The Reality and Myth of the Superintendent Shortage: Implications for Research and Educational Policy

An examination of research findings on the perception of a precipitous decline in the quantity and quality of superintendent applicants was undertaken by leading scholars in the field and is reported in two consecutive issues of the Journal of School Leadership. We trust that this authoritative body of work adds to the knowledge base, informs the national debate, and will guide policy deliberations in the coming years. The intent of the authors of this brief end piece is to reflect on empirical findings as well as to introduce a number of provocative scholarly observations that will hopefully elevate and focus future policy debates

Differences in Men’s and Women’s Perception of Infidelity in Varying Situations

Exposure to infidelity is rife in our society, whether it has been experienced personally, through friends, or from the media. In this 2 x 3 between subjects study, 128 students read scenarios regarding infidelity (sexual or emotional) in varying situations (internet, phone, or face-to-face). The students answered a 12-item questionnaire about their reactions to the scenarios. Overall, the hypothesized evolutionary theory of men being more upset by sexual infidelity and women being more upset by emotional infidelity was not supported; both men and women were more negative toward sexual infidelity.The addition of varying the situations in which the infidelity would take place revealed that men and women do differ on responses to perceptions of infidelity

Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM 3.34): Programmer's Guide

This is a programmer's guide for the Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM 3.34). Included are a brief history and review of the model since its origin in 1988 and a technical discussion of recent additions and modifications. Examples of how to run both the interactive and batch (subroutine) forms are presented. Instructions are provided on how to customize output of the model for various parameters of the Mars atmosphere. Detailed descriptions are given of the main driver programs, subroutines, and associated computational methods. Lists and descriptions include input, output, and local variables in the programs. These descriptions give a summary of program steps and 'map' of calling relationships among the subroutines. Definitions are provided for the variables passed between subroutines through common lists. Explanations are provided for all diagnostic and progress messages generated during execution of the program. A brief outline of future plans for Mars-GRAM is also presented

A Technical Roadmap for Autonomy for Marine Future Vertical Lift (FVL)

NPS NRP Executive SummaryThe Marines desire to leverage automation in their next Future Vertical Lift (FVL) platform, meaning they must define the human-FVL teaming interactions. The FVL will operate in a wide spectrum of flight regimes, from remotely piloted, to fully manned, to mostly automatic, and in combinations of the above. This broadened operating approach necessitates that understanding the various human machine teaming interdependent interactions across this diverse operating spectrum be completely delineated. NPS is well positioned to assist. Three approaches are considered: Use Co-active Design, since it is a rigorous engineering process that captures these interactions and interdependencies, develops workflows, and identifies resilient paths for human machine teaming using interdependence analysis (IA); define an FVL 'Living Lab' (LL) that the FVL program management office (PMO) could use to explore technical and concept tradeoffs; establish the cost/benefit relationships of these approaches; and design approaches to developing trust within this operating framework. The topic sponsor desires these techniques so as to create a PMO that decreases the speed at which technical tradeoffs can be identified and made.HQMC Aviation (AVN)This research is supported by funding from the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE 0605853N/2098). https://nps.edu/nrpChief of Naval Operations (CNO)Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.

A Technical Roadmap for Autonomy for Marine Future Vertical Lift (FVL)

NPS NRP Project PosterThe Marines desire to leverage automation in their next Future Vertical Lift (FVL) platform, meaning they must define the human-FVL teaming interactions. The FVL will operate in a wide spectrum of flight regimes, from remotely piloted, to fully manned, to mostly automatic, and in combinations of the above. This broadened operating approach necessitates that understanding the various human machine teaming interdependent interactions across this diverse operating spectrum be completely delineated. NPS is well positioned to assist. Three approaches are considered: Use Co-active Design, since it is a rigorous engineering process that captures these interactions and interdependencies, develops workflows, and identifies resilient paths for human machine teaming using interdependence analysis (IA); define an FVL 'Living Lab' (LL) that the FVL program management office (PMO) could use to explore technical and concept tradeoffs; establish the cost/benefit relationships of these approaches; and design approaches to developing trust within this operating framework. The topic sponsor desires these techniques so as to create a PMO that decreases the speed at which technical tradeoffs can be identified and made.HQMC Aviation (AVN)This research is supported by funding from the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE 0605853N/2098). https://nps.edu/nrpChief of Naval Operations (CNO)Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 36, No. 4

• The Art of Glass Blowing • Portrait Painting • The Ox Roast • Herbal Soap-Making • Fly-Fishing and Fly-Tying • Chalkware • Silversmithing • Festival Focus • Festival Programs • Coopering • Knife Making • Corn Husk Dolls • Salt Glaze Pottery • Blacksmithing and Iron Working • Bird Carving • Soft Pretzelshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1116/thumbnail.jp

Metabolic Scaling of Stress Hormones in Vertebrates

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are stress hormones that can strongly influence physiology, behavior, and an organism’s ability to cope with environmental change. Despite their importance, and the wealth of studies that have sought to understand how and why GC concentrations vary within species, we do not have a clear understanding of how circulating GC levels vary within and across the major vertebrate clades. New research has proposed that much interspecific variation in GC concentrations can be explained by variation in metabolism and body mass. Specifically, GC concentrations should vary proportionally with mass-specific metabolic rates and, given known scaling relationships between body mass and metabolic rate, GC concentrations should scale to the -1/4 power of body mass and to the power of 1 with mass-specific metabolic rate. Here, we use HormoneBase, the newly compiled database that includes plasma GC concentrations from free-living and unmanipulated vertebrates, to evaluate this hypothesis. Specifically, we explored the relationships between body mass or mass-specific metabolic rate and either baseline or stress-induced GC (cortisol or corticosterone) concentrations in tetrapods. Our phylogenetically-informed models suggest that, whereas the relationship between GC concentrations and body mass across tetrapods and among mammals is close to -1/4 power, this relationship does not exist in amphibians, reptiles, and birds. Moreover, with the exception of a positive association between stress-induced GC concentrations and mass-specific metabolic rate in birds, we found little evidence that GC concentrations are linked to metabolic rate, although the number of species sampled was quite limited for amphibians and somewhat so for reptiles and mammals. Nevertheless, these results stand in contrast to the generally accepted association between the two and suggest that our observed positive association between body mass and GC concentrations may not be due to the well-established link between mass and metabolism. Large-scale comparative approaches can come with drawbacks, such as pooling and pairing observations from separate sources. However, these broad analyses provide an important counterbalance to the majority of studies examining variation in GC concentrations at the population or species level, and can be a powerful approach to testing both long-standing and new questions in biology

Macroevolutionary Patterning in Glucocorticoids Suggests Different Selective Pressures Shape Baseline and Stress-Induced Levels

Glucocorticoid (GC) hormones are important phenotypic mediators across vertebrates, but their circulating concentrations can vary markedly. Here we investigate macroevolutionary patterning in GC levels across tetrapods by testing seven specific hypotheses about GC variation and evaluating whether the supported hypotheses reveal consistent patterns in GC evolution. If selection generally favors the “supportive” role of GCs in responding effectively to challenges, then baseline and/or stress-induced GCs may be higher in challenging contexts. Alternatively, if selection generally favors “protection” from GC-induced costs, GCs may be lower in environments where challenges are more common or severe. The predictors of baseline GCs were all consistent with supportive effects: levels were higher in smaller organisms and in those inhabiting more energetically demanding environments. During breeding, baseline GCs were also higher in populations and species with fewer lifetime opportunities to reproduce. The predictors of stress-induced GCs were instead more consistent with the protection hypothesis: during breeding, levels were lower in organisms with fewer lifetime reproductive opportunities. Overall, these patterns indicate a surprising degree of consistency in how some selective pressures shape GCs across broad taxonomic scales; at the same time, in challenging environments selection appears to operate on baseline and stress-induced GCs in distinct ways

IUCN Conservation Status Does Not Predict Glucocortoid Concentrations in Reptiles and Birds

Circulating glucocorticoids (GCs) are the most commonly used biomarkers of stress in wildlife. However, their utility as a tool for identifying and/or managing at-risk species has varied. Here, we took a very broad approach to conservation physiology, asking whether International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listing status (concern versus no obvious concern) and/or location within a geographic range (edge versus non-edge) predicted baseline and post-restraint concentrations of corticosterone (CORT) among many species of birds and reptiles. Even though such an approach can be viewed as coarse, we asked in this analysis whether CORT concentrations might be useful to implicate species at risk. Indeed, our effort, relying on HormoneBase, a repository of data on wildlife steroids, complements several other large-scale efforts in this issue to describe and understand GC variation. Using a phylogenetically informed Bayesian approach, we found little evidence that either IUCN status or edge/non-edge location in a geographic distribution were related to GC levels. However, we did confirm patterns described in previous studies, namely that breeding condition and evolutionary relatedness among species predicted some GC variation. Given the broad scope of our work, we are reluctant to conclude that IUCN status and location within a range are unrelated to GC regulation. We encourage future more targeted efforts on GCs in at-risk populations to reveal how factors leading to IUCN listing or the environmental conditions at range edges impact individual performance and fitness, particularly in the mammals, amphibians, and fish species we could not study here because data are currently unavailable

HormoneBase, a Population-Level Database of Steroid Hormone Levels Across Vertebrates

Hormones are central regulators of organismal function and flexibility that mediate a diversity of phenotypic traits from early development through senescence. Yet despite these important roles, basic questions about how and why hormone systems vary within and across species remain unanswered. Here we describe HormoneBase, a database of circulating steroid hormone levels and their variation across vertebrates. This database aims to provide all available data on the mean, variation, and range of plasma glucocorticoids (both baseline and stress-induced) and androgens in free-living and un-manipulated adult vertebrates. HormoneBase (www.HormoneBase.org) currently includes \u3e6,580 entries from 476 species, reported in 648 publications from 1967 to 2015, and unpublished datasets. Entries are associated with data on the species and population, sex, year and month of study, geographic coordinates, life history stage, method and latency of hormone sampling, and analysis technique. This novel resource could be used for analyses of the function and evolution of hormone systems, and the relationships between hormonal variation and a variety of processes including phenotypic variation, fitness, and species distributions