2008 Lake Ontario Lakewide Fishery Assessment

Lake trout abundance in Lake Ontario is now at a low level that has not been observed since modern restoration efforts began in the 1970s. However, the continued observations of small numbers of naturally spawned age-2 lake trout in assessment surveys and the appearance of mature lake trout of suspected natural origin, despite low abundance of the stocked population, is encouraging. Changes in stocking policy for Canadian waters in the early 1990s has produced a situation where lake trout along the north shore are concentrated in the west and east and suggests that the lakewide indicators of restoration progress used in the past for this part of the lake are in need of re-evaluation. In addition, this absence of lake trout along the central northern shore may be decreasing ecosystem stability and resistance to invasive species affects. Low lake trout abundance also seems to have positive implications for native preyfish recovery. Concurrent with lake trout declines, native deepwater sculpin (Myoxocephalus thompansonii) have reappeared (Lantry et al. 2007) and their recovery may indicate an enhanced opportunity exists for restoration of extirpated native deepwater coregonines. The results from this study thus far indicate that it would be beneficial to periodically repeat the whole lake survey and the five year interval of the EPA/EC Great Lakes cooperative monitoring cycle seems adequate and presents an ideal opportunity for researchers from this and other programs to share data and sampling infrastructure. Periodic lakewide lake trout assessments will extend annual monitoring of the condition of the lake trout population for the southern and north eastern areas of the lake to the whole lake and provide opportunity for assessment along the north shore. The whole lake surveys will also provide opportunities to calibrate between the annual USGS/NYSDEC standard lake trout assessments along the south shore and the OMNR community index netting occurring in the northeast portion of the lake; and an opportunity for collection of tissue samples for periodic examination of dietary trends and reproductive health

1B2: A Heartland Artist as Prisoner: The End Of Guy Brown Wiser\u27s Air War

This presentation considers cultural representations of war through analysis of Guy Brown Wiser’s vibrant and colorful Zrsthand chronicle of a particular American Great War aviation experience—that of a pilot shot down and taken prisoner—preserved in 40 watercolor sketches at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF). Brought down in the late summer of 1918, Wiser recorded his captivity with humor and insight, visually juxtaposing Midwest-American and German sensibilities, and contrasting the casual U.S. aviator image against the “stiff German.” The Indiana native’s sketchbook serves as a rare record of WWI prisoner life brought to life by a skilled artist. Cultural analysis of Wiser’s sketches yields insights into how he and his fellow POWs thought about the war experience. He comments wryly, and with a particular American sensibility, on what the men valued, what they thought of one another and their captors, and how they interpreted their experience. His watercolor chronicle covers his shoot-down and capture, his various movements and associations as a POW, his release in the aftermath of the armistice, and especially the small observations of daily life behind the wire. Complementary evidence in the NMUSAF collection adds context to the artwork: Wiser interview audio, along with contemporary photos, his letters, and various military and civilian records help fill out a picture of the aviator-artist and his contribution to our understanding of American wartime experience. Approaching these visual and documentary sources from a curatorial-historical point of view, I will argue that Wiser’s keen artistic observations of wartime conditions and impacts on himself, his comrades, and his captors exemplify, with an American heartland perspective, the sanguine images of airmen shaped in popular culture. Comparisons with our knowledge of later conflicts and prisoners, and their vastly different experiences, will highlight transformative social change in the popular understanding of prisoners of war. Wiser, who went on to become a noted illustrator and painter, left a vivid, valuable graphic memory of his war which can serve as a means by which to explore social change and continuity in expressions of combat and captivity

Validation of the Principal’s Computer Technology Survey

The purpose of this study was to provide a more in-depth analysis of the psychometric characteristics of the Principal’s Computer Technology Survey (PCTS). The PCTS developmental process yielded a 40–item survey with groups of items comprising five subscales (i.e., curriculum integration, perceptions, acquired expertise, needs assessment, and professional development). Principals’ responses to items within the five subscales was measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). An expert panel reviewed the instrument plus exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. This analysis resulted in a restructured instrument with seven subscales instead of the five hypothesized subscales and four fewer items. Measurement invariance of the instrument was found for gender and race. Cronbach’s alpha for the 36 items was .94 and subscale Cronbach’s alpha ranged from .78 to .90

Orestes and Redemption in Two Different Ages

In the attempt to ascertain man\u27s changes in world view, the Orestes stories of the Greek tragedians were compared with the Orestes stories of six 20th-century playwrights. The Orestes plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were contrasted with the similar plays of Hofmannstahl, Jeffers, O\u27Neill, Giraudoux, Eliot, and Sartre. The Greek tragedians appear to terminate Orestes\u27 retribution for inherited evil and a just crime by an actual, total, restorative redemption, divinely instigated. The 20th century playwrights portray only the potential termination of Orestes\u27 retribution in a distant future, by means of a salvation that is self-instigated, costly, and completely non-restorative. This change is due, in part, to the disparity of the causes of justice and self-interest in the 20th century, while they were complementary in the 5th century B.C. More importantly, this change is due to the disappearance of the Greeks\u27 benevolent, transcendent deities in the 20th century, while the spirit of retribution holds away. Redemption is no longer bestowed by gods who can restore the past, man must save himself in the future

Sovereignty

Beyond the house, beyond the fence I builtlast summer, down the slope I cleared with sawsand brushhooks, past the sycamore too largefor any blade I have, with its hung vines, beyond the trilliums, immaculatewith white each April, vanishing by June

Validation of the Principal’s High Stakes Testing Survey

The purpose of this study was to examine the soundness of the psychometric characteristics of the Principal’s High Stakes Testing Survey. The 48-item instrument is comprised of six hypothesized subscales (i.e., curriculum, teaching, work satisfaction, stress, accountability, and students) measured with a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). An expert panel reviewed the instrument plus an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Expert panel members suggested only a few minor modifications to improve the instrument. The confirmatory factor analyses yielded data to support the fit of the model and the factorial invariance of the model by gender and race or ethnicity

School-Level Predictors of Academic and Athletic Success

The purpose of this study was to determine if specific school-level variables predict a high school’s academic performance and the success of its athletic department. A nonexperimental multivariate ex post facto correlational design and a group comparison design were employed in the study. Georgia public high schools competing in the GHSA classifications AAAAA, AAAA, and AAA during the academic years 2008-2010 were included in the study. Logistic regression was used to determine if the school-level variables predicted a school’s academic performance. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine if high-performing and low-performing schools were significantly different in terms of athletic department success. The predictor variables were able to accurately predict academic performance for over 82% of schools. While the percentage of minority students, graduation rate, and GHSGT scores were significant predictors in two out of the three classifications, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students was not a significant predictor. Significant differences existed between high-performing and low-performing schools in terms of overall athletic performance in GHSA classifications AAA and AAAA. Academic predictors (GHSGT scores and graduation rate) were linked to athletic achievement. Demographic variables (percentage of economically disadvantaged students and minority students) were significant predictors in classification AAA, but not in the larger classifications