A study of the determination of silica in the presence of fluorine

The determination of silica in the presence of fluorine has always been accomplished either by difficult and complex analytical procedures or by rapid arbitrary control methods of doubtful precision...Hence, this study was undertaken in order to determine whether a more simple method might be found for the determination of silica in the presence of fluorine --Introduction, page 1-2

Retrospective Analog Year Analyses Using NASA Satellite Data to Improve USDA's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates

The USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) is responsible for monitoring weather and climate impacts on domestic and foreign crop development. One of WAOB's primary goals is to determine the net cumulative effect of weather and climate anomalies on final crop yields. To this end, a broad array of information is consulted, including maps, charts, and time series of recent weather, climate, and crop observations; numerical output from weather and crop models; and reports from the press, USDA attach s, and foreign governments. The resulting agricultural weather assessments are published in the Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin, to keep farmers, policy makers, and commercial agricultural interests informed of weather and climate impacts on agriculture. Because both the amount and timing of precipitation significantly affect crop yields, WAOB often uses precipitation time series to identify growing seasons with similar weather patterns and help estimate crop yields for the current growing season, based on observed yields in analog years. Historically, these analog years are visually identified; however, the qualitative nature of this method sometimes precludes the definitive identification of the best analog year. Thus, one goal of this study is to derive a more rigorous, statistical approach for identifying analog years, based on a modified coefficient of determination, termed the analog index (AI). A second goal is to compare the performance of AI for time series derived from surface-based observations vs. satellite-based measurements (NASA TRMM and other data)

Office Examination of Palatopharyngeal Function

A functional palatopharyngeal valve is es sential for the production of normal speech. Any malfunctioning of this valve, as indi cated by hypernasality, hyponasality, or im paired speech intelligibility, warrants careful examination and diagnosis. For a complete study of the palate and its associated tissues one needs a specialist, but simple procedures for identification of palatopharyngeal dysfunction can be car ried out by the physician in general practice. These procedures include evaluation of speech, visual examination of the palate and nasopharynx, digital palpation of the hard and soft palate, soft tissue x-ray films of the head, and the use of readily obtainable in struments such as a steel mirror, stethoscope, and spirometer. Patients who have inade quate palatopharyngeal function and abnor mal speech should be referred for special examination and treatment. This paper identifies some of the causes of palatopharyngeal dysfunction, describes the procedures which can be used in its detection, and suggests referral sources avail able for special consultation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68141/2/10.1177_000992286800701014.pd

Integrating NASA Satellite Data Into USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board Decision Making Environment To Improve Agricultural Estimates

The USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) is responsible for monitoring weather and climate impacts on domestic and foreign crop development. One of WAOB's primary goals is to determine the net cumulative effect of weather and climate anomalies on final crop yields. To this end, a broad array of information is consulted. The resulting agricultural weather assessments are published in the Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin, to keep farmers, policy makers, and commercial agricultural interests informed of weather and climate impacts on agriculture. The goal of the current project is to improve WAOB estimates by integrating NASA satellite precipitation and soil moisture observations into WAOB's decision making environment. Precipitation (Level 3 gridded) is from the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA). Soil moisture (Level 2 swath and Level 3 gridded) is generated by the Land Parameter Retrieval Model (LPRM) and operationally produced by the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GBS DISC). A root zone soil moisture (RZSM) product is also generated, via assimilation of the Level 3 LPRM data by a land surface model (part of a related project). Data services to be available for these products include GeoTIFF, GDS (GrADS Data Server), WMS (Web Map Service), WCS (Web Coverage Service), and NASA Giovanni. Project benchmarking is based on retrospective analyses of WAOB analog year comparisons. The latter are between a given year and historical years with similar weather patterns and estimated crop yields. An analog index (AI) was developed to introduce a more rigorous, statistical approach for identifying analog years. Results thus far show that crop yield estimates derived from TMPA precipitation data are closer to measured yields than are estimates derived from surface-based precipitation measurements. Work is continuing to include LPRM surface soil moisture data and model-assimilated RZSM

A Study of Attitudes Toward Individualization of Instruction and Beliefs Concerning Experimentalism Before and After Elementary Student Teaching

The problem of this study was to determine what changes, if any, take place in student teachers' attitudes toward individualization of instruction and any changes in their philosophical beliefs concerning Experimentalism, during, or as a result of the student teaching experience

Quality Control Charts in Large-Scale Assessment Programs

There are relatively few examples of quantitative approaches to quality control in educational assessment and accountability contexts. Among the several techniques that are used in other fields, Shewart charts have been found in a few instances to be applicable in educational settings. This paper describes Shewart charts and gives examples of how they have been used to monitor quality in testing programs. Additional areas of application in large-scale educational assessment programs are proposed Accessed 10,392 times on https://pareonline.net from October 19, 2011 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

Government Data and the Invisible Hand

If President Barack Obama\u27s new administration really wants to embrace the potential of Internet-enabled government transparency, it should follow a counter-intuitive but ultimately compelling strategy: reduce the federal role in presenting important government information to citizens. Today, government bodies consider their own Web sites to be a higher priority than technical infrastructures that open up their data for others to use. We argue that this understanding is a mistake. It would be preferable for government to understand providing reusable data, rather than providing Web sites, as the core of its online publishing responsibility. During the presidential campaign, all three major candidates indicated that they thought the federal government could make better use of the Internet. Barack Obama\u27s platform went the furthest and explicitly endorsed maling government data available online in universally accessible formats. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, remarked that she wanted to see much more government information online. John McCain\u27s platform called for a new Office of Electronic Government. But the situation to which these candidates were responding-the wide gap between the exciting uses of Internet technology by private parties, on the one hand, and the government\u27s lagging technical infrastructure, on the other-is not new. A minefield of federal rules and a range of other factors, prevent government Web masters from keeping pace with the evergrowing potential of the Internet