State of Washington, Department of Transportation v. James River Insurance Company

Published in cooperation with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolutio

Demystifying Assessment Leadership

In a climate of accountability, the development of assessment literacy among school professionals has become critical to school success. The provision of assessment leadership is viewed as the means by which such literacy can be enhanced. The writers examine the conditions under which student achievement gains can be realized. Implications of assessment reform for the instructional leadership role are translated into the knowledge, appreciations and skills that can help principals transform assessment leadership expectations into instructional leadership practice.

Communicating analytic results: A tutorial for decision consultants

Good analysis alone may not achieve the goals of decision analysis (DA) engagements. Good communication of the results of that analysis can help stakeholders understand, accept, and implement the recommended course of action. Practitioners can use decision analytic principles when considering the decision of how to communicate results themselves. From this perspective, we consider a range of questions to ask in preparing for communication with the client and other stakeholders. We review standard communication practices in DA engagements. The standard practice can be improved by drawing on insights from other areas of management practice. Decision analysis has both technical and organizational features, and we discuss ways to deal with the conceptual and expressive challenges this presents. This pragmatic tutorial provides a starting point for decision analysts to develop both technical communication skills and organizational communication skills

“Sons of Science”: Remembering John Gould’s Martyred Collectors

The memorial to the Victorian naturalist-explorer John Gilbert (1812-45) in Saint James’s Church, Sydney, bears the Latin inscription Dulce et decorum est pro scientia mori, which translates into English as “it is sweet and fitting to die for science.” Gilbert was killed in 1845 during a night attack by Aboriginal people on members of the first Leichhardt Expedition at a remote camp in Western Cape York. He was the only salaried collector in Australia for the nineteenth-century English ornithologist and publisher, John Gould. Two of Gould’s other primary collectors, Johnston Drummond (1820-45) and Frederick Strange (1810-54), were also “martyred” to science (Angus 5) while on collecting activities for Gould.This article examines the contemporary and later historical remembrance of the lives and achievements of these three “men of science” (Barton 73). Using an historical and contextual approach, I consider the factors that shaped the construction and commemoration of their historical legacies in both textual and material forms. While there were similarities in the manner of their deaths there are clear differences in how their personal and scientific reputations have been remembered and recounted. I contend that the subsequent scientific and historical status of each individual was determined by a range of factors, the most significant being the different ways in which their legacies were championed by others after their deaths

Comparative organization of the claustrum: what does structure tell us about function?

The claustrum is a subcortical nucleus present in all placental mammals. Many anatomical studies have shown that its inputs are predominantly from the cerebral cortex and its outputs are back to the cortex. This connectivity thus suggests that the claustrum serves to amplify or facilitate information processing in the cerebral cortex. The size and the complexity of the cerebral cortex change dramatically over evolution. Rodents are lissencephalic, with few cortical areas, while many primates have a greatly expanded cortex and many cortical areas. This evolutionary diversity in the cerebral cortex raises several questions about the claustrum. Does its volume expand in coordination with the expansion of cortex and does it acquire new functions related to the new cortical functions? We have examined the organization of the claustrum in animals with large brains, including great apes and cetaceans. Our data suggest that the claustrum is not always a continuous structure. In monkeys and gorillas there are a few isolated islands of cells near the main body of the nucleus. In cetaceans, however, there are many isolated cell islands. These data suggest constraints on the possible function of the claustrum. Some authors propose that the claustrum has a more global role in perception or consciousness that requires intraclaustral integration of information. These theories postulate mechanisms like gap junctions between claustral cells or a syncytium to mediate intraclaustral processing. The presence of discontinuities in the structure of the claustrum, present but minimal in primates, but dramatically clear in cetaceans, argues against the proposed mechanisms of intraclaustral processing of information. The best interpretation of function, then, is that each functional subdivision of the claustrum simply contributes to the function of its cortical partner

Maternal Effects of Aseptic and Septic Injury on Embryonic Larval Gene Expression in the Tobacco Hornworm, Manduca Sexta

Cross-generational effects of physical and pathogenic stress have been demonstrated in several insect groups, including our model insect Manduca sexta. Prior studies in our laboratory have shown that maternal exposure to the soil-dwelling gram-negative bacteria, Serratia marcescens, just prior to adult eclosion alters egg morphology and larval immunity. Our goal is to identify mechanisms underlaying pathogen-associated parental effects on offspring. The current study advances this goal through measurement of embryonic size, embryonic histone modification, and both embryonic and larval gene expression. Two days prior to eclosion, parents were injected with saline, heat killed S. marcescens, or live S. marcescens. Embryos were collected at 24 (+/- 2) h or permitted to hatch for clearance assays (first instar) or measurement of fat body gene expression (fourth instar). We find that maternal, but not paternal, pathogen exposure significantly increases egg volume variability, and that maternal pathogen exposure may delay hatching. Furthermore, maternal injection with bacteria conferred on their offspring an enhanced ability to clear infection when compared to their saline injected peers. Histone analysis revealed that maternal treatment does not globally alter embryonic histones, however, several immune-related genes demonstrated altered expression in both embryos and fourth instar larvae

Gas chromatographic determination of gallopamil and norgallopamil in human plasma

A highly sensitive gas chromatographic assay is described for the simultaneous determination of gallopamil, a calcium channel blocking agent, and its major metabolite, norgallopamil. A multi-step extraction procedure is employed followed by on-column capillary gas chromatographic analysis using nitrogen-selective detection. Acetylation of norgallopamil is performed to enable accurate quantification of the metabolite. Linearity was achieved over the range 1-50 ng/ml for both analytes. Assay specificity, precision and accuracy were investigated.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28122/1/0000572.pd