Examining the Myth of Accountability, High-Stakes Testing, and the Achievement Gap

In this article we outline how notions of accountability and the achievement gap have relied upon the massive expansion of high-stakes exams in our nation’s schools. Texas-style test and punish accountability manifested in various ways within schools and school culture across the nation via NCLB, which undermined notions of trust within education. More than decade of national education policy focused on high-stakes testing and accountability—despite that the fact that the rise of high-stakes testing also involved considerable legal, ethical, and social considerations. We argue the practice of spending large amounts of time on test preparation and test taking must be reversed lest we continue on the path of maintaining schools solely as machinery for stratification. We conclude that market- and business-oriented ideology, has reinforced the racist under- and overtones of testocracy in the United States and has neither closed the achievement gap nor fomented meaningful accountability or success

Blocked Randomization with Randomly Selected Block Sizes

When planning a randomized clinical trial, careful consideration must be given to how participants are selected for various arms of a study. Selection and accidental bias may occur when participants are not assigned to study groups with equal probability. A simple random allocation scheme is a process by which each participant has equal likelihood of being assigned to treatment versus referent groups. However, by chance an unequal number of individuals may be assigned to each arm of the study and thus decrease the power to detect statistically significant differences between groups. Block randomization is a commonly used technique in clinical trial design to reduce bias and achieve balance in the allocation of participants to treatment arms, especially when the sample size is small. This method increases the probability that each arm will contain an equal number of individuals by sequencing participant assignments by block. Yet still, the allocation process may be predictable, for example, when the investigator is not blind and the block size is fixed. This paper provides an overview of blocked randomization and illustrates how to avoid selection bias by using random block sizes

CHROMOSOMAL CHARACTERS OF THE INDONESIAN SAND GOBY, OXYELEOTRISMARMORATA BLKR. 1874 (ELEOTRIDAE)*)

Karyomorphological investigation of sand goby or marble sleeper (Oxyeleotris marmorata Blkr.) from Cirata Reservoir, West  Java,  Indonesia was  undertaken  to  determine  the modal  chromosome  number  and  fundamental number, and to construct the karyotype from somatic metaphase cells of head kidney. A total of 30 fish samples from  Cirata  Reservoir  was  sacrificed  for  direct  chromosome  preparation  by colchicine-citrate-aceto-methanol-Giemsa staining-air drying  technique. Chromosome set analysis showed  that  the modal chromosome number of the test fish is 2n = 46, confirming previous studies. Fundamental number is 50. Two karyotypic formulas were found, i.e. 1) 2n = 46 (4SM + 42A); and 2) 2n = 46 (2M + 2SM + 42A).  Key Words: Freshwater fishes, Chromosome analysis, Oxyeleotris marmorata, Indonesi

Is the GSI anomaly due to neutrino oscillations? - A real time perspective -

We study a model for the "GSI anomaly" in which we obtain the time evolution of the population of parent and daughter particles directly in real time, considering explicitly the quantum entanglement between the daughter particle and neutrino mass eigenstates in the two-body decay. We confirm that the decay rate of the parent particle and the growth rate of the daughter particle do \emph{not} feature a time modulation from interference of neutrino mass eigenstates. The lack of interference is a consequence of the orthogonality of the mass eigenstates. This result also follows from the density matrix obtained by tracing out the unobserved neutrino states. We confirm this result by providing a complementary explanation based on Cutkosky rules applied to the Feynman diagram that describes the self-energy of the parent particle.Comment: 11 page

Season of Birth and Risk for Adult Onset Glioma

Adult onset glioma is a rare cancer which occurs more frequently in Caucasians than African Americans, and in men than women. The etiology of this disease is largely unknown. Exposure to ionizing radiation is the only well established environmental risk factor, and this factor explains only a small percentage of cases. Several recent studies have reported an association between season of birth and glioma risk. This paper reviews the plausibility of evidence focusing on the seasonal interrelation of farming, allergies, viruses, vitamin D, diet, birth weight, and handedness. To date, a convincing explanation for the occurrence of adult gliomas decades after a seasonal exposure at birth remains elusive

Occurrence and Distributional Range of Mangrove Vascular Flora of Catanduanes Island, Luzon, Philippines

Mangroves play very significant roles not only on the economic aspects but also on the ecological aspects as biobelting for tidal surges and tsunamis. The loss of human lives due to the deadly tsunamis in East Asia and the unabated destruction of coastal vegetation have resulted in a renewed focus on the mangrove resources. The purpose of this paper is to report the existing mangrove database of the typhoon-prone island province of Catanduanes in Luzon, Philippines which will be used as bases in determining the appropriate educational management initiatives of various sectors for mangrove rehabilitation and regeneration. A total of 37 species of mangrove vascular flora (13 species of major mangrove elements, 10 species of minor mangrove elements and 14 associated mangrove species) were identified in the island under study. Two species of the genus Avicennia (A. marina and A. officinalis) were noted in the island. The other genera (Bruguiera, Ceriops, Sonneratia and Rhizophora) are well distributed in the designated eco-zones. Nypa fruticans is the most important mangrove plant species and a member of the screwpine family (Pandanaceae), Pandanus tectorius which is an associated mangrove species is well-distributed all throughout the island

Occurrence of Arboreal-climbing Grapsids and Other Brachyurans in Two Mangrove Areas of Southern Luzon, Philippines

Despite the obvious importance to ecosystem functioning, the most prominent groups belonging to the Grapsidae are generally regarded as less studied in the Philippines. In this study, the occurrence of arboreal-climbing grapsids and other brachyurans associated with the mangals of Quezon and Catanduanes was considered including some aspects on climbing, burrowing and feeding behaviour of selected grapsids represented by Hemigrapsus, Pseudograpsus and Metopograpsus. The non-grapsoid taxa are represented by Varunidae (Ptychognathus), Portunidae (Charybdis, Portunus, Scylla, Thalamita); and Eriphiidae (Epixanthus). Metopograpsus latifrons (White, 1847) [Grapsus] is an exclusive mangrove tree climber (EMTC), while Pseudograpsus elongatus (A. Milne Edwards, 1873) is described here as occasional mangrove tree climber (OMTC). Hemigrapsus (Hemigrapsus) penicillatus (De Haan, 1835) [Grapsus (Eriocheir)] is a non-mangrove arboreal–climbing species (NTC) only seen on crevices of the mangrove areas. P. elongatus creates burrows most often than M. latifrons. Likewise, the study provides information on the presence of the portunid orange mud crab (Scylla olivacea); the green mud crab (S. paramamosain); the varunid (Ptychognathus altimana); and extremely abundant xanthiid crab, Epixanthus dentatus in the mangroves of Catanduanes but not in Pagbilao, Quezon

Chromosomal Characters of the Indonesian Sand Goby, Oxyeleotrismarmorata Blkr. 1874 (Eleotridae)*)

Karyomorphological investigation of sand goby or marble sleeper (Oxyeleotris marmorata Blkr.) from Cirata Reservoir, West Java, Indonesia was undertaken to determine the modal chromosome number and fundamental number, and to construct the karyotype from somatic metaphase cells of head kidney. A total of 30 fish samples from Cirata Reservoir was sacrificed for direct chromosome preparation by colchicine-citrate-aceto-methanol-Giemsa staining-air drying technique. Chromosome set analysis showed that the modal chromosome number of the test fish is 2n = 46, confirming previous studies. Fundamental number is 50. Two karyotypic formulas were found, i.e. 1) 2n = 46 (4SM + 42A); and 2) 2n = 46 (2M + 2SM + 42A)