K-12 public school finance in Missouri: an overview

Education ; Missouri

K-12 Public School Finance in Missouri: An Overview

The level and distribution of spending for public K-12 education remains a contentious matter of policy in many states because of increasing expectations for school performance and widespread school finance litigation. In this paper, the authors examine the policies that have generated school funding in Missouri and the outcomes of these policies in terms of the overall level of school spending and interdistrict spending gaps. Interdistrict inequality in average spending is higher in Missouri than in surrounding states, but the spending gaps are equalizing in the sense that poor children tend to be concentrated in districts with above-average spending. A new school funding formula is grounded on a purported link between spending and student achievement. Since that association is tenuous statistically, challenges are likely to arise as this new scheme is fully implemented

Computations for Coxeter arrangements and Solomon's descent algebra II: Groups of rank five and six

In recent papers we have refined a conjecture of Lehrer and Solomon expressing the character of a finite Coxeter group $W$ acting on the $p$th graded component of its Orlik-Solomon algebra as a sum of characters induced from linear characters of centralizers of elements of $W$. Our refined conjecture relates the character above to a component of a decomposition of the regular character of $W$ related to Solomon's descent algebra of $W$. The refined conjecture has been proved for symmetric and dihedral groups, as well as finite Coxeter groups of rank three and four. In this paper, the second in a series of three dealing with groups of rank up to eight (and in particular, all exceptional Coxeter groups), we prove the conjecture for finite Coxeter groups of rank five and six, further developing the algorithmic tools described in the previous article. The techniques developed and implemented in this paper provide previously unknown decompositions of the regular and Orlik-Solomon characters of the groups considered.Comment: Final Version. 17 page

Crisis in Education: Roles and Solutions

After deciding to pursue a career in education and regularly reading, seeing, and hearing the laments of educators and the general public about education, this project developed. The idea that education is bogged down, lags in innovation, and is chaotic drove a qualitative study to uncover the true state of education, whether it is truly so awful, and whether it is still worthy of pursuit. A literature review laid a foundation for the study. Then, six education professionals were intereviewed, and their experiences and beliefs were synthesized. This researcher concludes that, yes, education has its issues; and, there are struggles that are worth enduring to build a brighter future

Genomic distribution of H3K9me2 and DNA methylation in a maize genome

DNA methylation and dimethylation of lysine 9 of histone H3 (H3K9me2) are two chromatin modifications that can be associated with gene expression or recombination rate. The maize genome provides a complex landscape of interspersed genes and transposons. The genome-wide distribution of DNA methylation and H3K9me2 were investigated in seedling tissue for the maize inbred B73 and compared to patterns of these modifications observed in Arabidopsis thaliana. Most maize transposons are highly enriched for DNA methylation in CG and CHG contexts and for H3K9me2. In contrast to findings in Arabidopsis, maize CHH levels in transposons are generally low but some sub-families of transposons are enriched for CHH methylation and these families exhibit low levels of H3K9me2. The profile of modifications over genes reveals that DNA methylation and H3K9me2 is quite low near the beginning and end of genes. Although elevated CG and CHG methylation are found within gene bodies, CHH and H3K9me2 remain low. Maize has much higher levels of CHG methylation within gene bodies than observed in Arabidopsis and this is partially attributable to the presence of transposons within introns for some maize genes. These transposons are associated with high levels of CHG methylation and H3K9me2 but do not appear to prevent transcriptional elongation. Although the general trend is for a strong depletion of H3K9me2 and CHG near the transcription start site there are some putative genes that have high levels of these chromatin modifications. This study provides a clear view of the relationship between DNA methylation and H3K9me2 in the maize genome and how the distribution of these modifications is shaped by the interplay of genes and transposons.The research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (IOS-1237931) to MWV and NMS. This work also used resources or cyberinfrastructure provided by iPlant Collaborative. The iPlant Collaborative is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DBI-0735191; www. iplantcollaborative.org). Start-up funds from the University of Georgia and a research grant from the National Science Foundation (IOS-1339194) to RJS supported aspects of this study

Preliminary Results from a Study of the Effect of Deer Browsing on Bearded and Unbearded Wheat Yield

Wheat is an important agronomic crop that is a common winter food source for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in agricultural landscapes. In 2007 and 2008, I investigated spatial and temporal browsing on 2 types of wheat (bearded and unbearded) in fields bordered on one side by a forest. I placed 960 4.6 m2 plots in the middle of 10 m distance classes (5m, 15m, 25m, 35m, 45m, 55m). In 2007, I systematically assigned 1 of 2 treatments (no protection, protected at planting), and in 2008, I added a third treatment, protected prior to heading. After head emergence, I conducted weekly browse surveys and collected biomass samples. I harvested a 1 m2 area in the middle of each plot to determine yield . We used a two-way ANOVA with the main effects of wheat type and protection to determine the impact on yield. The main effects did not interact to affect yield either year (P\u3e0.05). In 2007, bearded wheat yielded 523.7 kg/ha greater than unbearded wheat (P\u3c0.001), whereas the opposite was true in 2008 with unbearded yielding 155.3 kg/ha greater (P\u3c0.001). In 2007, deer browsing increased yield by 284.8 kg/ha (P\u3c0.015), conversely in 2008, fully protected wheat yielded 226.3 kg/ha greater than all other treatments (P\u3c0.008). Browsing increased in intensity as head development progressed with most browsing occurring on the unbearded wheat. Our results varied annually, which suggests that factors other than deer browsing may be more important to determining wheat yield. More research is needed to better elucidate the effect of deer browse on wheat yield

Fan Ties and Friendships: A Longitudinal Network Study of Division III Sports on Campus

The purpose of this longitudinal actor-based network study is to examine the evolution of sport fan ties and friendship ties on Division III campuses. Using two years of network data from a cohort of new students at a Division III institution, a SIENA model is developed to empirically test the co-evolution of fan ties and friendship ties. Grounded in student development, sport consumer behavior, and network theories, the overarching goal of this study is to explore the causal effect of fan ties on friendship ties among new students. To ascertain the value of Division III sports on campus, the authors explore the role of sports on campus in promoting friendships for new students based on the strong theoretical tradition from student development highlighting the salience of peer relationship in student success and retention. Accordingly, theoretical implications related to sport fan networks are considered within practical discussion of Division III sports and retention

Time-resolved Characterization of Ultrashort Pulse Propagation

The propagation of ultrashort femtosecond laser pulses in linear dielectric materials is determined in the time, space, and frequency domains by linear Maxwell optics through dispersion and diffraction. For intense pulses, pulse propagation is additionally modified by nonlinearities in the medium such as the optical Kerr effect, plasma generation, and self-phase modulation. In this work we report the results of several experiments on the propagation of ultrashort pulses. In the linear regime, we characterize the temporal evolution of an ultrashort pulse during propagation through a linear dielectric under anomalous dispersion. Under these conditions the pulse evolution departs from the group velocity and group delay dispersion approximations, which leads to the formation of optical precursors. We describe an experiment which observes the propagation of optical precursors in a bulk condensed-matter dielectric. We generate ultrashort laser pulses and propagate the pulses through a bulk dye with an absorption resonance turned to the center wavelength of the femotsecond pulse. The pulse is then characterized in the time domain before and after propagation. Through numerical simulation we verify that the behavior of the precursors in the temporal pulse profile corresponds with the classical model. Under very high intensity laser pulses, the nonlinearities induced by the propagation of the intense ultrashort pulse produce changes in the complex refractive index of the nonlinear material. We report the results of experiments involving time- resolved imaging of the propagation of ultrashort pulses in dielectric materials. We experimentally observe and characterize these effects through a weak-probe imaging effect which directly measures the nonlinearity in a time-resolved manner. In these experiments an intense femtosecond laser pulse is propagated in a nonlinear intensity regime while an unfocused low-intensity femtosecond pulse is used as to probe the nonlinear pulse. We use this technique to characterize femtosecond pulses in air and liquid, especially in the regime of optical filamentation. We subsequently calculate parameters such as the plasma density, the transverse extent, and the instantaneous refractive index within the femtosecond laser filament under conditions which are not accessible through most standard pulse measurement techniques

Prospectus, August 28, 2013

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