Examining Social Capital and its Role in Special Education Leadership

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to analyze the relationships that existed between the special education leaders and other members of a district leadership team in order to measure their access to social capital. Quantitative data were collected using surveys of one school district’s leadership team and social network analysis (SNA) was used to visually analyze the connections between members of the team. Qualitative data were subsequently collected via semi-structured interviews of each of the 19 members of the leadership team. What types of ties do the special education administrators have to fellow administrators within district leadership teams? What level of influence do the special education administrators hold as measured by access or position within a district administrative leadership team’s social network? Themes of trust, support/advice, acceptance/reassurance, and collegial relationships emerged as a result of the research. A model conceptualizing the impact and import of social capital in special education leadership within a district leadership team was developed and depicts how themes that emerged in this study can interact with each other to form positive collaborative networks that not only support leaders of special education but all members of the leadership team. Recommendations for future research are included

Miraculous Organ : Shakespeare and ‘Catharsis’

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Transition Delay Using Biomimetic Fish Scale Arrays

Aquatic animals have developed effective strategies to reduce their body drag over a long period of time. In this work, the influence of the scales of fish on the laminar-to-turbulent transition in the boundary layer is investigated. Arrays of biomimetic fish scales in typical overlapping arrangements are placed on a flat plate in a low-turbulence laminar water channel. Transition to turbulence is triggered by controlled excitation of a Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) wave. It was found that the TS wave can be attenuated with scales on the plate which generate streamwise streaks. As a consequence, the transition location was substantially delayed in the downstream direction by 55% with respect to the uncontrolled reference case. This corresponds to a theoretical drag reduction of about 27%. We thus hypothesize that fish scales can stabilize the laminar boundary layer and prevent it from early transition, reducing friction drag. This technique can possibly be used for bio-inspired surfaces as a laminar flow control means

Satellite geological and geophysical remote sensing of Iceland: Preliminary results of geologic, hydrologic, oceanographic, and agricultural studies with ERTS-1 imagery

The author has identified the following significant results. The wide variety of geological and geophysical phenomena which can be observed in Iceland, and particularly their very direct relation to the management of the country's natural resources, has provided great impetus to the use of ERTS-1 imagery to measure and map the dynamic natural phenomena in Iceland. MSS imagery is being used to study a large variety of geological and geophysical eruptive products, geologic structure, volcanic geomorphology, hydrologic, oceanographic, and agricultural phenomena of Iceland. Some of the preliminary results from this research projects are: (1) a large number of geological and volcanic features can be studied from ERTS-1 imagery, particularly imagery acquired at low sun angle, which had not previously been recognized; (2) under optimum conditions the ERTS-1 satellite can discern geothermal areas by their snow melt pattern or warm spring discharge into frozen lakes; (3) various maps at scales of 1:1 million and 1:500,000 can be updated and made more accurate with ERTS-1 imagery; (4) the correlation of water reserves with snowcover can improve the basis for planning electrical production in the management of water resources; (5) false-color composites (MSS) permitted the mapping of four types of vegetation: forested; grasslands, reclaimed, and cultivated areas, and the seasonal change of the vegetation, all of high value to rangeland management

Homogenization of streaks in a laminar boundary layer

The present work, based on experimental, numerical and theoretical investigations, introduces a method to homogenize streaks in the laminar boundary layer. The streaks are created by a spanwise array of roughness elements on the surface of a flat plate. A homogenization body in the form of a horizontal bar is added at a downstream location away from the roughness array to homogenize the velocity differences of the streaks in the laminar boundary layer. Measurements are done with hot-film anemometry and supported by numerical simulations and linear stability theory. The streak amplitude can be significantly reduced with the proposed homogenization body. Furthermore, the reduction in spanwise gradients of the mean velocity leads to a significant reduction in the sinuous instability of the streaky flow. The effects of the homogenization body on the displacement thickness and the observation of flow unsteadiness downstream of the homogenization body are discussed. The present work thus proposes and explores a passive technique to control undesired streaks in the laminar boundary layer.Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftProjekt DEA