Enhanced associations with actions of the artist influence gaze behaviour

The aesthetic experience of the perceiver of art has been suggested to relate to the art-making process of the artist. The artist’s gestures during the creation process have been stated to influence the perceiver’s art-viewing experience. However, limited studies explore the art-viewing experience in relation to the creative process of the artist. We introduced eye-tracking measures to further establish how congruent actions with the artist influence perceiver’s gaze behaviour. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that simultaneous congruent and incongruent actions do not influence gaze behaviour. However, brushstroke paintings were found to be more pleasing than pointillism paintings. In Experiment 3, participants were trained to associate painting actions with hand primes to enhance visuomotor and visuovisual associations with the artist’s actions. A greater amount of time was spent fixating brushstroke paintings when presented with a congruent prime compared with an incongruent prime, and fewer fixations were made to these styles of paintings when presented with an incongruent prime. The results suggest that explicit links that allow perceivers to resonate with the artist’s actions lead to greater exploration of preferred artwork styles

The Relationship Between Principals\u27 Leadership Self-Efficacy, Student Achievement and School Performance

The two major components of school accountability, under the Mississippi Schools Accountability System, are growth expectation and school achievement. Mississippi schools are assigned a school performance classification based upon student achievement and whether schools did not meet, met, or exceeded their growth expectation. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between principals\u27 ratings of self-efficacy, school performance, and school growth status. In addition, this study sought to determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between principals\u27 ratings of delegatee performance, school performance and school growth status. The participants for this study included 102 high school and/or attendance center principals in the state of Mississippi. Of the 102 high school principals who responded to the survey, 78.4% were male and 21.6% were female. The mean length of time in education for the sample was 22.9 years (SD = 9.2). The mean length of time as principal was 8.17 years (SD = 6.59). Of the 102 school principals who responded to the survey, 15%o were principals of Level 2 (Under-performing) schools, 33%) were principals of Level 3 (Successful) schools, 29% were principals of Level 4 (Exemplary) schools, and 25% were principals of Level 5 (Superior-Performing) schools. There were no participants in this study who were principals of a Level 1 or Low-performing school. In addition to school performance levels, school\u27s growth status was also noted. Of the 102 school principals participating in this study, 88.2% are principals of schools that did not meet their growth expectation and 11.8% are principals of schools that met their growth expectation. There were no participants in this study who served at a school that exceeded their growth expectation. The research study was guided by the following questions: 1) Is there a statistically significant relationship between Mississippi high school principals\u27 ratings of self-efficacy relative to the elements of the Balanced Leadership Framework and their schools\u27 performance classifications? 2) Is there a statistically significant relationship between Mississippi high school principals\u27 ratings of self-efficacy relative to the elements of the Balanced Leadership Framework and school growth status? 3) Is there a statistically significant relationship between Mississippi high school principals\u27 ratings of self-efficacy relative to the elements of the Balanced Leadership Framework and student achievement? 4) Is there a statistically significant difference between Mississippi high school principals\u27 perception of change and school performance classification? and 5) Is there a statistically significant relationship between efficacy of delegates\u27 performance as rated by principals using the elements of the Balanced Leadership Framework and schools\u27 performance classification, schools\u27 growth status, and student achievement? Both the leadership self-efficacy rating and delegate performance rating was acquired using the Principal Leadership Self-Efficacy survey. The Principal Leadership Self- Efficacy survey is a 21 question survey adapted from the 21 leadership responsibilities outlined in McREL\u27s Balanced Leadership Framework. Based on these guiding questing a total of 13 hypotheses were tested using Discriminant Function Analysis, Multiple Linear Regression, and Chi-Square tests. Each of the 13 hypotheses was rejected. Although none of the 13 hypotheses were statistically significant, descriptive statistics of the hypotheses did offer valuable insights into principals\u27 ratings of self-efficacy relative to the elements of the Balanced Leadership Framework and school performance. First, it was noted that four of the 21 leadership responsibilities efficacy ratings increased parallel to school performance classifications. Those four responsibilities were Discipline, Order, Outreach, and Visibility. Secondly, regardless of school performance classification or growth status, principals\u27 efficacy rating for the Outreach responsibility was higher than any other leadership responsibility. Thirdly, principals of Level 5 (Superior-performing) schools Knowledge of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment efficacy rating was rated lower than any other school performance classification. Finally, principal efficacy ratings of schools who met their growth expectation were lower than those who did not meet their growth expectation in four responsibilities. Those responsibilities were Ideals/Beliefs, Intellectual Stimulation, Involvement in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, and Knowledge of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Medical Waste Disposal Practices in some Hospitals and Clinical Laboratories in the Accra Metropolis (Ghana)

The improper handling or waste disposal of medical waste generated  can pose serious health risk to the generator, solid waste collector and landfill personnel, and everyone in the community. Medical waste practices were assessed in some medical laboratories in the Accra metropolis. This includes some of the hospital and clinic laboratories through the use of questionnaires and onsite inspection. It was observed that, most of the laboratories were not aware of the EPA, only a few segregate their waste before disposal. Most of them just pour their liquid waste down the drain without any treatment. The trucks used for the disposal purposes do not carry the required biohazard sign. In conclusion waste disposal practices were in contravention of the EPA recommendations. This requires an urgent attention and appropriate punitive bill to sanitize the sector Keywords: medical waste, hospital/clinical laboratories, disposal policies, environmental protection agency (EPA)-, Ghan

A Systematic Search for Corotating Interaction Regions in Apparently Single Galactic Wolf-Rayet Stars. II. A Global View of the Wind Variability

This study is the second part of a survey searching for large-scale spectroscopic variability in apparently single Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. In a previous paper (Paper I), we described and characterized the spectroscopic variability level of 25 WR stars observable from the northern hemisphere and found 3 new candidates presenting large-scale wind variability, potentially originating from large-scale structures named Co-rotating Interaction Regions (CIRs). In this second paper, we discuss an additional 39 stars observable from the southern hemisphere. For each star in our sample, we obtained 4-5 high-resolution spectra with a signal-to-noise ratio of ~100 and determined its variability level using the approach described in Paper I. In total, 10 new stars are found to show large-scale spectral variability of which 7 present CIR-type changes (WR 8, WR 44, WR 55, WR 58, WR 61, WR 63, WR 100). Of the remaining stars, 20 were found to show small-amplitude changes and 9 were found to show no spectral variability as far as can be concluded from the data in hand. Also, we discuss the spectroscopic variability level of all single galactic WR stars that are brighter than v~12.5, and some WR stars with 12.5 < v <= 13.5; i.e. all the stars presented in our two papers and 4 more stars for which spectra have already been published in the literature. We find that 23/68 stars (33.8 %) present large-scale variability, but only 12/54 stars (~22.1 %) are potentially of CIR-type. Also, we find 31/68 stars (45.6 %) that only show small-scale variability, most likely due to clumping in the wind. Finally, no spectral variability is detected based on the data in hand for 14/68 (20.6 %) stars. Interestingly, the variability with the highest amplitude also have the widest mean velocity dispersion.Comment: 14 pages, 24 figures, 2 tables, Accepted in Ap

Afro-Caribbean Immigrant Faculty Experiences in the American Academy: Voices of an Invisible Black Population

Afro-Caribbean immigrants have been an integral part of the history and shaping of the United States since the early 1900s. This current study explores the experiences of five Afro-Caribbean faculty members at traditionally White institutions of higher education. Despite the historical presence and influence of Afro-Caribbean communities and the efforts within education systems to address the needs of Afro-Caribbean constituents, Afro-Caribbean faculty members continue to be rendered indiscernible in higher education and to be frequently and erroneously perceived as African–Americans. The study examines the lived experiences of these individuals in the hegemonic White spaces they occupy at their institutions with both White and Black populations. Through their narratives, issues of stereotyping, microaggression, and isolation are addressed. The participants also offer solutions to address these issues by university administrators, department heads, faculty development professionals, diversity officers, policy makers, and other stakeholders. The voices in this study shed light on an overlooked, misunderstood, and under-researched population within our faculty ranks in the American Academy

Laminar Flow Aircraft Certification

Various topics telative to laminar flow aircraft certification are discussed. Boundary layer stability, flaps for laminar flow airfoils, computational wing design studies, manufacturing requirements, windtunnel tests, and flow visualization are among the topics covered