The Effect of a Back-to-Basics Core Academic Program Compared to a Traditional Academic Program on Participating 4th-Grade Students’ Achievement and Perceptions of Life Skills

Study results indicate that 3rd-grade to 4th-grade same school Core Academy Program and Traditional Academic Program learning experiences resulted in numerical equipoise for norm referenced reading, math, social studies, and science test score results. Randomly assigned Core Academy Program students\u27 ( n = 16) norm referenced language NCE posttest scores were statistically significantly greater following participation than the naturally formed group of students (n = 16) following participation in the Traditional Academic Program. Core Academy Program students\u27 criterion referenced writing and math cutscores were also statistically greater at posttest. Finally, the teacher life skills perceptions awarded to students were greater for Traditional Academic Program students at posttest indicating a dissociation or independence between measured achievement test scores and assigned life skills improvement scores. The Core Academy Program was teacher centered using direct instruction for reading, writing, and math skill development. Traditional Academic Program instruction was child centered with direct and strategy reading, writing, and math instruction. The positive student outcomes of this study may be due more to the school itself rather than to any differences assigned to the studies independent variables. Finally, it may be that both programs were alike in securing learning success

Combatant Status Review Tribunals and the Unique Nature of the War on Terror

On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States, killing 2,973 innocent civilians. This was the largest loss of life on U.S. soil due to a hostile act in the nation\u27s history. Al Qaeda, an international terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for the act. Al Qaeda had been systematically targeting U.S. civilians and service members for at least the previous nine years. In response to the attacks, the United States conducted a series of military and legal actions that were highly controversial and unprecedented. As part of these actions, the executive branch claimed the authority to detain indefinitely individuals it labeled as enemy combatants. This Note examines the procedures currently used by the United States to determine whether an individual qualifies as an enemy combatant. It then assesses the legitimacy of this process in light of the law of armed conflict, the history of military tribunals, the special characteristics of the war on terror, and practical necessity. This Note concludes that the current procedures, although technically legal, must be refined by Congress in order to address the many shortcomings therein

Fecal Sludge Management: analytical tools for assessing FSM in cities

This paper describes the results of a research study which aimed in part to develop a method for rapidly assessing fecal sludge management (FSM) in low- and middle-income cities. The method uses innovative tools to assess both the institutional context and the outcome in terms of the amount of fecal sludge safely managed. To assess FSM outcomes, a fecal sludge matrix and accompanying flow diagram was developed to illustrate the different pathways fecal sludge takes from containment in water closets, pits and tanks, through to treatment and reuse/disposal. This was supplemented by an FSM service delivery assessment (SDA) tool which measures the quality of the enabling environment, the level of service development and the level of commitment to service sustainability. The tools were developed through an iterative process of literature review, consultation and case studies. This paper considers previous work done on FSM, suggest reasons why it is often neglected in favour of sewerage, and highlights the importance of supporting the increasing focus on solving the FSM challenge. The tools are presented here as useful initial scoping instruments for use in advocacy around the need for a change in policy, funding or indeed a city’s overall approach to urban sanitation

Fecal Sludge Management: a comparative assessment of 12 cities

This paper outlines the findings of a fecal sludge management (FSM) initial scoping study in twelve cities. This short, desk-based study used innovative tools to assess the institutional context and the outcome in terms of the amount of fecal sludge safely managed. A range of cities was included in the review, all in low- and middle-income countries. None of the cities studied managed fecal sludge effectively, although performance varied. Where cities are seeking to address fecal sludge challenges the solutions are, at best, only partial, with a focus on sewerage which serves a small minority in most cases. FSM requires strong city-level oversight and an enabling environment that drives coordinated actions along the sanitation service chain; this was largely absent in the cities studied. Based on the findings of the review a typology of cities was developed to aid the identification of key interventions to improve FSM service delivery. Additional work is recommended to further improve the tools used in this study in order to enable better understanding of the FSM challenges and identify appropriate operational solutions

Atlantis II : cruise 102 : moored and shipboard surface meteorological measurements during JASIN 1978

During cruise 102 of the R/V Atlantis-II in the Joint Air-Sea Interaction Project (JASIN), surface meteorological data were gathered by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution personnel from two moored buoys and from the ship. One buoy (JASIN W2/WHOI 651) carried a Vector Averaging Wind Recorder (VAWR) and a Vector Measuring Wind Recorder (VMWR); these instruments provided 18 days of intercomparison data and 38 days of meteorological data from 30 July to 6 September 1978. The other buoy (JASIN H2) carried a VMWR and gave 25 total days of data from 16 July to 10 August, and from 26 August to 1 September. A PET computer, hardwired to sensors positioned on the ship, displayed data that were logged during both legs of the cruise. Manual data were gathered by the science watches. This report describes the PET system, and displays and compares all the data. VAWR hourly meteorological data are listed for the 38 day period. Scientific interpretation of these data, such as calculations of heat fluxes, will be published separately.Prepared for the National Science Foundation under Grants OCE77-25803 and OCE76-80174, and for the Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-76-C-0197; NR 083-400 to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

An acoustic navigation system

This report describes a system for underwater acoustic navigation developed, and in use, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. It includes a brief discussion of the electronic components, operation, mathematical analysis, and available computer programs. There is a series of supplementary Technical Memoranda containing more information on various aspects of the system. We believe that this kind of documentation is more flexible and better meets the needs of potential users than including all technical details in one large volume. These are not final or definitive reports; acoustic navigation capabilities will continue to evolve at W.H.O.I. for some time. Acoustic navigation provides a method of tracking a ship, and an underwater vehicle or instrument package (‘fish’), in the deep ocean. Acoustic devices attached to the ship and fish measure the length of time it takes a sound pulse to travel to acoustic transponders moored on the ocean floor. If the transponder positions and the average speed of sound are known, the ship or fish position can be found.Prepared for the Office of Naval Research under Contracts N00014-71-C0284; NR 293-008 N00014-70-C0205; NR 263-103 and the National Science Foundation/International Decade of Ocean Exploration Grant GX-36024 and the Applied Physics Laboratory of The Johns Hopkins University Contract 372111

Logics, rhetoric and 'the blob': populist logic in the Conservative reforms to English schooling

A lot has been written about the lasting implications of the Conservative reforms to English schooling, particularly changes made by Michael Gove as Education Secretary (2010–2014). There is a lot less work, however, on studying the role that language, strategy and the broader political framework played in the process of instituting and winning consent for these reforms. Studying these factors is important for ensuring that any changes to education and schooling are not read in isolation from their political context. Speeches particularly capture moments where intellectual and strategic political traditions meet, helping us to form a richer understanding of the motives behind specific reform goals and where they fit into a political landscape. This article analyses speeches and policy documents from prominent politicians who led the Conservative education agenda between 2010–2014 to illustrate how politicians mobilised a deliberate populist strategy and argumentation to achieve specific educational goals, but which have had broader social and political implications. Concepts from interpretive political studies are used to develop a case analysis of changes to teacher training provision and curriculum reform, illustrating how politicians constructed a frontier between ‘the people’ (commonly teachers or parents) and an illegitimate ‘elite’ (an educational establishment) that opposed change. This anti‐elite populist rhetoric, arguably first tested in the Department for Education, has now become instituted more widely in our current British politics

Ocean Seismic Network Pilot Experiment

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2003. It is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 4 (2003): 1092, doi:10.1029/2002GC000485.The primary goal of the Ocean Seismic Network Pilot Experiment (OSNPE) was to learn how to make high quality broadband seismic measurements on the ocean bottom in preparation for a permanent ocean seismic network. The experiment also had implications for the development of a capability for temporary (e.g., 1 year duration) seismic experiments on the ocean floor. Equipment for installing, operating and monitoring borehole observatories in the deep sea was also tested including a lead-in package, a logging probe, a wire line packer and a control vehicle. The control vehicle was used in three modes during the experiment: for observation of seafloor features and equipment, for equipment launch and recovery, and for power supply and telemetry between ocean bottom units and the ship. The OSNPE which was completed in June 1998 acquired almost four months of continuous data and it demonstrated clearly that a combination of shallow buried and borehole broadband sensors could provide comparable quality data to broadband seismic installations on islands and continents. Burial in soft mud appears to be adequate at frequencies below the microseism peak. Although the borehole sensor was subject to installation noise at low frequencies (0.6 to 50 mHz), analysis of the OSNPE data provides new insights into our understanding of ocean bottom ambient noise. The OSNPE results clearly demonstrate the importance of sediment borne shear modes in ocean bottom ambient noise behavior. Ambient noise drops significantly at high frequencies for a sensor placed just at the sediment basalt interface. At frequencies above the microseism peak, there are two reasons that ocean bottom stations have been generally regarded as noisier than island or land stations: ocean bottom stations are closer to the noise source (the surface gravity waves) and most ocean bottom stations to date have been installed on low rigidity sediments where they are subject to the effects of shear wave resonances. When sensors are placed in boreholes in basement the performance of ocean bottom seismic stations approaches that of continental and island stations. A broadband borehole seismic station should be included in any real-time ocean bottom observatory.This work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant Numbers: OCE-9522114, OCE-9523541 and OCE-9819439) with additional support from Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. (JOI Contract No: 12-94), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a Mellon Grant from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo (Visiting Professorship for RAS)