The Effects of Setting Goals on Accelerated Reader

The purpose of this action research project was to determine if sixth grade English and language arts (ELA) and reading students’ reading habits are due solely to Accelerated Reader (AR) point mandates by their classroom teachers and if by allowing them to set their own reading goals, whether or not they will be able to attain an equal or greater amount of AR points. Rather than be given a minimum number of AR points for a quarter which would then be input to the grade book, students were asked to create self-set goals based on their final fifth grade quarter totals. Along with parents, students set goals to challenge themselves and met with the teacher following the quarter to discuss their progress towards their quarter goal, amount of time spent reading outside of school, and appropriate difficulty levels of books read. Students then set AR-point goals for the second quarter as well as general independent reading goals. The researcher’s hope was to see an increase in intrinsic reading motivation with the setting of their own goals and reading books based on interest rather than just maximum number of points

An Investigation Of Severe Weather Environments In Atmospheric Reanalyses

This thesis performs an intercomparison of reanalysis datasets with the goal of determining their respective proficiency in representing severe weather environments capable of producing phenomena such as strong wind, large hail, and tornadoes. A select reanalyses is then used to investigate the climatology and trends in pertinent severe weather parameters over a three-decade period from 1986-2015. The intercomparison is performed by comparing a peer-reviewed dataset of Rapid Update Cycle 2 (RUC-2) proximity soundings to collocated soundings derived from the nearest grid point in six different modern reanalyses. These soundings are compared via various parameters related to severe weather such as: Convective available potential energy (CAPE), effective storm relative helicity (EFFSRH), and supercell composite parameter (SCP). Parameters are calculated using SHARPpy, which is an open source, peer reviewed python sounding analysis package modeled after the Storm Prediction Centerâs (SPC) Sounding and Hodograph Analysis and Research Program (SHARP). Representation of severe weather environments varies across the reanalyses and the presented results have ramifications for climatological studies that use these datasets. In particular, thermodynamic parameters such as CAPE show the widest range in variations, and this property feeds back to other parameters that incorporate thermodynamic information directly or indirectly through the effective layer. As a result, better segregation of soundings by storm type is found for fixed-layer shear parameters. Although no reanalysis can exactly reproduce the results of earlier RUC-2 studies, many of the reanalyses can broadly distinguish between environments that are significantly tornadic vs. nontornadic. Overall, the reanalyses found to have the most favorable error characteristics for severe weather environments are the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) and the Japanese 55-Year Reanalysis (JRA55). Given the results of the first objective, NARR is used to understand the climatology and trends in severe weather parameters across the contiguous United States. A suite of severe weather parameters is calculated for the full domain of NARR by taking âpseudo-soundingsâ at each grid point. It is found that the spatial distribution of average severe weather climatologies are similar to prior studies but tend to have significantly larger magnitudes. It is also found that certain severe weather parameters may be increasing over select regions, while others have either a neutral trend or are decreasing over time. The raw data used for this study, i.e. a suite of severe weather parameters for the full domain of NARR, will be made publicly available. This dataset is potentially useful to members of the climate science and atmospheric science communities. This is due in part to the large amount of computational resources and time that were required to produce this dataset

Effects of Temperature Gradient, Substrate Composition, and Canopy Cover On the Spatial Distribution of Topminnow Species: \u3ci\u3eFundulus notatus\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eFundulus olivaceus\u3c/i\u3e

Hybrid zones are locations where two interbreeding species coexist and hybridize. The spatial distribution of ecologically similar species is of primary interest in understanding the formation and stability of hybrid zones. These hybrid zones are of significance as they allow for insight into how speciation occurs naturally within the environment. A variety of factors may play a role in determining the spatial distributions of species within hybrid zones. Examples of these factors include variations in temperature gradients, substrate composition, and changes in canopy cover. Fundulus olivaceus and Fundulus notatus are generally found within upstream and downstream habitats respectfully. These habitats change in predictable ways in accordance to the river continuum concept. The purpose of this experiment was to test whether these environmental gradients influence distribution and the structure of hybrid zones. For this study, roughly 40 specimens of each sex and species were collected for a total of 160 fishes. Each specimen was marked with an elastomer tag that coded for species and sex. Three mesocosm treatments were created; a control, heterogeneous and temperature only. The control had no change in habitat variables throughout the treatment while the heterogeneous treatment was arranged to mimic a stream habitat in accordance to the river continuum concept. This includes a shallower, faster moving, colder upstream and a deeper, slower moving, warmer downstream. The homogeneous treatment was arranged identical to the control with only a temperature gradient present. Ten fish of both sex and species, 40 total, were placed in each treatment. It was found that both species exhibited habitat preference when presented with changes in habitat structure. Of the two species, F. notatus, males in particular, exhibited the highest mean index of upstream vs downstream bias

Effect of body composition on growth hormone response to exercise in postmenopausal women

Growth hormone (GH) is one of several hormones known to decrease with age. Low GH levels may be linked with various disease conditions because of its stimulatory role in muscle and bone maintenance, and lipolysis. Growth hormone is associated with insulin, glucose, and estrogen levels, and GH is greatly reduced following menopause. It has been established that obesity is inversely related to low GH levels and positively associated with insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. Exercise is a potent stimulator of GH secretion and the GH response to exercise is attenuated with obesity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of body composition on the GH response to exercise in postmenopausal women and how the response was related to insulin, glucose, and estradiol concentrations. To do this, 9 obese and 10 non-obese apparently healthy postmenopausal women (mean age ± SE; 56.3 ± 0.9 y) engaged in 30 minutes of treadmill exercise at 70% of their predetermined VO2max. Blood samples were collected periodically during pre-exercise, exercise, and recovery periods for the determination of GH, insulin, glucose, glycerol, and estradiol concentrations. The results of this study indicate that a 30-minute bout of treadmill exercise at 70% of VO2max sufficient to elicit a significant elevation of serum GH concentrations in untrained obese and non-obese postmenopausal women and that the GH response to exercise is negatively related to body weight and body fat. However, the large variance in the GH response made it impossible to demonstrate statistically, significant group differences

Improving Patient Outcomes One Warm Patient at a Time

Patient Temperature measurement postoperatively reveals that hypothermia occurs in surgical patients 25-90% of the time. Unintended perioperative hypothermia can be linked to many negative patient outcomes such as increased incidence of surgical site infection (SSI), delayed wound healing and increased length of hospital stay, to mention a few. Any single or combination of the aforementioned issues can eventually lead to an increase in patient morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this proposed quality practice improvement project is to increase the compliance of hypothermia prevention strategies, specifically forced air warming, at the implementation site. The targeted practice improvement is aimed at increased compliance in warming preoperatively as well as intraoperatively. Education for perioperative staff will be rolled out on three separate occasions over three months. Education will be informal in the means of a physical take home reference card to serve as a reminder of current best protocol practices. The guiding framework of the project is based on the Model for Improvement utilizing Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) Cycles, which will propel the project forward as development, planning, and implementation take place. Another model used in synergy with the aforementioned, is Lewin\u27s three step model for successful change, which will ensure that change is accepted and becomes a part of the culture at the implementation site. The aim of this project is for ≥80% of colorectal surgery patients to maintain a median core target temperature above 36 degrees Celsius three months post implementation

Performance of NACA Eight-stage Axial-flow Compressor Designed on the Basis of Airfoil Theory

The NACA has conducted an investigation to determine the performance that can be obtained from a multistage axial-flow compressor based on airfoil research. A theory was developed; an eight-stage axial-flow compressor was designed, constructed, and tested. The performance of the compressor was determined for speeds from 5000 to 14,000 r.p.m with varying air flow at each speed. Most of the tests were made with air at room temperature. The performance was determined in accordance with the Committee's recommended procedure for testing superchargers. The expected performance was obtained, showing that a multistage compressor of high efficiency can be designed by the application of airfoil theory