McREL Leadership Responsibilities through the Lens of Data: The Critical Nine

In the United States, the beginning of the┬á 21st century also ushered in a new era of school accountability and reform with the No Child Left Behind Act [NCLB] (US Department of Education, 2010). Although the law is no longer in effect, the district and school level accountability that it brought remains. The accountability and need for ongoing improvement rest squarely on the shoulders of school principals, many of whom have no skill sets or experience with the use of data to improve student outcomes. This article utilizes the research studies and findings from the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) lab, in order to examine those leadership responsibilities intertwined with the use of data to improve student achievement. McREL has identified 21 leadership responsibilities that describe the knowledge and skills school leaders need to positively impact student achievement.┬á This analysis focuses on the McREL leadership responsibilities with an effect size of .25 or higher that require a focus on data. The use of hard and soft data to focus improvement is then analyzed and expanded upon through the McREL lens. ┬á ┬

Reducing tower fatigue through blade back twist and active pitch-to-stall control strategy for a semi-submersible floating offshore wind turbine

The necessity of producing more electricity from renewable sources has been driven predominantly by the need to prevent irreversible climate chance. Currently, industry is looking towards floating offshore wind turbine solutions to form part of their future renewable portfolio. However, wind turbine loads are often increased when mounted on a floating rather than fixed platform. Negative damping must also be avoided to prevent tower oscillations. By presenting a turbine actively pitching-to-stall, the impact on the tower fore–aft bending moment of a blade with back twist towards feather as it approaches the tip was explored, utilizing the time domain FAST v8 simulation tool. The turbine was coupled to a floating semisubmersible platform, as this type of floater suffers from increased fore–aft oscillations of the tower, and therefore could benefit from this alternative control approach. Correlation between the responses of the blade’s flapwise bending moment and the tower base’s fore–aft moment was observed with this back-twisted pitch-to-stall blade. Negative damping was also avoided by utilizing a pitch-to-stall control strategy. At 13 and 18 m/s mean turbulent winds, a 20% and 5.8% increase in the tower axial fatigue life was achieved, respectively. Overall, it was shown that the proposed approach seems to be effective in diminishing detrimental oscillations of the power output and in enhancing the tower axial fatigue life

Preparing BSW Social Work Students for Social Justice Advocacy

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas Dr. Long is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Social Work here at the University of Arkansas, while Dr. Patton is at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, TX and Dr. Ward is at East Central University in Ada, OK. There is no denying that the social work profession has a long history of social justice advocacy. However, advocacy and political action were not necessarily a focus in social work education, leaving social work graduates feeling inadequate to advocate on a broader, macro level (Haynes & Mikelson, 2000). Current pedagogical practices in advocacy highlighted in the literature focus on increasing critical consciousness (Pitner & Sakamoto, 2016), constructing critical conversations (Kang & O’Neill, 2018), and developing moral courage (Fenton, 2019). What is unclear is how effective these pedagogical practices have been in increasing students’ confidence in participating in advocacy activities. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) explore BSW student perceptions of confidence in participating in advocacy activities and (2) observe if students chose social work advocacy responses in certain social justice situations. This exploratory study examined BSW students\u27 confidence in participating in advocacy activities and observed their responses to social justice situations. The majority (77%) of students reported lack of confidence in participating in advocacy activities and fewer than half chose advocacy approaches. A conclusion from this study could be that social work students lack hands-on advocacy experiences in their educational programs that could bolster confidence. Having a lack of experience interacting and engaging with those outside their own background or identity, students may not be able to fully understand, empathize with, or have a sense of social justice for those from other identities, races/ethnicities, or cultures. A final conclusion could be perceived dangers in advocacy activities

Preparing BSW Social Work Students for Social Justice Advocacy

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas Dr. Long is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Social Work here at the University of Arkansas, while Dr. Patton is at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, TX and Dr. Ward is at East Central University in Ada, OK. There is no denying that the social work profession has a long history of social justice advocacy. However, advocacy and political action were not necessarily a focus in social work education, leaving social work graduates feeling inadequate to advocate on a broader, macro level (Haynes & Mikelson, 2000). Current pedagogical practices in advocacy highlighted in the literature focus on increasing critical consciousness (Pitner & Sakamoto, 2016), constructing critical conversations (Kang & O’Neill, 2018), and developing moral courage (Fenton, 2019). What is unclear is how effective these pedagogical practices have been in increasing students’ confidence in participating in advocacy activities. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) explore BSW student perceptions of confidence in participating in advocacy activities and (2) observe if students chose social work advocacy responses in certain social justice situations. This exploratory study examined BSW students\u27 confidence in participating in advocacy activities and observed their responses to social justice situations. The majority (77%) of students reported lack of confidence in participating in advocacy activities and fewer than half chose advocacy approaches. A conclusion from this study could be that social work students lack hands-on advocacy experiences in their educational programs that could bolster confidence. Having a lack of experience interacting and engaging with those outside their own background or identity, students may not be able to fully understand, empathize with, or have a sense of social justice for those from other identities, races/ethnicities, or cultures. A final conclusion could be perceived dangers in advocacy activities

Assessments of Biodiversity Based on Molecular Markers and Morphological Traits among West-Bank, Palestine Fig Genotypes (Ficus carica L.)

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.scirp.org/journal/ajps/Both morphological characters and PCR-based RAPD approaches were used to determine the genetic diversity and re- latedness among nine fig genotypes grown at the northern region of the West-Bank, Palestine. Although we tested 28 primers for the RAPD technique, only 9 produced reasonable amplification products. A total of 57 DNA loci were de- tected in which 70.2% were polymorphic. DNA fragments presented a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 9 polymorphic bands using primers OPT-10 and OPA-18, respectively. Primers exhibited collective resolving power values (Rp) of 18.826. The Mwazi genotype showed the highest genetic distances among all of the other genotypes. Morphologically, considerable variations were found using 41 quantitative and qualitative traits. Adloni could be a very promising geno- type for fresh consumption due to its very late maturation period, extended harvesting period, variable fruit size, and easy skin peeling. In addition, 7 genotypes presented firm fruits, which are a very important criterion for exporting purposes. Dendrogram constructed by UPGMA based on RAPD banding patterns appear somewhat contradictory to the morphological descriptors particularly with Swadi and Biadi genotypes (closed genetically and distanced morphologi- cally), which might be attributed to the phenotypic modifications caused by environmental differences across regions. These preliminary results will make a fundamental contribution to further genetic improvement of fig crops for the region

Evaluation of Antibiotic Use and Duration for Febrile Neutropenia

Introduction: Febrile neutropenia (FN) affects over 80% of patients with hematologic cancer and 10% to 50% of patients with solid tumors National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recommend empiric broad-spectrum monotherapy until the absolute neutrophil count (ANC) is over 500 cells/uL. Extended durations with broad-spectrum agents leads to increased risk of antibiotic resistance, toxicity and C. difficile infection. Purpose To evaluate antibiotic prescribing patterns for patients with FN to optimize antibiotic stewardship.https://digitalcommons.centracare.com/pharmacy_posters/1006/thumbnail.jp

Water quality management

Since comprehensive legislation for water conservation came into force more than 20 years ago, management of water quality in New Zealand has been undertaken almost exclusively through the administration of water rights. This has resulted in a type of management primarily concerned with pollution control, specifically the regulation of pollutants from point source discharges, rather than one dealing with all aspects of water quality problems such as eutrophication, chronic and cumulative effects of pollutants and different cultural needs. In recent years, as the need for 'clean water' has outgrown local water resources in some regions and as New Zealanders have become more environmentally aware and more vocal in their demands for higher standards of environmental quality, limitations of both the water rights system and of the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967 (and Amendments) have been recognised

Evolutionary history underlies plant physiological responses to global change since the last glacial maximum

This is the author's accepted manuscript, also available here, http//dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12271.Assessing family- and species-level variation in physiological responses to global change across geologic time is critical for understanding factors that underlie changes in species distributions and community composition. Here, we used stable carbon isotopes, leaf nitrogen content and stomatal measurements to assess changes in leaf-level physiology in a mixed conifer community that underwent significant changes in composition since the last glacial maximum (LGM) (21 kyr BP). Our results indicate that most plant taxa decreased stomatal conductance and/or maximum photosynthetic capacity in response to changing conditions since the LGM. However, plant families and species differed in the timing and magnitude of these physiological responses, and responses were more similar within families than within co-occurring species assemblages. This suggests that adaptation at the level of leaf physiology may not be the main determinant of shifts in community composition, and that plant evolutionary history may drive physiological adaptation to global change over recent geologic time