Extended early childhood intervention and school achievement: Age 13 findings from the Chicago longitudinal study

We evaluated the effects of participation in an extended program of compensatory education for a large sample of inner-city black children up to the seventh grade. The intervention is the Chicago Child-Parent Center and Expansion Program. Groups included 426 children who participated in the program from preschool to grades 2 or 3 and 133 school-stable children whose participation ceased in kindergarten. After taking into account initial differences in both the level and the growth rate of achievement, frequency of school mobility after the program, and sample selection bias, program participation for two or three years after preschool and kindergarten is positively associated with reading and math achievement in grade 7 and negatively associated with cumulative grade retention four years after the end of the program. Study findings provide rare longitudinal evidence from an established program concerning the effects of extending compensatory education into the primary grades.

Programmed schedule holds for improving launch vehicle holds

Baseline definition and system optimization are used for the analysis of programmed holds developed through prelaunch system analysis. Identification of design specifications for ground support equipment and maintenance concepts, and design specifications are used to describe the functional utilization of the overall flow process

Utilizing Knowledge Transfer to Promote Management of Countervailing Risks in Value Stream Analysis

Organizations are frequently faced with the challenges of modifying and streamlining their processes by utilizing the latest process improvement techniques such as Lean Thinking. They use these techniques to allow them to better perform their organizational purposes through the elimination of waste and non-value added steps. Personnel performing these modifications need to account for potential outcomes and risks when streamlining processes. An association of knowledge transfer and experience to the identification and handling of these countervailing or alternative risks when performing Lean Thinking value stream analysis is investigated. The elements of risk management, Lean Thinking and knowledge transfer are described. This dissertation presents the results of a non-experimental examination to identify knowledge transfer as a means to promote management of countervailing risks that may arise when performing Value Stream Analysis and provides a foundation for future research. A research model was formulated, and a survey instrument developed with data collected from Department of the Navy personnel during Lean Thinking events. Quantitative data analysis supported the research question and showed an association between a decision-maker\u27s knowledge from other projects and the identification and handling of countervailing risks that arise during Value Stream Analysis

The Effect of Demographic Characteristics on Organisational Commitment: a Study of Salespersons in the Soft Drink Industry in Nigeria

Researchers have been interested in the concept of organizational commitment as it has been linked with employee performance and ultimately organizational performance. Previous studies have looked at the antecedents of organizational commitment and this study follows that same line of research. Specifically it looks at the role of age, education, job position and organizational tenure as predictors of commitment. A sample of 118 salesmen from selected firms in the soft drinks industry in Rivers and Bayelsa states were involved in the study. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses with the aid of SPSS 15. The findings show that age, education, job position and organizational tenure are positively correlated with organizational commitment. Keywords: Organisational Commitment, Salespersons, Soft Drink Industr

Application of ERTS-1 imagery to the harvest model of the US Menhaden fishery

Preliminary results of an experiment to demonstrate the utility of ERTS-1 imagery for providing significant information to the harvest model of the menhaden industry are reported. Fisheries and related environmental data were obtained discontinuously throughout the 1973 menhaden (a surface schooling, coastal species) fishing season in Mississippi Sound. The unexpected complexity of the physical environment in Mississippi Sound precluded simplistic analysis of fish/environment relationships. Preliminary indications are that an association does exist between fish availability and differences in water transparency (turbidity) within the Sound. A clearer relationship is developing between major turbid features, imaged by ERTS-1 and location of successful fishing attempts. On all occasions where relatively cloudfree ERTS-1 overflight days coincided with fishery activity, overlays of catch location of ERTS-1 images show an association of school position with interfaces between imaged turbid features. Analysis is currently underway to determine persistence of such associations in an attempt to define minimum satellite return time necessary to maintain continuity of associations

The Effects of Hunting Season Length on Comparable Pheasant Populations

For many years sportsmen have speculated that hunting limits pheasant populations. With the abolition of the Pheasant Game Farm program in Utah in 1953, this popular concept gained much impetus with the result that, because of public disfavor to a longer season, a 3 to 5 day season on pheasants is the maximum that bas been called in northern Utah and this only in areas classed as better pheasant habitat. In contrast to the short seasons in Utah, pheasant seasons in southern Idaho have been from 8½ to 15½ days long for the past 10 years, and will be even longer in 1956 (table 1). Since the topography and land-use patterns of southeast Idaho and northeast Utah are similar, the question has been asked by Cache County sportsmen, how can Idaho maintain a 15½ day season in Franklin County, while just across the line here in Cache County, we have only a 3 to 5 day season? Thus the purpose of this study was to investigate some of the factors affecting pheasant populations of northeast Utah and south-east Idaho under differing season lengths. Objectives of the study were to determine (1) the response of contiguous pheasant populations to long (15½ day) and short (5 day) seasons, (2) the hunting pressure under the 2 season lengths, (3) harvest of the pheasant crop under the 2 season lengths, and (4) reaction of hunters, farmers, and land-owners to long and short seasons

Winter Food Habits of Ravens on the Arctic Slope of Alaska

Analysis of 684 pellets from a winter roost of ravens (Corvus corax) at Umiat, Alaska, indicated that during the winters of 1966 and 1967 ravens obtained half of their energy income through predation and half through scavenging. Microtine rodents provided the bulk of the predatory half of the raven's diet, whereas carcasses of caribou (Rangifer arcticus) and ptarmigan (Lagopus spp.) were the items most often scavenged. The relative abundance of prey species in pellets suggests that ravens spent most of their time hunting in upland habitats on the tundra