Aerodynamic pressure and heating-rate distributions in tile gaps around chine regions with pressure gradients at a Mach number of 6.6

Surface and gap pressures and heating-rate distributions were obtained for simulated Thermal Protection System (TPS) tile arrays on the curved surface test apparatus of the Langley 8-Foot High Temperature Tunnel at Mach 6.6. The results indicated that the chine gap pressures varied inversely with gap width because larger gap widths allowed greater venting from the gap to the lower model side pressures. Lower gap pressures caused greater flow ingress from the surface and increased gap heating. Generally, gap heating was greater in the longitudinal gaps than in the circumferential gaps. Gap heating decreased with increasing gap depth. Circumferential gap heating at the mid-depth was generally less than about 10 percent of the external surface value. Gap heating was most severe at local T-gap junctions and tile-to-tile forward-facing steps that caused the greatest heating from flow impingement. The use of flow stoppers at discrete locations reduced heating from flow impingement. The use of flow stoppers at discrete locations reduced heating in most gaps but increased heating in others. Limited use of flow stoppers or gap filler in longitudinal gaps could reduce gap heating in open circumferential gaps in regions of high surface pressure gradients

Effects of a Tier 2 Intervention in Eighth Grade English Classes

Many school administrators in the United States continue to struggle with students not meeting the pass rate on statewide assessments. This study examined the effectiveness of a Tier 2 reading intervention, the Wilson Reading System (WRS) that was implemented at a local Virginia school for 1 semester to address the low pass rate on the statewide reading assessments. The framework for this study was based on the multi-tiered systems of support and the response to intervention model. A quasi-experimental pre-post research design was used to examine the differences on two reading assessments after completing the 16-week WRS program. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine the change between the 8th grade reading Student Growth Assessment (SGA) pretest and posttest scores, as well as the Lexile scores from the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) of the 82 8th grade students that received the WRS intervention. The results indicated a significant difference in the SGA (p \u3c .005) and the SRI Lexile reading pretest and posttest scores (p \u3c .005). These findings led to a recommendation to the school district leadership team to expand their reading intervention program at the middle school and to adequately train teachers on using the WRS. If students can maintain their respective reading grade level, students will be able to not only pass statewide reading assessments but also succeed in other school subjects, increasing the opportunity for students to graduate from high school and obtain successful careers

The Experiences of Young African American Women Principals

The purpose of this study was designed to gain an understanding of how young African American women principals experience the principalship. Three research questions were explored in this study: (a.) What are the pathways to the principalship for young African American women? (b.) How do African American women experience the principalship? (c.) What are the barriers that young African American women experience and what are their strategies for success? The researcher examined the day-to-day experiences faced by these women as they related to race, gender, and age challenges within the field of education. Using qualitative research with Black Feminist Standpoint theory as the theoretical framework, the study allowed these young female principals from Virginia to share their personal stories and struggles related to their experiences as principals. They participated in depth one-on-one, semistructured interviews and, as a follow-up, some participated in focus groups that contained open-ended questions. The findings indicated that these women rely on God, faith and family in their day-to-day work. Some of the women discussed the challenges that they face dealing with ageism, sexism and racism in the work place. Probing the reflections and experiences of these women will inform both research and practice, given their professional rise to principalship positions and their experiences once they attained the positions. It was crucial to add the voices of these women to existing literature because they bring a unique perspective to the practice of school leadership. Implications for this research include: college-bound students interested in school administration; university professors and school divisions interested in ways to support and provide professional development to these young leaders; feminist researchers; those interested in studying leadership theory and research, and aspiring and practicing principals interested in how African American principals support school improvement

Computational method to predict thermodynamic, transport, and flow properties for the modified Langley 8-foot high-temperature tunnel

The Langley 8 foot high temperature tunnel (8 ft HTT) is used to test components of hypersonic vehicles for aerothermal loads definition and structural component verification. The test medium of the 8 ft HTT is obtained by burning a mixture of methane and air under high pressure; the combustion products are expanded through an axisymmetric conical contoured nozzle to simulate atmospheric flight at Mach 7. This facility was modified to raise the oxygen content of the test medium to match that of air and to include Mach 4 and Mach 5 capabilities. These modifications will facilitate the testing of hypersonic air breathing propulsion systems for a wide range of flight conditions. A computational method to predict the thermodynamic, transport, and flow properties of the equilibrium chemically reacting oxygen enriched methane-air combustion products was implemented in a computer code. This code calculates the fuel, air, and oxygen mass flow rates and test section flow properties for Mach 7, 5, and 4 nozzle configurations for given combustor and mixer conditions. Salient features of the 8 ft HTT are described, and some of the predicted tunnel operational characteristics are presented in the carpet plots to assist users in preparing test plans

Pupil productivity in elementary school mathematics as related to principal and teacher leadership style

The purpose of this study was to investigate: (1) the relationship between the leadership style of an elementary school principal, as second-level manager, and the mathematics achievement of the students, and (2) the relationship between the degree of leadership style congruence of the elementary principal, as second-level manager, and the teacher, as first-level manager, and the mathematics achievement of students. Fiedler\u27s Contingency Theory of Leadership Effectiveness provided the conceptual framework for the study.;Measurements were recorded for a sample population of 28 principals, 245 teachers, and 5373 students of grades four, five, and six drawn from an urban district in southeastern Virginia with a student population of approximately 35,000.;Four hypotheses were tested for statistically significant (p (LESSTHEQ) 0.05) findings: (1) pupil gains in mathematics would be greater where principal leadership style and situation favorableness were matched, (2) pupil gains in mathematics would be greater where principal leadership style and teacher leadership style were congruent, (3) pupil gains in mathematics would be greater where principal leadership style and situation favorableness were matched and where principal and teacher leadership style were congruent, and (4) pupil gains in mathematics would be greater where teacher beliefs about mathematics and its instruction were informal and teacher competence in mathematics was high.;An analysis of variance for unequal cell size resulted in the rejection of each of the hypotheses. Significant findings, however, were found using student achievement as the dependent variable for the interaction between principal leadership style and situational conditions, for teacher leadership style, and for teacher attitude toward mathematics and its instruction.;It was concluded that there appeared to be a relationship between first- and second-level managers, teachers and principals, and the mathematics performance of fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students. The matching of principal leadership style and situational conditions as postulated by Fiedler appeared to be partially supported. Further, certain teacher-related constructs did strongly relate to student achievement in mathematics

The arms race in College Athletics:facility spending and its relationship to College Athletics and University Communities

The arms race in collegiate athletic facilities continues to advance and involves more and more money all the time. Large athletic departments continue to spend money on new, large, state-of-the-art facilities for their programs in order to give them the ability to attract big name coaches, players, and donors. College athletics is a major interest to many people in this country and the fact that these programs have become more and more of a business makes major facility expenditures an interesting and relevant topic to most of the general public. This leads to the question of what factors within the athletic department and within the university community are related to the amount of money that collegiate athletic departments spend on their facilities. This specific study took data from a six year time period for FBS Division I institutions in the areas of finance, athletic performance, facility usage, athletic department size, and institutional factors. The data was gathered from a variety of outside sources and then put through statistical analyses to find correlation and regression information between these variables and facility spending. These tests provided information about the relationships between the variables, how they affected each other, and what they could predict about facility spending. The correlations provided insights into which variables actually affected the amount of facility spending within a collegiate athletic department. It was not surprising that the financial variables were the most related, but it was interesting to note that some of the institutional factors and performance variables were not very related at all. The regressions also proved to be informative because of the variables that contributed to the variance in spending and which ones did not. These results even led to running a second regression with a change in the independent and dependent variable to gain more insights. Although there is much information about facility spending and the rising expenses in college athletics, there is not much correlational data to date. The results from this study can help give collegiate athletic departments more information and a more holistic picture of the relationships between these important variables before they start investing in a new major facility