A Recipe for Success: Essential Administrative and Interpersonal Considerations of Co-Teaching in Secondary Settings

A recipe for success: Essential administrative and interpersonal considerations of co-teaching in secondary settings

Publications of the NASA CELSS (Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems) program

Publications on research sponsored by the NASA CELSS (controlled ecological life support systems) Program are listed. The bibliography is divided into four areas: (1) human requirements; (2) food production; (3) waste management; and (4) system management and control. The 210 references cover the period from the inception of the CELSS Program (1979) to the present, as well as some earlier publications during the development of the CELSS Program

Socio-Economic Importance of the Boreal Forests in the Nordic Countries

This paper gives an overview of the socio-economic significance of forest resources and their utilization in the Nordic countries. The investigation covers Finland, Norway and Sweden, where coniferous forest with some birch and other broadleaved trees is the natural forest type in most areas. From the viewpoint of national economy, the major part of the socio-economic benefits from forests comes from the large-scale forest products industry. In vast rural areas, forestry is also significant in the context of regional development. Because of relatively strong competitiveness of the forest products industries, it is likely that the role of the Nordic countries will remain high in satisfying the world's demand for forest industry products. Timber resources as such are not a limiting factor to the expansion of forest products industries in these countries. However, nature protection and nontimber values of forest, among other factors, lower the usable potential of timber resources for industrial purposes. The most challenging task is to find a sound balance in which both the economic and environmental functions of forests can be fulfilled simultaneously

New Facilities

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY 87-1440

On the terms violating the custodial symmetry in multi-Higgs-doublet models

We prove that a generic multi-Higgs-doublet model (NHDM) generally must contain terms in the potential that violate the custodial symmetry. This is done by showing that the O(4) violating terms of the NHDM potential cannot be excluded by imposing a symmetry on the NHDM Lagrangian. Hence we expect higher-order corrections to necessarily introduce such terms. We also note, in the case of custodially symmetric Higgs-quark couplings, that vacuum alignment will lead to up-down mass degeneration; this is not true if the vacua are not aligned.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure. Title and abstract are modified, conclusions remain the same. Section on Yukawa couplings is extended. Published versio

Role of electroweak bremsstrahlung for indirect dark matter signatures

Interpretations of indirect searches for dark matter (DM) require theoretical predictions for the annihilation or decay rates of DM into stable particles of the standard model. These predictions include usually only final states accessible as lowest order tree-level processes, with electromagnetic bremsstrahlung and the loop-suppressed two gamma-ray line as exceptions. We show that this restriction may lead to severely biased results for DM tailored to produce only leptons in final states and with mass in the TeV range. For such models, unavoidable electroweak bremsstrahlung of Z and W-bosons has a significant influence both on the branching ratio and the spectral shape of the final state particles. We work out the consequences for two situations: First, the idealized case where DM annihilates at tree level with 100% branching ratio into neutrinos. For a given cross section, this leads eventually to “minimal yields” of photons, electrons, positrons, and antiprotons. Second, the case where the only allowed two-body final states are electrons. The latter case is typical of models aimed at fitting cosmic ray e- and e+ data. We find that the multimessenger signatures of such models can be significantly modified with respect to results presented in the literature

Weinberg's 3HDM potential with spontaneous CP violation

We study the potential of Weinberg's $\mathbb{Z}_2\times\mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetric three-Higgs-doublet model (3HDM). The potential is designed to accommodate CP violation in the scalar sector within a gauge theory, while at the same time allowing for natural flavour conservation. This framework allows for both explicit and spontaneous CP violation. CP can be explicitly violated when the coefficients of the potential are taken to be complex. With coefficients chosen to be real, CP can be spontaneously violated via complex vacuum expectation values (vevs). In the absence of the terms leading to the possibility of CP violation, either explicit or induced by complex vevs, the potential has two global U(1) symmetries. In this case, spontaneous symmetry breaking would in general give rise to massless states. In a realistic implementation, those terms must be included, thus preventing the existence of Goldstone bosons. A scan over parameters, imposing the existence of a neutral state at 125 GeV that is nearly CP-even shows that, in the absence of fine-tuning, the scalar spectrum contains one or two states with masses below 125 GeV that have a significant CP-odd component. These light states would have a low production rate via the Bjorken process and could thus have escaped detection at LEP. At the LHC the situation is less clear. While we do not here aim for a full phenomenological study of the light states, we point out that the $\gamma\gamma$ decay channel would be challenging to measure because of suppressed couplings to $WW$.Comment: Minor changes, some references added. Matches Phys. Rev. D versio

Clinical outcomes and safety assessment in elderly patients undergoing decompressive laminectomy for lumbar spinal stenosis: a prospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To assess safety, risk factors and clinical outcomes in elderly patients with spinal stenosis after decompressive laminectomy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A prospective cohort of patients 70 years and older with spinal stenosis undergoing conventional laminectomy without fusion (n = 101) were consecutively enrolled from regular clinical practice and reassessed at 3 and 12 months. Primary outcome was change in health related quality of life measured (HRQL) with EuroQol-5 D (EQ-5D). Secondary outcomes were safety assessment, changes in Oswestry disability index (ODI), Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS) score for self reported health, VAS score for leg and back pain and patient satisfaction. We used regression analyses to evaluate risk factors for less improvement.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean EQ-5 D total score were 0.32, 0.63 and 0.60 at baseline, 3 months and 12 months respectively, and represents a statistically significant (P < 0.001) improvement. Effect size was > 0.8. Mean ODI score at baseline was 44.2, at 3 months 25.6 and at 27.9. This represents an improvement for all post-operative scores. A total of 18 (18.0%) complications were registered with 6 (6.0%) classified as major, including one perioperative death. Patients stating that the surgery had been beneficial at 3 months was 82 (89.1%) and at 12 months 73 (86.9%). The only predictor found was patients with longer duration of leg pain had less improvement in ODI (P < 0.001). Increased age or having complications did not predict a worse outcome in any of the outcome variables.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Properly selected patients of 70 years and older can expect a clinical meaningful improvement of HRQL, functional status and pain after open laminectomy without fusion. The treatment seems to be safe. However, patients with longstanding leg-pain prior to operation are less likely to improve one year after surgery.</p

Would loss to follow-up bias the outcome evaluation of patients operated for degenerative disorders of the lumbar spine?: A study of responding and non-responding cohort participants from a clinical spine surgery registry

Loss to follow-up may bias the outcome assessments of clinical registries. In this study, we wanted to determine whether outcomes were different in responding and non-responding patients who were included in a clinical spine surgery registry, at two years of follow-up. In addition, we wanted to identify risk factors for failure to respond. 633 patients who were operated for degenerative disorders of the lumbar spine were followed for 2 years using a local clinical spine registry. Those who did not attend the clinic and those who did not answer a postal questionnaire—for whom 2 years of outcome data were missing—and who would be lost to follow-up according to the standard procedures of the registry protocols, were defined as non-respondents. They were traced and interviewed by telephone. Outcome measures were: improvement in health-related quality of life (EQ-5D), leg pain, and back pain; and also general state of health, employment status, and perceived benefits of the operation. We found no statistically significant differences in outcome between respondents (78% of the patients) and nonrespondents (22%). Receipt of postal questionnaires (not being summoned for a follow-up visit) was the strongest risk factor for failure to respond. Forgetfulness appeared to be an important cause. Older patients and those who had complications were more likely to respond. Interpretation A loss to follow-up of 22% would not bias conclusions about overall treatment effects and, importantly, there were no indications of worse outcomes in non-respondents

The spirit of sport: the case for criminalisation of doping in the UK

This article examines public perceptions of doping in sport, critically evaluates the effectiveness of current anti-doping sanctions and proposes the criminalisation of doping in sport in the UK as part of a growing global movement towards such criminalisation at national level. Criminalising doping is advanced on two main grounds: as a stigmatic deterrent and as a form of retributive punishment enforced through the criminal justice system. The ‘spirit of sport’ defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as being based on the values of ethics, health and fair-play is identified as being undermined by the ineffectiveness of existing anti-doping policy in the current climate of doping revelations, and is assessed as relevant to public perceptions and the future of sport as a whole. The harm-reductionist approach permitting the use of certain performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) is considered as an alternative to anti-doping, taking into account athlete psychology, the problems encountered in containing doping in sport through anti-doping measures and the effect of these difficulties on the ‘spirit of sport’. This approach is dismissed in favour of criminalising doping in sport based on the offence of fraud. It will be argued that the criminalisation of doping could act as a greater deterrent than existing sanctions imposed by International Federations, and, when used in conjunction with those sanctions, will raise the overall ‘price’ of doping. The revelations of corruption within the existing system of self-governance within sport have contributed to a disbelieving public and it will be argued that the criminalisation of doping in sport could assist in satisfying the public that justice is being done and in turn achieve greater belief in the truth of athletic performances