Lost: The Crisis Of Jobless and Out Of School Teens and Young Adults In Chicago, Illinois and the U.S.

This report contains compilations and calculations of various employment data for males and females 16 to 24 years old by race/ethnicity from 2005 to 2014, comparing Chicago, Illinois, the U.S. and in some instances, adding Los Angeles and New York. Besides an array of figures and tables, the report contains GIS generated maps that illustrate the relationship between employment data and population distribution by race/ethnicity. A significant contribution of this report is its demonstration that low rates of employment are spatially concentrated in neighborhoods that are also racially segregated. This report clearly highlights that youth employment rates are tied to conditions in neighborhoods and cannot be seen as distinct from what is happening in the neighborhoods themselves. The devastation of unemployment in turn, wreaks havoc on the neighborhood

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Current Atmospheric Refraction Models in Predicting Sunrise and Sunset Times

The standard value for atmospheric refraction on the horizon of 34\u27, used in all publicly available sunrise and sunset calculators, is found to be inadequate. The assumptions behind atmospheric models that predict this value fail to account for real meteorological conditions. The result is an uncertainty of one to five minutes in sunrise and sunset predictions at mid-latitudes (0° - 55° N/S). A sunrise/set calculator that interchanges the refraction component by varying the refraction model was developed. Two atmospheric refraction models of increasing complexity were tested along with the standard value. The predictions were compared with data sets of observed rise/set times taken from Mount Wilson Observatory in California, University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, observations from various locations in Chile, and on-board the SS James Fergus in the Atlantic Ocean. Increasing the complexity of the model did not yield significantly better results. These observations make up the entirety of documented sunrise and sunset times. A thorough investigation of the problem requires a more substantial data set of observed rise/set times and corresponding meteorological data from around the world. A mobile application, Sunrise & Sunset Observer, was developed so that anyone can capture this astronomical and meteorological data using their smartphone as part of a citizen science project. Data analysis will lead to more complete models that will provide higher accuracy rise/set predictions to benefit astronomers, navigators, and outdoorsmen everywhere

OERopoly: A game to generate collective intelligence around OER

Collective Intelligence (CI ) is a phenomenon that emerges at the crossroads of three worlds: Open Educational Resources (OER), Web 2.0 technologies and Online Learning Communities. Building CI for the OER movement means capturing the richness of information, experiences, knowledge and resources, that the movement is constantly generating, in a way that they can be shared and reused for the benefit of the movement itself. The organisation of CI starts from collecting the knowledge and experiences of OER's practitioners and scholars in new creative forms, and then situating this knowledge in a collective 'pot' from where it can be leveraged with new 'intelligent' meanings and toward new 'intelligent' goals. This workshop is an attempt to do so by engaging participants in a CI experience, in which they will contribute to, and at the same time take something from, the existing CI around OER, Web 2.0 technologies and Online Learning Communities

Book Review: Getting Out of Your Head, Back in Your Heart

Michele Tanaka’s book, Learning and Teaching Together: Weaving Indigenous Ways of Knowing Into Education, documents and contemplates the pedagogical effects of a unique course, Earth Fibres, designed by Lorna Williams, and guided by Indigenous elders, to immerse student teachers at the University of Victoria into Indigenous ways of knowing, by having them work with traditional Indigenous fabric and textile arts. In her book, Tanaka repeats the key questions of the course: How do you get out of your head? How do you get back into your heart? In the course, the students do this in the context of a culture that destabilizes their normative understandings of the world and of teaching, learning and the curriculum. The book uses the framework of the medicine wheel, of “walking the wheel,” and likewise, the student teachers taking the Earth Fibres course are invited on a kind of medicine walk of their own. The book contributes to efforts to Indigenize the curriculum through its thoughtful documentation of the Earth Fibres course itself, as well as the responsive, Indigenist frame in which it has been written

Estimating age at death by examining the crystallite size of hydroxylapatite in human teeth

Estimation of age is an important component of the biological profile that forensic anthropologists construct in order to attain a positive identification of a deceased individual. This research is a proof of concept study for the use of X-ray diffraction (XRD) on a tooth sample to estimate age. Previous research (Meneghini et al. 2003; Hanschin and Stern 1992) has concluded that the crystallite size of bone will increase with increased age. The feasibility of the use of teeth in XRD analysis was first tested using pig teeth (samples P1, P2, and P3). Another set of pig teeth (PC1, PC2, and PC3) were analyzed to determine if there were differences in tooth type for a single individual. Tooth samples were collected from individuals of known age in order to establish whether the crystallite size of hydroxylapatite changes with increased chronological age. All samples were cleaned and prepared using the same set of procedures. The resulting diffraction patterns from the XRD testing were analyzed using Jade 6 software to determine the full width half maximum (FWHM) for each of the samples. The crystallite size was then calculated using Scherrer’s formula. The first set of pig samples proved that it was possible to analyze teeth with XRD. The second set of samples demonstrated that there were crystallite size differences in the tooth types. The human teeth confirmed that there were differences in tooth type and presented evidence that there was a downward correlation between chronological age and crystallite size in teeth. Due to the rejection of the initial hypothesis, an alternative hypothesis was constructed stating that the crystallite size of the hydroxylapatite will decrease in teeth as age increases in an individual. Results of this research suggest the trend toward a decrease in crystallite size as an individual increases in age

Moving Horizons: Exploring the Role of Stories in Decolonizing the Literacy Education of White Teachers

Part of a special issue on international perspectives on education and decolonization. A study examined teachers\u27 constructions of difference derived from reading and discussing children\u27s literature. Participants were 18 white teachers in Canada, who read and discussed children\u27s stories once a month in teacher literature circles. Findings revealed the role of stories in participants\u27 educational formation and decolonization. Other findings of the study are discussed

Influences of employment classification upon the lived experiences of beginning career change teachers within New South Wales Department of Education high schools

Over the past two decades, international and Australian research has investigated the high numbers of beginning teachers resigning from the teaching profession. Beginning teacher resignations have financial impacts upon education departments, high schools and individuals, while also impacting students’ learning and causing teacher shortages. Within New South Wales (NSW), Australia this issue is becoming more critical against the backdrop of an ageing teaching workforce and forecast increases in student numbers. One of the strategies utilised by the New South Wales Department of Education (NSW DoE) to improve the size and quality of the teacher workforce is the increased recruitment of career changers, as they bring with them a range of skills and experiences that can be utilised within the school and classroom environments. Complicating their entry into the Australian teaching profession is a changing employment context in which beginning teachers can increasingly only secure temporary positions. The aim of this study was to explore, describe and interpret the lived experiences of beginning career change teachers (BCCTs) in NSW DoE high schools with a focus on gaining an understanding of how policy frameworks and school-based practices contribute to the provision of professional development and support (PD&S) for BCCTs and to their retention. Drawing upon Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model, this study viewed BCCTs as being at the centre of a complex, multi-layered ecosystem. It examined the impacts of NSW DoE policy frameworks within the exosystem and differing school-based practices (microsystem) upon individual BCCTs’ transition into teaching and upon their decision to remain in or leave the teaching profession. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach was used, wherein both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews) data were collected, analysed separately and then merged. The overarching finding of this study is that employment in temporary or permanent positions significantly influences BCCTs’ access to PD&S opportunities within the NSW DoE exosystem and within individual high schools (microsystems). This research found a lack of knowledge in and communication between the NSW DoE where policy is developed, high schools where policy is implemented into school-based practices, and individual BCCTs. Additional findings identified that there are differences between the PD&S that BCCTs and BFCTs can access and in their sense of efficacy; however, these were not statistically significant results. The research found that BCCTs face a number of impediments to participation in PD&S opportunities, including workload pressures and family commitments. Nevertheless, the majority of the BCCTs indicated that the reasons they retrained as a teacher were still valid and that they would remain within the teaching profession irrespective of the lack of permanent employment and the continual challenges

Optimizing rearing and welfare in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalesensis) broodstock: effect of ambient light intensity and handling time on stress response

Broodstock rearing conditions and handling procedures should be optimized in aquaculture species in order to benefit fish welfare and guarantee optimal conditions for spawning. In teleosts, basal cortisol levels display daily rhythms, oscillating along the 24 h of the day. In this sense, handling fish at different moments of the day may lead to different stress responses. The present study aimed at investigating the optimal rearing conditions for Senegalese sole broodstock, considering ambient light intensity and handling time. The optimal light intensity (50, 100 or 200 lx) was investigated by measuring fish cortisol levels and monitoring locomotor activity rhythms under each intensity tested. Results showed a significant increase in cortisol levels of fish exposed to 200 lx, when compared to values obtained under 100 lx, accompanied by changes in locomotor activity rhythms in both tanks under study. These results suggested that 200 lx may be too high as light intensity for this species, whereas 100 lx seems to be more adequate. Also, daily rhythms of stress response were investigated in breeders from different origins (Wild and first generation, G1). Basal cortisol levels and cortisol stress response after an acute stressor (air exposure) were monitored at two distinct moments of the day (Mid-Light and Mid-Dark). Basal levels were higher during the day in the wild group, while G1 fish seemed to have lost the daily fluctuations in basal cortisol plasma levels, as well as their daily rhythms of locomotor activity. Both groups showed lower stress responses during night-time, an indication that this is an adequate period of the day to handle this species. Senegalese sole breeders born in captivity presented more pronounced stress responses when compared to wild fish, reflecting their different life history in terms of stress challenges.FP7/SME/2008/1; UID/Multi/04326/2019; DL 57/2016/CP1361/CT0007; DL 57/2016/CP1361/CT0033info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio