The Distribution of \u3ci\u3eCorydalus Cornutus\u3c/i\u3e (Linnaeus) and \u3ci\u3eNigronia Serricornis (Say) (Megaloptera: Corydalidae) in Michigan

(excerpt) The distribution of the hellgrammite [Corydalus cornutus (Linnaeus)] and the sawcombed fishfly [Nigronia serricornis (Say)] in Michigan was determined as part of an investigation of the biology of these large Megalopterans (Knight and Simmons, 1975a, 1975b). Megalopteran larvae are some of the largest aquatic insects, with a maximum length of approximately 84 mm. They are robust larvae with paired lateral abdominal appendages on segments 1-8 and a pair of anal prolegs bearing two strong hooks. They are fiercely predaceous and generally insectivorous, feeding chiefly on larvae of Simulium, Cheumatopsyche, Hydropsyche and Chironomidae, but eating almost anything they can subdue, including their own kind (Chandler, 1956; Stewart et al., 1973)

A Method for Collaboratively Developing and Validating a Rubric

Assessing student learning outcomes relative to a valid and reliable standard that is academically-sound and employer-relevant presents a challenge to the scholarship of teaching and learning. In this paper, readers are guided through a method for collaboratively developing and validating a rubric that integrates baseline data collected from academics and professionals. The method addresses two additional goals: (1) to formulate and test a rubric as a teaching and learning protocol for a multi-section course taught by various instructors; and (2) to assure that students’ learning outcomes are consistently assessed against the rubric regardless of teacher or section. Steps in the process include formulating the rubric, collecting data, and sequentially analyzing the techniques used to validate the rubric and to insure precision in grading papers in multiple sections of a course

How Agricultural Economists Increase the Value of Agribusiness Research

Historically, there has been declining cooperation between agribusiness firms and agricultural economists. In new product marketing research, firms' tend to conduct their own analyses, partially due to confidentiality, usually consisting of simple univariate or bivariate statistics such as chi-squared tests of independence. The primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate, through a case study, one way in which agricultural economists can add value to agribusiness firms research. Results from the econometric model offer a richer explanation of consumer behavior and may be more useful to agribusiness firms.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Characterizations of Certain Classes of Planar Dynamical Systems

Mathematic

Writing Analytics for Epistemic Features of Student Writing

Literacy, encompassing the ability to produce written outputs from the reading of multiple sources, is a key learning goal. Selecting information, and evaluating and integrating claims from potentially competing documents is a complex literacy task. Prior research exploring differing behaviours and their association to constructs such as epistemic cognition has used ‘multiple document processing’ (MDP) tasks. Using this model, 270 paired participants, wrote a review of a document. Reports were assessed using a rubric associated with features of complex literacy behaviours. This paper focuses on the conceptual and empirical associations between those rubric-marks and textual features of the reports on a set of natural language processing (NLP) indicators. Findings indicate the potential of NLP indicators for providing feedback regarding the writing of such outputs, demonstrating clear relationships both across rubric facets and between rubric facets and specific NLP indicators

Bubble-Driven Inertial Micropump

The fundamental action of the bubble-driven inertial micropump is investigated. The pump has no moving parts and consists of a thermal resistor placed asymmetrically within a straight channel connecting two reservoirs. Using numerical simulations, the net flow is studied as a function of channel geometry, resistor location, vapor bubble strength, fluid viscosity, and surface tension. Two major regimes of behavior are identified: axial and non-axial. In the axial regime, the drive bubble either remains inside the channel or continues to grow axially when it reaches the reservoir. In the non-axial regime the bubble grows out of the channel and in all three dimensions while inside the reservoir. The net flow in the axial regime is parabolic with respect to the hydraulic diameter of the channel cross-section but in the non-axial regime it is not. From numerical modeling, it is determined that the net flow is maximal when the axial regime crosses over to the non-axial regime. To elucidate the basic physical principles of the pump, a phenomenological one-dimensional model is developed and solved. A linear array of micropumps has been built using silicon-SU8 fabrication technology, and semi-continuous pumping across a 2 mm-wide channel has been demonstrated experimentally. Measured variation of the net flow with fluid viscosity is in excellent agreement with simulation results.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures, single colum

Patterns and predictors of violence against children in Uganda: a latent class analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To explore patterns of physical, emotional and sexual violence against Ugandan children. DESIGN: Latent class and multinomial logistic regression analysis of cross-sectional data. SETTING: Luwero District, Uganda. PARTICIPANTS: In all, 3706 primary 5, 6 and 7 students attending 42 primary schools. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE: To measure violence, we used the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool-Child Institutional. We used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to assess mental health and administered reading, spelling and maths tests. RESULTS: We identified three violence classes. Class 1 (N=696 18.8%) was characterised by emotional and physical violence by parents and relatives, and sexual and emotional abuse by boyfriends, girlfriends and unrelated adults outside school. Class 2 (N=975 26.3%) was characterised by physical, emotional and sexual violence by peers (male and female students). Children in Classes 1 and 2 also had a high probability of exposure to emotional and physical violence by school staff. Class 3 (N=2035 54.9%) was characterised by physical violence by school staff and a lower probability of all other forms of violence compared to Classes 1 and 2. Children in Classes 1 and 2 were more likely to have worked for money (Class 1 Relative Risk Ratio 1.97, 95% CI 1.54 to 2.51; Class 2 1.55, 1.29 to 1.86), been absent from school in the previous week (Class 1 1.31, 1.02 to 1.67; Class 2 1.34, 1.10 to 1.63) and to have more mental health difficulties (Class 1 1.09, 1.07 to 1.11; Class 2 1.11, 1.09 to 1.13) compared to children in Class 3. Female sex (3.44, 2.48 to 4.78) and number of children sharing a sleeping area predicted being in Class 1. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood violence in Uganda forms distinct patterns, clustered by perpetrator and setting. Research is needed to understand experiences of victimised children, and to develop mental health interventions for those with severe violence exposures. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT01678846; Results

Does the Good Schools Toolkit Reduce Physical, Sexual and Emotional Violence, and Injuries, in Girls and Boys equally? A Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial.

We aimed to investigate whether the Good School Toolkit reduced emotional violence, severe physical violence, sexual violence and injuries from school staff to students, as well as emotional, physical and sexual violence between peers, in Ugandan primary schools. We performed a two-arm cluster randomised controlled trial with parallel assignment. Forty-two schools in one district were allocated to intervention (n = 21) or wait-list control (n = 21) arms in 2012. We did cross-sectional baseline and endline surveys in 2012 and 2014, and the Good School Toolkit intervention was implemented for 18 months between surveys. Analyses were by intention to treat and are adjusted for clustering within schools and for baseline school-level proportions of outcomes. The Toolkit was associated with an overall reduction in any form of violence from staff and/or peers in the past week towards both male (aOR = 0.34, 95%CI 0.22-0.53) and female students (aOR = 0.55, 95%CI 0.36-0.84). Injuries as a result of violence from school staff were also lower in male (aOR = 0.36, 95%CI 0.20-0.65) and female students (aOR = 0.51, 95%CI 0.29-0.90). Although the Toolkit seems to be effective at reducing violence in both sexes, there is some suggestion that the Toolkit may have stronger effects in boys than girls. The Toolkit is a promising intervention to reduce a wide range of different forms of violence from school staff and between peers in schools, and should be urgently considered for scale-up. Further research is needed to investigate how the intervention could engage more successfully with girls

Critical perspectives on writing analytics

Writing Analytics focuses on the measurement and analysis of written texts for the purpose of understanding writing processes and products, in their educational contexts, and improving the teaching and learning of writing. This workshop adopts a critical, holistic perspective in which the definition of "the system" and "success" is not restricted to IR metrics such as precision and recall, but recognizes the many wider issues that aid or obstruct analytics adoption in educational settings, such as theoretical and pedagogical grounding, usability, user experience, stakeholder design engagement, practitioner development, organizational infrastructure, policy and ethics