Learning Leadership: An Investigation of Principals\u27 Attitudes toward Teachers in Creating the Conditions Conducive for Learning in School-Based Staff Development

The purpose of this research was to determine the attitudes of principals toward teachers as learners by answering the following question: Do principals understand adult learning and do they have the competencies to create the conditions for learning in school-based staff development? Three research questions and a hypothesis undergirded this overall question and supported the investigation of this question. Participants in the study included principals and teachers in grades PK-12. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, Instructional Perspectives Inventory (IPI), and Respect for Partner Scale (RPS) both revised for principals and teachers. Results were analyzed to determine the extent of relationships between variables within and between groups. Results of the study are limited to the district where the data was obtained. Results indicate there is a relationship between the attitudes of principals toward teachers as learners and what teachers as learners believe the attitudes of their principals are toward them in school-based staff development. This relationship does not contribute to creating the conditions conducive for learning in school-based staff development. A gap in the relationship exists in the areas of teacher empathy with learners, teacher trust of learners, accommodating learner uniqueness, and teacher insensitivity toward learners. This gap is defined through a comparison of responses which indicate a contradiction between what principals state they do and what teachers report principals do to create the conditions conducive for learning in school-based staff development. Principals and teachers in this district would benefit by a better understanding and implementation of andragogy which is generally not a part of coursework for principal or teacher certification. Recommendations include ongoing discussion sessions be held for principals on how to support the growth and development of teachers. Sessions should: (a) discuss the role of experience and motivation in adult learning; (b) include how to help teachers gain an understanding of and implement self-directed learning, so teachers can become actively involved in and take responsibility for their own learning; and, (c) help principals learn that questions of how, what, when, and why teachers learn, also define teachers as individuals as well

Autonomous planning tool for changeable assembly systems

Car manufacturers are expected to start series production of fuel cell vehicles within the next years. Simultaneously, other industries are pushing towards the utilization of fuel cells. Fuel cell manufacturers need to scale up production at the right time and react to changing product requirements with the ideal level and point of changeability. This complex task requires methods and tools for decision support. The authors present SkaliA, an autonomous planning tool, which generates guidelines for the efficient use of change enablers specific to an assembly system. The planning tool is demonstrated on the example of an assembly system for high pressure valves used in fuel cell applications

Dev Dyn

Ror2 is a receptor tyrosine kinase mutated in the human syndromes Brachydactyly type B (BDB) and recessive Robinow syndrome (RS). In this study, we used the chick as a model to investigate the role of Ror2 in skeletogenesis and to elucidate the functional consequences of Ror2 mutations. For this purpose, we cloned chicken Ror2 and analyzed its expression pattern at various embryonic stages by in situ hybridization and immunolabeling. We document expression of cRor2 in several organs, including mesonephros, heart, nervous system, intestine and cartilage. The high conservation of expression when compared with the mouse underlines the validity of the chick as a model system. Using replication-competent retroviral vector-mediated overexpression, we analyzed the functional consequences of truncating BDB and RS mutations in the developing chick limb. Overexpression of Ror2 mutants led to a disturbance of growth plate architecture and a severe block of chondrocyte differentiation, demonstrating the functional importance of Ror2 in skeletogenesis

Chronic Delivery of a Thrombospondin-1 Mimetic Decreases Skeletal Muscle Capillarity in Mice

Angiogenesis is an essential process for normal skeletal muscle function. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), a potent antiangiogenic protein in tumorigenesis, is an important regulator of both physiological and pathological skeletal muscle angiogenesis. We tested the hypothesis that chronic exposure to a TSP-1 mimetic (ABT-510), which targets the CD36 TSP-1 receptor, would decrease skeletal muscle capillarity as well as alter the balance between positive and negative angiogenic proteins under basal conditions. Osmotic minipumps with either ABT-510 or vehicle (5% dextrose) were implanted subcutaneously in the subscapular region of C57/BL6 mice for 14 days. When compared to the vehicle treated mice, the ABT-510 group had a 20% decrease in capillarity in the superficial region of the gastrocnemius (GA), 11% decrease in the plantaris (PLT), and a 35% decrease in the soleus (SOL). ABT-510 also decreased muscle protein expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in both the GA (−140%) and SOL (−62%); however there was no change in VEGF in the PLT. Serum VEGF was not altered in ABT-510 treated animals. Endogenous TSP-1 protein expression in all muscles remained unaltered. Tunnel staining revealed no difference in muscle apoptosis between ABT-510 and vehicle treated groups. These data provide evidence that the anti-angiogenic effects of TSP-1 are mediated, at least in part, via the CD36 receptor. It also suggests that under physiologic conditions the TSP-1/CD36 axis plays a role in regulating basal skeletal muscle microvessel density

Designing an adaptive production control system using reinforcement learning

Modern production systems face enormous challenges due to rising customer requirements resulting in complex production systems. The operational efficiency in the competitive industry is ensured by an adequate production control system that manages all operations in order to optimize key performance indicators. Currently, control systems are mostly based on static and model-based heuristics, requiring significant human domain knowledge and, hence, do not match the dynamic environment of manufacturing companies. Data-driven reinforcement learning (RL) showed compelling results in applications such as board and computer games as well as first production applications. This paper addresses the design of RL to create an adaptive production control system by the real-world example of order dispatching in a complex job shop. As RL algorithms are “black box” approaches, they inherently prohibit a comprehensive understanding. Furthermore, the experience with advanced RL algorithms is still limited to single successful applications, which limits the transferability of results. In this paper, we examine the performance of the state, action, and reward function RL design. When analyzing the results, we identify robust RL designs. This makes RL an advantageous control system for highly dynamic and complex production systems, mainly when domain knowledge is limited

Na2IrO3 as a spin-orbit-assisted antiferromagnetic insulator with a 340 meV gap

We study Na2IrO3 by ARPES, optics, and band structure calculations in the local-density approximation (LDA). The weak dispersion of the Ir 5d-t2g manifold highlights the importance of structural distortions and spin-orbit coupling (SO) in driving the system closer to a Mott transition. We detect an insulating gap {\Delta}_gap = 340 meV which, at variance with a Slater-type description, is already open at 300 K and does not show significant temperature dependence even across T_N ~ 15 K. An LDA analysis with the inclusion of SO and Coulomb repulsion U reveals that, while the prodromes of an underlying insulating state are already found in LDA+SO, the correct gap magnitude can only be reproduced by LDA+SO+U, with U = 3 eV. This establishes Na2IrO3 as a novel type of Mott-like correlated insulator in which Coulomb and relativistic effects have to be treated on an equal footing.Comment: Accepted in Physical Review Letters. Auxiliary and related material can be found at: http://www.phas.ubc.ca/~quantmat/ARPES/PUBLICATIONS/articles.htm

Augmented Go & See: An approach for improved bottleneck identification in production lines

Bottlenecks in production lines are often shifting and thus hard to identify. They lead to decreased output, longer throughput times and higher work in progress. Go & See is a well-established Lean practice where managers go to the shop floor to see the problems first hand. Mixed reality is a promising technology to improve transparency in complex production environments. Until recently, mixed reality applications have been very demanding in terms of computing power requiring high performance hardware. This paper presents an approach for real-time KPI visualization using mixed reality for bottleneck identification in production lines relying on the bring-your-own device principle. The developed application uses image recognition to identify work stations and visualizes cycle times and work in progress in augmented reality. With this additional information, it is possible to discern different root causes for bottlenecks, for example systematically higher or varying cycle times due to breakdowns. This solution can be classified according to the acatech industry 4.0 maturity model as a level 3 - transparency - application. It could be shown that the identification of bottlenecks and underlying reasons has been improved compared to standard Go & See

Gauge Independence of IR singularities in Non-Commutative QFT - and Interpolating Gauges

IR divergences of a non-commutative U(1) Maxwell theory are discussed at the one-loop level using an interpolating gauge to show that quadratic IR divergences are independent not only from a covariant gauge fixing but also independent from an axial gauge fixing.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, v1 minor correction