Connecting Response to Intervention and Grade Retention: Implications for School Leaders

Within all classrooms of public schools, teachers greet general education students acknowledging broad differences in their learning readiness and social skills (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Compton, 2010; Martin, 2010). The needs of some students may be so diverse that educators find implementing differentiated instructional strategies with integrity extremely difficult. Many individually research-based strategies have been implemented to provide helpful instruction to all learners. This paper presents the concept of a merger between two of these strategies: Response to Intervention (RTI) and grade retention. As a result, the conceptual framework for this manuscript is anchored within the RTI and grade retention literatures, highlighting their reported effectiveness on student outcomes

Working paper 27: Fuel treatment longevity.

Dry forests of the western United States have been altered by long-term fire exclusion, resulting in a more dense forest structure and an increased risk of crown fire. Recently, thinning and prescribed fire treatments have been implemented in these forests for two main reasons: ecological restoration and fire hazard reduction. Ecological restoration is a holistic endeavor that focuses on restoring ecological patterns, processes, and functions. Ecological restoration goals often include restoring the process of fire to forested ecosystems and changing forest structure to fall within the historical range of variability as indicated by reference information. While fire hazard reduction is often a goal or an outcome of ecological restoration, not all treatments specifically designed to reduce fuels also restore ecosystem patterns, processes, and functions (Reinhardt et al. 2008). Fire hazard reduction treatments are designed specifically to reduce fire intensity, reduce fire severity, and increase the ability of firefighters to control wildfires (Table 1). Fuel treatments are common and are generally regarded as beneficial for reducing fire behavior, as well as for ecological reasons such as increasing understory diversity and reducing competition among trees for nutrients and water. What remains unclear is how long such fuel treatments are effective in reducing undesirable fire behavior. This working paper addresses the following management questions regarding fuel treatment longevity: What factors influence fuel treatment longevity? How long will fuel treatments last before sites need to be retreated? Do some types of treatments last longer than others

Interaction of fire, climate, and forest structure in Northern Mexico

Research on what determines when forest fires will occur; by Professor Pete Fule, Larissa Yocom, and Citlali Cortes Montano

'What We Need Are Some Traditions!' The Role of the Northern Virginia Folklife Archive in George Mason University's Search for Traditions

Article

Bending Of Metallic Thin Foil Via High Energy Pulsed Laser Peening

Laser Peen Forming (LPF), a novel method used to form thin metallic engineering foils,is a manufacturing process utilizing strong shockwaves induced by high pressuresintroduced to the surface of a target by high energy, pulsed laser beams. It is a non-thermal,non-contact approach that improves the hardness and fatigue life of components byimparting beneficial residual stresses on the surface of the material. First, a review of theparameters of LPF processing, the forming mechanisms, process modeling techniques, andalternative LPF methods is discussed, to understand the procedures of industrialmanufacturing standards. Next, a simplification of metallic thin foils is proposed to developa novel low-cost and simplified LPF process design.The first segment pursues the general principles of LPF by reviewing its recentprogress, and that of comparable techniques. It discusses the process design, mechanismsattributed to forming, laser-material interactions, simulation methods, alternativeapproaches, and limitations thereof. The effect of laser intensity, material thickness,overlapping ratio, and number of scan tracks on bend angle, is discussed. Mechanisms ofLPF are reviewed by elucidating the mechanics of convex and concave curvature.Particularly, the Stress Gradient Mechanism (SGM) and the Stress Bending Mechanism(SBM), are modeled. In addition, the effect that drag bending has on the net bending of thesample piece is considered. The Fabbro model is followed for laser-material interactions.Advances in femtosecond and heat assisted LPF are considered with a focus on theadvantages and disadvantages over nanosecond methods.In the second segment, a streamlined LPF process design that eliminates ablativecoating and confining media is developed and explored to determine the feasibility ofbending of thin metallic foils. Experiments were conducted in a fashion similar totraditional LPF processing, with additional equipment unique to this new method, todetermine the final bend angle. Evidence has shown that laser intensity, sample thickness,and material strength are primary parameters in determining bending direction, amplitudeand process efficiency. In this part of the study, the effect of the number of passes and laserintensity on bending angle was examined. The results show that with increasing number ofpasses, there is an increase in bending angle, and, likewise, with an increase in laserintensity, there is an increase in bending angle. Then, the surface profile of the sample wasinspected, and the laser-processed area was characterized with respect to surfaceroughness. It was found that, relative to the original sample, the surface roughness of thelaser-processed area was not significantly impacted. Finally, the bend angle of LPF withand without an ablative coating, using equivalent experimental parameters, was compared.This portion of the study indicates that using an ablative coating under this new LPFprocess design is counterproductive

Deindustrialization and Urban Regeneration: Nietzsche, Activism, and Organically Emergent Forms of Civic Engagement in Windsor/ Detroit

The deindustrialization of cities represents a moment of cultural and political weakness and insecurity about what it means to be urban. Specifically, within Windsor and Detroit the traditionally rooted modes of production and habitation that have framed the cultural and political landscape as well as the identities of these urban centers are in a state of massive transition. Within these urban centers we find engaged residents mobilizing critical, self-critical and projective dispositions capable of meeting the challenges of their context, as well as issuing inquiries that put the inquirer on the spot, produce discomfort, and have potency: the capacity to change the way the inquirer thinks, acts and inhabits urban landscapes. These practices are vital responses to the questions that drive our lived-experience of city life and are in the end matters of survival. This work deploys an interpretation of the new category of philosopher forecasted by Nietzsche in Beyond Good and Evil in order to explore this moment when culture and politics meet at street level in the transitional deindustrializing cities of Windsor and Detroit. This is a difficult moment to make articulate. Many of the criticisms and prescriptions at work in the particular projects that we will examine are expressed as action: performed critique. These urban centers themselves have the capacity to become foxholes of sorts. Cities have a degree of receptivity to urban activism, and thus can become discrete political entities that mediate between culturally rooted criticisms and the larger political landscape. These cities in turn have the capacity to generate larger political effects. Urban activist initiatives, addressed in this project both theoretically and in their particularity, are rooted in the local and the biological in a manner that intimately ties experiences of suffering at the hands of economic and political systems responding to their acts of resistance. Activist collectives aim to inflict a wound to the overall culture, thus inoculating not only the immediate urban culture, but culture more generally with something new and empowering. This work explores the tension between embedded criticisms and proposals performed by urban activists and the trenchant forces that frustrate these actions

Chapter 23 Introduction to Section 4

This handbook addresses a growing list of challenges faced by regions and cities in the Pacific;Rim, drawing connections around the what, why, and how questions that are fundamental;to sustainable development policies and planning practices. These include the connection;between cities and surrounding landscapes, across different boundaries and scales; the persistence;of environmental and development inequities; and the growing impacts of global;climate change, including how physical conditions and social implications are being anticipated;and addressed. Building upon localized knowledge and contextualized experiences,;this edited collection brings attention to place-;based;approaches across the Pacific Rim and;makes an important contribution to the scholarly and practical understanding of sustainable;urban development models that have mostly emerged out of the Western experiences. Nine;sections, each grounded in research, dialogue, and collaboration with practical examples and;analysis, focus on a theme or dimension that carries critical impacts on a holistic vision of city-;landscape;development, such as resilient communities, ecosystem services and biodiversity,;energy, water, health, and planning and engagement.;This international edited collection will appeal to academics and students engaged in;research involving landscape architecture, architecture, planning, public policy, law, urban;studies, geography, environmental science, and area studies. It also informs policy makers,;professionals, and advocates of actionable knowledge and adoptable ideas by connecting;those issues with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);of the United Nations. The;collection of writings presented in this book speaks to multiyear collaboration of scholars;through the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes (SCL);Program and its global network,;facilitated by SCL Annual Conferences and involving more than 100 contributors;from more than 30 institutions

An Inquiry Into the Validity of the Gregory Academic Interest Inventory

It was the purpose of this study to make an inquiry into the general validity of the entire inventory, and to ascertain the apparent validity of the individual scales incorporated in the inventory by means of data gathered from 92 graduate students enrolled at the University of New Mexico