Superintendent Selection in North Dakota: Practices and Criteria

The purpose of this study was to learn how North Dakota school board members who had recendy participated in the selection of a school superintendent perceived the relative importance of (a) hiring practices, (b) administrative skills, and (c) superintendent attributes. Analyses of individual items and clusters of items were conducted. In addition to the general purpose, analyses were conducted by gender, by duration of board incumbency, and by school enrollment size. Data for the study consisted of responses from 124 school board members from 39 school districts. (The universe of districts which had hired a superintendent during the 1990-1993 time frame was 55 districts.) Responses were gathered from a three-part questionnaire constructed by the writer. Administrative skills assessments dominated the selection process for new superintendents. Board members placed more importance on personal attributes of candidates than on hiring practices used. Female board members generally recorded higher importance assessments than male board members. Female board members also preferred greater education, experience, and management skill. Board incumbency seemed to be a negligible variable in the selection of a new superintendent. In the selection process, board members from smaller schools valued the advice of others less than did board members from larger schools. Board members from large schools were less concerned about age, appearance, and current job location than were board members from smaller schools

Effects of Training on Intent, Ease, Self-Efficacy, Frequency, and Usefulness in Multimedia-Based Feedback for University-Level Instructors Using Canvas® LMS

The purpose of this study was to investigate how training and professional development effected university-level instructors’ perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, behavioral intent to use, perception of self-efficacy, and frequency of use of audio-, video-, and speech-to-text-recognition-based technologies associated with the feedback and assessment process in college-level teaching. Except for usefulness, each dependent variable was divided into two based on whether the item was multimedia or not: (a) use of technology with multimedia and (b) use of technology without multimedia. The convenience sample included 52 university-level instructors who had enrolled in either the Canvas® Essentials (a basics course) or Canvas® Feedback and Assessment (an advanced course) training. The advanced training focused on how to use audio, video, and speech-to-text-recognition features of the learning management system to provide feedback to students. The study commenced in August of 2015 and concluded in April of 2016. A pretest questionnaire was administered prior to each Canvas® training class, and instruction began immediately thereafter lasting 2 hours per class session. The posttest was administered 4 weeks after the training class. Twenty-six instructors represented the treatment group, and 26 represented the comparison group. Means measuring intent, self-efficacy, and usefulness indicated either agreement or strong agreement for both treatment and comparison groups; however, the variables of intent and usefulness resulted in little-to-no change in means from pretest to posttest. For the variable of self-efficacy, both groups’ means increased from pretest to posttest. Higher means indicated stronger agreement with the construct. The variable of self-efficacy also resulted in a statistically significant change from pretest to posttest for both groups. Treatment-group participants’ mean went up .41 of a point from pretest to posttest and had a strong effect (ES = .86), indicating that they were somewhat skilled at posttest. The comparison-group means also reflected increased agreement in self-efficacy, participants on average reported that they were between not very skilled and somewhat skilled at using Canvas® LMS at pretest. At posttest, the comparison group’s mean indicated that they were above the somewhat skilled choice on the rating scale. For both groups, the mean measuring the construct of intent (media) decreased slightly from pretest to posttest, and the results were not statistically significant. Means for ease were higher at posttest for both groups; the independent-samples t test resulted in statistical significance for the comparison group with a moderately strong effect size. The variables of ease (media) and frequency resulted in higher means at posttest for both groups and were statistically significant across four paired-samples t tests. Moderately strong effect sizes were present in the variables of ease and frequency among comparison-group participants. The variables of self-efficacy (media) and frequency (media) resulted in means that signified the lowest levels of agreement among the nine dependent variables. For treatment-group participants, self-efficacy (media) resulted in a large statistically significant effect, and mean increased from pretest to posttest. Self-efficacy (media) for comparison-group participants increased in agreement from pretest to posttest, and the results were statistically significant with a large effect. Frequency (media) decreased in agreement from pretest to posttest for treatment-group participants, and comparison-group participants’ mean increased slightly from pretest to posttest. No independent-samples t tests resulted in statistically significant findings for the variable of frequency (media). This research addressed a gap in the literature and illustrated that instructors are willing participate in research. The study participants gained new skills to support their own day-to-day work teaching courses and grading assignments, which was a benefit to them, the university, and the research community

Report of Henry O. Kent, Commissioned on the Part of New Hampshire to Ascertain, Survey and Mark the Eastern Boundary of Said State, from the Town of Fryeburg to the Canada Line. A.D., 1859

Closing paragraphs: It is believed that the line above described is now sufficiently marked and designated to afford a distinguishable and permanent dividing line, which will subserve all the purposes of the two States equally well as a more expensive system of monuments. All of which is respectfully submitted, John W. Wilson (on the part of Maine), Henry O. Kent (on the part of New Hampshire), Dated the 21st day of December, A.D., 1858https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/books_pubs/1153/thumbnail.jp

SAGE 1 and SAM 2 measurements of 1 micron aerosol extinction in the free troposphere

The SAGE 1 and SAM 2 satellite sensors were designed to measure, with global coverage, the 1 micron extinction produced by the stratospheric aerosol. In the absence of high altitude cloud, similar measurements may be made for the free tropospheric aerosol. Median extinction values in the Northern Hemisphere, for altitudes between 5 and 10 km, are found to be one-half to one order of magnitude greater than values at corresponding latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, a seasonal increase by a factor of 1.5 yields 2 is observed in both hemispheres in local spring and summer. Following major volcanic eruptions, a long-lived enhancement of the aerosol extinction is observed for altitudes above 5 km

The cyber simulation terrain: Towards an open source cyber effects simulation ontology

Cyber resilience is characterised by an ability to understand and adapt to changing network conditions, including cyber attacks. Cyber resilience may be characterised by an effects-based approach to missions or processes. One of the fundamental preconditions underpinning cyber resilience is an accurate representation of current network and machine states and what missions they are supporting. This research outlines the need for an ontological network representation, drawing on existing literature and implementations in the domain. This work then introduces an open-source ontological representation for modelling cyber assets for the purposes of Computer Network Defence. This representation encompasses computers, network connectivity, users, software, vulnerabilities and exploits and aims for interoperability with related representations in common use. The utility of this work is highlighted against a functional use-case depicting a realistic operational network and mission. Finally, a future research direction is defined

Combined density-functional and dynamical cluster quantum Monte Carlo calculations for three-band Hubbard models for hole-doped cuprate superconductors

Using a combined local density functional theory (LDA-DFT) and quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) dynamic cluster approximation approach, the parameter dependence of the superconducting transition temperature Tc of several single-layer hole-doped cuprate superconductors with experimentally very different Tcmax is investigated. The parameters of two different three-band Hubbard models are obtained using the LDA and the downfolding Nth-order muffin-tin orbital technique with N=0 and 1 respectively. QMC calculations on 4-site clusters show that the d-wave transition temperature Tc depends sensitively on the parameters. While the N=1 MTO basis set which reproduces all three $pd\sigma$ bands leads to a d-wave transition, the N=0 set which merely reproduces the LDA Fermi surface and velocities does not

A boxy bulge in the Milky Way. Inversion of the stellar statistics equation with 2MASS data

Inverting the stellar statistics equation from 2MASS star counts, we obtain the 3D density distribution of the Galactic bulge as well as its luminosity function in the K-band. This results in a boxy bulge with axial ratios 1:0.5:0.4 and a major axis angle with respect to the Sun-galactic center of $20^\circ-35^\circ$.Comment: 5 pages, accepted to be published in A&

Experiments feeding butter-milk

The objects of the following feeding trials were to determine the relative values of wash water from the creamery churn, of buttermilk fed alone, and in conjunction with soaked corn, and to determine the effect of corn following a long period of feeding with a very narrow ratio. Each lot was given all the diluted milk that it would drink. The total solids of this milk amounted to 4.5 per cent, being about one-half the total solids in ordinary buttermilk, showing that the milk was reduced about one-half its value. Lot two was fed ,two pounds of shelled corn, soaked, per day and head. Lot three was fed four pounds of shelled corn, soaked, per day and head. Lot four was fed all the corn they would eat which was from six to seven pounds per day and head. The result for lot one shows that the so-called wash water is not a sustaining ration. The pigs losing a little rising one-half pound of live weight per day and head. A part of this loss can be accounted for in stomach contents