Site-Based Dropout Identification and Prescription Process for Alternative Education in a Diverse School System

This study developed a school site-based dropout identification and prescription process for student placement in alternative education programs in a school system with diverse residential environments—urban, rural, and suburban. The dropout performance-based and measurable predictor variables selected through discriminate function analysis were total retentions, yearly average of absences, total out-of-school suspensions, the state competency tests passed on time, total administrative hearings, and yearly average of poor grades. The combination and nature of these variables allow for early detection of potential dropouts. While subtle differences existed between the urban, suburban, and rural prediction formulas, the variables selected produced prediction formulas with accuracy rates of 88.1% overall, 85.7% for urban, 94.2% for suburban, and 97.7% for rural students. Total retentions and passing the competency tests on time had the largest unstandardized canonical discriminate function coefficients in the overall, rural, and urban prediction formulas. Administrative hearings and passing the state competency tests on time variables were found to have positive impacts on students staying in school. The significant events that the research suggested should trigger the identification process include: (1) Retention for the second time, (2) Average school absences of 15 days or more, (3) Failing two or more subjects, (4) Five or more cumulative out-of-school suspensions, (5) An administrative hearing, (6) Failing the state competency tests, (7) Averaging two or more family generated school transfers. The researcher\u27s policy recommendations are that once activated by triggering events, the screening process should be by a site-based early intervention team which can use the research generated discriminated function formulas to evaluate the severity of dropout risk, prescribe the appropriate type of education program from a continuum of services, and develop individualized alternative education plans with long term, short term, and exit goals. With dropouts failing to pass the state competency tests on time at a rate five times that of non-dropouts and the increased pressure on schools that their students perform well on mandated competency testing will amplify the demand for early detection of potential dropouts with additional, diverse, and more individualized dropout prevention programs

Leiomyosarcoma in a smallpox vaccination scar: case report and review of literature

The development of sarcomas in smallpox vaccination cars is very rare. Including this case, only five have been reported. This is the first report of a leiomyosarcoma arising in a smallpox vaccination sca

Magnetospheric considerations for solar system ice state

The current lattice configuration of the water ice on the surfaces of the inner satellites of Jupiter and Saturn is likely shaped by many factors. But laboratory experiments have found that energetic proton irradiation can cause a transition in the structure of pure water ice from crystalline to amorphous. It is not known to what extent this process is competitive with other processes in solar system contexts. For example, surface regions that are rich in water ice may be too warm for this effect to be important, even if the energetic proton bombardment rate is very high. In this paper, we make predictions, based on particle flux levels and other considerations, about where in the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn the ∼MeV proton irradiation mechanism should be most relevant. Our results support the conclusions of Hansen and McCord (2004), who related relative level of radiation on the three outer Galilean satellites to the amorphous ice content within the top 1 mm of surface. We argue here that if magnetospheric effects are considered more carefully, the correlation is even more compelling. Crystalline ice is by far the dominant ice state detected on the inner Saturnian satellites and, as we show here, the flux of bombarding energetic protons onto these bodies is much smaller than at the inner Jovian satellites. Therefore, the ice on the Saturnian satellites also corroborates the correlation

The Influence of Specimen Thickness on the High Temperature Corrosion Behavior of CMSX-4 during Thermal-Cycling Exposure

CMSX-4 is a single-crystalline Ni-base superalloy designed to be used at very high temperatures and high mechanical loadings. Its excellent corrosion resistance is due to external alumina-scale formation, which however can become less protective under thermal-cycling conditions. The metallic substrate in combination with its superficial oxide scale has to be considered as a composite suffering high stresses. Factors like different coefficients of thermal expansion between oxide and substrate during temperature changes or growing stresses affect the integrity of the oxide scale. This must also be strongly influenced by the thickness of the oxide scale and the substrate as well as the ability to relief such stresses, e.g., by creep deformation. In order to quantify these effects, thin-walled specimens of different thickness (t = 100500 lm) were prepared. Discontinuous measurements of their mass changes were carried out under thermal-cycling conditions at a hot dwell temperature of 1100 C up to 300 thermal cycles. Thin-walled specimens revealed a much lower oxide-spallation rate compared to thick-walled specimens, while thinwalled specimens might show a premature depletion of scale-forming elements. In order to determine which of these competetive factor is more detrimental in terms of a component’s lifetime, the degradation by internal precipitation was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Additionally, a recently developed statistical spallation model was applied to experimental data [D. Poquillon and D. Monceau, Oxidation of Metals, 59, 409–431 (2003)]. The model describes the overall mass change by oxide scale spallation during thermal cycling exposure and is a useful simulation tool for oxide scale spallation processes accounting for variations in the specimen geometry. The evolution of the net-mass change vs. the number of thermal cycles seems to be strongly dependent on the sample thickness

A three-dimensional model for stage I-crack propagation

The propagation of short fatigue cracks is simulated by means of a three-dimensional model. Under loading conditions in the high cycle fatigue regime the growth of these cracks can determine up to 90% of the lifetime of a component. Stage I-cracks often grow on slip bands and exhibit strong interactions with microstructural features such as grain boundaries. Experimental investigations have shown that the crack propagation rate decreases significantly when the crack tip approaches a grain boundary and even a complete stop of crack propagation is possible. In order to consider the real three-dimensional orientation of a slip plane an existing two-dimensional mechanism-based model (Künkler el al., 2008) is extended to simulate the propagation of a three-dimensional surface crack. The crack geometry is modelled using dislocation loops (Hills et al., 1996), which represent the relative displacement between the crack flanks. To describe the propagation of stage Icracks elastic-plastic material behaviour is considered by allowing a plastic deformation due to slip on the active slip plane. The extension of the plastic zone is blocked by the grain boundary. The crack propagation law is based on the range of the crack tip slide displacement, which is obtained from the plastic solution. Behind the grain boundary the shear stress field is evaluated. Results show that a high twist angle between the slip planes causes a significant decrease in the stresses, which can yield a crack stop

Dual spacecraft observations of a compression event within the Jovian magnetosphere: Signatures of externally triggered supercorotation?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95145/1/jgra17153.pd

Die Bedeutung der Wirtschaftswissenschaften in der Politikberatung

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