Diffractive Dijet Production and Nuclear Shadowing in pA Interactions

We study the implications of non-universality observed recently in e p and pbar p diffraction for nuclear shadowing and diffractive dijet production in pA collisions.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of Quark Matter 2001, the 15th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, January 15-20, 2001, Stony Brook, N

Displaced Discretion? An Empirical Test of Prosecutorial Charge Bargaining Before and After the District of Columbia Sentencing Guidelines

Though significant research has found that sentencing guidelines systems have reduced sentencing disparity, few studies have examined whether sentencing guidelines have shifted discretion and disparity from judges to prosecutors. Using data from the District of Columbia Superior Court, this research examines whether charge bargaining practices changed after the District of Columbia Sentencing Guidelines. This study also examines whether legal, offender, and case processing characteristics had different effects on charge bargaining outcomes before and after the Sentencing Guidelines. The analyses show that, while there were changes in the plea bargaining process after the Sentencing Guidelines, there was not significant evidence of a displacement of discretion or disparity to prosecutors. Policy implications are discussed

Successful System Use: It’s Not Just Who You Are, But What You Do

Information and communication technologies are so embedded in contemporary society that we have arrived at the point at which learning to use technology successfully may affect our day-to-day lives as much as learning to eat or exercising properly. However, we lack research that explains and predicts successful system use (i.e., system use that adds value to the user). We theorize that adaptive behaviors (e.g., trying new features, repurposing features) mediate the relationship between user characteristics and successful system use. To better understand successful system use, we used an online survey to study how undergraduate students enrolled in an information systems course used an information system (Microsoft Excel). Our findings suggest that adaptive behaviors do act as a mediator between user characteristics and successful system use; therefore, it is not only one’s identity but also what one does that drives successful system use. One of our key contributions includes remodeling system success as a single second-order construct as opposed to its traditional form as a series of causally related constructs

School Administrators’ Perceptions of Critical Teacher Skills

Forty school administrators in the Lower Hudson Valley of New York State were surveyed about the characteristics of preservice and novice teachers believed most critical. These administrators represented a broad and socio-demographically diverse cross-section of rural, suburban and urban school districts. The administrators collectively rated establishing rapport with students and behavior management as the most critical skills for preservice and new teachers to possess. Examining roles separately, assistant principals valued rapport with students and creating effective lessons as most important, whereas principals rated effectively communicating with parents and guardians, and reflecting on teaching performance as being most important. The most frequently cited reason for not hiring or reappointing a candidate was lack of engagement with students. An ability to collaborate with colleagues as well as competence in working with students with disabilities and ELLS represent skills administrators also valued in teacher candidates. Furthermore, administrators identified authentic classroom experiences prior to student teaching as invaluable preparation for the classroom and a “difference-maker” in the quality and effectiveness of preservice teacher candidates. Finally, administrators noted areas of current and future job demand; need and growth areas for teachers were reported to be STEM and STEAM, Special Education, Bilingual/Language Education, and Dual Certification

Enhancing the limit of detection of biomarkers in serum using a SPRi nano-aptasensor

Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging (SPRi) is a label-free, ultrasensitive detection method for monitoring biomolecular interactions in real-time with high throughput. Diagnostic biomarkers for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease are often in low abundance in serum, presenting many challenges for their detection. SPRi has great potential as a diagnostic tool because its limit of detection (LOD) for many biomarkers falls in the nanogram per milliliter range, but in order to further enhance its usefulness, its LOD must be reduced to even lower concentrations. We have developed a detection scheme that improves SPRi sensitivity by several orders of magnitude. This increase in sensitivity relies upon the integration of SPRi with nanomaterials and microwave-assisted surface functionalization. This approach makes it possible for the SPRi biosensor to detect C-reactive protein in spiked human serum at concentrations of 5 fg/ml or 45 zeptomole. This scheme was then compared to commercial ELISA kits for the detection of human Growth Hormone, which has a LOD of 1 ng/ml. In order to directly compare the two platforms the antibody sandwich assay was copied in the SPRi scheme and with nanomaterial enhancement, an LOD of 9.2 pg/ml was achieved