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California Association of School Psychologists (CASP) adopted a Position Paper in March, 2014 intended to support school psychologists in California in electing to use a process known as Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW) as one of three methods specified in IDEA 2014 and California Code of Regulations, Title 5, to identify students being assessed for Specific Learning Disability (SLD). The CASP Position Paper recommends use of a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) for assisting students who are experiencing learning difficulties. Suggested methods include a comprehensive evaluation using data from multiple sources such as response to instruction and intervention, direct observations across time and settings, record reviews, interviews, and direct assessment to identify the student's strengths and weaknesses in cognitive and academic skill areas. Critical elements of the PSW model are described.

Encouraged in large part by the work of Schon (1983), teacher education programs have spent the last two decades providing preservice teachers with experiences designed to help them examine their beliefs and develop reflective habits (Roskos et al., 2001; Tsangaridou & Siedentop, 1995; Zeichner & Liston, 1987). The present study investigated participants' reflective practices throughout their teacher education program, from coursework through student teaching. An interview and eight post-observation conferences were conducted with each participant during student teaching, and the results derived from constant comparative analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) present intriguing patterns in terms of factors facilitating participants' reflection. Though the results of the present study provide interesting insights into participants' reflection, they also raise intriguing questions. Preservice teachers frequently experience a disconnect between the values espoused by their education program and practices taught regarding reflection (O'Donoghue & Brooker, 1996). Therefore, it seems important to ask, "As most teacher education programs address reflection in their mission, how do they ensure that all educators in their program (e.g., professors, supervisors, and cooperating teachers) have a consistent and well-articulated understanding of reflection and how to foster it?" It may also be intriguing to investigate traits of cooperating teachers that actively and regularly encourage reflective practices and whether this population shares any common traits.

This brief article examines the community services delivered to youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a Southern Californian city as a way to better understand ASD service provision and service attitudes. Specific goals of the study were to identify the services being delivered within the area, and how the use, perceived evidence, and value attached to these services mapped onto recent systematic ASD service reviews. Forty-six providers completed the ASD Strategies and Interventions Survey (ASD-SIS), which consisted of 21 treatment strategies and 22 interventions packages commonly used with children with ASD. Participants: (1) indicated each treatment strategy and intervention package they use, and (2) rated the perceived evidence and value of each treatment strategy and intervention package they endorsed using. Results demonstrated that a variety of treatment strategies and intervention packages, both with and without an established evidence base, were reportedly being delivered to youth with ASD through community-based agencies. Additionally, a large number of providers reported not knowing the evidence of many treatment strategies and intervention packages. Finally, although no relationship was found between evidence base and use, perceived evidence, and value for treatment strategies, providers reported significantly higher use, perceived evidence, and value for established intervention packages. Results demonstrate the need to more effectively disseminate strategies that can support providers in selecting services to deliver to youth with ASD, and underscore the need to better understand the community service landscape on a larger scale.

The aticle reports on Goldilocks methods of Stacks of Ungraded students Papers. Topics discussed include showing actively reading and listening to their ideas by summarizing what they were attempting to accomplish in their paper; identify the higher-order issue in their work; and provide a specific solution for the localized problem.

The purpose of this study was to test the instructional value of adding paper-based metacognitive prompting features to a gamelike environment for learning about electrical circuits, called the Circuit Game. In Experiment 1, students who were prompted during Levels 1 through 9 to direct their attention to the most relevant features of the game and were provided with a list of its underlying prin test ciples to relate to their game actions performed better on an embedded transfer(i.e., Level 10) than those not provided with the intervention (d = 0.77). In Experiment 2, the principles were not explicitly provided; instead, students were asked to fill in the correct features of each principle on a sheet while playing Levels 1 through 9 of the game. Results indicated that this method of prompting improved transfer performance only for learners who could correctly fill in the list of the game's principles (d = 0.53). Overall, paper-based aids for directing students' attention toward the most relevant features of a game and asking them to apply provided principles to solve game-based problems result in a deeper understanding of the game's academic content. (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.)

Archives are not straightforward repositories of history. Instead, they authorize which stories are remembered. In this article we apply the insights of cultural geographers and other influential scholars of archives to analyze the political dimensions of archiving activist histories. A small group of antiprison activists produced a personal archive during the 1990s and 2000s documenting brutality behind bars and efforts to dismantle solitary confinement in California prisons. After being deemed too dangerous to be opened to the public by university archivists, and without a permanent home, the papers were at risk of being lost to history. By presenting our work building this archive, we analyze the limitations of institutional libraries and the vital role played by individuals and independent institutions willing to preserve dangerous papers, and we show how preserving histories of state violence and opposition can become a deeply personal and risky endeavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My Turn is software used to manage several Covid-19 mass vaccination campaigns in California. The objective of this article is to describe the use of My Turn at two points of dispensing in California and comment on process improvements to reduce manual tasks of six identified processes of vaccination–registration, scheduling, administration, documentation, follow-up, and digital vaccine record–and paper. We reviewed publicly available documents of My Turn and patients vaccinated at George R. Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco and Oakland Coliseum Community Vaccination Clinic. For publicly available documents of My Turn, we examined videos of My Turn on YouTube, and documentation from EZIZ, the website for the California Vaccines for Children Program. For patients, we examined publicly available vaccination record cards on Instagram and Google. At the George R. Moscone Convention Center, 329,608 vaccines doses were given. At the Oakland Coliseum Community Vaccination Clinic, more than 500,000 vaccine doses were administered. The use of My Turn can be used to reduce manual tasks and paper for mass vaccinating patients against Covid-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ignition of waste paper sludge at elevated temperatures to produce electricity in power generation plants utilizing fluidized bed combustion generates paper sludge ash. Due to the high concentration of lime and gelignite in paper sludge ash, it is expected that it will play a vital role as a cementitious material. This paper investigates the use of paper sludge ash to improve the mechanical properties of the granular materials, which are suitable to subbase course for road and building constructions. Also, a comparison study with the use of Portland cement as an additive to granular materials has been covered. The mechanical properties were evaluated by conducting the California bearing ratio test for the two adopted methods. Moreover, the compressive strength of the samples using paper sludge ash and cement are investigated. In accordance to the California bearing ratio test, 4% paper sludge ash was indicated as the optimum ash content at which the California bearing ratio value increased by 173% and 111% in comparison with untreated material and 6% cement, respectively. On the other hand, and by means of the compressive strength, the granular materials with 4% paper sludge ash has compressive strength higher than those with 6% cement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the field of Infant and Family Centered Developmental Care has advanced an integrated into intensive care policies and procedures. Topics include research has emerged to support a variety of practices to modify the caregiving environments for babies and families in intensive care; and Using evidence-based continuous quality improvement tools and implementation science helped participants outline how standards could be implemented in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Much recent discussion has focused on the pros and cons of cloud computing. Some institutions are attracted to cloud computing benefits such as rapid deployment, flexible scalability, and low initial start-up cost, while others are concerned about cloud computing risks such as those related to data location, level of service, and security infrastructure. For institutions that have done due diligence and determined that the benefits of cloud computing outweigh the risks, this article serves as a resource to help mitigate those risks through the contract terms with a cloud services provider. It is intended to highlight some best practices and complement, not obviate, an institution's existing legal, contractual, or purchasing policies. (Contains 12 endnotes.)

Chemists continue to work at the forefront of materials science research. Recent advances include application of bioengineering to produce plastics from renewable biomass instead of petroleum, generation of paper-based batteries, and development of phototriggerable microcapsules for chemical delivery. In this article, the author provides summaries of recent research advances in paper batteries, phototriggered microcapsules, and oil-free plastic production. (Contains 4 figures.)

The article focuses on the use of airflow drying technique in the process of paper conservation. It states that the technique was suggested by R. Futernick in paper conservation in 1988 and was first introduced at the Western Regional Paper Conservation Laboratory in San Francisco, California. It discusses the physical basics of the drying process in paper conservation such as drying stack which was set up from corrugated board.

The migration literature contends that, unlike other immigrants, refugees resettled in the US benefit from a federal program of integration. These claims do not consider the barriers that may complicate the implementation of resettlement policy. Based on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork at a refugee resettlement agency in California, I argue that the organizational structure of the US Resettlement Program shapes how caseworkers provide resettlement services on a daily basis. The financial insecurity of Resettlement Agencies coupled with high stakes government oversight creates an organizational culture of vulnerability where caseworkers rely on discretion as they put resettlement policy into practice. Caseworkers develop coping mechanisms to get by as they simultaneously attend to the demands of their funders and their refugee clients. Given these structural constraints and limited resources, caseworkers instrumentalize paperwork as a discretionary tool. When files and documents are privileged over the quality and extent of resettlement services, caseworkers creatively utilize paperwork to separate policy from practice in order to protect themselves and appease their refugee clients. This policy of integration instead becomes a practice of paper integration , which problematizes prior theories and assumptions about US refugee resettlement. This practice of paper integration ultimately affects the services that arriving refugees receive and the degree to which they benefit from this ostensible program of integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  In temperate climates, female paper wasps typically initiate new colonies in the spring. Several nest-founding tactics have been documented in Polistes species, including solitary nest initiation, joining a cooperative association, usurping an existing nest, or adopting an abandoned nest. Occasionally, exceptionally large groups of females have also been found reusing nests from the previous season. Here we report this phenomenon in introduced populations of the Eurasian species Polistes dominulus. We describe in detail the demographic and genetic characteristics of one such spring colony from Los Angeles, California, USA, which was collected with 84 associated adults and all stages of developing brood in its 613 cells. Genetic and morphological data indicate the presence of multiple reproductively active females of varying relatedness, as well as many nonbreeding females, including probable early-produced offspring. Despite some evidence of chaotic social conditions, the colony appeared to have been highly productive. Additional observations of similar colonies are needed to determine how control is maintained within such a large breeding aggregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work was to fill the gap in California pest management by evaluating coverage and spatial uniformity of spray rig designs used in California strawberry production. Coverage can be improved up to 30% if the important design parameters are identified, which would reduce pests. Field evaluations were conducted in beds with 4 canopy lines in Santa Maria, CA on 162 cm beds and in Oxnard, CA on 172 cm beds as well as in beds with 2 canopy lines in Watsonville, CA on 122 cm beds and 132 cm beds. Water-sensitive paper cards placed adaxial and abaxial, both horizontally and vertically on plant canopies located near the middle and edge of the bed were used as the evaluation criteria. Data were analyzed by regression. Results from spray evaluations (n = 21) included recording the nozzle used, manifold height, number of nozzles per bed, volume sprayed, nozzle pressure, and tractor speed, as well as determining the percent coverage from 1,568 water-sensitive spray cards. Increasing nozzle pressure can potentially increase coverage by 9.18%. Positioning the nozzle closer to the canopy level can also significantly increase coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a research paper about quantifying transit-oriented development's ability to change travel behavior, which won the Innovative Intermodal Solutions for Urban Transportation Paper Award. The research paper presents a modern approach for determining transit ridership and vehicle trips for two hypothetical transit-oriented developments (TODs) in Sacramento, California.

The article highlights the Panama-Pacific International Exposition which was held in San Francisco, California in 1915. The record-breaking attendance of more than 18 million visitors made for a revenue-generating enterprise that accelerated the recovery of San Francisco from fire and earthquake of 1906. There were three lantern slides from a collection of eighty-nine slides taken during the exposition. The images showed artists at work and crowds viewing the "Nations of the East." The decorative effects of the lighting scheme at the exposition were wonderful that a number of postcards were made showing the view of the whole fairground.

In October, 2004, the University of California Libraries entered into a two-year contract with JSTOR (Journal Storage) to establish from its journal runs across all UC campuses a paper repository of approximately fourteen million pages (350+ titles). This "dim archive"- accessible to only UC and JSTOR-would benefit JSTOR by making available a reliable and complete print back file, and UC through cost and space savings from no longer having to maintain several copies of low-use volumes. Since January, 2005, the task of establishing system wide support and collaboration, planning and realizing the actual operation itself, and developing strict but realistic guidelines for finding the best UC copy and then validating it (page by page) has been enormous. This article traces the progress of the project thus far, now approximately three-quarters complete, from the original motivations of UCL (University of California Libraries) and JSTOR, to the preparations by the facility housing the repository (the Southern Regional Library Facility), to the planning and re-planning of the project designer/manager. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an excerpt of a master's thesis paper. It is titled working because when this paper is submitted to the Pepperdine Policy Review Journal, the author will still be making edits and changes to the content, recommendations, and organization of her research. This purpose of this excerpt submission is to raise awareness about the inaction of the state of California to prevent domestic violence for middle school and high school students through prevention education, substantiated by the author's case studies analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Context: Continuous improvement and networked improvement science have emerged as prominent approaches to improving schools. Although continuous improvement approaches have generated promising results in education, how these efforts come to be enacted remains a crucial question that can generate insight into how these approaches can be improved. Purpose and Objective: Our study is focused on understanding how improvement is performed by focusing on the process of generating a shared aim statement in a teacher-preparation improvement network. We seek to understand how practitioners within a network (a) engage a central tension (between language acquisition and multilingualism), (b) negotiate this tension, and (c) reach a settlement that results in a shared aim. Setting: This study takes place in a teacher-preparation improvement network as part of the California Teacher Education Research and Improvement Network (CTERIN). The focus of the network centered on improving the preparation of candidates to build on multilingual students' strengths. Participants: The improvement network that is the focus of our research consists of 49 teacher educators across eight teacher preparation programs as well as three facilitators who were part of CTERIN, including the two authors of this study. Research Design: Our analysis examines the interactions among teacher educators and improvement facilitators to unveil the practices that they engaged in to produce a shared aim. Data for this study include audio and video recordings of three 90-minute videoconference meetings, audio-video of a two-day in-person convening, and improvement artifacts such as fishbone and driver diagrams. Findings: Our study highlights the range of practices that practitioners engaged in and how those evolved as they negotiated and settled a tension between language acquisition and multilingualism. As the process of generating an aim unfolded, teacher educators engaged in the practices of aspirationalizing, dualizing, recentering, rerouting, clarifying, tuning, and converting. Conclusions and Recommendations: We argue that these practices make visible that the process of generating an aim statement is a complex and complicated process that requires negotiation and a recognition that some perspectives are foregrounded and others are backgrounded. Understanding this process has implications for how improvement facilitators engage practitioners in the process of doing improvement and generates theory of improvement implementation by highlighting how disparate teams, individuals, and organizations reaching sharedness requires negotiating, foregrounding, and backgrounding.

This paper focuses on the sacred text-production work of a Nyingma Buddhist group based in Berkeley, California. It unpacks their selective engagement with the tools afforded to them by digitisation and new media. Digitisation projects – appearing in growing numbers – offer a powerful resource for the re-assembly of Tibetan Buddhist textual collections scattered in the political upheaval of recent decades. Yet the meeting place between the digital and the sacred is sometimes contested in this context where sacred text is an embodiment of the Buddha's speech. This paper argues that the choice to print ink-and-paper texts is more than a simple rehearsal of tradition and in fact demands alternative forms of engagement with the potential offered by media tools. It explores how the moral invectives contained within sacred Tibetan texts become reshaped through the prisms of contemporary media and the American sponsorship landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Applications in Plant Sciences is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

The archetype of the self underlies the ego-complex at its root and source in the unconscious. None of these assigns to the self the role that I feel to be so essential in the syndrome. SP 50-52 sp In regard to the method of study of these processes of the archaic, unconscious psyche in psychosis, I find myself baffled as to how to set up anything like a scientific approach to the material. In this hypothesis the model is easy to visualize but difficult to understand in terms of experience; the self is seen in this case as the center of the total psychic organism, and the ego is subsumed within this totality as the center of the field of consciousness only, that is, of contents accessible to consciousness; between the two are the autonomous complexes, which are groupings of contents not accessible to ego-consciousness (Figure 1). Reconstitutive process in the psychopathology of the self1: The following paper by J.W. Perry is published with permission from the Annals of the New York Academy of the Sciences where it was first published in January 1962. The imagery I refer to is a whole class of symbolic representations of centrality and organization, of order and highest authority; I hope to demonstrate that in these we see representations of the self and processes that transform or reorganize the self in the unconscious psyche. [Extracted from the article]

As improving equity becomes prioritized in higher education, Offices of Institutional Research (OIRs) find themselves in a central position to identify and address educational inequities faced by racially minoritized students. However, their potential to serve as a catalyst for organizational change has yet to be fulfilled. In this study, we present a critical discourse analysis of mission statements to understand how these OIRs describe their function and purpose in the California Community Colleges system. Results are based on 108 reviewed statements. These results reveal a limited discourse around race and equity. None of the statements in our sample included the word race or any words stemming from it such as racism or racial disparity. The majority (86%) of statements omitted equity from their purpose, failing to describe how OIRs can serve to improve equitable outcomes in community college. Our work prompts the field to reimagine their role within the community college they serve by becoming race-conscious and equity-minded in the ways they articulate their role and function as major hubs of institutional data.

Earthquake nowcasting has been proposed as a means of tracking the change in large earthquake potential in a seismically active area. The method was developed using observable seismic data, in which probabilities of future large earthquakes can be computed using Receiver Operating Characteristic methods. Furthermore, analysis of the Shannon information content of the earthquake catalogs has been used to show that there is information contained in the catalogs, and that it can vary in time. So an important question remains, where does the information originate? In this paper, we examine this question using stochastic simulations of earthquake catalogs. Our catalog simulations are computed using an Earthquake Rescaled Aftershock Seismicity ("ERAS") stochastic model. This model is similar in many ways to other stochastic seismicity simulations, but has the advantage that the model has only 2 free parameters to be set, one for the aftershock (Omori‐Utsu) time decay, and one for the aftershock spatial migration away from the epicenter. Generating a simulation catalog and fitting the two parameters to the observed catalog such as California takes only a few minutes of wall clock time. While clustering can arise from random, Poisson statistics, we show that significant information in the simulation catalogs arises from the "non‐Poisson" power‐law aftershock clustering, implying that the practice of de‐clustering observed catalogs may remove information that would otherwise be useful in forecasting and nowcasting. We also show that the nowcasting method provides similar results with the ERAS model as it does with observed seismicity. Plain Language Summary: Earthquake nowcasting was proposed as a means of tracking the change in the potential for large earthquakes in a seismically active area, using the record of small earthquakes. The method was developed using observed seismic data, in which probabilities of future large earthquakes can be computed using machine learning methods that were originally developed with the advent of radar in the 1940s. These methods are now being used in the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence models in a variety of applications. In recent times, methods to simulate earthquakes using the observed statistical laws of earthquake seismicity have been developed. One of the advantages of these stochastic models is that it can be used to analyze the various assumptions that are inherent in the analysis of seismic catalogs of earthquakes. In this paper, we analyze the importance of the space‐time clustering that is often observed in earthquake seismicity. We find that the clustering is the origin of information that makes the earthquake nowcasting methods possible. We also find that a common practice of "aftershock de‐clustering", often used in the analysis of these catalogs, removes information about future large earthquakes. Key Points: Earthquake nowcasting tracks the change in the potential for large earthquakes, using information contained in seismic catalogsWe analyze the information contained in the space‐time clustering that is observed in earthquake seismicityWe find that "aftershock de‐clustering" of catalogs removes information about future large earthquakes that the nowcasting method uses [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restoration ecology is a deepening and diversifying field with current research incorporating multiple disciplines and infusing long-standing ideas with fresh perspectives. We present a list of 10 recent pivotal papers exemplifying new directions in ecological restoration that were selected by students in a cross-disciplinary graduate seminar at the University of California, Berkeley. We highlight research that applies ecological theory to improve restoration practice in the context of global change (e.g. climate modeling, evaluation of novel ecosystems) and discuss remaining knowledge gaps. We also discuss papers that recognize the social context of restoration and the coupled nature of social and ecological systems, ranging from the incorporation of cultural values and Traditional Ecological Knowledge into restoration, to the consideration of the broader impacts of markets on restoration practices. In addition, we include perspectives that focus on improving communication between social and natural scientists as well as between scientists and practitioners, developing effective ecological monitoring, and applying more integrated, whole-landscape approaches to restoration. We conclude with insights on recurrent themes in the papers regarding planning restoration in human-modified landscapes, application of ecological theory, improvements to restoration practice, and the social contexts of restoration. We share lessons from our cross-disciplinary endeavor, and invite further discussion on the future directions of restoration ecology through contributions to our seminar blog site . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Healthcare and mortality costs of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure at home among nonsmokers in California were estimated for the year 2009. Methods Costs were estimated with an epidemiological model using California SHS home exposure rates and published relative risks. Healthcare costs included nine conditions, and mortality was estimated for four perinatal and three adult conditions. Three mortality-related measures were estimated: deaths, years of potential life lost (YPLL) and the value of lost productivity. Results SHS-attributable healthcare costs totalled over $241 million. The most costly conditions for children and adolescents were attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ($7.8 million) and middle ear disease ($5.6 million). For adults, the most costly conditions were ischaemic heart disease (IHD) ($130.0 million) and asthma ($67.4 million). Deaths of 821 Californians were attributable to SHS exposure in the home, including 27 infants whose mothers smoked while pregnant and 700 adults who died from IHD. These deaths represented a loss of over 13 000 YPLL and $119 million in lost productivity. Conclusions The economic impact of SHS exposure in the home totalled $360 million in California in 2009. Policies that reduce exposure to SHS at home have great potential for reducing healthcare and mortality costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke (SHS) has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease. The current study evaluated brief self-report screening measures for accurately identifying adult cardiology patients with clinically significant levels of SHS exposure in need of intervention. Design and setting A cross-sectional study conducted in a university-affiliated cardiology clinic and cardiology inpatient service. Patients Participants were 118 non-smoking patients (59% male, mean age=63.6 years, SD=16.8) seeking cardiology services. Main outcome measures Serum cotinine levels and self-reported SHS exposure in the past 24 h and 7 days on 13 adult secondhand exposure to smoke (ASHES) items. Results A single item assessment of SHS exposure in one’s own home in the past 7 days was significantly correlated with serum cotinine levels (r=0.41, p<0.001) with sensitivity ≥75%, specificity >85% and correct classification rates >85% at cotinine cut-off points of >0.215 and >0.80 ng/mL. The item outperformed multiitem scales, an assessment of home smoking rules, and SHS exposure assessed in other residential areas, automobiles and public settings. The sample was less accurate at self-reporting lower levels of SHS exposure (cotinine 0.05-0.215 ng/mL). Conclusions The single item ASHES-7d Home screener is brief, assesses recent SHS exposure over a week's time, and yielded the optimal balance of sensitivity and specificity. The current findings support use of the ASHES- 7d Home screener to detect SHS exposure and can be easily incorporated into assessment of other major vital signs in cardiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the California's Supreme Court case Save the Plastic Bag Coalition v. City of Manhattan Beach, wherein it was held that the City of Manhattan Beach acted within its discretion in order to approve the plastic bag ban on the basis of a Negative Declaration (ND), rather than a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The court sided with the plaintiff, Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, on the issue of corporate standing under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The papers of Zygmunt Haupt, Polish emigre writer and painter, are now fully processed and open to researches in the Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the Conference on Intelligent Data Understanding held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California on October 5-6, 2010. Topics included the implementation of the methods attained in data mining and machine learning on issues dealing with earth sciences, space sciences and systems health management. Problems dealing with changes in the climate and environment, astronomical data flux and safety in aviation were also tackled.

Among its many collections documenting the history of the Far West, the Huntington Library holds the papers of various western historians. Although such collections present certain inherent challenges, they also can offer significant contributions to the study of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines long-term recovery outcomes of businesses impacted by major natural disasters. Data were collected via two large-scale mail surveys—one administered to Santa Cruz County, California businesses 8 years after the Loma Prieta earthquake and the other administered to businesses in South Dade County, Florida, 6 years after Hurricane Andrew. Based on the results of OLS regression models, we argue that long-term recovery experiences of businesses are affected by various factors, including the economic sector in which a business operates, its age and financial condition, and the scope of its primary market; direct and indirect disaster impacts, including physical damage, forced closure, and disruption of operations; and owner perceptions of the broader economic climate. Previous disaster experience, level of disaster preparedness, and use of external sources of aid were not found to significantly affect the long-term economic viability of businesses in the two study communities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Discusses the personal papers of the late Derek Freeman, scholar and specialist in Borneo studies, which have been deposited at the Mandeville Special Collections Library at the University of California, San Diego. Acquisition of the collection; Completion of the collection in 2002; Correspondence; Field notes and documents concerned chiefly with Samoa and the so-called Mead-Freeman controversy.

The California Association of School Psychologists (CASP) responds to a critique of the Association's Position Paper: "Specific Learning Disabilities and Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses" (2014, March. Available: http://casponline.org/about-casp/publications/) by McGill and Busse. The CASP offers corrections to McGill and Busse's three critiques and clarifies the Association position that the assessment of students suspected of having a Specific Learning Disability involves a comprehensive evaluation that provides information regarding both environmental factors that include data on instruction and interventions as well as within-child factors such as response to intervention and the student's pattern of academic and specific cognitive strengths and weaknesses. [For "When Theory Trumps Science: A Critique of the PSW Model for SLD Identification," see EJ1131590.]

There has been vigorous debate within the state of California and elsewhere as to what constitutes appropriate procedures for determining whether an individual qualifies for special education and related services under the category of specific learning disability (SLD). Within the professional literature, there is growing support for educational agencies to adopt an approach to SLD identification that emphasizes the importance of an individual's pattern of cognitive and achievement strengths and weaknesses (PSW). In 2014, the California Association of School Psychologists released a position paper endorsing this approach. As a vehicle for examining the PSW model, we respond critically to three fundamental positions taken in the position paper: (a) diagnostic validity for the model has been established; (b) cognitive profile analysis is valid and reliable; and (c) PSW data have adequate treatment utility. We conclude that at the present time there is insufficient support within the empirical literature to support adoption of the PSW method for SLD identification. Implications for professional practice are discussed.

Comments on the discovery of papers on Soviet socialism written by Leon Trotsky and his son, Lev Sedov, in the Boris I. Nicolaevsky Collection in the Archives of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University in California. Contribution of Leon Trotsky to the study of Russian history; Other repositories in which Trotsky papers can be found; Content of and period covered by the Hoover Institution papers.

California legislature made a policy change with Senate Bill (SB) 1644 (2000), shifting Cal Grant Programs to focus on entitlement; counter to the national trend of merit based grant programs. This article describes a study examining effectiveness and extent to which SB 1644 is meeting its legislative objectives: increase in higher education opportunities and lower student loan debt. Additionally, demographic characteristic differences of student populations seeking higher education opportunities (20-year period) and factors influencing California policy to embrace entitlement grants are presented. The national implication and political (value) question derived from this study was: Is higher education a right or a privilege?

The purpose of this effort is to share information about the variety of culminating activities used in the acquisition of the California Preliminary Administrative Services Credential. Knowledge of these varying culminating activities and related practices has not previously been readily available. The culminating activities among California's NCATE accredited university educational administration programs are intended to verify that candidates are well-prepared at a level expected of a beginning school administrator. Given the devastating criticism of educational administration preparation programs, such as contained in Arthur Levine's report, Educating School Leaders (2005), universities need to make sure their culminating activities verify the professional competence of candidates recommended for administrative certification.

Lower division transfer preparation for the university has been the primary mission of community colleges since their inception creating an important pathway to baccalaureate degree attainment for many students who may not otherwise have the opportunity for higher education. Once considered fairly straightforward, the transfer pathway has become overly complex and difficult for students to navigate. The underlying issues with community college transfer are multifaceted and profound, and often the focus of much attention by public policy makers. This study explored the extent to which the complexity with transfer is rooted in flawed state and local policy coupled with insufficient capacity to meet the growing demand for postsecondary education at many public universities in California. Interviews with key players in higher education in the state, a focus group of community college professionals involved with transfer, observations of meetings where transfer was discussed and a review of state and local documents concerned with transfer comprised the methodology of this study. Results suggest that legislative interference in the transfer pathway, university elitism and selectivity, uneven placement of state resources, the confines of the state master plan for higher education and inadequate capacity at the state universities all contribute to damaging the transfer pathway. This embedded case study examined the transfer pathway in one large region in southern California in the first decade of the 21st century.The study investigated the implications of flawed public policy and insufficient capacity at some public universities on the development of local policy, and the unintended consequences for transfer students who are denied admission to transfer.Further, the study described how these policy decisions are hindering access and equity in the public postsecondary education system in the region under investigation. Amidst fluctuating economic conditions, the public higher education system in California has struggled to meet increasing enrollment demand. With the ongoing deterioration in state appropriations for higher education in California, the need for increased baccalaureate degree attainment to meet the future economic demands of the state is more critical than ever.