Faculty Service As Board Members In The Non-Profit Organizational Arena: An Act Of Altruism Complicated By Sarbanes Oxley

Throughout higher education, a common approach to evaluate faculty consists of three components: scholarship, teaching, and service.  The service component can be broadly interpreted to encompass two themes, service on campus via committee assignments or service off campus with organizations in the surrounding community.  Serving as a board member for a local non-profit organization often fulfills the required service component.  Unfortunately, many board members do not have a clear understanding of what this responsibility entails. This paper will look at the responsibilities a board member assumes within the non-profit organization.  Consideration will also be given to these responsibilities from the perspective of Sarbanes-Oxley

Organizational Management of Distance Learning: An Analysis of Teacher Feedback Throughout Hampton Roads Public High Schools During the Covid-19 Pandemic Response

Public schools throughout the United States experienced closures and transitions to online curriculum in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many of the policies and strategies implemented to manage teaching faculty were hastily designed and employed out of necessity. This study sought to examine organizational management policies and strategies throughout public high schools in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia through teaching faculty perspectives. This cross-sectional study examined descriptive and correlational statistics of survey responses to determine and evaluate how schools managed communication, responsibilities and delegation, and training for distance learning in order to provide policy recommendations for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic and future emergency action plans. Results from the survey indicated mostly positive teacher feedback to policies and strategies on communication and training. While the research did not find policies and strategies for responsibilities and delegation consistent throughout schools in region, this research discovered correlations between teachers’ opinions and organizational strategies for delegation. Finally, this study provides practical recommendations as well as considerations for further research on organizational management in public schools

Assessing Board Members In The Nonprofit Organizational Arena: Increased Board Responsibilities Dictated By Sarbanes Oxley

Numerous corporate scandals of the 1990’s and 2000’s, coupled with public accounting firms generating high non-audit fees, eroded the publics’ confidence in the concept public accounting independence.  These scandals and the erosion of confidence in the auditor’s independence resulted in Congress passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002.  While Sarbanes-Oxley applies mainly to publicly traded companies, proactive, progressive nonprofit organizations will also reap the benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley.  In fact, Board Source (2003) indicates, “Indeed, some state attorney generals are already proposing that elements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act be applied to nonprofit organizations.”  According to this author, whether this law eventually extends to the nonprofit arena or not, an increase in responsibility of board members of nonprofit organizations is inevitable. Due to the increased responsibilities board members assume, Boards would be well advised to increase their self assessment process.  This paper will look at assessing the Board of Directors in light of the new responsibilities Board Members assume in conjunction with the increased responsibilities resulting from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Shared Expectations: Identifying Similarities And Differences Between Student And Faculty Teaching Values Based On Student Evaluation Of Faculty Classroom Performance

New faculty have an inordinate amount of resources, financial and other, invested in their doctoral degrees.  Yet, the first few years can be overwhelming adapting to the plethora of academic life demands.  One area of concern that all new faculty deal with is attempting to decode the various stakeholder groups’ (i.e., students, colleagues, personnel committee, administration, community and industry members, respective profession colleagues) expectations of the new faculty member and reconciling those with their own personal goals and aspirations.  Knowing what each group considers important and highlighting similarities or differences allows new faculty to address stakeholder expectations to better position themselves for a successful and fulfilling career.  This paper derives from a study that looked at the two groups (i.e., students and department colleagues) expectations’ who most closely affect the daily life of the new faculty member.  Study respondents were ask to identify which teaching dimension each group valued most from a list of thirteen questions used by students in evaluating faculty members’ classroom performance. Students and faculty members concurred in their clear preference for the instructor knowing the material being presented and the instructor explaining the material in a clear and understandable manner, but differed in their view of the least important teaching dimension depicting a faculty members’ classroom performance.  The faculty members surveyed concurred with the student ranking that the instructor increasing the student’s interest in the subject matter was the second least important teaching dimension depicting a faculty member’s classroom performance.  This teaching dimension was only superceded by the faculty ranking that the amount of work required being appropriate for the number of credits offered and the student ranking that the instructor stimulating questions was the least important teaching dimension depicting a faculty members’ classroom performance

Stable isotopic analysis of atmospheric methane by infrared spectroscopy by use of diode laser difference-frequency generation

An infrared absorption spectrometer has been constructed to measure the stable isotopic composition of atmospheric methane samples. The spectrometer employs periodically poled lithium niobate to generate 15 μW of tunable difference-frequency radiation from two near-infrared diode lasers that probe the ν3 rotational-vibrational band of methane at 3.4 μm. To enhance the signal, methane is extracted from 25 l of air by use of a cryogenic chromatographic column and is expanded into the multipass cell for analysis. A measurement precision of 12‰ is demonstrated for both δ13C and δD

Expressive and receptive use of speech and graphic symbols by typically developing children: What skills contribute to performance on structured sentence-level tasks?

Purpose: To explore expressive and receptive use of speech and graphic symbols and relationships with linguistic and cognitive skills in children with typical development. Method: Participants were 82 children with typical development (4 to 9 years). Measures of memory, visual analysis skills, and receptive language were used, along with five experimental tasks with speech or symbols as input (stimulus) or output (response), using single clause and compound clause stimuli. Cluster analysis grouped participants with similar performances patterns, who were then compared on linguistic and cognitive skill measures. Result: The lowest performing group sometimes accurately interpreted graphic symbol utterances that were visible during responding. The mid-performing group was stronger on expressive than receptive symbol utterances when the model did not remain visible. The highest group was comparable on expressive and receptive symbol tasks, but nonetheless stronger with spoken utterances. Relationships of linguistic and cognitive skills with task performance differed across the clusters. Conclusion: The findings help clarify the input-output modality asymmetry in graphic symbol communication. Spoken language proficiency does not directly transfer to sentence-level expressive and receptive graphic symbol use. Exploring potentially challenging sentence-level phenomena is important. Research is warranted to explore developmental progressions and potential clinical applications more systematically

Retrofitting reinforced concrete structures with FRP: Numerical simulations using multifiber beam elements

In structural engineering, seismic vulnerability reduction of existing structures is a crucial issue. External reinforcement by Polymer Reinforced Fibers (FRP) is an interesting tool in order to fulfill this aim. However, the use of FRP reinforcement as a retrofitting method is limited, one of the reasons being the lack of predicting numerical tools for cyclic loading. This paper presents a method to predict the behavior of beam-column structures considering the FRP reinforcement effect. It describes the construction of a 1D concrete constitutive model suitable for monotonic and cycling loadings. The model is inspired on two well-known concrete models, the first one based on the damage mechanics theory (La Borderie concrete damage model), and the second one based on experimental studies (Eid & Paultre's confined concrete model). Validation of the approach is done using experimental results on reinforced concrete beam and columns submitted to axial and flexural cyclic loading. The proposed method deals also with steel bar rupture considering low cycle fatigue effects. All the simulations are done using multifiber Timoshenko beam elements

Development and feasibility of the misuse, abuse, and diversion drug event reporting system (MADDERS®)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134867/1/ajad12459.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134867/2/ajad12459_am.pd

On high-temperature evolution of passivation layer in Li–10 wt % Mg alloy via in situ SEM-EBSD

Li–10 wt % Mg alloy (Li–10 Mg) is used as an anode material for a solid-state battery with excellent electrochemical performance and no evidence of dendrite formation during cycling. Thermal treatment of Li metal during manufacturing improves the interfacial contact between a Li metal electrode and solid electrolyte to achieve an all solid-state battery with increased performance. To understand the properties of the alloy passivation layer, this paper presents the first direct observation of its evolution at elevated temperatures (up to 325°C) by in situ scanning electron microscopy. We found that the morphology of the surface passivation layer was unchanged above the alloy melting point, while the bulk of the material below the surface was melted at the expected melting point, as confirmed by in situ electron backscatter diffraction. In situ heat treatment of Li-based materials could be a key method to improve battery performance

Normative values of resting heart rate variability in young male contact sport athletes: Reference values for the assessment and treatment of concussion

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the main determinants of heart rate variability (HRV) in male athletes aged 14 to 21 years who practice competitive contact sports and to integrate these determinants with the aim of defining normative values of short-term HRV in the time and frequency domains. Methods: Participants (n = 369) were aged 14 to 21 years and included 221 football players and 148 ice hockey players. HRV was measured for 5 min at rest, and standard HRV parameters in the time and frequency domains were calculated. Heart rate (HR), age, body mass index (BMI), number of sports weekly practices (WSP) and concussion history (mTBI) were considered determinants potentially able to influence HRV. Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that HR was the primary determinant of standard HRV parameters. The models accounted for 13% to 55% of the total variance of HRV and the contribution of HR to this model was the strongest (β ranged from −0.34 to −0.75). HR was the only determinant that significantly contributes to all HRV parameters. To counteract this dependence, we calculated HRV corrected by the mean RR interval (RRm). Such corrections do not remove any physiological differences in HRV; they simply remove the mathematical bias. HRV parameters were therefore normalized, and their normative limits were developed relative to the mean heart rate. After correction, the correlation coefficients between HR and all corrected HRV parameters were not statistically significant and ranged from −0.001 to 0.045 (p > 0.40 for all). The automatically corrected HRV calculator, which recalculates standard HRV parameters and converts them into corrected parameters in addition to determining whether a given value is within normal limits, facilitates clinical interpretation. Conclusion: This study provides for the first time corrected normative values of short-term and resting state HRV parameters in competitive contact sport athletes aged 14 to 21 years. These values were developed independently of the major determinants of HRV. The baseline values for HRV parameters given here could be used in clinical practice when assessing and monitoring cerebral concussions. They may assist in decision making for a safe return to play. 2023 Ziadia, Sassi, Trudeau and Fait