The role of the principal in relation to the successful integration of computer based learning (CBL) in schools

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Education.Despite the considerable investment in computers in schools, there is little evidence that the expenditure has led to widespread changes in either pedagogy or student outcomes. The paucity of evidence of real change has been attributed to: (a) access to computers being regarded as an end in itself; (b) inadequate change processes in regards to incorporating computer based technologies (CBTs) in schools; (c) a lack of leadership and administrative support in relation to CBTs; and (d) poor understanding of leadership challenges associated with CBTs. There is a sustained theme in the educational administration literature that the school principal's role is critical in the successful integration of CBTs in schools. Principals face many leadership challenges both administrative and conceptual in relation to CBTs. Yet, the CBT leadership of principals remains a topic that is not frequently considered when theorists or practitioners discuss the outcomes of computer based learning (CBL) as opposed to its implementation. This study investigated the role of principals in four schools that were regarded as effectively utilising CBTs in teaching and learning. A case study approach was employed to explore what the principals specifically did to promote not only the integration, but importantly, the effective use of CBTs in these schools. Semi-structured interviews with the four principals combined with general observations of the school and analysis of selected school documents allowed examination of the ideas, pedagogies, and actions of the principals related to CBTs. In addition, semi-structured interviews with selected staff members who incorporated CBTs and innovative use of computers in their teaching and a school-administered survey with students were conducted to explore how such ideas and actions of the principal were understood by other members in the school community. From the data gathered, the philosophy the school principals adopted in their schools to manage the process of CBL and specific pedagogies they led related to teaching and learning with CBTs were analysed. The specific approaches and behaviours the principals displayed in relation to resources, staff, students, parents and school policies were also taken into consideration in developing an understanding of successful CBT leadership in the four schools. The analysis of the data from the detailed case studies provided an interesting combination of leadership strategies of the principals. The analysis informed the development of a leadership model named "Strategic CBT Leadership". This model comprises three inter-related frames: Strategic Vision, Practical Philosophy and Specific Pedagogies. Fifteen recommendations for practice and two recommendations for further research are offered

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterised by progressive muscular paralysis reflecting degeneration of motor neurones in the primary motor cortex, corticospinal tracts, brainstem and spinal cord. Incidence (average 1.89 per 100,000/year) and prevalence (average 5.2 per100,000) are relatively uniform in Western countries, although foci of higher frequency occur in the Western Pacific. The mean age of onset for sporadic ALS is about 60 years. Overall, there is a slight male prevalence (M:F ratio~1.5:1). Approximately two thirds of patients with typical ALS have a spinal form of the disease (limb onset) and present with symptoms related to focal muscle weakness and wasting, where the symptoms may start either distally or proximally in the upper and lower limbs. Gradually, spasticity may develop in the weakened atrophic limbs, affecting manual dexterity and gait. Patients with bulbar onset ALS usually present with dysarthria and dysphagia for solid or liquids, and limbs symptoms can develop almost simultaneously with bulbar symptoms, and in the vast majority of cases will occur within 1–2 years. Paralysis is progressive and leads to death due to respiratory failure within 2–3 years for bulbar onset cases and 3–5 years for limb onset ALS cases. Most ALS cases are sporadic but 5–10% of cases are familial, and of these 20% have a mutation of the SOD1 gene and about 2–5% have mutations of the TARDBP (TDP-43) gene. Two percent of apparently sporadic patients have SOD1 mutations, and TARDBP mutations also occur in sporadic cases. The diagnosis is based on clinical history, examination, electromyography, and exclusion of 'ALS-mimics' (e.g. cervical spondylotic myelopathies, multifocal motor neuropathy, Kennedy's disease) by appropriate investigations. The pathological hallmarks comprise loss of motor neurones with intraneuronal ubiquitin-immunoreactive inclusions in upper motor neurones and TDP-43 immunoreactive inclusions in degenerating lower motor neurones. Signs of upper motor neurone and lower motor neurone damage not explained by any other disease process are suggestive of ALS. The management of ALS is supportive, palliative, and multidisciplinary. Non-invasive ventilation prolongs survival and improves quality of life. Riluzole is the only drug that has been shown to extend survival

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Acute Coronary Syndrome in Adulthood

Research studies demonstrate that exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) lead to physical and mental health consequences in adulthood, including cardiovascular disease (Dong, Giles, Felitti et al, 2004; Felitti, Anda, Nordenberg, et al, 1998). One potential mechanism linking ACEs to cardiovascular disease is impaired social competence necessary for successful relationships and adequate social support. In the current study, the impact of ACEs on social support and subsequent incidence of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) was examined in a cohort of 6,596 older Seventh-day Adventists. After controlling for sociodemographic, lifestyle, and psychological factors, ACE exposure predicted increased risk of ACS by 31% for males only. Similarly, exposure to 3 or more ACEs resulted in a more than 3-fold increased risk of ACS for males compared to no ACEs. While ACE exposure had positive associations with negative social support and negative spouse/partner support, there were no associations with social integration. Social integration and support measures did not mediate the ACE-ACS relationship; even in supplementary analyses combining cardiac-related mortality and ACS. However, several gender and poverty moderation effects emerged. Church attendance decreased the risk of ACS in females in poverty, after controls and ACE exposure. Among females in poverty, negative social support and negative spouse support increased the risk of ACS incidence after controls and ACE exposure. Among males not in poverty, suppression effects were found, suggesting that having low negative support and negative spouse/partner support decreased the risk of ACS incidence as well as combined ACS and cardiac-mortality. Although non-significant, suppression patterns for poverty subgroups revealed that any increase in negative support or spouse/partner support, leads to increase in ACS incidence and combined ACS and cardiac mortality. Together, the findings highlight the long-term impact of ACEs on cardiac health, and the importance of considering non-traditional risk factors (such social support and church attendance), as critical pathways that can lead to cardiac health outcomes. Further examination of religiousness and emotion regulation pathways should follow to further elucidate on the mechanisms that underlie the ACE-ACS relationship

Android Permissions Remystified: A Field Study on Contextual Integrity

Due to the amount of data that smartphone applications can potentially access, platforms enforce permission systems that allow users to regulate how applications access protected resources. If users are asked to make security decisions too frequently and in benign situations, they may become habituated and approve all future requests without regard for the consequences. If they are asked to make too few security decisions, they may become concerned that the platform is revealing too much sensitive information. To explore this tradeoff, we instrumented the Android platform to collect data regarding how often and under what circumstances smartphone applications are accessing protected resources regulated by permissions. We performed a 36-person field study to explore the notion of "contextual integrity," that is, how often are applications accessing protected resources when users are not expecting it? Based on our collection of 27 million data points and exit interviews with participants, we examine the situations in which users would like the ability to deny applications access to protected resources. We found out that at least 80% of our participants would have preferred to prevent at least one permission request, and overall, they thought that over a third of requests were invasive and desired a mechanism to block them

An ORM based Meta-Schema to Model Business Processes

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ZAGA - #1, 2021

ZAGA is the little sibling of SAGA, Augustana\u27s annual literature and art magazine. ZAGA produces smaller installments of art and literature from Augie\u27s student body in zine format.https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/zaga/1000/thumbnail.jp

Forensic capabilities for service-oriented architectures

This report describes a framework to provide on-line forensic capabilities to service oriented architecture via Forensic Web Services (FWS) and runtime execution monitoring. The FWS is a new type of web services to be used by other web services (of an independent agency) to securely maintain transactional records of interest between other web services. The framework uses runtime execution monitoring to search the transactional log for interesting (or suspicious) service invocation sequences to recreate non-repudiable evidence of transactional history for use in a court of law.Contract Number: N6600107WR00222Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

An Integration of Rule Types and XML

Meta data types for providing business rules are described. These business rules form part of the knowledge base of an organisation. The integration of knowledge with data and information is discussed. FORM, a natural language based, conceptual modelling technique is used to describe the meta data types. XML has been recognised by many in the industry as the preferred data interchange language. XML is currently being used to interchange data and its schema. The use of XML to interchange rules is being investigated, in this paper. This will enable organisations to interchange business rules and their meta data, in addition to data and their schema. Such business rules can be interpreted and applied by the receiving systems, thus providing a basis for intelligent behavior when dealing with information being interchange