Management And Nutrition Factors Affecting Egg Quality

A wide range of physical and chemical properties make up total egg quality. They include exterior quality or shell quality and interior quality such as albumen firmness, freedom from blood spots and mottled yolks. Yolk quality involves color or pigmentation. Egg size may also be associated with egg quality in some cases

A device-dependent interface for interactive image display

The structure of the device independent Display Management Subsystem (DMS) and the interface routines that are available to the applications programmer for use in developing a set of portable image display utility programs are described

Digital Moviemaking—The Harmonization of Technology, Pedagogy and Content

Technology integration in K-12 classrooms resembles the “hammer in search of a nail” phenomenon. While increasingly powerful and accessible technology tools certainly offer promising potential to impact teaching and learning, their implementation can often be contrived or incongruent with classroom practice and discipline-specific pedagogy. Digital moviemaking provides a unique opportunity to connect powerful, yet accessible, technology integration with core content and pedagogical practice within specific academic disciplines. This paper explores the digital disconnect between student use of technology in and out of school, the typical problems with integrating technology in K-12 schools, the potential of digital moviemaking, an examination of a digital documentary project in the social studies, and a discussion of next steps

New Distribution Record for Lucilia cuprina (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in Indiana, United States

Determining range expansion for insect species is vital in order to evaluate their impact on new ecosystems and communities. This is particularly important for species which could be potentially harmful to humans or domestic animals. Lucilia cuprina Wiedemann (Diptera: Calliphoridae) can act as a facultative ectoparasite and has an extensive history as the primary inducer of sheep-strike in Australia, New Zealand, and Africa. We present here the first record of this species in Indiana, United States. Lucilia cuprina's range expansion northward in the United States may be indicative of changing environmental conditions conducive to the proliferation of this species into historically cooler climates. The presence of this species could significantly impact forensic death investigations utilizing dipteran larvae to estimate a minimum postmortem interval. If range expansion of this species is not taken into account by a forensic entomologist (especially if L. cuprina is not known previously in their region), an inaccurate minimum postmortem interval (PMIMIN) estimation may be made, given the differences in development times for both species. Therefore, the range expansion of this fly could have large impacts for many different entomological disciplines

Standards, Firewalls, and General Classroom Mayhem: Implementing Student-Centered Technology Projects in the Elementary Classroom

Educators are simultaneously bombarded with both calls to integrate technology in meaningful ways into their teaching and to promote more student-centered activities which combine both content learning and higher-order thinking. This is no small task given the range of student abilities and interests, the increasing emphasis on state standards and testing, and the persistent challenges regarding reliability and ubiquitous access to the necessary technologies in the classroom. In this study, the authors attempt to work towards a research-based model to connect student-centered technology pedagogy that teachers can effectively replicate in the classroom. They came to this project as educational technologists hoping to find success in leading fifth-grade students to create short, historical, documentary films using the critical eye of a researcher attuned to the classroom teacher perspective. As the title of this article suggests, the authors encountered formidable challenges at nearly every step of the process. The purpose of this article is to honestly document the promising outcomes of an historical documentary project, highlight the challenges encountered, and provide suggestions for future implementation. Specifically, the authors sought answers to the following research questions: (1) To what degree does this historical documentary project support the existing standards-based curriculum?; (2) From the teacher\u27s perspective, to what extent do the technologies employed both support and hinder the educational goals of the project?; and (3) In what ways does this type of student-centered historical documentary project complement or contradict the teacher\u27s predominant pedagogy? For this research study, the authors employed a case study approach using the constant comparative method for data analysis. This approach to framing the study, data collection and analysis, and presentation of findings allowed the authors to closely examine the context and dynamics of the intervention. In two fifth-grade social studies classrooms in Kentucky, students took part in a two week project to create three-five minute historical documentary films. It was found that while the teacher was pleased with the students\u27 work during and at the conclusion of the project, the authors identified formidable challenges in making time for and connecting the content of the project with the local curriculum standards, navigating the challenges encountered with the technology involved, and managing the instructional components of the project in the classroom

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Action: A Case Study of a Middle School Digital Documentary Project

In recent years researchers in educational technology have begun to look closely at the complexity of integrating technology in K-12 classrooms. The development of the notion of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) provides a useful theoretical framework to explore the requisite forms of teacher knowledge required to effectively integrate technology in classroom work. This case study explores the three domains of teacher knowledge and their intersections in a sixth grade digital documentary project. On the surface, the setting for the work (particularly the skilled teachers with whom we worked) seemed to be the best-case scenario for technology integration, and yet, challenges arose in the intersections of the domains of knowledge. This study explores the different areas of teacher knowledge in this project and provides directions for future work to further explore the notion of TPCK in practice

Layers, Pullets, and the Egg Production Sector

The egg production sector has undergone radical change during the past 25 years. Iowa egg production prior to the 1960s was conducted through relatively small extensively managed flocks dispersed on diversified farming operations. Since that time new technologies have resulted in the industry moving rapidly to specialized intensively managed facilities in fewer locations. This trend can be seen in figure 1 showing the number of Iowa layer and \u27pullet producers in 1964,1978 and 1987. The total number of producers in 1964 was about 72,000. By 1978 that total, had declined by more than 80% to about 11,000. Between 1978 and 1987 it fell by another 50% to less than 5,000

Hot Off the Presses: Podcasting for the Economics Classroom

Despite the recent interest and production of quality podcasts freely available online, there are relatively few podcasts available for K-12 teachers of economics. We see this as a missed opportunity given the real-time and real-world nature of economics. We have created the Econocast (http://econocast.org) website to help spark teachers’ imaginations to leverage podcasting in the economics classroom and to help make the publication process easier. In this article, we offer a definition of podcasting, discuss how podcasting might support the economics curriculum, and present a case study of a teacher\u27s development of an “iReport” economics podcast for her ninth grade classroom. We invite readers to help realize the potential of podcasting to engage students in meaningful learning of economics concepts

Historical Scene Investigation (HSI): Engaging Students in Case Based Investigations using Web-Based Historical Documents

The Historical Scene Investigation (HSI) project builds upon the work of a number of scholars to facilitate the application and acquisition of historical thinking skills in the K-12 classroom. Through a structured yet flexible approach, HSI exercises attempt to provide scaffolding for the analysis of a variety of historical documents to simultaneously develop an understanding of the content focus of the investigation and the historiography skills embedded in their work. HSI exercises are designed to be “interpreted” and edited by classroom teachers in either a low- or high-tech approach. This article explores the background and structure of the model and discussion of the classroom implementation of two examples

The Historical Scene Investigation (HSI) Project: Examining the Use of Case Based Historical Instruction in the Fifth Grade Social Studies Classroom

The Historical Scene Investigation (HSI) project is designed to help teachers integrate historical investigations into their K-12 history instruction. The HSI project materials provide streamlined and aesthetically engaging Web-based historical investigation exercises. Each case exercise engages students in a historical investigation using rich and varied historical primary sources scaffolded by document-study prompts and activities requiring specific analytical skills and processes. The HSI project, originally developed in 2001 by the principal investigators of this study, has undergone numerous revisions in efforts to extend topical coverage and more explicitly align online materials with state content standards for history. In addition, revisions focused on matching the chronological sequence of cases to a sequence of historical thinking skills, and, finally, on ensuring that the technical aspects and functionality of the program more easily supported teacher and student use of each investigation. In this study, the authors examine the historical evidentiary reasoning of fifth-grade students following HSI-based instruction. In particular, they wanted to know if discrete, short-term exposure to the HSI materials and activities strengthened the development of historical thinking such as historical causality and perspective