Partnership for Faith-Based Leadership Development: An Educational Model

Parochial school leaders traditionally rise from the ranks of the teaching staff into the principal position, even if unprepared. Through a unique collaborative model, an outside partner and a university developed a program for formally preparing individuals to be Jewish day school leaders. The process of creating this model resulted in a reconceptualization of school leadership.     

The very model of a modern major (media) candidate: Colin Powell and the rhetoric of public opinion

In the surfacing stage of the 1995 Presidential campaign, media attention was focused on a non‐candidate, Retired General Colin Powell. This study examines the media's justification for such attention, in light of the absence of Powell's public instigation of a campaign. Coverage of Powell as a potential candidate reflects current media practice with regard to speculative reporting and the assertion of objectivity. Application of Burke's pentad to specific coverage in TIME and Newsweek illustrates how the media uses constructions of public opinion to rhetorically justify campaign coverage of a non‐candidate, transferring agency from the candidate to the “Public.”;     

Teacher-parent conferences: Learning from each other

Parent-teacher conferences offer important contact and provide opportunities for discussing a child's progress. Here are some tips on conducting productive conferences.Janis Bullock is instructor of Early Childhood Education at Montana State University in Bozeman.     

Protecting youth online: family use of filtering and blocking software

OBJECTIVE: This paper explores the characteristics associated with decisions to adopt or discontinue the use of filtering software, including a critical analysis of some explanations about why it is used or not used in households with children and adolescents. METHOD: This study consisted of a national telephone survey of households in the United States with youth (10 and 17 years) who use the Internet regularly. Interviews were completed with one youth in the appropriate age group and a parent or caretaker. RESULTS: Thirty-three percent of parents reported using filtering or blocking software, with an additional 5% having discontinued its use within the past year. Parents were more likely to adopt filtering software if they had younger children (10--15 years), a high level of concern about exposure to sexual material on the Internet, more extensive knowledge of what their child did online, low trust in the child's ability to use the Internet responsibly, and if the child used America Online (AOL). Using the Internet for school assignments was associated with not having filtering software. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest the need for (1) evaluation research of filter programs used in a real family context and (2) the development of a variety of strategies to prevent exposure to inappropriate material for youth of different ages.     

Variability of impact kinematics and margin for error in the tennis forehand of advanced players

The kinematics of the racket and ball near impact in tennis forehands were studied to document typical variation in successful and unsuccessful shots, in order to determine biomechanically meaningful differences in advanced players and confirm models of groundstroke trajectories. Seven tennis players (six males and one female) were videoed from the side at 180 Hz as they performed 40 forehand drives on an indoor tennis court. Vertical plane kinematics of the racket and ball near impact were analysed for sub samples of successful and unsuccessful shots for each subject. Most racket kinematic variables were very consistent (mean CV< 6.3%) for successful shots, so bio mechanically meaningful differences in angles and velocities of the racket and ball (3° and 2 m s⁻¹) near impact could be detected between successful and unsuccessful shots. Four subjects tended to miss long and three subjects missed shots in the net that were reflected in initial ball trajectories. Mean (SD) initial trajectories for long shots were 9.8° (1.4°), while netted shots were 0.7° (1.1°) above the horizontal. The initial ball trajectories and margins for error for these subjects were smaller than those previously reported (Brody, 1987) because players tended to select mean ball trajectories close to one error than another, differing amounts of topspin, or incorrect lift and drag coefficients for tennis balls had not been published when this model was created. The present data can be used to confirm if recent models (Cookeet al., 2003; Dignallet al., 2004) more closely match actual performance by advanced players.     

Linear Graph Theory-A Fundamental Engineering Discipline

Current techniques for formulating the mathematical characteristics of physical systems vary greatly from one type to another (mechanical, electrical, thermal, etc.). Of these techniques, those used in electrical network analysis have proven to be the more orderly and generally applicable as evidenced by repeated efforts on the part of the system analyst to establish first an electrical analog of the system in question. This paper presents the basis of an operational concept of system analysis embracing all types of systems, and presents an orderly, sure, and relatively simple basis for extending the discipline of linear graph theory (abstracted form of network theory) to the analysis and synthesis of all types of lumped-parameter systems without the artifice of analogies. It is indicated that these procedures and concepts also provide a means for extending electrical network theory beyond current applications to include systems of multiterminal components.