Cultivating the Strategy of Summarizing Sequential Expository Text: Scaffolds and Supports for the Intermediate Grades

Fourth-grade students in the United States have notoriously experienced a fourth-grade slump in reading. This persistent trend has led researchers, school leaders, and teachers to seek ways to improve comprehension of expository text. Summarizing is a complex strategy that requires students to analyze, condense, and express information in their own words. This action research project explored the impact of three techniques (cloze summaries, graphic organizers, and paraphrasing) on students’ ability to summarize sequential text in writing. Explicit instruction led to marked growth in students’ ability to write summaries of expository text

Well I\u27ll Be: Positive Images Of Southern Women As Response To Feminism From 1980-2000

This thesis examines the role images of southern women play in understanding the feminist movement from 1980 to 2000. By closely analyzing several media forms, from television to self-help books, it becomes apparent that the function of the southern woman is often to either soften the blow of feminism or push the agenda of patriarchy. I look thoroughly at movies and television of the 1980s as well as books and societal groups of the 1990s. The time period involved in this study encompasses the backlash to the second wave of feminism through the emergence of the third wave. The data I use was culled from personal as well as literary and film analysis. I utilized historical works and studied the media forms intimately. This paper argues that although the south may be dissolving into the rest of the country, the image of the southern woman remains distinct. Through marketing, branding and consuming, the figure of the southern woman is as prominent as ever

New Outlets: plugging in makes a difference

Students need and want to be heard and valued. It is extremely important for schools to be creative when choosing initiatives. Initiatives or any program implementation must be interesting and relevant to the diverse populations of students and their needs. It\u27s time for schools to Plug In. New Outlets are a Must. This workshop will provide educators with tools and strategies to use to build and sustain effective programs while working with Youth-At-Risk

Sex and the State: Sexual Politics in South Carolina in the 1970s

Sex and the State: Sexual Politics in South Carolina is an investigation of the interactions of feminists and the state from 1966 through 1985. Nationally, women cooperated with officials of state agencies to push their agenda of self-sovereignty. Using South Carolina as a case study highlights the inherent power struggles inherent in these maneuverings. Inspired by the Second Wave of the women’s movement, activists across South Carolina, in both small towns and urban settings, worked with the state and manipulated state reactions to suit their needs. The work focuses on four key aspects of the women’s movement including: the abortion rights movement, the anti-sterilization movement, the anti-rape movement, and the anti-wife battering movement. Through these similar, but different, crusades the actions of women who battled the system in pearls and southern accents are highlighted. Women across the country were in conversation with the state, calling for their basic rights of citizenship: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

Detection of Endophyte Mycotoxins by Service Laboratories: Providing Answers for Safe Feed

. A global network of service laboratories exists to test livestock feed materials (typically grass hay and pellets) for ergovaline, ergot alkaloids and lolitrem B to ensure ‘safe feeds’ are being given to livestock. These compounds are mycotoxins produced by endophytic fungi that naturally reside in feed material. They have been purposely bred into grass species, as they enhance the plant’s survival from drought and insect predation. Unfortunately, ergovaline and other ergot alkaloids also cause vasoconstrictive effects and reproductive difficulties in livestock, resulting in a $1 million annual loss in production for the cattle industry in the USA alone. Lolitrem B is a neurotoxicant that causes a syndrome known as ‘ryegrass staggers,’ which involves a tremoring response in the animal. Clients of these service laboratories include hay farmers who want to be confident that the product they are selling is safe to feed to livestock; veterinarians who are trying to rule out causes of disease in clinical cases; individuals wanting to check personal feed sources; and researchers investigating innovative solutions to these feed contaminants. Each year, approximately 33,000 containers of hay are shipped overseas from the USA, including Pacific Rim and Middle Eastern countries, bringing in an estimated$130 million annually. If the importing country requires it, the material in these containers must be tested for the appropriate mycotoxin(s) and have a certificate stating that the level found was below the established threshold of toxicity. Discussion of sample submission, analysis and result receipt will be compared amongst international laboratories known to perform analyses for these mycotoxins

The Orbit and Occultations of KH 15D

The unusual flux variations of the pre-main-sequence binary star KH 15D have been attributed to occultations by a circumbinary disk. We test whether or not this theory is compatible with newly available data, including recent radial velocity measurements, CCD photometry over the past decade, and photographic photometry over the past 50 years. We find the model to be successful, after two refinements: a more realistic motion of the occulting feature, and a halo around each star that probably represents scattering by the disk. The occulting feature is exceptionally sharp-edged, raising the possibility that the dust in the disk has settled into a thin layer, and providing a tool for fine-scale mapping of the immediate environment of a T Tauri star. However, the window of opportunity is closing, as the currently visible star may be hidden at all orbital phases by as early as 2008.Comment: To appear in ApJ [16 pages, 13 figures

Analysis of Risk Factors for Fatal Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: Evidence for Superiority of Tetracyclines for Therapy

Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of fatal and nonfatal cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) were compared to identify risk factors for death caused by this disease. Confirmed and probable RMSF cases reported through US national surveillance for 1981- 1998 were analyzed. Among 6388 RMSF patients, 213 died (annual case-fatality rate, 3M; range, 4.9 % in 1982 to 1.1 % in 1996). Use of tetracycline-class antibiotics for treatment of RMSF increased significantly in the 1990s, compared with use in the 1980s. Older patients, patients treated with chloramphenicol only, patients for whom tetracycline antibiotics were not the primary therapy, and patients for whom treatment was delayed ≥5 days after the onset of symptoms were at higher risk for death. Although the case-fatality rate was lower in the 1990s than in the 1980s, risk factors for fatal RMSF were similar. Despite the availability of effective antibiotics, RMSF-related deaths continue to occur because of delayed diagnosis and failure to use appropriate therapy