Teacher Beliefs Regarding Positive Behavior Support Programs in Mississippi Middle Schools

In today’s educational environment of continued and high-stakes accountability, school administrators are constantly looking for effective techniques to improve the academic performance and behavior of their students. In an effort to attain improvement by their pupils, many educational leaders are choosing to implement positive behavior support (PBS) programs in their schools. This study examined the differences between teachers’ beliefs about PBS programs and their impact on reported student attendance, standardized test scores, engagement, and behavior. It also examined the differences in reported changes in these variables between teachers at schools with PBS programs and teachers at schools without the behavior programs. Lastly, this study examined the relationships between teacher beliefs pertaining to PBS programs and their associated characteristics, including age, highest degree attained, years of teaching experience, grade level taught, subject area taught, and whether the teacher was in general education or special education. Findings for these research questions at the .05 significance level are presented in this study. With regard to teacher beliefs about positive behavior support (PBS) programs, none of the independent variables (reported student attendance, standardized test scores, engagement, or behavior) were found to be statistically significant. However, three relationships were found to be approaching significance. Teacher beliefs pertaining to student attendance and teacher age were approaching significance with a small negative correlation, while teacher beliefs pertaining to student attendance and years of teaching experience were also approaching significance with a small negative correlation. Similarly, teacher beliefs pertaining to student behavior and teacher age were approaching significance with a small negative correlation

Software for efficient file elimination in computer forensics investigations

Computer forensics investigators, much more than with any other forensic discipline, must process an ever continuing increase of data. Fortunately, computer processing speed has kept pace and new processes are continuously being automated to sort through the voluminous amount of data. There exists an unfulfilled need for a simple, streamlined, standalone public tool for automating the computer forensics analysis process for files on a hard disk drive under investigation. A software tool has been developed to dramatically reduce the number of files that an investigator must individually examine. This tool utilizes the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) National Software Reference Library (NSRL) database to automatically identify files by comparing hash values of files on the hard drive under investigation to known good files (e.g., unaltered application files) and known bad files (e.g., exploits). This tool then provides a much smaller list of unknown files to be closely examined

Passive Unaccusatives In L2 English

Passive unaccusativity refers to a phenomenon whereby L2 English speakers produce unaccusative verbs in passive constructions. Since unaccusative verbs are a subset of intransitive verbs and thus generally do not passivize, the question of how learners recognize unaccusatives without any overt input distinguishing subsets of intransitives has piqued the interest of many researchers since the late 1970\u27s. Oshita\u27s (2000) claim that passive unaccusatives are NP-movement markers is now a widely accepted claim; however, studies of more general characteristics of intransitivity have revealed close parallels between passive unaccusatives and other well-documented phenomena. The aim of this paper is to show that passive unaccusativity patterns with these other more general phenomena. A corpus of essays written by L2 English speakers was used for this purpose, yielding mixed results. Oshita\u27s claim was not supported while predictions given more general characteristics of intransitive verbs were only minimally supported

A Feasibility Study for Using Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) Hardware for Meeting NASA’s Need for a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) to the International Space Station - [COTS]\u3csup\u3e2\u3c/sup\u3e

The space vehicle system concept (i.e. resupply vehicle) described is based on the new direction that President George W. Bush announced on January 14, 2004 for NASA’s Human Exploration, which has the space shuttle retiring in 2011 following the completion of the International Space Station (ISS). This leads to a problem for the ISS community regarding the capability of meeting a sixty metric-ton cargo shortfall in resupply and the ability of returning large payloads, experiment racks and any other items too large to fit into a crew only type spacecraft like the Orion or Soyuz. NASA and the ISS partners have realized these future problems and started developing various systems for resupply to ISS, but none offer the capability for large up or down mass close to that of the shuttle. Without this capability, the primary purpose behind the ISS science mission is defeated and the ability to keep the station functioning properly is at risk with limited payload delivery (i.e. replacement hardware size and mass). There is a solution to this problem and a majority of the solution has already been designed, built, and flight tested. Another portion has been studied heavily by a team at NASA for use in a slightly different mission. Following the retirement of the space shuttle fleet and the loss of heavy up and down mass capability, the only solution to the problem is to design a new spacecraft. However, the budget and new direction for NASA will not allow for a costly new payload carrying spacecraft. The solution is to use existing commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware to minimize the costs of developing a totally new system. This paper will discuss the technical feasibility of this conceptual configuration

Evaluating the impacts of the Tennessee master logger program

A field evaluation of Best Management Practices was used to determine the effectiveness of the Tennessee Master Logger Program (TMLP). The study was focussed and conducted on non-industrial private forestland (NIPF), and excluded harvests on land owned by forest industry or public forests. Completed logging jobs were scored on 4 possible disturbance areas of timber harvesting: 1) haul roads, 2) skid trails, 3) log decks, and 4) Streamside Management Zones (SMZs). These four scores were added together to yield an overall BMP score. Of 191 randomly chosen observation sites across the state of Tennessee, 38, or 19.9%, were logged by trained Master Loggers. A significant association (p \u3c .05) was found between logger training and overall BMP score using a point biserial correlation. Only 17 of the 627 scores (some sites did not have all 4 areas of the harvest, for example, SMZs are not necessary on sites without streams), or 2.6%, exhibited threats to water quality. Of these 17, Master Loggers were only responsible for 3 water quality threats. Point biserial correlations also indicated that a substantial association (p \u3c .05) existed between harvests completed by Master Loggers and the scores of haul roads, skid trails, log decks, and SMZ grades. This study indicates that those loggers who received training from the TMLP were more likely to implement Best Management Practices during harvesting operations on NIPF than those loggers who did not participate in the Tennessee Master Logger Program

Soil Compaction and Visual Disturbance Following an Integrated Mechanical Forest Fuel Reduction Operation in Southwest Oregon

Most mechanical forest fuel reduction treatments prescribed to extract biomass are performed with existing or modified conventional logging equipment. Treatments that commonly harvest small, non-merchantable trees are often combined with or integrated into commercial thinning operations. Only a limited amount of literature has quantified harvesting system feasibility or environmental effects from such operations. The extra stand travel required to fell and extract small trees may lead to additional soil disturbance. The objective of this study was to assess soil disturbance from an integrated forest harvesting/mechanical forest fuel reduction operation in southwest Oregon, USA. The study was conducted in a fuel reduction thinning of a densely stocked 8.1-hectare (20-acre) mixed conifer stand on gentle terrain. A tracked, swing-boom feller-buncher and two rubber-tired, grapple skidders were used for felling and extracting both non-merchantable and merchantable trees. Visually classified soil disturbance, along with penetration resistance estimates were recorded pre- and post harvesting. Results indicate that the operation did not contribute to either statistically or biologically significant soil disturbance effects, based on an a priori biological reference threshold of 3,000 kPa. A history of multiple harvest entries, low soil moisture, and high initial soil strength conditions contributed to the lack of significant effects. This investigation will aid forest managers in decision making concerning expected soil disturbance effects when prescribing integrated harvesting systems for forest fuel reduction treatments

Case History — Settlement Mitigation for Mat Foundation Using Lean Concrete Columns

This paper presents a case history of Lean Concrete Column (LCC) design, prediction, installation, and monitoring for a 34-story high-rise condominium tower over a five-level underground parking substructure supported on a mat foundation in San Diego, California. The site constraints and the building configuration imposed unusual design and construction challenges, which resulted in high foundation pressures and eccentric loading for the planned building mat foundation. A geotechnical investigation consisting of deep test borings, Cone Penetrometer Tests (CPT), and laboratory tests indicated that formational soils underlying the site did not provide the necessary bearing capacity to directly support the structure on a conventional mat foundation system within acceptable settlement and structural limitations. Design constraints, economics, and constructability issues dictated solutions requiring an integral waterproofed substructural system supported on a mat foundation. A foundation system incorporating conventional piles structurally tied into the mat was not feasible because of waterproofing constraints. A determined practical solution was to incorporate a ground improvement technique that would be separate from the mat foundation, provide improved mat support, and reduce differential settlement to within tolerable limits. LCCs were found to be a viable method of ground improvement for reducing differential settlement of the mat to acceptable limits

Cultural History and Comics Auteurs: Cartoon Collections at Syracuse University Library

After discussing the importance of the comics as a subject for scholarly study, Wheaton describes selected cartoonists and genres represented in Syracuse University Library\u27s cartoon collection. Carolyn Davis provides a complete list of the Library\u27s cartoon holdings

Electromechanical Systems

This eBook was written as the third installment in the series that coincide with three engineering courses taught at the University of Oklahoma (ENGR 2431, ENGR 2531, and ENGR 3431). These courses were designed to provide non-major students – those not majoring in electrical or computer engineering (ECE) – a foundation in various ECE topics. ENGR 2431 is a prerequisite for both ENGR 2531 and ENGR 3431 and it is recommended that the DC Circuits book be studied prior to beginning the eBooks created for the other two courses. The following topics are covered in this book: LabVIEW Overview Module 1 – Number Systems and Character Encoding Module 2 – Digital Logic Module 3 – Measurement and Instrumentation Overview Module 4 – Sensors Module 5 – Power Systems Module 6 – Electric Machines Module 7 – Computer Communications Appendix A – Step by Step Guide to Digital, Analog, and Counter IOs in a DAQThis item has been updated. For a full errata go to this link:https://www.dropbox.com/s/49s6jhjrp22j1qk/Electromechanical%20Systems%201st%20Edition%20Eratta.docx?dl=0Fully updated files are accessible at the two following links:https://www.dropbox.com/s/tgo61d92mas7cex/Electromechanical%20Systems%2C%201st%20Edition%20-%20Davis%2C%202018.docx?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ehdr231hwc7fk9x/Electromechanical%20Systems%2C%201st%20Edition%20-%20Davis%2C%202018.pdf?dl=

AC Circuits

This eBook was written as the sequel to the eBook titled DC Circuits, which was written in 2016 by Chad Davis. This eBook covers Alternating Current (AC) circuit theory as well us a brief introduction of electronics. It is broken up into seven modules. Module 1 covers the basic theory of AC signals. Since only DC sources are used in the first eBook, details of AC signals such as sinusoidal waveforms (or sine waves), square waves, and triangle waves are provided. Module 2, titled AC Circuits Math Background, covers the mathematics background needed for solving AC circuit problems. The background material in Modules 1 and 2 are combined in Module 3 to solve circuits with AC sources that include resistors, inductors, and capacitors (RLC circuits).University of Oklahoma Libraries Alternative Textbook GrantYe