Factors That Do Not Separate Effective and Ineffective Science Teachers

With only two exceptions, no significant differences are found · the profiles of most effective and least effective teachers. Druva and Anderson (1983) recently reported the results of a meta analysis of significant research in science teacher education. Their findings suggest that most factors believed to impact the teaching performance of science instructors do not, in fact, play a very important role. Despite these findings, many science educators continue to accept the same old assumptions and beliefs concerning what is needed to improve science teacher education programs. As the National Science Foundation expands programs in response to new appropriations and directives from Congress, and the National Science Teachers Association suggests more stringent certification requirements and minimal standards (NSTA, 1984), perhaps an examination of the underlying assumptions and beliefs in light of the research evidence is in order

Transfer of Child Offenders to Adult Criminal Courts in the USA: An Unnecessary Exercise, Unconstitutional Practice, International Law Violation, or All of the Above?

There is an ongoing debate over the legality and effectiveness of the use of judicial waiver as a tool to fight violent crimes, including those committed by children in the United States. Judicial waiver or transfer of juveniles is a process by which child offenders are transferred from the juvenile court to adult criminal courts to be tried and sentenced as adult offenders. Despite the implicit recognition of the constitutionality of this practice by the United States Supreme Court, this paper contends that the transfer of child offenders to adult criminal courts violates key provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”). Article 40(2)(iii) of the CRC guarantees each child offender the right to have their case adjudicated by a competent and specialized court (such as a juvenile court), regardless of the gravity of their acts. The right to a competent court, which is one of the components of the right to a fair trial, is part of the customary international law that should be enforced by all nations, including those who have ratified the CRC and those who have not (like the United States). It also suggests that judicial waiver is an ineffective practice, as its deterrent virtue against youth recidivism and juvenile violent crimes is largely unproven. It correspondingly highlights that the recidivism rates are lower for child offenders tried in juvenile court than for those who are transferred to adult criminal courts. This paper consequently recommends the restoration of the full jurisdiction of juvenile courts over all child offenses and proposes the reversal of the judicial waiver laws be-cause of their failure to ensure children’s right to a competent and specialized system

Racial Misuse of “Criminal Profiling” by Law Enforcement: Intentions and Implications

This article examines critical issues regarding criminal profiling, its misuse by law enforcement, and its utility to solve serious crimes with the technique, hereinafter known and called “Criminal Profiling”. The specific issue under investigation is the misuse of criminal profiling in the United States, and its impact on African Americans, and other minorities. In that realm, a discussion and analysis of the importance of criminal profiling, the development of criminal profiling and, the misuse of criminal profiling as a critical issue in the 21st century are analyze

Community Policing in Nigeria

One result of the Black Lives Matter movement has been to focus attention on police brutality in all its forms around the globe. Nowhere is the situation more dire than in Nigeria where the now infamous SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squads) have, for years, inflicted excessive abuses on Nigeria’s citizenry. In response, many young people have taken to the streets to demand an end to the brutality in the now historic #ENDSARS nationwide protest. Community Policing in Nigeria is a timely and much-needed intervention into the policing problems in Nigeria. Written collaboratively by four authors with deep knowledge of Nigerian policy and of criminal justice more broadly, the book examines models of community policing around the world and points out best practices and flawed practices that may serve as guides for Nigeria and the rest of Africa. Community Policing in Nigeria is published in the United States by Virginia Tech Publishing and in Nigeria by Fourth Dimension Publishing.illustrato

Concrete Compressive Strength Using River Sand and Quarry Dust as Fine Aggregates

The compressive strength of concrete built with river sand and quarry dust as fine aggregate was examined in this study. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was blended with river sand and quarry dust at five levels, namely 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%, by partially substituting OPC with river sand and quarry dust. River sand was combined with quarry dust in five different ratios for each replacement level: 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, 50:50, and 0:100. For each blend, ten cubes of (150 x 150 x 150) mm were created. As a control, ten cubes containing solely OPC were made, for a total of 60 cubes. The cementitious material to sand mix ratio was kept constant at 1:2:4 and the water to cement ratio was kept at 0.5. Three cubes for each mix and the control were crushed to obtain their compressive strengths at 28 days. The results showed that river sand and quarry dust with a compressive strength of 10 to 30% replacement is an excellent construction material for constructing concrete. As a result, quarry dust and river sand are suggested as construction materials for making concrete, and can be used to replace river sand up to 30% of the time to achieve the needed compressive strength of not less than the standard Keywords: River sand; Quarry dust; Ordinary Portland Cement; Compressive strength DOI: 10.7176/JEES/11-9-06 Publication date:September 30th 202

Oseltamivir–Resistant Pandemic H1N1/2009 Influenza Virus Possesses Lower Transmissibility and Fitness in Ferrets

The neuraminidase (NA) inhibitor oseltamivir offers an important immediate option for the control of influenza, and its clinical use has increased substantially during the recent H1N1 pandemic. In view of the high prevalence of oseltamivir-resistant seasonal H1N1 influenza viruses in 2007–2008, there is an urgent need to characterize the transmissibility and fitness of oseltamivir-resistant H1N1/2009 viruses, although resistant variants have been isolated at a low rate. Here we studied the transmissibility of a closely matched pair of pandemic H1N1/2009 clinical isolates, one oseltamivir-sensitive and one resistant, in the ferret model. The resistant H275Y mutant was derived from a patient on oseltamivir prophylaxis and was the first oseltamivir-resistant isolate of the pandemic virus. Full genome sequencing revealed that the pair of viruses differed only at NA amino acid position 275. We found that the oseltamivir-resistant H1N1/2009 virus was not transmitted efficiently in ferrets via respiratory droplets (0/2), while it retained efficient transmission via direct contact (2/2). The sensitive H1N1/2009 virus was efficiently transmitted via both routes (2/2 and 1/2, respectively). The wild-type H1N1/2009 and the resistant mutant appeared to cause a similar disease course in ferrets without apparent attenuation of clinical signs. We compared viral fitness within the host by co-infecting a ferret with oseltamivir-sensitive and -resistant H1N1/2009 viruses and found that the resistant virus showed less growth capability (fitness). The NA of the resistant virus showed reduced substrate-binding affinity and catalytic activity in vitro and delayed initial growth in MDCK and MDCK-SIAT1 cells. These findings may in part explain its less efficient transmission. The fact that the oseltamivir-resistant H1N1/2009 virus retained efficient transmission through direct contact underlines the necessity of continuous monitoring of drug resistance and characterization of possible evolving viral proteins during the pandemic

Transfer of Child Offenders to Adult Criminal Courts in the USA: An Unnecessary Exercise, Unconstitutional Practice, International Law Violation, or All of the Above?

There is an ongoing debate over the legality and effectiveness of the use of judicial waiver as a tool to fight violent crimes, including those committed by children in the United States. Judicial waiver or transfer of juveniles is a process by which child offenders are transferred from the juvenile court to adult criminal courts to be tried and sentenced as adult offenders. Despite the implicit recognition of the constitutionality of this practice by the United States Supreme Court, this paper contends that the transfer of child offenders to adult criminal courts violates key provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”). Article 40(2)(iii) of the CRC guarantees each child offender the right to have their case adjudicated by a competent and specialized court (such as a juvenile court), regardless of the gravity of their acts. The right to a competent court, which is one of the components of the right to a fair trial, is part of the customary international law that should be enforced by all nations, including those who have ratified the CRC and those who have not (like the United States). It also suggests that judicial waiver is an ineffective practice, as its deterrent virtue against youth recidivism and juvenile violent crimes is largely unproven. It correspondingly highlights that the recidivism rates are lower for child offenders tried in juvenile court than for those who are transferred to adult criminal courts. This paper consequently recommends the restoration of the full jurisdiction of juvenile courts over all child offenses and proposes the reversal of the judicial waiver laws be-cause of their failure to ensure children’s right to a competent and specialized system

Beyond Orthodox Approaches to Education Reform: Innovative Strategies for Accelerating Education for All in The Republic of South

This paper looks at how the Republic of South Sudan (RSS) can accelerate the catch up in education by adopting disruptive innovations to implement its well-articulated educational plan modeled on EFA, MDG and SDG. The main argument of the paper is that the prevailing orthodox education strategies and tools currently being utilized will take long to provide all children with good quality education. These work  well enough in stable environments, but is ill equipped to deal with fragile and volatile environments. RSS presents a continuous conflict environment full of complex and adaptive challenges with a very new and weak state. RSS has to think out of the box or even no box to fashion out implementation strategies that will deliver her citizens with the education dividend that they have been historically denied of