Administrative evaluations of teachers in tested and non-tested subjects.

The teacher evaluation process seeks to help teachers grow and thrive, and as a result, affect student achievement. Administrators evaluate teachers from different subjects, grade levels, and experience levels. This qualitative study examined the perception of feedback given through the cooperating school district’s evaluation system from both the teacher and the principal viewpoint in order to explore their perceptions of the quality and quantity of feedback given during the evaluation process. Participants were arts teachers, tested subject teachers, and their evaluating administrators from a suburban school district in Kentucky. The analysis revealed that generic evaluations do not differentiate for teachers in separate subjects, grade levels, or experience levels, and this lack of differentiation does not contribute to the overall effectiveness of teacher growth. These findings suggest administrator training and district and state policy revisions to address this could improve the experience of the evaluation system for all teachers

Investigation of the free flow electrophoretic process

The effects of gravity on the free flow electrophoretic process was demonstrated. The free flow electrophoresis chamber used to demonstrate the effects of gravity on the process was of a proprietary design. This chamber was 120 cm long, 16 cm wide, and 0.15 cm thick. Flow in this chamber was in the upward direction and exited through 197 outlets at the top of the chamber. During electrophoresis a stream of sample was injected into the flow near the bottom of the chamber and an electrical field was applied across the width of the chamber. The field caused a lateral force on particles in the sample proportional to the inherent change of the particle and the electric field strength. Particle lateral velocity was then dependent on the force due to viscous drag which was proportional to particle size and particle shape dependent

Investigation of the free flow electrophoretic process. Volume 1: Executive summary

The effect of gravity on the free flow electrophoretic process was investigated. The demonstrated effects were then compared with predictions made by mathematical models. Results show that the carrier buffer flow was affected by gravity induced thermal convection and that the movement of the separating particle streams was affected by gravity induced buoyant forces. It was determined that if gravity induced buoyant forces were included in the mathematical models, then effective predictions of electrophoresis chamber separation performance were possible

Blood sampled from existing peripheral IV cannulae yields results equivalent to venepuncture: a systematic review

Objectives: To establish whether blood samples taken from used peripheral intravenous cannulae are clinically interchangeable with venepuncture. Design: Systematic review. PubMed, Web of Science and Embase were searched for relevant trials. Setting: Trials which compared blood samples from used peripheral intravenous cannulae to venepuncture and provided limits of agreement or data which allowed calculation of limits of agreement. Participants: Seven trials with 746 participants. Blood tests included 13 commonly ordered biochemistry, haematology and blood gas measurements. Main outcome measures: 95% limits of agreement. Data were pooled using inverse variance weighting and compared to a clinically acceptable range estimated by expert opinion from previous trials. Results: Limits of agreement for blood samples from used peripheral intravenous cannulae were within the clinically acceptable range for sodium, chloride, urea, creatinine and haematology samples. Limits of agreement for potassium were 0.47 mmol/L which exceeded the clinically acceptable range. Peripheral intravenous cannula samples for blood gas analysis gave limits of agreement which far exceeded the clinically acceptable range. Conclusions: Blood sampling from used peripheral intravenous cannulae is a reasonable clinical practice for haematology and biochemistry samples. Potassium samples from used peripheral intravenous cannulae can be used in situations where error up to 0.47 mmol/L is acceptable. Peripheral intravenous cannula samples should not be used for blood gas analysis

Songbird breeding season use of pine plantations treated chemically for herbaceous vegetation control

Pine plantations, a common early successional habitat in the southeastern United States, have been subject in recent years to increased use of herbicides to control herbaceous vegetation immediately postestablishment. Such treatments may affect songbird use during the breeding season, but studies documenting bird response are limited. Furthermore, songbirds that breed in early successional habitats have experienced sustained population declines in recent decades. Therefore, we examined the influence of herbaceous vegetation control on songbird use during the breeding season within pine plantations on the Piedmont Plateau in Virginia. We evaluated 35 plantations characterized by one of five treatments: herbaceous vegetation control applied during the establishment year and that were 1, 2, or 3 y old when sampled, and those that had not received herbaceous vegetation control at establishment and that were 1 or 2 y old when sampled. There was no difference (P . 0.05) in detections of birds between plantations with and without herbicide treatment. However, 1-y-old plantations (both treated and untreated) had fewer detections (P , 0.05) than 2-y-old plantations for 3 individual species and for all 16 species combined

A Home Garden.

8 p