Assessing in-kind middle school teachers\u27 concern about & use of SOARS: School Online Assessment Reporting System

In recent years technology has been integrated into every sector of education. Using Student Online Assessment Reporting System (SOARS) to assess score results and design instructional strategies for improved learning is a challenge and will cause concern to teachers. This is a descriptive comparative study designed to measure select Middle School teachers\u27 Stages of Concern and Levels of Use regarding the SOARS assessment tool. SOARS was adopted by Jeffco Public Schools (CO) to chart student progress by presenting Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) score data. This study determined if there was a significant difference between the Stages of Concern and Levels of Use of High Profile and Low Profile Middle School teachers. High Profile Middle Schools have demographic data that show the highest percentile levels of free/reduced lunches, ethnicity rates, and mobility rates and Low Profile Middle Schools have the lowest percentile levels. This study targeted a select group (N=72) of core-subject teachers (Language Arts, Math, and Science) from High and Low Profile Middle Schools. There were three High Profile Middle Schools and three Low Profile Middle Schools that participated in this study. When comparing results of this research, data show there are no significant differences between the two groups of High and Low Profile Middle Schools\u27 teachers regarding their Stages of Concern and Levels of Use of SOARS. Both High and Low Profile Middle School teachers benefit from an equal level of teacher preparation, support, and commitment by all

An evaluation of word usage practice lessons

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Online, interactive user guidance for high-dimensional, constrained motion planning

We consider the problem of planning a collision-free path for a high-dimensional robot. Specifically, we suggest a planning framework where a motion-planning algorithm can obtain guidance from a user. In contrast to existing approaches that try to speed up planning by incorporating experiences or demonstrations ahead of planning, we suggest to seek user guidance only when the planner identifies that it ceases to make significant progress towards the goal. Guidance is provided in the form of an intermediate configuration $\hat{q}$, which is used to bias the planner to go through $\hat{q}$. We demonstrate our approach for the case where the planning algorithm is Multi-Heuristic A* (MHA*) and the robot is a 34-DOF humanoid. We show that our approach allows to compute highly-constrained paths with little domain knowledge. Without our approach, solving such problems requires carefully-crafting domain-dependent heuristics

The nanoSIMS as a tool to study zonation around/in melt inclusions

Melt inclusions preserve geochemical records of magmatic processes and can provide windows into melt composition prior to near-surface fractionation processes such as degassing, crystal fractionation, and mixing that can influence the compositions of erupted magmas. The compositions of melt inclusions are usually measured near their centers using in-situ analytical techniques such as electron microprobe, ion probe, or LA-ICPMS. However, melt inclusions can experience post-entrapment modifications through crystallization or exchange with the host mineral or the outside melt via diffusion through the host mineral. For example, water loss (or gain) can occur by diffusion of H-bearing species through the host mineral toward (or from) the enclosing melt. Zonation in melt inclusions and their host minerals provide information on such post-entrapment modifications. We present a new approach to the study of such zonation using the nanoSIMS Cameca 50L high-resolution ion microprobe. Our data document mechanisms of chemical evolution of melt inclusion after entrapment and can constrain the nature and timescales of syn-eruptive processes

Book Reviews

FEDERAL JUDGES: THE APPOINTING PROCESS. By Harold W. Chase. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1972. Pp. xiii, 240. CORPORATE LIB: WOMEN\u27S CHALLENGE TO MANAGEMENT. Edited by Eli Ginzberg and Alice M. Yohalem. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973. Pp. x, 153. URBAN JUSTICE: LAW AND\u27 ORDER IN AMERICAN CITIES. By Herbert Jacob. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Pp. viii, 145. THE CONSCIENCE OF A LAWYER. By David Mellinkoff. St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1973. Pp. x, 304

Collaboration in electronic resource provision in university libraries: SHEDL, a Scottish case study

This case study examines the growth of collaboration among Scottish higher education institutions. Following a summary of the work of the Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries (SCURL), more detailed information is provided on collaboration in the fields of acquisition, licensing, selection, and purchasing. Some of the UK background is outlined, relating to NESLi2 in particular, in order to illuminate the options within Scotland. The origins of negotiations on electronic resource provision within Scotland are described, drawing on developments in other countries including Ireland and Scandinavia. After initial setbacks, the implementation of the Scottish Higher Education Digital Library (SHEDL) from 2007 to 2009 is detailed. Current benefits arising from SHEDL are explained, and some possible future developments are discussed

Integrating speech recognition and generation capabilities into timeliner

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1996.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 85).by James M. Napier.M.Eng

Global Methane Emissions From Wetlands, Rice Paddies, and Lakes

The current concentration of atmospheric methane is 1774±1.8 parts per billion, and it accounts for 18% of total greenhouse gas radiative forcing [Forster et al., 2007]. Atmospheric methane is 22 times more effective, on a per-unit-mass basis, than carbon dioxide in absorbing long-wave radiation on a 100-year time horizon, and it plays an important role in atmospheric ozone chemistry (e.g., in the presence of nitrous oxides, tropospheric methane oxidation will lead to the formation of ozone). Wetlands are a large source of atmospheric methane, Arctic lakes have recently been recognized as a major source [e.g., Walter et al., 2006], and anthropogenic activities--such as rice agriculture--also make a considerable contribution