Common Core State Standards in Arkansas

In July 2010, the Arkansas Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC Assessment program. The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) then created a strategic plan and a timeline for the implementation of the standards. The new standards were implemented in Arkansas K-2 classrooms this past school year, 2011-12. During this current school year, 2012-13, the standards are being implemented in grades 3-8

Synthesis and characterization of a novel Y-Fe phase via kinetic neutron diffraction

Kinetic in situ neutron diffraction has been used to study the crystallization of amorphous Y67Fe33. The results show that partial crystallization first occurs close to 300 ◦C where the Y phase is formed. The entire sample crystallizes at 390 ◦C and new Bragg peaks appear, signifying the formation of a novel Y–Fe phase. This new phase coexists with Y to 450 ◦C when the Bragg peaks associated with this phase rapidly decrease in intensity and YFe2 also coexisting with Y, emerges as the final crystallization product. Rietveld refinement shows that the new phase crystallizes into a hexagonal structure, space group P63/mmc, with a = 12.8893(7) Å, c = 11.7006(9) Å and γ = 120◦

Arkansas’ ESEA Waiver Approval Update

On June 29th, 2012, the US Department of Education announced that it had approved Arkansas’s ESEA waiver request. On July 4th, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) announced it had identified 48 Priority and 110 Focus schools. Priority and Focus schools are the new names for the two lowest-rated school performance categories; schools and districts in these categories are subject to ADE intervention. This policy brief explains the major differences between the accountability system under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the new revised system

Common Core State Standards in Arkansas

In July 2010, the Arkansas Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC Assessment program. The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) then created a strategic plan and a timeline for the implementation of the standards. The new standards were implemented in Arkansas K-2 classrooms this past school year, 2011-12. During this current school year, 2012-13, the standards are being implemented in grades 3-8

Cygnus X-2, super-Eddington mass transfer, and pulsar binaries

We consider the unusual evolutionary state of the secondary star in Cygnus X-2. Spectroscopic data give a low mass (M_2 \simeq 0.5 - 0.7\msun) and yet a large radius (R_2 \simeq 7\rsun) and high luminosity (L_2 \simeq 150\lsun). We show that this star closely resembles a remnant of early massive Case B evolution, during which the neutron star ejected most of the \sim 3\msun transferred from the donor (initial mass M_{\rm 2i}\sim 3.6\msun) on its thermal time-scale $\sim 10^6$ yr. As the system is far too wide to result from common-envelope evolution, this strongly supports the idea that a neutron star efficiently ejects the excess inflow during super--Eddington mass transfer. Cygnus X-2 is unusual in having had an initial mass ratio $q_{\rm i} = M_{\rm 2i}/M_1$ in a narrow critical range near $q_{\rm i}\simeq 2.6$. Smaller $q_{\rm i}$ lead to long-period systems with the former donor near the Hayashi line, and larger $q_{\rm i}$ to pulsar binaries with shorter periods and relatively massive white dwarf companions. The latter naturally explain the surprisingly large companion masses in several millisecond pulsar binaries. Systems like Cygnus X-2 may thus be an important channel for forming pulsar binaries.Comment: 9 pages, 4 encapsulated figures, LaTeX, revised version with a few typos corrected and an appendix added, accepted by MNRA

Indirect (source-free) integration method. II. Self-force consistent radial fall

We apply our method of indirect integration, described in Part I, at fourth order, to the radial fall affected by the self-force. The Mode-Sum regularisation is performed in the Regge-Wheeler gauge using the equivalence with the harmonic gauge for this orbit. We consider also the motion subjected to a self-consistent and iterative correction determined by the self-force through osculating stretches of geodesics. The convergence of the results confirms the validity of the integration method. This work complements and justifies the analysis and the results appeared in Int. J. Geom. Meth. Mod. Phys., 11, 1450090 (2014).Comment: To appear in Int. J. Geom. Meth. Mod. Phy

Conservation Laws and the Multiplicity Evolution of Spectra at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

Transverse momentum distributions in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions carry considerable information about the dynamics of the hot system produced. Direct comparison with the same spectra from $p+p$ collisions has proven invaluable to identify novel features associated with the larger system, in particular, the "jet quenching" at high momentum and apparently much stronger collective flow dominating the spectral shape at low momentum. We point out possible hazards of ignoring conservation laws in the comparison of high- and low-multiplicity final states. We argue that the effects of energy and momentum conservation actually dominate many of the observed systematics, and that $p+p$ collisions may be much more similar to heavy ion collisions than generally thought.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PRC; Figures 2,4,5,6,12 updated, Tables 1 and 3 added, typo in Tab.V fixed, appendix B partially rephrased, minor typo in Eq.B1 fixed, minor wording; references adde