Influences of self in career decision-making among gifted adolescents attending Governor\u27s School in Science and Technology

The purpose of this study was to investigate conflict in educational and career decision-making of gifted adolescents who had attended a summer residential program in science and technology. The sample consisted of 147 gifted and talented young men and women who attended the Virginia Governor\u27s School in Science and Technology in either 1990 or 1995. Subjects completed the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ) as a measure of work needs and values, and an investigator-designed questionnaire that probed the path of their career decision-making. Results on the MIQ indicated the 1990 cohort was significantly higher on the needs subscales of achievement, altruism, comfort, and safety. There was no significant difference, however, on the subscales of autonomy and status. There was also no significant difference in the MIQ profiles of those conflicted compared to those who were not.;Results on the investigator-developed questionnaire indicated a significantly higher percentage of subjects from the 1990 cohort who indicated conflict in their educational and career decision-making than from the 1995 cohort. The results also indicated that those who experienced conflict in decision-making had many of the same academic experiences, attained similar levels of achievement, and took advantage of similar opportunities as did those who were not conflicted. The two groups differed in respect to certainty of career plans, intention to remain in mathematics or science, and pursuit of graduate studies. The overall results suggest that developmental growth may play an important role in expressed satisfaction in gifted adolescents\u27 chosen career paths.;Implications of the study suggest that effective career counseling efforts may want to focus on how developmental influences impact on decision-making at different points in career planning, and how short and long-range goals may accommodate potential shifts in needs and values. Effective counseling interventions will depend on the specific features of the gifted program design and service delivery model in place. Programs utilizing gifted resource teachers as well as residential programs have a greater opportunity to embed awareness of the role of developmental influences on decision-making. Dovetailing suggested interventions with existing counseling programs may prove efficient as well as effective. Finally, infusing career counseling strategies within teacher preparation programs serving teachers of the gifted may also prove effective

Paper Session II-B - NLS Cost Containment

Growth in costs and schedules of aerospace projects is all too commonplace. Within NASA, about 70% of cost growth is attributed to underestimation of technical difficulty, 20% to major scope changes and 10% to external impacts. Schedule duration has increased by 50% over the last 15 years. Most growth problems can be traced to incomplete Phase A/B requirements definition, coupled with the resulting incomplete cost estimates. NLS must be a cost effective, low cost transportation system to be viable. To achieve this goal a cost containment system is required which forces cost, technical and schedule to function together interlocked in a controlled management system

A 100 GHz coplanar strip circuit tuned with a sliding planar backshort

A means of mechanically altering the electrical length of a planar transmission line would greatly enhance the use of integrated circuit technology at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. Such a mechanically adjustable planar RF tuning element, successfully demonstrated at 100 GHz, is described here. It consists of a thin metallic sheet, with appropriately sized and spaced holes, which slides along on top of a dielectric-coated coplanar-strip transmission line. Multiple RF reflections caused by this structure add constructively, resulting in a movable RF short circuit, with |s11|≫APX=/-0.3 dB, which can be used to vary the electrical length of a planar tuning stub. The sliding short is used here to produce a 2-dB improvement in the response of a diode detector. This tuning element can be integrated with planar circuits to compensate for the effect of parasitic reactance inherent in various devices including semiconductor diodes and superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junctions

An adjustable RF tuning element for microwave, millimeter wave, and submillimeter wave integrated circuits

Planar RF circuits are used in a wide range of applications from 1 GHz to 300 GHz, including radar, communications, commercial RF test instruments, and remote sensing radiometers. These circuits, however, provide only fixed tuning elements. This lack of adjustability puts severe demands on circuit design procedures and materials parameters. We have developed a novel tuning element which can be incorporated into the design of a planar circuit in order to allow active, post-fabrication tuning by varying the electrical length of a coplanar strip transmission line. It consists of a series of thin plates which can slide in unison along the transmission line, and the size and spacing of the plates are designed to provide a large reflection of RF power over a useful frequency bandwidth. Tests of this structure at 1 GHz to 3 Ghz showed that it produced a reflection coefficient greater than 0.90 over a 20 percent bandwidth. A 2 GHz circuit incorporating this tuning element was also tested to demonstrate practical tuning ranges. This structure can be fabricated for frequencies as high as 1000 GHz using existing micromachining techniques. Many commercial applications can benefit from this micromechanical RF tuning element, as it will aid in extending microwave integrated circuit technology into the high millimeter wave and submillimeter wave bands by easing constraints on circuit technology

Micromechanical tuning elements in a 620-GHz monolithic integrated circuit

While monolithic integrated-circuit technology promises a practical means for realizing reliable reproducible planar millimeter and submillimeter-wave circuits, conventional planar circuits do not allow for critical post-fabrication optimization of performance. A 620-GHz quasi-optical monolithic detector circuit is used here to demonstrate the performance of two integrated micromechanical planar tuning elements. This is the first reported demonstration of integrated micromechanical tuning at submillimeter wavelengths. The tuning elements, called sliding planar backshorts (SPBs), are used to adjust the electrical length of planar transmission-line tuning stubs to vary the power delivered between a substrate-lens coupled planar antenna and a thin-film bismuth detector over a range of nearly 15 dB. The circuit performance agrees with theoretical calculations and microwave measurements of a -0.06-dB reflection coefficient made for a scale model of the integrated tuners. The demonstrated tuning range for the SPB tuners indicates that they can be valuable for characterizing components in developmental circuits and for optimizing the in-use performance of various millimeter and submillimeter-wave integrated circuits

How Principals Bridge and Buffer the New Demands of Teacher Quality and Accountability: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Teacher Hiring

In this mixed-methods study, we examine the degree to which district-and building-level administrators accommodate teacher-quality and test-based accountability policies in their hiring practices. We find that administrators negotiated local hiring goals with characteristics emphasized by federal and state teacher-quality policies, such as knowledge of the subject and teaching skills. While district administrators and principals largely bridged to external certification requirements, some principals buffered their hiring decisions from the pressures of test-based accountability. Principals who bridged to test-based accountability gave greater weight to subject knowledge and teaching skills. We find that bridging and buffering differs by policy and cannot be easily applied to accountability policies. Specifically, separating the indirect effect of external accountability from other policies influencing principal hiring is difficult. Our analysis also highlights tensions among local, state, and federal policies regarding teacher quality and the potential of accountability to permeate noninstructional school decision making

Pannexin 1 inhibition delays maturation and improves development of Bos taurus oocytes

© 2020 The Author(s). Background: Intercellular exchange between the oocyte and its surrounding cells within the follicular environment is critical for oocyte maturation and subsequent development. In vertebrates this exchange is facilitated through gap junctions formed by connexin membrane proteins. Another family of membrane proteins called pannexins are able to form single membrane channels that allow cellular exchanges with the extracellular environment. The most ubiquitously expressed and studied member, pannexin 1 (PANX1), has yet to be described thoroughly in female reproductive tissues or functionally studied during oocyte maturation. Here, we look into the expression of pannexin 1 in bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs), as well as, its potential role in oocyte maturation and development. Results: We show that pannexin 1 is expressed in bovine COCs and that the expression of PANX1 was significantly lower in COCs isolated from large antral follicles (\u3e 5 mm) compared to those isolated from small antral follicles (\u3c 2 mm). Supporting this we also found lower expression of PANX1 in oocytes with higher developmental potential when compared to oocytes with lower developmental potential. We further found that PANX1 channel inhibition during in vitro maturation resulted in temporarily delayed meiotic maturation and improved in vitro developmental outcomes while decreasing intercellular reactive oxygen species. Conclusions: These data suggests PANX1 is differentially expressed at a critical stage of follicular development when oocytes are acquiring developmental competence, and may play a role in the timing of oocyte maturation