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The purpose of this paper is to examine the three overlapping movements during the nineteenth century that sought to provide public support for religious education. The first movement sought to fund denominational schools directly from public revenues. These publicly supported denominational schools received funds from the state in proportion to the number of students they enrolled. The second movement tried to establish common non-denominational religious schools. These non-denominational religious public schools were supported by the Protestant majority, though opposed by Catholics and Lutherans. In the third movement, the religious public schools, attempted to create schools that were non-denominational during the class hours but were denominational outside class hours. The first three sections of this article investigate these movements separately. The final section addresses the relevance of the three movements for the current discussion in the United States on public support for children in religiously affiliated schools.

Background and purpose: Polypharmacy is becoming increasingly common owing to the ageing population, which can pose problems for patients and society. We investigated the trends in polypharmacy and underlying drug groups among adults in the Netherlands from 1999 to 2014 stratified by age, and compared these with findings from the United States (US). Methods: We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using the Dutch IADB.nl prescription database. All patients aged 20 years and older in the period 1999 to 2014 were included. Polypharmacy was defined as the dispensing of five or more chronic drugs at the pharmacological subgroup level. Chi-square tests were applied to calculate the p-value for trends. Changes in prevalences were compared between the Netherlands and the US. Results: The prevalence of polypharmacy increased from 3.1% to 8.0% (p-value for trend <0.001) over 15 years, and increased in all age groups. The highest rates were observed in patients aged ≥65 years, but the relative increase over time was higher in the younger age groups. Overall, large increases were observed for angiotensin-II inhibitors, statins and proton-pump inhibitors. The relative increase in polypharmacy was larger in the Netherlands than in the US (ratio of polypharmacy prevalence 2.4 versus 1.8). The Netherlands showed larger relative increases for angiotensin-II inhibitors, statins, proton-pump inhibitors, biguanides and smaller relative increases for antidepressants, benzodiazepines and insulins. Conclusions: Polypharmacy more than doubled from 1999 to 2014, and this increase was not limited to the elderly. The relative increase was larger in the Netherlands compared to the US, which was partly due to larger increases in several guideline-recommended preventive drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During recent years, a renovated interest in the pre-treatment of biomass through torrefaction has led to several proposals on industrial-scale application of the technology. Torrefaction holds promising characteristics for obtaining a high-energy yield biomass for further processing, including densified biofuels such as pellets and briquettes, at low overall costs, low energy input, and high capacity and availability for the near future, having the capability of displacing coal in power facilities. Despite many efforts in developing the technology at an industrial scale, very few manufacturers and companies are offering torrefied machinery and lignocellulosic torrefied biomass. Furthermore, information about the actual profitability of the business, sensitivity, and costs of torrefied biomass are very scarce and are limited to very focused studies in some areas of the production, but not in the overall supply chain, and manufacturing processes. This study aimed to develop and validate a technical and economic model for the production of lignocellulosic torrefied biomass for its utilization in the solid biofuels industry, with a focus on production and delivered costs for U.S. potential manufacturers. This model also includes analysis of important variables affecting production, such as biomass delivered costs, capital expenditure (CAPEX), and technology availability. Results indicate that the production of torrefied lignocellulosic biomass can be profitable for U.S. manufacturers, subject to a high sensitivity on biomass cost, CAPEX, and technology affordability for large-scale production. Other sensitive facts include carbon credits scenarios, which may influence profitability based on analyses of net present value and internal rate of return for the manufacturing facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing interest in replacing coal with woody biomass in co-firing plants for electrical power. A variety of pre-treatments can be used to make biomass more suitable for co-firing. This research presents a model that evaluates the delivered costs of various pre-treated biomass sources, electricity production costs, and constraints, and calculates a least cost mix. Results of the scenario presented indicate that wood chips are the most economical co-firing option for delivering biomass to direct-fired boilers. Apart from potential feeding and processing issues, the wood-chips options of forest residues present the lowest cost of electricity production for small-scale co-firing applications. From the options that will ensure minimum processing issues in the co-firing cycle, wood pellets from southern yellow pine represent the most economical choice. Based on coal displacement from the facility, torrefied wood pellets from southern yellow pine is a preferred option as compared to other choices evaluated. An alternative to torrefied wood pellets from southern yellow pine is dark torrefied Eucalyptus benthamii, providing similar electricity production costs while reducing coal utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools function primarily on two basic principles. The first focuses on the education of students in cognitive skills, and the second, on the education of students in the social skills. Both are necessary to function successfully within society, the workforce, and the political framework of the country (Fullan, 1993). Although these principles are met through the overt, the hidden, and the null curricula (Eisner, 1994), public and political outcry for accountability and the implementation of No Child Left Behind, requiring all teachers to be "highly qualified," have led colleges of education to place more emphasis on knowledge of content than on disposition toward teaching. To focus more overt attention on dispositions, an instrument of measure was developed and implemented over a 4-year period at a private western New York university. The findings yielded a high reliability score for the data (Cronbach's alpha = .987) and strong content validity. Although we hypothesized that the 21 items would factor evenly among three independent components, a maximum-likelihood factor analysis showed that all items were highly related and yielded a single factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Manufacturing and trade of wood pellets in the United States (US) has seen an exponential growth in the last few years, triggered by its potential utilization in applications typically dominated by fossil fuels, such as heat, power, and combined cycle generation. This combination holds the promise of delivering a high density, high heat value fuel, making it a better substitute for coal and other fossil fuels. This combined process exists only at pilot-plant levels. Scale-up of the technology and feasibility of such projects remain largely unexplored. This research developed a techno-economic model for the production of torrefied wood pellets, considering critical production parameters, and evaluating sensitivity to changes in CAPEX (Capital Expenditure), biomass delivered costs, labor, and energy consumption of a facility, evaluated through a case-study. Results indicated that biomass delivered costs and depreciation are the most significant factors influencing production with CAPEX being the most sensitive variable due to high investments in torrefaction reactors. The selection of different torrefaction technologies, and adequate binders, may represent a major improvement in the feasibility of a project by reducing capital costs drastically. Back-calculated price for torrefied wood pellets is $261/metric ton (100,000 metric tons/year facility), and delivered price may reach $282/metric ton, a similar cost compared to regular pellets. Preliminary analysis of carbon credits as additional income may considerably increase the likeability of the business, and further enhance profitability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]