerows on these farms were not necessarily in good condition for wildlife