Field-based Research Experience in Earth Science Teacher Education

This is an overview of a field-based research experience in Earth Science teacher education program that was conducted for secondary science teachers from Prince George's County, Maryland. The goal of the program was to produce well-prepared, scientifically and technologically literate Earth Science teachers through a teaching- and research-oriented partnership between in-service teachers and a university scientist-educator. Program participants were exposed to a broad background in field-based instruction in physical, historical, and environmental aspects of Earth Science content and teaching methods, followed by participation in an authentic, technology-rich field research project. Although attrition rates were high, program participants indicated that they were more confident in their Earth Science content knowledge and teaching ability than they had been initially. All respondents also indicated that they were currently using methods, strategies, and activities they had learned in the program within their own classrooms. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Ethyl Alcohol Production.

12 p

A 3+1 Decomposition of the Minimal Standard-Model Extension Gravitational Sector

The 3+1 (ADM) formulation of General Relativity is used in, for example, canonical quantum gravity and numerical relativity. Here we present a 3+1 decomposition of the minimal Standard-Model Extension gravity Lagrangian. By choosing the leaves of foliation to lie along a timelike vector field we write the theory in a form which will allow for comparison and matching to other gravity models.Comment: Presented at the Eighth Meeting on CPT and Lorentz Symmetry, Bloomington, Indiana, May 12-16, 201

The acquisition of consonants in first language development

This thesis reports on the longitudinal study of consonant production in fifteen typically-developing monolingual children living in the south-east of England acquiring non-rhotic accents of British English. The data relate to the consonant patterns found in spontaneous speech production as recorded in individual diaries kept by caregivers. The study follows two lines of enquiry. Firstly, the speech data are analysed to chart the emergence of English consonants in relation to phonemic targets. Separate analysis of the production of initial and final singletons and cluster consonants is undertaken. This reveals word-position asymmetries in the production of consonants and consonant classes, and identifies the classes and the contexts in which consonants are most avoided. Secondly, the speech data are analysed further for evidence of word-position bias in the use of the simplification processes identified in O’Neal (1998) as features of two discrete phonological profiles. Children who demonstrate tendencies towards either of these profiles in their patterns of consonant deletion, fronting, stopping and reduplication are identified, and their profiles compared and contrasted with those of other monolingual English-learning children

Reconditioning Flood-Damaged Farm Equipment.

2 p

The European Commission's enhanced Rule of Law mechanism

The new European Commission has signaled its commitment to advance the work of its predecessor in asserting European Union (EU) authority to prevent - and, if necessary, respond to - breaches in the rule of law by member states. A new toolbox of measures to accomplish this aim would build upon the Rule of Law Framework, adopt­ed in 2014, and rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) requiring compliance by member country courts and judicial systems with EU legal principles of judicial independence and separation of powers. The first two principal aims of the reinforced toolbox of measures are to foster, through public outreach, a rule of law culture across the EU, and to expand the scope of monitoring and report­ing to all member countries while deepening the Commission’s institutional expertise to achieve a timely and detailed understanding of developments. The third aim is to reinforce the leverage of the EU to respond in cases where there is serious deviation from rule of law norms. This latter aspect of the reinforced "toolbox" includes adopt­ing a strategic approach to bringing anti-infringement cases to the CJEU and the intro­duction of rule of law conditionality to EU funding in member countries. (author's abstract

Boot party.

Boot Party is a fictional screenplay consisting of essentially three acts which concerns an adolescent punk rocker in 1986 Denton, Texas called Jonah. Jonah leaves home following a violent confrontation with his stepfather and is taken in by a Dallas skinhead gang. He becomes infatuated with a skinhead girl, Victoria, the dilettante daughter of an English diplomat and finds himself drawn into the violent camaraderie of the group. After stabbing a member of a rival gang, fearing prosecution, Jonah, Victoria, and three companions, leave Dallas for Chicago. On the run from the law and pursued by a racist killer, Jonah follows Victoria deep into the realm of the original American skinhead cult, where in his adolescent quest for identity he encounters violence and personal betrayal. Boot Party explores the world of a particular subculture, or youth cult, as it is experienced by Jonah in 1986, but shares themes and situations found in films such as The Outsiders, Quadrophenia, Over The Edge, Suburbia, This is England, and Wassup Rockers. These films, which are fictional treatments of real-life subcultures, represent what I think is a specific genre in which adolescent protagonists, finding themselves completely incompatible with parents, other authority figures, and same-age peers are drawn to youth cults. With members unwilling or unable to conform to the mainstream culture, the youth cult, whether it consists of greasers, mods, skinheads or punks, functions as a substitute family for the protagonist. Ultimately this family proves so lacking in mature leadership, authority, and resources that it cannot sustain itself and is eventually subdued by authorities or destroyed from within. The protagonist is sometimes left disenchanted and still unable or unwilling to fully reconcile with the mainstream. Boot Party and other films of this 'youth-in-revolt' genre present audiences with opportunities to explore life outside the mainstream and possibly foster an understanding for those who inhabit that world in real life. In this way I hope audiences can draw from their own adolescent experience when considering Boot Party and make that connection with Jonah and the other characters