A Longitudinal Analysis of the Relations Among Professional Development,Educators’ Beliefs and Perceived Skills,and Response-to-Intervention Implementation

ABSTRACT

Professional development is a critical systems-level intervention thought to facilitate Response-to-Intervention (RtI) implementation. The current study examined the relations between professional development, educator outcomes, and problem-solving implementation within an RtI framework using growth curve modeling. School leadership teams from pilot schools (n = 34) participated in 3 years of training. Pilot schools also received job-embedded coaching. Comparison schools (n = 27) provided a referent group. Results indicated that problem-solving implementation increased faster at pilot schools (β = 0.10, SE = 0.05, t = 2.03, p < .05). In addition, beliefs regarding data-based decision-making (β = 0.36, SE = 0.17, t = 2.13, p < .05) and perceived problem-solving skills applied to academics (β = 0.30, SE = 0.10, t = 3.07, p < .01) positively related to implementation. Implications include the needs to further explore professional development activities and for consultants to utilize evidence-based professional development principles when supporting RtI implementation.     

Reading Occupied Istanbul: Turkish Subject-Formation from Historical Trauma to Literary Trope

Abstract

The Allied occupation of Istanbul is a little-known historical event outside of Turkey and the Middle East. European powers occupied Istanbul between 1918 and 1923 to enforce the partition of the Ottoman Empire after WWI in the construction of the Modern Middle East. Almost 100 Turkish novels that address occupied Istanbul have appeared over the last ninety years, beginning even before Allied armies left Istanbul in 1923. Turkey's present Middle Eastern re-emergence and post-Kemalist reassessment of secular modernity has also led writers and intellectuals back to the occupation of Istanbul. To examine why Turkish authors return repeatedly to the trope of occupied Istanbul, this essay surveys the first canonised novels about occupied Istanbul written during the Kemalist monoparty period (1923–50): Shirt of Flame by the exiled feminist and nationalist Halide Edib (1884–1964), Sodom and Gomorrah by the Kemalist ideologue Yakup Kadri Karaosmano?lu (1889–1974) and Outside the Scene by Turkey's first experimental, modernist author Ahmet Hamdi Tanp?nar (1902–62). As bilingual Istanbul intellectuals, all three made occupied Istanbul a central drama in their fictions. However, each represented it differently as a formative event in the construction and critique of the nation-state and of modern Turkish subject-formation.     

Distributed optimization with information-constrained population dynamics

In a multi-agent framework, distributed optimization problems are generally described as the minimization of a global objective function, where each agent can get information only from a neighborhood defined by a network topology. To solve the problem, this work presents an information-constrained strategy based on population dynamics, where payoff functions and tasks are assigned to each node in a connected graph. We prove that the so-called distributed replicator equation (DRE) converges to an optimal global outcome by means of the local-information exchange subject to the topological constraints of the graph. To show the application of the proposed strategy, we implement the DRE to solve an economic dispatch problem with distributed generation. We also present some simulation results to illustrate the theoretic optimality and stability of the equilibrium points and the effects of typical network topologies on the convergence rate of the algorithm.     

Destination buffer analysis for packets rejection obliteration in multi-channel networks

In this paper we study a multi-channel network, each station of which is equipped with a network interface that has a receiver buffer of multiple packets. In this way, each station is able to receive multiple packets per time instant. We adopt a synchronous access protocol which is affected by the collisions over the multiple channels and the destination conflicts. The proposed protocol performance crucially depends on the size of the receiver buffer since it determines the packet rejection probability at destination. An analytical probabilistic model based on a Markovian process is adopted for the performance measures derivation by means of closed mathematical formulas. The proposed protocol is compared to relative ones that either totally ignore the receiver collisions or assume a receiver buffer of a single packet capacity. The numerical results show that the increase of the receiver buffer size improves the performance decisively, resulting in higher throughput and lower delay and rejection probability. Also, it is shown that the appropriate receiver buffer size per station in order for the rejections at destination to be effectively eliminated is not unlimited but is limited to three packets for 0.1% accepted maximum level of rejection probability.     

Measuring business performance: A conceptual framework with focus on improvement

Managers look for measures that represent an integrated performance. These should lead to an analysis of unsatisfactory performance. Performance measurement and its evaluation is the first step toward formulating any plan for improvement. This article examines the imperatives of a good measurement system and presents a framework to measure business performance.     

Profile and Motivations of Registered Whole-Body Donors in Turkey: Istanbul University Experience

Little is known regarding the profiles of whole body donors in Muslim majority countries where donation is scarce. Therefore, this study aims to profile registered donors in Turkey by means of a survey. The explored data could be used to improve ongoing campaign efforts and ethical practices such as commemoration services. Registered donors of the donation programs at the two faculties of medicine of Istanbul University were compared with the national population and a cluster analysis was performed to reveal any concealed sub-groups. Data from 188 respondents were analyzed. The majority of registered donors were married (42%), male (65.4%), aged over 50 years (76%), held a tertiary education degree (49.7%), and were irreligious (58.5%). Cluster analysis revealed two groups with significantly different educational levels, marital statuses, and religious choices. Regarding whether their bodies could be used for education or research, the majority (64.5%) of the respondents left the decision to the anatomy department. Similarly, 73.8% approved indefinite use of their organs, body parts and/or skeletons. The respondents were also willing to share their medical history (94.2%) and personal information (81.6%) if needed. Motivational themes for body donation including usefulness, impermanence, religion, awareness, and kinship were devised after a thematic analysis. Among the respondents, 56.5% were registered organ donors and 63.3% were frequent blood donors. The results of this study provide data that may help revising informed consent forms, developing and implementing thanksgiving ceremonies, and selecting additional targets for supporting body donation campaign activities such as organ and blood donation units.     

The Impact of More,Better, Faster,Cheaper: How the PCC Influenced Everything That Followed

Abstract

The beginnings and the early years of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) had a profound impact on the approach taken to cataloging in North America and around the world. The commitment to standards, cooperation, and expanded access also had an impact that went far beyond cataloging operations. One library dean traces the evolution of her vision and contemplates how the PCC’s principles have shaped her entire career and have affected the libraries in which she has worked.     

Related Multiscreening as a Strategy to Retain Audiences and Increase Persuasion During a Commercial Break

The aim of the study was to deepen our understanding of how related multiscreening affects audience memory and persuasion. A survey was administered after a live television show. The results showed that the higher the perceived relatedness of the multi-screen activity, the more persuasive the message. This effect was mediated by subsequent attention to television content, program involvement, and attention to the commercial break. The model was replicated for three different multiscreen activities: social media use, chatting, and information search. Furthermore, it was found that related multiscreening increased the likelihood of respondents staying tuned to the television after the show.     

The relationship between inertial measurement unit-derived ‘force signatures’ and ground reaction forces during cricket pace bowling

Abstract

This study assessed the reliability and validity of segment measured accelerations in comparison to front foot contact (FFC) ground reaction force (GRF) during the delivery stride for cricket pace bowlers. Eleven recreational bowlers completed a 30-delivery bowling spell. Trunk- and tibia-mounted inertial measurement units (IMUs) were used to measure accelerations, converted to force, for comparisons to force plate GRF discrete measures. These measures included peak force, impulse and the continuous force–time curve in the vertical and braking (horizontal) planes. Reliability and validity was determined by intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), coefficient of variation (CV), Bland–Altman plots, paired sample t-tests, Pearson’s correlation and one-dimensional (1D) statistical parametrical mapping (SPM). All ICC (0.90–0.98) and CV (4.23–7.41%) were acceptable, except for tibia-mounted IMU braking peak force (CV = 12.44%) and impulse (CV = 18.17%) and trunk vertical impulse (CV = 17.93%). Bland–Altman plots revealed wide limits of agreement between discrete IMU force signatures and force plate GRF. The 1D SPM outlined numerous significant (p < 0.01) differences between trunk- and tibia-located IMU-derived measures and force plate GRF traces in vertical and braking (horizontal) planes. The trunk- and tibia-mounted IMUs appeared to not represent the GRF experienced during pace bowling FFC when compared to a gold-standard force plate.