Teacher Perceptions of the Curricular Viability of Missouri Learning Standards as Correlated to Student Outcomes on End-of-Course Assessments

Approved by the Missouri State Board of Education in 2016, the Missouri Learning Standards “define the knowledge and skills students need in each grade-level and course” (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education [MODESE], 2021g, About the Missouri Learning Standards section). State-mandated end-of-course assessments, such as the English II end-of-course assessment, are directly aligned to the Missouri Learning Standards and are administered in courses that have content associated with the standards (MODESE, 2021c). The purpose of this correlational study was to determine if significant relationships existed between teachers’ perceptions of the guaranteed and viable nature of Missouri Learning Standards and student achievement on English II end-of-course assessments. The framework for this study was based upon Marzano’s groundbreaking concept of a guaranteed and viable curriculum and Marzano’s claim that students will achieve at higher levels when the curriculum is both guaranteed and viable (Marzano & Eaker, 2020). This study was significant because no research existed regarding the guaranteed and viable nature of Missouri Learning Standards (C. Neale, personal communication, July 14, 2020). Analyses of quantitative data collected from 53 English II teachers across 32 Missouri public school districts were used to answer seven research questions. The findings from this study revealed no significant correlations between student achievement and teachers’ perceptions regarding the extent to which Missouri Learning Standards are viable, guaranteed, grade-level appropriate, understandable, unpacked and prioritized, and aligned to end-of-course assessments. The conclusions reached in this study have significant implications for the development and implementation of state-wide learning standards in Missouri and across the United States

An electrochemical study of hydrogen uptake and elimination by bare and gold-plated waspaloy

Two electrochemical methods for the determination of hydrogen concentrations in metals are discussed and evaluated. The take-up of hydrogen at a pressure of 5000 psi by Waspaloy metal was determined experimentally at 24 C. It was found that the metal becomes saturated with hydrogen after an exposure time of about 1 hr. For samples charged with hydrogen at high pressure, most of the hydrogen is contained in the interstitial solid solution of the metal. For electrolytically charged samples, most of the hydrogen is contained as surface and subsurface hydrides. Hydrogen elimination rates were determined for these two cases, with the rate for electrolytically charged samples being greater by over a factor of two. Theoretical effects of high temperature and pressure on hydrogen take-up and elimination by bare and gold plated Waspaloy metal was considered. The breakthrough point for hydrogen at 5000 psi, determined experimentally, lies between a gold thickness of 0.0127 mm (0.0005 in.) and 0.0254 mm (0.001 in.) at 24 C. Electropolishing was found to greatly reduce the uptake of hydrogen at high pressure by Waspaloy metal at 24 C. Possible implications of the results obtained, as they apply to the turbine disk of the space shuttle main engine, are discussed

We Came, We Saw, We Conferenced: Capturing and Sharing Campus Events at Georgia Southern

Your campus may be regularly hosting conferences and other events; what happens to the valuable scholarship presented over the course of the event? And do the conference organizers at your institution have an efficient and simple way to manage the submission, review, and acceptance process? At Georgia Southern University, the Zach S. Henderson Library has partnered with the Division of Continuing Education and other offices on campus to not only host 19 conferences on Digital Commons@Georgia Southern but also help the conference organizers streamline their review workflows. These successful partnerships have led to some additional, unexpected benefits, such as the opportunity to publish five new peer-reviewed journals stemming from the conferences. Over the course of this webinar, Ashley Lowery, Digital Collections Specialist, and Debra Skinner, Coordinator of Cataloging & Metadata / Interim Department Head of Collection & Resource Services at Georgia Southern will share how they formed these valuable partnerships, how they manage multiple conference sites, and the benefits that have resulted from this work

A Fruitful Collaboration: Offering More than Faculty Profiles

The institutional repository Digital Commons@Georgia Southern launched in Fall 2013. Faculty immediately began to utilize the services including journals/conferences sites and SelectedWorks faculty profiles. The repository also sparked an unexpected success: collaboration between the Zach S. Henderson Library and the Office of Research. The Office of Research created an Expertise Search and purchased Plum Analytics, two services that integrate with SelectedWorks profiles. The Expertise Search is a tool for users to find faculty members by expertise keywords. Plum Analytics provides faculty with traditional metrics (citations) as well as altmetrics (usage, captures, mentions, and social media). Through these tools, the Henderson Library can reuse metadata and offer more than just faculty profiles. In this presentation, learn about each service, their integration with one another, and the broader significance they have to the scholarly community. We will highlight our successes and struggles, our marketing strategies, and faculty’s feedback on the systems

Constructing continuity: The discursive construction of the Great Crash of 2008–2009 as a non-crisis of neoliberalism

Why, despite being contextualised alongside the Great Depression of the 1930s and inflation and growth crisis of the 1970s, did the Great Crash of 2008–2009 not exert a similarly transformative dynamic in dominant, neoliberal, economic ideas? Drawing on an agent-centred constructivism stressing the centrality of crisis construction and narration, yet with particular emphasis placed upon the incorporation of strategic processes of framing, this article provides fresh insights into the means by which key actors exercise their agency in attempts to ensure continuing adherence to, rather than fundamentally transforming, the status quo. This is explored with reference to macroeconomic policy assumptions in the IMF, an instance which provided all the pre-conditions for a widely interpreted moment of crisis, yet which nevertheless resulted in untransformed ideas and structures

Period politics and policy change: the taxation of menstrual products in the United Kingdom, 1996–2021

How, when and why do policies change? This article engages with this question through a focus on the taxation of menstrual products in the United Kingdom from its initial emergence as an issue in 1996 through to the eventual abolition of the ‘tampon tax’ on 1 January 2021. Despite the significance of this topic for broader debates concerning gender inequality, political efficacy and social change it is not one that has been the focus of close historical analysis. The research presented in this article fills this gap in the existing research base and reveals (inter alia): (i) the ebb-and-flow of the issue-attention cycle; (ii) the grating of domestic pressures against international obligations; (iii) incremental policy change in an attempt to assuage campaigners; (iv) the co-option of ‘period poverty’ as a strategic and symbolic issue by Brexit campaigners; (v) and the eventual resolution of the issue a quarter of a century after it was first raised. As such the politics of policy change vis-à-vis the taxation of menstrual products in the United Kingdom fits within a number of broader debates concerning: how, when and why policies change; the complexities of multi-level governance; and interpretations of policy success and policy failure

Accuracy of a Web-based System for Monitoring Chronic Wounds

This study evaluated the accuracy of a store-and-forward telemedicine system for assessing the status of chronic wounds, including those surgically repaired. Digital photos and other patient and wound data were collected by a nurse using a laptop and transmitted via the Internet to a database, which organized and posted the data onto a web page for access by the telemedicine physician. Two Veterans' Affairs (VA) medical centers and two specialties (plastic surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation) participated in the study. Study patients included inpatients and outpatients with pressure ulcers of stage II, III, or IV, plus outpatients with diabetic foot ulcers or venous stasis ulcers. All patients were assessed both in-person (the "gold standard") and with the telemedicine system using yes/no responses and a 5-point scale, respectively, on four diagnostic questions concerning wound healing and infection, based on AHCPR guidelines. A total of 70 patients were enrolled, with data collected on 430 visits: up to 6 visits per wound. Percentage agreement for all visits ranged from 67.1 for "not healing" to 88.8 for "cellulitis present." Sensitivity ranged from 0.32 for cellulitis to 0.63 for necrosis; and specificity ranged from 0.80 for necrosis to 0.91 for cellulitis. Although agreement of the telemedicine system was not high, it was not significantly less than interphysician agreement on in-person assessments. A relatively inexpensive store-and-forward telemedicine system for monitoring the status of chronic wounds has the potential to improve access to specialty care for patients who are not currently receiving routine monitoring by specialized nurses or physicians.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63181/1/153056203766437471.pd

Pre-Clinical Evidence that Corticotropin-Releasing Factor (CRF) Receptor Antagonists are Promising Targets for Pharmacological Treatment of Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a chronic disorder characterized by cycling periods of excessive ethanol consumption, withdrawal, abstinence and relapse, which is associated with progressive changes in central corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) receptor signaling. CRF and urocortin (Ucn) peptides act by binding to the CRF type 1 (CRF1R) or the CRF type 2 (CRF2R) receptors, both of which have been implicated in the regulation of neurobiological responses to ethanol. The current review provides a comprehensive overview of preclinical evidence from studies involving rodents that when viewed together, suggest a promising role for CRF receptor (CRFR) antagonists in the treatment of alcohol abuse disorders. CRFR antagonists have been shown to protect against excessive ethanol intake resulting from ethanol dependence without influencing ethanol intake in non-dependent animals. Similarly, CRFR antagonists block excessive binge-like ethanol drinking in non-dependent mice but do not alter ethanol intake in mice drinking moderate amounts of ethanol. CRFR antagonists protect against increased ethanol intake and relapse-like behaviors precipitated by exposure to a stressful event. Additionally, CRFR antagonists attenuate the negative emotional responses associated with ethanol withdrawal. The protective effects of CRFR antagonists are modulated by the CRF1R. Finally, recent evidence has emerged suggesting that CRF2R agonists may also be useful for treating alcohol abuse disorders