Perceived Leader Authenticity as an Effective Indicator of Perceived Instructional Leadership Behavior in Middle Level Principals

Problem. No study had been undertaken to examine any relationships which might exist between the two concepts of perceived leader authenticity and the perceived instructional leadership behaviors of middle-level principals. Method. This ex post facto study obtained data from three groups--supervisors, principals, and teachers--via their responses to two questionnaires: the Leader Authenticity Scale and the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale. A total of 247 of the teachers, all 10 of the supervisors, and all 10 of the principals returned the surveys. Canonical analysis, and one-, two-, and three-way ANOVA were conducted to test the five null hypotheses. Alpha was set at .05. Selected demographic variables were controlled. Results. Significant correlation was found to exist between the two instruments as whole entities. There were significant differences between the means of the three subgroups on 9 of the 14 sub-scales. Item analysis of each subscale enriched the interpretation of results. Significant differences between means relative to gender were found on two of the 14 subscales. Significant interaction between teacher age and number of years of working with current principal were found on 2 of 14 subscales. There were significant differences between the means of higher enrollment schools and lower enrollment schools on 6 of 14 subscales. Conclusions. A good instructional manager is an accountable, highly visible, supervisor of instruction who provides performance incentives to both teachers and learners without manipulation. Teachers have different perceptions about authenticity and instructional management than supervisors and principals. Male teachers have some perceptions different than female teachers. Older teachers with more years of working with the current principal perceived the principal to be more manipulative than other groups did. Teachers in higher enrollment schools have higher perceptions of the frequency or quality of some principal behaviors than teachers from smaller enrollment schools

High temperature constitutive and crack initiation modeling of coated single crystal superalloys

The purpose of this program is to develop life prediction models for anisotropic materials used in gas turbine airfoils. In the base portion of the program, two coated single crystal alloys are being tested. They are PWA 286 overlay coated and PWA 273 aluminide coated PWA 1480 and PWA 286 overlay coated Alloy 185. Viscoplastic constitutive models for these materials are also being developed to predict the cyclic stress-strain histories required for life prediction of the lab specimens and actual airfoil designs

Coupling of non-crossing wave modes in a two-dimensional plasma crystal

We report an experimental observation of coupling of the transverse vertical and longitudinal in-plane dust-lattice wave modes in a two-dimensional complex plasma crystal in the absence of mode crossing. A new large diameter rf plasma chamber was used to suspend the plasma crystal. The observations are confirmed with molecular-dynamics simulations. The coupling manifests itself in traces of the transverse vertical mode appearing in the measured longitudinal spectra and vice versa. We calculate the expected ratio of the trace to the principal mode with a theoretical analysis of the modes in a crystal with finite temperature and find good agreement with the experiment and simulations.Comment: 4 figures, 5 pages, accepted for publication in PRL Nov 201

The niche party concept and its measurement

The concept of the niche party has become increasingly popular in analyses of party competition. Yet, existing approaches vary in their definitions and their measurement approaches. We propose using a minimal definition that allows us to compare political parties in terms of their ‘nicheness’. We argue that the conceptual core of the niche party concept is based on issue emphasis and that a niche party emphasizes policy areas neglected by its rivals. Based on this definition, we propose a continuous measure that allows for more fine-grained measurement of a party’s ‘nicheness’ than the dominant, dichotomous approaches and thereby limits the risk of measurement error. Drawing on data collected by the Comparative Manifesto Project, we show that (1) our measure has high face validity and (2) exposes differences among parties that are not captured by alternative, static or dichotomous measures

The accessory bacteriochlorophyll

The primary electron transfer in reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides is studied by subpicosecond absorption spectroscopy with polarized light in the spectral range of 920-1040 nm. Here the bacteriochlorophyll anion radical has an absorption band while the other pigments of the reaction center have vanishing ground-state absorption. The transient absorption data exhibit a pronounced 0.9-ps kinetic component which shows a strong dichroism. Evaluation of the data yields an angle between the transition moments of the special pair and the species related with the 0.9-ps kinetic component of 26 +/- 8 degrees. This angle compares favorably with the value of 29 degrees expected for the reduced accessory bacteriochlorophyll. Extensive transient absorbance data are fully consistent with a stepwise electron transfer via the accessory bacteriochlorophyll

Impact of tunnel barrier strength on magnetoresistance in carbon nanotubes

We investigate magnetoresistance in spin valves involving CoPd-contacted carbon nanotubes. Both temperature and bias voltage dependence clearly indicate tunneling magnetoresistance as the origin. We show that this effect is significantly affected by the tunnel barrier strength, which appears to be one reason for the variation between devices previously detected in similar structures. Modeling the data by means of the scattering matrix approach, we find a non-trivial dependence of the magnetoresistance on the barrier strength. Furthermore, analysis of the spin precession observed in a nonlocal Hanle measurement yields a spin lifetime of $\tau_s = 1.1\,$ns, a value comparable with those found in silicon- or graphene-based spin valve devices.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

The media’s gatekeeping function means that party press coverage often reproduces and reinforces existing power structures

In election campaigns, parties and candidates want to get their message across to the public, and the central means of doing so is by generating media coverage. Yet, the media does not slavishly pay attention to each party’s campaign messages. Which actors are most likely to hit the media? And which campaign messages are most likely to make the news? Thomas M. Meyer, Martin Haselmayer and Markus Wagner present research which shows that parties are in general rather successful in getting their messages to the media. However, the media’s gatekeeping function also reproduces existing distributions of power and attention: party messages are most likely to be covered if messages are spread by powerful politicians and if they fit with the current media issue agenda

Why voters do not (always) punish government parties for corruption

Fighting corruption is a vital aspect of good governance. Yet, it is also a highly persistent phenomenon, indicating that tackling corruption is not always at the top of incumbent’s agenda. One way to solve this problem is to engage in corruption performance voting; that is, to use elections to punish incumbents for high levels of corruption. But do citizens actually engage in this kind of voting behavior? Alejandro Ecker, Konstantin Glinitzer and Thomas M. Meyer show that while some voters do engage in corruption performance voting, the segment of voters that are willing to hold incumbents accountable is limited by their partisan preferences, their expectations about future governments, and by the characteristics of the country they live in