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Presenters at the State of the States Roundtable session at the 2014 National Education Finance Conference in Louisville were invited to submit their papers for publication. These papers address the following topics: (1) State issues affecting P-12 and/or higher education funding; (2) Funding priorities/trends for P-12 and/or higher education; (3) Changes to funding formula for P-12 and/or higher education; and (4) Impact on school district or higher education budgets. States represented in this section include Alabama (Lenford C. Sutton), Arizona (Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos and David Martinez), Colorado (Gabriel R. Serna and Spencer C. Weiler), Florida (Brittany Larkin, Jasmine Ulmer, and R. Craig Wood), Indiana (Marilyn A. Hirth and Edward Eiler), Kentucky (Tyrone Bynoe), Michigan (Brett A. Geier), Mississippi (Luke J. Stedrak), Nebraska (Barbara Y. LaCost), Nevada (Deborah A. Verstegen), New York (Osnat Zaken), North Carolina (Lisa G. Driscoll and Jim R. Watson), Ohio (Jacob T. Akin, Carlee Poston Escue, and Randall S. Vesely), Oklahoma (Stephen C. Ballard, Stephoni Case, and Jeffrey Maiden), South Carolina (Matthew R. Della Sala and Robert C. Knoeppel), Utah (Kim Campbell, Cade Charlton, John Maynes, and Richard West), Virginia (William Owings, Leslie S. Kaplan, and Richard G. Salmon), Wisconsin (Faith E. Crampton), and Washington, D.C. (Sarah Irvine Belson and Thomas Husted). (Individual state sections contain references.)

Educational approaches in structural engineering have focused on classical methods for solving problems with manual calculations through assignments, quizzes, and exams. The use of computational software to apply the learned knowledge has been ignored for decades. This paper describes an educational approach to tackle the lack of applicable practical exercises in the structural engineering class "CE 506-Prestressed Concrete" at a university in the western United States during the spring of 2017. The class was designed to provide students with the theoretical concepts of prestressed concrete and the ability to interpret applicable design codes. In their project, students continued to build this knowledge by designing a prestressed bridge superstructure according to a unique state design manual. Students prepared a literature review of their selected state in the U.S.A. and used commercial software to perform an analysis and design of their bridge. Additionally, students were asked to backcheck their design using theoretical methods through manual calculations. By the end of the class, students presented their projects in a head-to-head presentation format, to contrast the differences between their designs in a competitive style. This paper summarizes the class structure, the outcome of the design project, and recommendations for future applications of computer technology in structural engineering education.

'Marginal lands' are low productivity sites abandoned from agriculture for reasons such as low or high soil water content, challenging topography, or nutrient deficiency. To avoid competition with crop production, cellulosic bioenergy crops have been proposed for cultivation on marginal lands, however on these sites they may be more strongly affected by environmental stresses such as low soil water content. In this study we used rainout shelters to induce low soil moisture on marginal lands and determine the effect of soil water stress on switchgrass growth and the subsequent production of bioethanol. Five marginal land sites that span a latitudinal gradient in Michigan and Wisconsin were planted to switchgrass in 2013 and during the 2018–2021 growing seasons were exposed to reduced precipitation under rainout shelters in comparison to ambient precipitation. The effect of reduced precipitation was related to the environmental conditions at each site and biofuel production metrics (switchgrass biomass yields and composition and ethanol production). During the first year (2018), the rainout shelters were designed with 60% rain exclusion, which did not affect biomass yields compared to ambient conditions at any of the field sites, but decreased switchgrass fermentability at the Wisconsin Central–Hancock site. In subsequent years, the shelters were redesigned to fully exclude rainfall, which led to reduced biomass yields and inhibited fermentation for three sites. When switchgrass was grown in soils with large reductions in moisture and increases in temperature, the potential for biofuel production was significantly reduced, exposing some of the challenges associated with producing biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass grown under drought conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 2015 a large group of scholars, researchers, and practitioners interested in P-20 finance issues gathered in St. Louis, Missouri, for the National Education Finance Academy's annual conference, on February 25-27, 2015 to discuss, among multiple topics, the state of P-20 finance in all 50 states. There were 35 states represented in the round table session and representatives of 30 of those states submitted their manuscripts to the "Journal of Education Finance" for publication. This is the third year that JEF has published the State of the States manuscripts as a service to those interested in trends around P-20 finance and the 28 states represents the highest number of states included in the report to date. However, it is the intention to have all 50 states represented by 2016 and individuals interested in representing currently unrepresented states should contact Drs. Weiler and Hartman. Presenters at the 2015 National Education Finance Academy's State of the States Round table session were directed to address the following topics: (1) Funding priorities/trends for P-12 and/or higher education (2) Changes to the funding formula for P-12 and/or higher education; (3) Pressing issues affecting P-12 and/or higher education funding; (4) Exclusive to P-12: Diverting funds from public school districts; and (5) Exclusive to Higher Education: Trends in state funding for public institutions. The following information summarizes some of the more prevalent trends observed in the submissions. The following manuscripts are presented here listed alphabetically by state: (1) Alabama (Brenda Mendiola and Philip Westbrook); (2) Arizona (Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos and David Martinez); (3) Arkansas (Dongfang Liu and Chao Liu); (4) California (Henry Tran); (5) Florida (Megan Lane, Jolande Morgan, and R. Craig Wood); (6) Georgia (Brittany Larkin); (7) Hawaii (Christine Kiracofe); (8) Illinois (Kelly H. Summers and Christine Kiracofe); (9) Kansas (Thomas A. DeLuca); (10) Kentucky (Tyrone Bynoe); (11) Louisiana (David G. Buckman); (12) Maryland (Sarah Irvine Belson and Thomas Husted); (13) Michigan (Brett Geier and Dennis McCrumb ); (14) Minnesota (Nicola A. Alexander); (15) Montana (Lou L. Sabina); (16) Nebraska (Barbara Y. LaCost); (17) Nevada (Deborah A. Verstegen); (18) New Jersey (Luke J. Stedrak and Robert Kelchen); (19) New Mexico (Joshua M. Cohen); (20) New York (Osnat Zaken); (21) North Carolina (Lisa G. Driscoll and Jim R. Watson ); (22) Ohio (Carlee Escue Simon); (23) Pennsylvania (Tim Shrom and William Hartman); (24) South Carolina (Misty B. Soles and Robert C. Knoeppel); (25) Tennessee (Betty Cox); (26) Texas (Ken Helvey); (27) Virginia (William Owings, Leslie S. Kaplan, and Richard G. Salmon); (28) Wisconsin (Faith E. Crampton); and (29) Wyoming (Kelly H. Summers). References are provided with each individual paper.

This paper suggests that whole school re-culturing programmes can potentially assist in the creation of more inclusive value orientated schools. The relationship between school culture and successful inclusion has been demonstrated in the literature. Furthermore, the structure of whole school programmes in inculcating inclusive values and practices reflect evidenced based research for sustainability in professional learning and development. Research indicates that change is more sustained when teachers, with the support of school leaders, are given time to explore ideas and integrate them into their practice. This paper reviews whole school inclusive re-culturing programmes developed throughout the world that incorporate best evidence practice. It concludes with a recommendation that whole school reculturing frameworks can be an effective way to build sustainable inclusive change within our schools.

Lakes are a major geologic feature in humid regions, and multiple lake hydrologic types exist with varying physical and chemical characteristics, connections among lakes, and relationships to the landscape. The authors developed a model of water fluxes through major components of groundwater-dominated lake catchments in a region containing thousands of lakes, the Northern Highland Lake District (NHLD) of northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The model was calibrated with data from widely differing lakes using the same set of simple equations to represent the hydrologic type, water residence time, and amount and timing of stream and groundwater flows of representative lakes in today's climate. The authors investigated the sensitivity of the water balance of a set of three connected representative lakes and their catchments to systematic increases and decreases in the precipitation regime, and contrasted results using lake-specific morphometry to those for a lake having size and shape parameters typical of the region. Results indicate that a common set of equations can successfully represent major water balance characteristics of the three basic lake hydrologic types (hydraulically mounded, groundwater flowthrough, and drainage) in the NHLD. Sensitivity of modeled lakes varied by lake type, with drainage lakes more strongly buffered against substantial hydrologic changes in extreme climate scenarios. Catchment-scale water budgets differed substantially among lakes of different types, yet can be understood along a continuum of relative catchment size. These results suggest that a simple model of lake and catchment water balance can be extended to entire lake districts, where the detailed morphometry of most lakes is not well known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on various developments related to labor. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin will record the oral history of the United Packinghouse Workers of America with the help of an NEH grant. Under the direction of Society Archivist Jim Cavangah, some 200 hours of interviews will be taped with union members throughout the Midwest. The Society is also the official repository of the records of the UCPWA, which is now part of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University has opened several collections relating to the history of American radicalism since the publication of its catalog in 1974. The University of Louisville, Kentucky Archives has published a microfilm edition of the City of Louisville Municipal Reports. This complete set covering the years 1866-1916 includes information of interest to labor and urban historians and costs $640. The Sixth Conference on Workers and their Communities will be held May 9-11, 1986 at the University of Ottawa, Ontario and will focus on the theme Confronting the Crisis: Struggles in Work, Communities, and the Public Sector.

The article discusses the acetylene reduction in relaxation to levels of phosphate and fixed nitrogen in Green Bay. This paper reports data collected during the summer of 1971 in the southern part of Green Bay of Lake Michigan. This study undertook to characterize acetylene reduction and nutrient levels throughout the summer. Water samples were collected. Phytoplankton characteristically increase rapidly in the spring. A high soluble phosphate concentration in the water preceded all major increases in the population of heterocystous, nitrogen-fixing blue-green algae.

Increasing costs and decreasing numbers of university Extension faculty have made it difficult to provide quality turfgrass short course education. In response, faculty from nine institutions collaborated to develop the Great Lakes School of Turfgrass Science. This 12-week online course provides students with unique learning experiences through a combination of assigned readings, quizzes, lectures, and live instructor discussion. Student attendance increased and costs decreased relative to traditional in-person short courses. Additionally, student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. These results demonstrate that online courses such as this can provide an effective and flexible source of knowledge that meets the busy schedules of students and instructors.

Using real-world examples, ray diagrams, and a cognitive apprenticeship cycle, this paper focuses on developing students' conceptual (not mathematical) understanding of refraction. Refraction can be a difficult concept for students to comprehend if they do not have well-designed opportunities to practice explaining situations where reflection and refraction occur. The use of ray diagrams can be useful in (a) the teacher modelling a correct explanation to a situation where refraction occurs and (b) for students to create as they practice other examples. This paper includes eight examples of increasing complexity that use a cognitive apprenticeship cycle approach to scaffold student learning. The first examples (rock fish, floating penny) are shown and a solution is modeled using a ray diagram. Three more examples (bent pencil, dropping an item in water, sunrise/sunset) are presented for students to practice, with each becoming more sophisticated. Three assessment exercises are then provided (two dots, three coins, broken tube).

Debates over the efficacy of tenure are longstanding but tenure reform is now more prominent in the public eye given recent high-profile legislative battles in states like Ohio and Wisconsin. This focus on tenure also is a natural outgrowth of the large body of research showing that differences between individual teachers can have profound effects on student achievement. Some of the rhetoric in these debates centered on the systems' inability to fire ineffective tenured teachers. Some contend that the high costs associated with the teacher dismissal process are tantamount to a guarantee that teachers won't be fired for poor performance. Yet there are counterarguments that weakening tenure will lead to a lower quality teacher workforce. Similarly, others argue that the recent drop in individuals choosing to pursue a career in teaching is related to what's being called the war against teachers, with tenure reform representing one front in that war (Goldstein, 2014). Our opinion is that direct empirical evidence fails to support the claim that the current wave of reforms affect the teacher labor market or student achievement.

The cases analyzed in this essay exemplify both the influence of the sexual revolution and the conservative backlash against it. Topics that were once considered obscene were now seen as educational. Without this greater openness, none of these court cases would have been possible. In fact, people fighting against censorship and repression initiated all three cases: a teacher demanding academic freedom, a church asserting its right to instruct its youngest members without state interference, and students claiming the right of free expression in the school paper. That there were defendants in these cases also points to a stubborn opposition to new sexual freedoms. While the courts usually upheld free expression, they still granted state and local authorities wide latitude in setting the curriculum. School boards could ban sex education courses altogether if they liked. A sex column in the student paper and a sex course at the local church might represent sexual freedom, but they also existed because the public schools were not adequately addressing sexual matters.

The article discusses three court cases that took place in the U.S. during the 1970s concerning the role of government in determining sex education curriculum in public schools and whether local authorities could censor and/or regulate sex education. The article examines the cases Mercer v. Michigan, Unitarian Church West v. McConnell, and Bayer v. Kinzler which took place in Michigan, Wisconsin, and New York, respectively.

Purpose: Recruiting college students for research studies can be challenging. The purpose of this paper is to describe the lessons learned in the various recruitment strategies used for enrolling college students in a theory-based, tailored, and web-delivered health intervention at 13 US universities. Design/methodology/approach: The community-based participatory research (CBPR) model was used to develop a staged-tailored, web-based, randomized control trial, focusing on eating behavior, physical activity, and stress management. Participant feedback during baseline assessments was used to evaluate recruitment strategies. Findings: Findings from this feedback suggest that traditional recruitment strategies, such as newspaper ads and flyers, may not be the best approach for recruiting college students; instead, web-based efforts proved to be a better recruitment strategy. Research limitations/implications: This project included results from 13 US universities and thus may not be generalizable: more research is needed to determine successful recruitment methods for 18-24 years old college students. Originality/value: This paper lessens the gap regarding successful recruitment strategies for 18-24 years old college students.

Copyright of Fire Ecology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Loggers play critical roles in forest management and resource production, yet supply chain pressures can challenge their economic sustainability. We examine logger perspectives on efficiency, financial challenges, and potential solutions from two contrasting perspectives: 1) business strategy and 2) treadmill of production, a sociological critique of resource production that links economic and ecological sustainability. To provide in-depth perspectives based on lived experiences, we conducted interviews with professional loggers and other stakeholders, focusing on firms with mechanized cut-to-length systems in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Our qualitative analysis revealed the intersection of factors that help explain financial stress. Loggers work on contract or buy stumpage from landowners and then sell to mills. Perceived challenges included competition in stumpage markets, relationships to mills that disadvantaged small firms, debt from mechanization, and site access through variable environmental conditions. Loggers worked to increase efficiency and production volume, though some loggers expressed the limits of increasing efficiency and production for improving profitability. Proposed solutions to reduce financial stress included long-term mill contracts, access to loans, and improved financial literacy. Nonetheless, individual firm efficiency will not address structural challenges such as loggers' role in the supply chain between landowners and mills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article details what one high school senior from each of the five Main Street public library communities (Sauk Centre, Minnesota; Osage, Iowa; Rhinelander, Wisconsin; Morris, Illinois; and Lexington, Michigan) would find in collections in 1945 related to particular geographies. The global milieu of the New York World's Fair 1939--40 frames the historical events that stimulated each of the student's topics. To determine what each public library's collection held about the world, the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) section of geography and travel (classification number 910) was used. Cross-referencing each library's accession records for books added prior to 1945 against books recommended for all public libraries in the geography and travel (910) sections of standard professional guides like the ALA catalogs, the H. W. Wilson Company's Standard Catalog for Public Libraries, and other ALA publications like the Guide to Reference Books shows what students using these five libraries would have found. The recommended titles from the professional guides and those accessioned in the libraries indicate a distinct bias toward books concerning North America and Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the iron mining boom of the Gogebic Range along the Wisconsin-Michigan border in 1886 and its popular depiction. Details are given outlining how the region experienced a tremendous economic growth in the late 19th-century which let to large scale changes in both states. The author describes how the area was positively presented and marketed to prospective miners by speculators and by the mass media. Further discussion is given outlining how those portrayals shaped the economic development of the area, developing a popular imaginative conception of the region and its potential and encouraging migration. Examination is also given regarding the political geography of the region in response to the boom.

Relative to other fields, social work has been slow to adopt geographic information systems (GIS) as a tool for research and practice. This paper argues that GIS can benefit social work by: (1) continuing and strengthening the social survey tradition; (2) providing a framework for understanding human behavior; (3) identifying community needs and assets; (4) improving the delivery of social services; and (5) empowering communities and traditionally disenfranchised groups. Examples from a social work course on GIS and published social work research help illustrate these points. The paper concludes by considering the ways that social work can contribute to the development of GIS. (Contains 3 figures.)

We identify the factors correlated with the use of economic development incentives after the Great Recession of 2007–2009 to determine the presence of entrepreneurial development regimes. We utilize a unique dataset that combines information on incentives (tax increment financing districts and selected tax abatements and business assistance) with economic, fiscal, and political characteristics for all municipalities in the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. These three states bordering Lake Michigan share similar histories and settings, thus targeting the research focus on the key attributes of interest. Our empirical results demonstrate substantial dissimilarity between incentive types and across states, most likely due to policy structures and reforms at the state level that encourage different municipal development regimes. Whereas municipalities, particularly larger ones, continue to use tax abatements, exemptions, and credits to pursue employment growth, the municipalities gravitating toward tax increment financing tend to be suburbs with low unemployment rates and relatively highly educated residents, and not places with greater employment density or manufacturing employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interseeding alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) into silage corn (Zea mays L.) can improve forage yield, farm profitability, and soil conservation, but unreliable alfalfa establishment hampers on‐farm adoption. This study evaluated seedling survival and growth of 36 alfalfa varieties differing in reported plant traits when interseeded at two Wisconsin sites in 2015 and at single sites in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania in 2016. Subplots of alfalfa varieties were sprayed with prohexadione‐calcium (PHD) at 0 or 0.42 kg acid equivalent (a.e.) ha–1 to assess changes in seedling survival mediated by this growth retardant. After corn harvest in 2015, average stand density of varieties in Wisconsin ranged from 15 to 94 plants m–2 without PHD and from 52 to 199 plants m–2 with PHD. Stand density largely determined subsequent first‐cut alfalfa dry matter yield, which ranged from 1.1 to 6.3 Mg ha–1. After corn harvest in 2016, stand density of varieties averaged across PHD treatments ranged from 113 to 248 plants m–2 in Michigan and Pennsylvania, compared with only 0.5 to 26 plants m–2 in Wisconsin; PHD treatment improved stand density only in Wisconsin but could not ensure adequate establishment under wet conditions that favored vigorous corn growth and foliar disease on alfalfa. Overall, establishment was poorly related to measured or reported alfalfa traits, but '55H94' and hybrids were consistently among the best performing cultivars. Further work is needed to understand seedling survival mechanisms and to develop improved germplasm and production practices to ensure reliable establishment of interseeded alfalfa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-temperature pavement performance is important in freezing areas in northern climates. While agencies and contractors pursue efforts to add recycled asphalt materials (RAMs) into the mix design to reduce costs, the aged, stiffer material being blended in can dramatically alter the performance. A correlation between the Glover–Rowe parameter (G–R) and delta Tc (ΔTc) was developed in 2011 by Anderson et al. to relate the onset of nonload-related and significant cracking values. The relationship provides a correlation between nonload-related and low-temperature cracking properties of the binder. To further evaluate this relationship, four cold-region virgin binders from Wisconsin and Michigan were blended with varying percentages of RAM mixtures. Blends were then laboratory aged tested to obtain stiffness, m-value, complex shear modulus, and phase angle from BBR and DSR testing, allowing for the calculation of ΔTc and the G–R parameters. Investigation of their correlation for each binder source and the change in ΔTc was evaluated for each blend. Updated correlations and trends show that correlations are source dependent, suggesting that the ΔTc specification maxima should be re-evaluated for their inclusion of RAP sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, sand dunes are widespread on the sandy floor of former Glacial Lake Algonquin, and many of the nearby uplands also have thin mantles of loess. Previous work concluded that these dunes formed during the early Holocene, long after the lake had drained. Where these dunes have migrated against bedrock uplands, many have accreted into larger dune complexes. South and east of these complexes, uplands are mantled with well-sorted sediment, comparatively rich in finer sands and much like the thin, locally sourced loess deposits in Wisconsin and Michigan. Near the dunes, this loess is typically 50–75 cm thick, and rich in very fine sands; presumably much of this sand was deposited as short-range "blow-over" while the dunes were forming. The loess thins to ≈45 cm and becomes siltier on sites farther downwind, to the southeast. Because the dune complexes contain almost no silt, the silt in the loess was likely generated by deflation of saltating sands on the lake plain, transported in suspension, and deposited generally uniformly across the forested uplands, as indicated by spatial trends in silt contents. Periodic Holocene drought may have thinned the forest and helped to intermittently facilitate this type of eolian activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes plans by the Council of Great Lakes Governors, which includes the states of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio, to develop an information highway linking state governments, computer and research networks, telecommunications providers, and universities. Highlights include the Internet, electronic mail, and information servers. (LRW)

This paper describes and compares the profiles of the top accounting programs in the United States as identified by "U.S. News and World Report" in 2004 with the profiles of the top accounting programs in the United States as identified by the "Accounting Degree Review" in 2014. The "Accounting Degree Review"'s list is a weighted average based on the rankings in "U.S. News and World Report," "Bloomberg Business Week," and "Public Accounting Report." A thorough examination of each schools web site has been conducted to gather information concerning the requirements for an undergraduate degree in accounting from two points in time over a ten year span (2004 and 2014). Course descriptions rather than simply course titles have been evaluated for each accounting course included in the business core and requirements of the accounting major. The emphasis of the study is, not only to develop a profile of top programs but also, to determine changes within accounting programs during the period from 2004 to 2014. [Note: The citation shown on this PDF (v9 n2 Fall 2015) is incorrect. The correct citation is v13 n1 Spr 2017.]

Context: Functional landscape connectivity is vital for the conservation of wildlife species. Landscape connectivity models often overlook factors such as mortality and asymmetry in landscape resistance that can have a significant impact on functional connectivity. Individual-based models (IBMs) can be used to explore such factors through the implementation of mechanistic dispersal behavior. Furthermore, population-level patterns of animal dispersal and landscape connectivity resulting from the simulation of alternative landscapes or scenarios of animal behavior can be compared. Objectives: Use an IBM to evaluate the effects of disperser mortality, asymmetrical dispersal due to landscape structure, and land-use change on the functional landscape connectivity between two populations of reintroduced American martens Martes americana. Methods: We applied a previously calibrated IBM of marten dispersal to simulate movement between two reintroduced populations in Wisconsin and Michigan, USA. We used machine learning analyses to determine how each factor affected dispersal between populations (connectivity) across five consecutive generations. Results: Functional landscape connectivity between populations was not always correlated with more traditional dispersal metrics, such as dispersal distance. Mortality had the greatest impact on functional connectivity. Land-use change and landscape configuration affected connectivity mostly when mortality was not incorporated into simulations. These experimental factors had a stronger effect on long-distance dispersal between populations than on more local dispersal. Conclusions: Conservation planning for landscape connectivity may benefit from accounting for mortality risks within matrix habitat. The development of individual-based models that incorporate landscape heterogeneity and complex animal behaviors when investigating long-distance dispersal can provide unique and specific insights into both landscape connectivity and wildlife conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]