Underachievement in gifted students

This study reflected on literature concerning gifted students who underachieve in school. Its purpose was to review the literature to examine the various definitions of underachievement, the characteristics of gifted underachievers, the risk factors for underachievement related to gifted students and the existence of promising interventions to ameliorate underachievement. The writer concluded that underachievement is a discrepancy related to performance behaviors that can be changed. She found that positive change can best be accomplished by the use of individualized interventions involving both the school and the family

Personal Financial Planning, by Happiness Economists - In the pursuit of happiness: Does financial independence significantly affect life satisfaction? Given the costs to well-being of achieving financial independence, are the benefits sufficient to pursue financial independence noting the related time costs?

Honors (Bachelor's)EconomicsUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96465/1/avigail.pd

Willard J. Graham: The leading price-level accounting advocate

Willard J. Graham had diverse interests that extend beyond the boundaries of this paper [Porter and Langenderfer, Spring 1985]. This paper will focus on his thinking and his contributions in the area of price-level accounting

The Smart Hard Hat

In a wide variety of manual labor industries, workers are often unaware that they are approaching dangerous vital thresholds until they have already overexerted themselves. According to a 2012 white paper by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), over 4,500 workers lose their lives, and more than 4 million are seriously injured each year. There is an immediate need to improve the safety and monitoring of manual workers to reduce the number of workplace injuries and fatalities. Millions of laborers around the globe go to work every day relying on basic safety devices, such as harnesses and steel toed boots, to protect them. It is becoming essential that modern technological advances contribute to enhancing the safety of our workforce. It is with this thought that the Smart Hard Hat team set forth to improve the safety of workers everywhere by creating a personal protective equipment (PPE) device to monitor worker biometrics so as to prevent the effects of overexertion before potential injury can occur. The primary purpose of this project was to emulate a real world product development effort, following standard design processes to identify a problem, formulate solutions, and develop a proof-of-concept prototype device. Following this design process to address the need for innovating safety monitoring equipment, we developed a product that incorporates several biometric sensors into a standard hard hat that monitor the wearer’s heart rate, body temperature, and concussive impact forces. These sensors are coded to alert both the worker and their supervisor if levels are entering dangerous zones, allowing both parties to take steps to prevent overexertion and increase worker safety

Factors Influencing Decision Making in Networked Organizations: A Case Study on Leadership and the Formation of the Non-Department of Defense Schools Program (NDSP) Task Force

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) and the United States military fall under the purview of the Secretary of Defense. However, leaders at multiple levels within this organization do not systematically consider the requirements for the education of school-age children when developing new strategic military missions in overseas and remote locations worldwide where there are no DoDEA schools or adequate educational opportunities. During 2007 to 2010, the debate on who should fund the Non-DoD Schools Program (NDSP), a roughly $50 million ancillary program of DoDEA, shifted into a larger conversation on the importance of supporting the warfighter and the evolving military quality of life agenda to keep families together. Reoccurring concerns, such as quality of education, policy limitations, and increased budget requirements, from multiple organizations networked through a robust school council system resulted in a decision by the Director of DoDEA in spring 2010 to create a task force. Considering the challenges of advancing agendas in bureaucratic, hierarchical organizations, I used qualitative case study methods based on Yin’s (2009) five-component design to illuminate this decision-making process and to show how the topic of the NDSP elevated to the highest level of the school council system. Kingdon’s (1984) policy streams, policy entrepreneur and policy window model, underpinned with leadership and network theories, formed the theoretical framework. Punctuated Equilibrium Theory provided a rival explanation to add to discussion on incremental change, status quo, and abrupt change. A triangulation of three data sources (researcher memos, semi-structured interviews of former military and civilian members of the educational council system, and publically available documents) revealed a unique confluence of leadership at positional and Action Officer (AO) levels, changes in military missions, ongoing program transformations and the second and third order effects of previous decision-making that contributed to the outcome to create the task force. Leadership, communication, and relationships were prominent themes. This study has theoretical implications for organizational leaders at decision-making levels, and provides practical guidance for civilian and military AOs who endeavor to advance agendas effectively. Keywords: organizational leadership, Kingdon, policy, network theory, DOD, decision-making, Punctuated Equilibriu

Reductions in Kinematics from Brassieres with Varying Breast Support

International Journal of Exercise Science 12(1): 402-411, 2019. Given the abundance of brassieres, manufacturers, and investigations of bras, it remains unclear whether the continued development of bras will provide many additional improvements in support. This study measured performance of sport bras including 4 popular bras and a new style bra at reducing breast motion during five common exercises. Bras demonstrated varying effectiveness and consistency across exercises at reducing undesirable breast motion, (hereafter referred to as kinematics). The new style bra significantly reduced vertical breast displacement and acceleration more consistently than other bras. When significant differences between bras were detected, the newer bra provided 31% greater reduction in vertical displacements and accelerations on average than other bras. Lateral reductions were smaller, less significant and no differences between bras were detected. When participants evaluated bras in terms of performance and ease of use, the newer bra was rated better than other bras by nearly a two to one ratio. There were no differences in how the bras felt, or in terms of pain and discomfort. Correlations between participant comfort and reductions in kinematics were weak and inconsistent. Results suggest continued bra development is possible in order to reduce undesirable motion especially in terms of reducing lateral motion. Additional investigation is required to examine the mechanistic reasons why bras improve comfort and potentially performance

Relating Detonation Parameters to the Detonation Synthesis of Silicon Carbide

Detonation synthesis of silicon carbide (SiC) nanoparticles from carbon liberated by negatively oxygen balanced explosives was evaluated in a 23 factorial design to determine the effects of three categorical experimental factors: (1) cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine (RDX)/2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) ratio, (2) silicon (Si) additive concentration, and (3) Si particle size. These factors were evaluated at low and high levels as they relate to the detonation performance of the explosive and the solid Si-containing phases produced. Detonation velocity and Chapman-Jouguet (C-J) detonation pressure, which were measured using rate stick plate dent tests, were evaluated. Solid detonation product mass, silicon carbide product concentration, and residual silicon concentration were evaluated using the x-ray diffraction analysis. The factors of Si concentration and the RDX:TNT ratio were shown to affect detonation performance in terms of detonation velocity and C-J pressure by up to 10% and 22%, respectively. Increased concentration of Si in the reactants improved the average SiC concentration in the detonation products from 1.9 to 2.8 wt. %. Similarly, increasing the ratio of RDX to TNT further oxidized detonation products and reduced the average residual Si remaining after detonation from 8.6 to 2.8 wt. %. A 70:30 mass ratio mixture of RDX to TNT loaded with 10 wt. % \u3c 44 μm silicon powder produced an estimated 1.33 g of nanocrystalline cubic silicon carbide from a 150-g test charge. Using a lower concentration of added silicon with a finer particle size reduced SiC yield in the residue to 0.38 g yet improved the SiC to residual Si ratio to 1.64:1