Teaching Special Education in the ES/FL Classroom

English language learners (ELLs) are growing in number in the United States school system. With this increase in population comes the task of providing quality and appropriate education for these students. A great part of this responsibility falls on instructors of English as a Second/Foreign Language (ES/FL) courses. As with every other content area, the possibility of having students with disabilities and disorders in the classroom exists. However, in the context of language acquisition unique obstacles and pitfalls exist which are particular to this field. Providing services for ELLs with special needs is a major concern in the realm of education. Each area of intervention is affected by the fact that these students are not functioning in their first language and by the fact that many disabilities interfere with language processing and social skills. The relationship between the language acquisition process and certain disabilities is an essential part to understanding how to assist these students in language learning. Methods, approaches, and curriculum can be modified and accommodations can be made in order to allow English language learners with special needs to achieve their highest level of success in the ES/FL classroom

Juvenile-to-Adult Antler Development in White-Tailed Deer in South Texas

Past studies using penned deer provide conflicting results on the age when reliable predictions about antler growth potential in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) can be made. We captured wild whitetail males via aerial net gun on 12 ranches in 5 counties in south Texas, USA, from 1999 to 2007 to determine if a reliable juvenile-to-adult relationship in antler development existed. We individually marked and released captured animals at the trap site after we took antler and body measurements. We recaptured marked animals as possible in subsequent years or until we obtained final measurements after legal harvest. Amount of growth in the first set of antlers in whitetail males was a poor predictor of antler growth at maturity. By 4.5 years of age there were no differences (P . 0.05) in antler measurements regardless of the amount of development of the first set of antlers at 1.5 years. We concluded culling of yearling males based on number of antler points would have little positive effect on overall antler quality in future years.

White-Tailed Deer Antler Research: A Response to Demarais and Strickland

Demarais and Strickland presented several questions about the scope and validity of conclusions regarding predictability of mature antler size based on yearling antler size and produced a simulation model reported to demonstrate measurement bias in our 2008 study. We believe our conclusions were appropriate with our research hypothesis and demonstrated the assumed differential selection bias by hunters used in Demarais and Strickland was unwarranted. Demarais and Strickland provided no metadata to document the provenance of data used in their model and did not account for location, year, cohort, nutrition of research animals, or loss of individuals from their sample population by accidents or death: the same questions raised in their critique. Additionally, selection and experimental design problems in a portion of their sample population indicate their model results are questionable. Our responses to Demarais and Strickland will aid wildlife managers in making future culling decisions in white-tailed deer management

The Rebound Effect: Some Questions Answered

Greenhouse gas (and other pollutant) emissions from energy use are now taken to be a problem both internationally and for individual national and regional governments. A number of mechanisms are being employed to reduce energy consumption demand as part of climate and energy policies internationally. A central policy focus is increased efficiency in the use of energy. However, the straightforward link between increased energy efficiency and reduced energy consumption has been questioned. This is due to the notion of the ‘rebound effect’. Rebound occurs when improvements in energy efficiency actually stimulate the direct and indirect demand for energy in production and/or consumption. It is triggered by the fact that an increase in the efficiency in the use of energy acts to reduce the implicit price of energy, or the price of effective energy services for each physical unit of energy used. Thus, it is an economic phenomenon. The rebound effect implies that measures taken to reduce energy use might lead to increases in carbon emissions, or at least not offset them to the extent anticipated. It is possible to distiguish between direct rebound effects in energy consumption in the activity where energy efficiency has increased, indirect rebound effects from income and substitutuion effects and economy-wide rebound effects (impacts on macro-level energy use). This paper attempts to provide a non-technical overview of work on the latter, carried out under an ESRC-funded project investigating the source and magnitude of econom-wide rebound effects from increased energy efficiency in the UK.General equilibrium, energy efficiency, rebound effects, disinvestment.

The Rebound Effect: Some Questions Answered

Greenhouse gas (and other pollutant) emissions from energy use are now taken to be a problem both internationally and for individual national and regional governments. A number of mechanisms are being employed to reduce energy consumption demand. A central one is increased efficiency in the use of energy. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations (IPCC, 2007) projects that by 2030 energy efficiency gains will provide a substantial part of the remedy for climate change by reducing global energy consumption to approximately 30% below where it would otherwise be. Such a reduction is argued to be almost sufficient to offset energy consumption increases driven by projected global economic growth. Similarly the widely cited Stern report (Stern, 2007), and the International Energy Agency (e.g. IEA, 2009), attach crucial importance to the potential for efficiency improvements to reduce energy use and related emissions. Within the European Union, one of the EU 20-20-20 targets for member states is to reduce energy consumption by 20% through increased energy efficiency (see, for example, European Commission, 2009). Moreover, the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) – see, for example, European Commission (2010) – places energy efficiency at the centre of its Smart Cities and European Electricity Grid Initiatives (among the European Industrial Initiatives (EII)). At the UK level, the UK Energy White Paper (2003) describes energy efficiency as one of the most cost effective and safest ways of addressing energy and climate policy objectives. In Scotland, the recently published ‘Energy Action Plan’, the Scottish Government sets out Scotland’s first national target to improve energy efficiency and how this will be achieved with the use of grants given to local authorities. In the Appendix to this paper, for the reader’s information, we provide a summary overview of energy efficiency policy instruments currently active within the UK and Scotland. The purpose of the current paper is to clarify some issues relating to the phenomenon of rebound effects. The paper originates from an interview with the Principle Investigator, Dr Karen Turner (University of Stirling, formerly of the University of Strathclyde) by Maggie Koerth-Baker, a science journalist working on a book for Wiley & Sons about the future of energy in the United States. The following is not a precise transcript of that interview; rather it picks out and develops key issues from the questions posed and the answers given

Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Foraging Behavior

We studied Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) to examine the effect of status and gender on foraging behavior. Foraging behavior of breeding pairs extended beyond separation by foraging height to include zones (bole, trunk in crown, primary limb, secondary limb) of the tree used and foraging methods (scaling, probing, excavating). Helper males and juvenile females maintained partial spatial separation from breeding adults. Helper males maintained spatial separation from breeding adults by exploiting limbs within tree crowns in both longleaf (Pinus palustris) and loblolly-shortleaf (P. taeda, P. echinata) pine forests, but also increased use of boles in loblolly-shortleaf pine in concert with reduced use of boles by adult females. Breeding males tended to forage less by scaling, probably due to the reduced proportion of foraging on boles of trees where scaling tends to predominat

A Measure of Capacity for Acquiring Skill in Coordination of Eye and Hand

Because success in many industries and activities depends to a large extent on ability to acquire skill in coordination of eye and hand, a measure of this capacity would prove very serviceable in both vocational guidance and selection. We are now trying to determine whether an apparatus providing a moving target of known size, following a constant predictable path at a uniform rate of speed will give an index of such capacity. This index is to be found by measuring the observer\u27s ability to hold a ringed, metallic pointer on the moving target

Seedling Establishment of Spartina alterniflora and Spartina patens on Dredged Materials in Texas

Effects of fertilizer, elevation, and tidal inundation on seedling establishment of Spartina alterniflora and Spartina patens were tested at a wave-protected sandy dredged material site, Galveston Bay, Texas. No seedlings that grew from sown seeds became established at elevations below 36 cm (msl) while the greatest number established in the upper tier. Seedlings of S. alterniflora were more numerous than S. patens in the upper and middle tiers. Naturally occurring seedlings of S. alterniflora, which apparently germinated from seeds produced on transplants in adjacent plots, established at all elevations of the site during winter. The average time of tidal inundation at a particular elevation was less during winter than spring. Thus, establishment of plants by seed at low intertidal elevations appears feasible only during low seasonal winter tides and with S. alterniflora. Fertilizers did not enhance growth, and high concentrations of fertilizer caused stress to some S. alterniflora seedlings

Improvement of Oak-Dominated Rangeland with Tebuthiuron and Prescribed Burning.

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Winter Food Habits and Preferences of Northern Bobwhites in East Texas

During late winter, 1994 and 1995, we investigated food habits and preferences of northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus; hereafter, bobwhites) collected on forested lands in east Texas. Crops for bobwhites were collected from areas under 3 management regimes, namely intensively managed for bobwhites (QMA) (i.e., tree basal area reduced, annually burned, numerous multi-stage food plots, etc.), extensively managed for timber and wildlife (NBS) (i.e., burned every 3-5 years, scattered 2-stage food plots with corn feeders), and unmanaged for wildlife (i.e., burned every 5-7 years). With years pooled, partridge pea (Cassia fasciculata), Hercules club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis), and pine (Pinus spp.) seeds, and clover leaflets (Trifolium spp.) comprised 93% by weight of foods of 79 bobwhites foods on QMA. On NBS, 81% of 40 bobwhite diets was butterfly pea (Centrosema virginianum), browntop millet, pine, wild bean (Strophostyles spp.), and corn seeds and clover leaflets; millet and corn were from food plots and feeders, respectively. For unmanaged areas, 79% of 19 bobwhite diets was butterfly pea, rush (Juncus spp.), pine, partridge pea, and American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) seeds, and clover leaflets. Top-ranked food items on QMA were pine, hairy vetch, and Hercules club seeds in 1994 and butterfly pea, partridge pea, and wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera) seeds in 1995 (P \u3c 0.05). On NBS, hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) and beautyberry seeds were top-ranked in 1994 as were kobe lespedeza, wild bean, and butterfly pea seeds in 1995. On unmanaged areas, butterfly pea and partridge pea seeds and clover leaflets were highest ranked in 1995. On forested lands, activities (e.g., disking, burning, establishing food plots) which provide seed-bearing plants, especially legumes, and clover greenery benefit bobwhites