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The collaboration between the professionals and students is thanks to a National Defense Educational Program contract awarded to William & Mary’s STEM Education Alliance. The project pairs middle school teachers with professional engineers and scientists, creating an opportunity for them to mentor both teachers and students.
Since it began in 2004 as the Virginia Demonstration Project, the SEA has worked with more than 19,000 students in eight school districts and more than 100 engineers from four naval commands. Last summer, the alliance assisted in managing and evaluating four summer academies attended by 300 students and approximately 75 teachers.
Hardinge, who also is a clinical associate professor in William & Mary’s School of Education, says that unlike many other STEM-outreach programs, the goals of the alliance’s activities, which include hands-on projects like building rockets or programming Lego robots, does not rest solely in content knowledge.
“Instead, the STEM Education Alliance is about changing attitudes towards STEM and awareness of STEM careers,” Hardinge said, adding that the alliance hopes to foster positive attitudes about STEM topics in students.
“Research has shown a connection between positive attitudes, self-efficacy and success,” said Hardinge. However, she notes that the alliance doesn’t look at grades or Standards of Learning (SOL) scores to evaluate their effectiveness in changing students’ attitudes. Instead, SEA participants look at student response to attitudinal surveys on STEM careers and enrollment in upper-level STEM courses by SEA alumni.
Hardinge noted that the alliance is currently involved in a longitudinal study, tracking alumni of the program with the hopes of better understanding what happens to its graduates once they are in college.
As for awareness, the alliance hopes to increase students’ knowledge of STEM careers. One of the things that Hardinge and her colleagues found when looking at various STEM programs throughout the country is that few programs really connect the dots for students between the activities they enjoy and the careers that correspond to them.
“Kids go to STEM summer academies and camps, and love the activities, but seldom does someone say, ‘Hi, I’m so and so, and I am a scientist or engineer and this activity you’re doing, I do in my real job,’” said Hardinge.
Therefore, the alliance now includes a career component with their initial five strands of STEM instruction that teachers and scientists focus on: inquiry based instruction, co-teaching, carefully timed explicit instruction, cooperative learning and thematic or “big idea” classroom instruction.
Teachers involved in the alliance’s program are still teaching the content that they are required to teach, including content required for the SOL tests, but the alliance shows them how to “wrap it around a real world problem,” said Hardinge.
“One of our primary goals is to provide teachers with additional tools to teach. There are interactive, engaging ways to increase a student’s content knowledge,” said Hardinge, adding that the response by teachers has been overwhelmingly positive.
In 2010, the SEA received a sole-source contract from the U.S. Department of Defense for a total of $2.5 million over three years.
The contract is allowing the alliance to expand its reach. SEA is now able to offer follow-up training to scientists, engineers and teachers online. In the past, staff members had to travel to schools to conduct follow-up training.
Jake Joseph, the project’s assistant director, will be directing the alliance’s first pilot synchronous training this fall with the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in Charleston, S.C. The session will be a follow-up to training the alliance conducted for the group in Charleston in July 2011.
The contract is also allowing the alliance to support a Hampton Roads Regional STEM Coalition, which will partner with local teachers, engineers and scientists. In addition, the contract is funding an expansion of the alliance’s use of the STEM Attitude and Awareness Scale, which assesses students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward science, technology, engineering and math.
Hardinge said that one of the biggest challenges facing STEM education today is figuring out how to maintain consistency through tough budget times. Programs stop and start and valuable data is often lost.
New tools should help developers bring their extensions over from Chrome or Opera, but existing extensions may have trouble surviving the shift.
Mozilla is pushing ahead with a plan to block unsigned Firefox browser extensions, though it’s offering better developer tools as consolation.
Mozilla has said that the new signing procedure is necessary to stop ad injections and malicious scripts. Add-on guidelines and a blocklist are no longer enough, Mozilla argues, as it’s become too difficult to track and discover malware before the damage is done. The move is not without controversy, as some users rely on extensions that are no longer officially supported by their developers.
To help mitigate these concerns, Mozilla is introducing a WebExtensions API, which it says will allow for low-effort porting of extensions from other browsers, such as Chrome, Opera, and eventually Microsoft Edge . Mozilla says it can review these extensions faster, and they also support a new multi-process version of Firefox that will go stable in December. Multi-process effectively separates rendering and UI chrome from page content, preventing full browser crashes if just one page experiences problems.
As part of these changes, Mozilla also plans to deprecate Firefox add-ons that use XPCOM, XUL, and XBL, possibly in the next 12 to 18 months. While these add-ons allow Firefox to be deeply customizable, they’re also prone to breaking when Mozilla rolls out browser updates, and the switch to multi-process will only exacerbate those problems. The challenge, then, is for Mozilla to build out its WebExtensions and other tools so that developers can offer suitable replacements for existing add-ons.
The impact on you: Make no mistake, these changes will cause some ugliness for Firefox users who rely on add-ons—especially those that don’t exist in other browsers. Even Mozilla is admitting that without considerable development, Firefox-only add-ons will not survive the transition. It’s a huge trade-off as Mozilla pursues a more secure and stable browser, and while it may pay off in the long run, for some users it could diminish what makes Firefox unique in the first place.
But back on America's campaign trail, the news didn't merit so much as a press release from most candidates. They instead kept up the steady drumbeat of talk about jobs, the debt, and the occasional social issue — the kind of issues that are more relevant to voters' everyday lives than ice melting thousands of miles away.
It's a challenge that's taking on extra urgency this year, especially once President Obama — as expected — announces on Monday an aggressive set of new regulations to curb greenhouse-gas emissions in the nation's power plants. And it's one that a flotilla of environmental groups, spearheaded by a $100 million effort from hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer, are working overtime to address ahead of the midterm elections. They're convinced that in 2014, with the electorate starting to feel the effects of climate change, politics will turn in their favor in a battery of key races.
"We view this is as pivotal year to demonstrate exactly that question: Can climate be used as wedge issues in campaigns?" said Chris Lehane, a senior adviser to the Steyer-backed group NextGen Climate Action.
Polls reflect those priorities. An early March survey from Gallup found that only 24 percent of Americans worry about "climate change" a great deal — less than half of those who said they cared a "great deal" about the economy, the debt, or the unemployed. It also ranked lower than the "availability and affordability of energy," which 37 percent of adults said they worried about a "great deal."
It's why approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, a major battleground for environmental activists, draws 2-1 support. People favor the promise of jobs over the threat of a changing climate.
"A major challenge facing scientists and organizations that view global warming as a major threat to humanity is that average citizens express so little concern about the issue," Gallup wrote in conclusion to its March poll.
Strategists aligned with the environmental groups are aware of what the polls numbers say — they just also think that they're about to ready to change. Their confidence stems from what they describe as an unfortunate paradox: As climate change gets worse, people are more likely to feel its effects.
"I think when people are reminded of drought and superstorms, super tornadoes, rising sea levels, these kind of things, they're not as big abstractions as they were 10 years ago," said Mark Longabaugh, a Democratic strategist who has worked for years with environmental groups.
A half dozen strategists who have worked in the environmental movement all said an essential part of any effective message will show how climate change can be real in people's everyday lives. It's the only way a voter will buy into it as a genuine threat, including to a family's pocketbooks, they say. In effect, turning something abstract into something that's very real.
"You don't talk about butterflies, you don't talk about polar bears, you talk about their health and their family's economic security," said Lehane.
He added: "Mother Nature has a vote, she's exercising her vote, and she's exercising her vote in a way that directly impact family economics and family security."
The Open Doors 2009 Report on International Education Exchange found that Cal Poly sent 877 students to study abroad during the 2007-08 academic year. That number jumped from about 560 in 2004-05.
Because of a slowed economy and the cost to operate exchange programs, the number of Cal Poly students going abroad this year is about 650, officials say, but programs remain popular.
Fox said she went through the emotional struggles and thrills of making friends among foreigners and adjusting to a new culture and society, while not knowing anyone in her program before she went.
She took classes in Spanish and met people from around the world at her college in Granada, Spain, a city known for its Moorish architecture and gypsy music.
She admits she found herself defending America at times, with French friends in particular.
“People would say to me, ‘I hate how your country did this,’ and I’d answer questions like ‘Does everybody own guns?’ and sometimes I’d find myself defending the U.S. and saying, ‘Well, there’s more to it than that,’ ” Fox recalled.
Fox said that she and an American friend hitchhiked in Italy — an adventure she said she’d never forget.
Cal Poly officials also said that in the study abroad program, students can sometimes get the classes they need to graduate — particularly in foreign languages — that are filled in San Luis Obispo.
Battenburg said that Spain, Italy and Australia are the most popular countries that students visit — and Cal Poly typically sends between 80 and 100 students each year to those countries.
The university coordinates its own study abroad programs, as well as joins in other CSU-run programs, and partners with other universities to send students overseas.
Cal Poly architecture major Scott Leinweber studied in Peru in the summer of 2008 to help improve his Spanish-language skills for his future employment in the construction-based industry and to gain life experience.
In Peru, Leinweber improved his Spanish and helped to build the foundation of a home and a wood-burning stove for poor people. He will study architecture in Denmark next year.
In trading on Wednesday, shares of Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA crossed below their 200 day moving average of $30.13, changing hands as low as $29.61 per share. Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA shares are currently trading down about 4.1% on the day.
Looking at options trading activity among components of the Russell 3000 index, there is noteworthy activity today in Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA , where a total volume of 3,100 contracts has been traded thus far today, a contract volume which is representative of approximately 310,000 underlying shares (given that every 1 contract represents 100 underlying shares). That number works out to 211.6% of ASPS's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 146,485 shares.
Investors considering a purchase of Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA stock, but tentative about paying the going market price of $27.56/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the July put at the $20 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $1.15.
Investors eyeing a purchase of Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA shares, but cautious about paying the going market price of $24.47/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the April 2018 put at the $17.50 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $1.05.
New Residential Investment Corp. (NYSE:NRZ, together with its subsidiaries, "New Residential") and Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.
Investors eyeing a purchase of Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA shares, but cautious about paying the going market price of $22.30/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the January 2018 put at the $17.50 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $1.55.
Looking at options trading activity among components of the Russell 3000 index, there is noteworthy activity today in Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA , where a total volume of 1,103 contracts has been traded thus far today, a contract volume which is representative of approximately 110,300 underlying shares (given that every 1 contract represents 100 underlying shares). That number works out to 77.4% of ASPS's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 142,550 shares.
In recent trading, shares of Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA have crossed above the average analyst 12-month target price of $21.33, changing hands for $21.87/share. When a stock reaches the target an analyst has set, the analyst logically has two ways to react: downgrade on valuation, or, re-adjust their target price to a higher level.
The most recent short interest data has been released for the 04/28/2017 settlement date, which shows a 1,104,901 share decrease in total short interest for Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA , to 4,517,138, a decrease of 19.65% since 04/13/2017. Total short interest is just one way to look at short data; another metric that we here at Dividend Channel find particularly useful is the "days to cover" metric because it considers both the total shares short and the average daily volume of shares traded.
Investors in Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA saw new options begin trading this week, for the June 16th expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the ASPS options chain for the new June 16th contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.
CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System to break ground on Canton emergency room expansion in April.
CANTON, Texas — CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System to break ground on Canton emergency room expansion in April.
Construction at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances HealthPark - Canton will be officially underway after the groundbreaking ceremony April 16 at 10 a.m.
The new emergency care center in Canton will be 7,650 square feet right off of I20 near the Edgewood Road exit. It features six exam rooms, one trauma room, advanced imaging services and a laboratory.
Classic stoner-comedy-in-the-hood film Friday is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special theatrical re-release on April 20, 2015 (aka “4/20” for the marijuana aficionados).
Craig Jones was fired—on his day off—and spent the next day with pothead Smokey in the 1995 film Friday. The movie cost $3.5 million, grossed $28,215,918 and spawned two sequels—and a third is reportedly in development. The “director’s cut” of the original gets a one-night-only re-release on April 20.
1. In his first lead role, Chris Tucker displayed his distinct brand of comedy.
Tucker’s acting career was in its infancy when he landed Friday. As trifling Smokey, Tucker displayed that trademark twitchy manic energy and high-pitched yappy voice. We also saw Tucker’s flair for physical comedy. Remember that flashback of Smokey tumbling after an unintentional acid trip? Smokey wound up cooing in Deebo’s pigeon coop.
2. Ice Cube broadened his impressive résumé.
The rapper, who rose to fame as a member of N.W.A and was a prominent lyricist, solo artist, producer and actor, tried his hand at screenwriting with Friday. He went on to write The Players Club, All About the Benjamins, The Janky Promoters and the Friday sequels.
3. Aptly named Smokey was a shameless weed enthusiast.
Smokey didn’t half-step it. He was committed to weed and shared it with others. OK, “shared” is an understatement. He really badgered Craig until it was easier to take a few hits than to listen to Smokey’s sermon: “Man, ain’t nothing wrong with smoking weed. Weed is from the earth. God put this here for me and you. Take advantage, man, take advantage.” Of course this is why Smokey got into trouble: He owed $200 to supplier/ice-cream-truck driver Big Worm (Faizon Love), who warned: “Playing with my money is like playing with my emotions.” You could say Smokey had a chronic condition.
It’s not just that Deebo was portrayed by Tommy “Tiny” Lister, who is 6 feet 5 and hulking (one of his nicknames is the Human Wrecking Machine); it’s not just that Deebo was a bully. Deebo was a dangerous combination of cunning and unhinged. Not to condone violence, but he deserved the climactic beat-down.
5. If you like that kind of thing, there was an abundance of bathroom humor.
Craig’s father, Mr. Jones (John Witherspoon), sat on his throne with, uh, evocative sound effects, vivid descriptions and the generous use of air freshener. It’s as if you were there, which is disturbing. When Smokey was forced to relieve himself alfresco, crackhead Ezal nosed around and asked, "You been eating corn?” Deebo’s drawers revealed a need for Woolite and hand-washing, and so on.
6. The women were either a fantasy, a dream or a nightmare.
Fine Mrs. Parker (Kathleen Bradley) watered her lawn in daisy dukes. Nia Long played dream girl Debbie, who got with Craig. The nightmares were Craig’s soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend, Joi (Paula Jai Parker), a red-taloned loudmouth, and Smokey’s gassy blind date, Rita (Yvette Wilson), who described herself as resembling Janet Jackson. No girl, just no.
7. There were tragic black hair moments in the early 1990s.
Big Worm, aka Big Perm, sported plastic rollers. Joi wore unfortunate blond extensions. Dana (Regina King), Craig’s sister, had her tracks slipping. Craig noted: “Horses missing their hair around here.” We’re all familiar with hair in a bag. You know that girl? Maybe you were that girl? It was just a phase.
8. Craig uttered the best dis.
Debbie’s sister, Felisha (Angela Means), was a messy moocher. Craig gave her the classic insult “Bye, Felisha!” We’ve all since changed the spelling, but from then on, we knew the best way to proclaim someone irrelevant.
9. Bernie Mac’s shady Pastor Clever broke commandments.
10. The Jones family never crossed everything off their grocery list.
As Smokey put it, “No sugar … y’all ain’t never got two things that match. Either y’all got Kool-Aid, no sugar. Peanut butter, no jelly. Ham, no burger.” That’s no way to treat someone with the munchies.
11. Craig finally gave in and took some puffs. Things did not go well.
Craig started tripping, seeing things that weren’t there, and displayed such pitiful etiquette that Smokey had to straighten him out: “Puff, puff, give. Puff, puff, give. You f—kin’ up the rotation.” Some people need to stay off the grass.
Trivia Millionaire is a basic trivia game that's modeled after the popular television show, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Unfortunately, the things that made that show so entertaining--the timing and suspense--are wholly lacking from Trivia Millionaire.
The program's interface is basic and sleek; it's also fairly intuitive, which is good, given the program's lack of Help file. Users are asked a series of trivia questions and must select the correct answer from four choices. When users are stumped, they can have the program eliminate two wrong answers, select an answer for them, or spin a wheel to determine whether to continue. Everything works fine, and the questions start off quite easy and get appropriately more difficult as users progress through the game. We also liked that the game allows users to create new sets of questions on their own. Our main problem with the game was that, unfortunately, it's kind of boring. The TV show was suspenseful, with tense music and host Regis Philbin asking contestants, "Is that your final answer?" Trivia Millionaire creates suspense, but of an annoying kind; users have to wait 5 seconds after selecting an answer to find out whether it's correct. This makes gameplay drag; who wants to sit and wait for a computer game to respond? We love trivia, but the slow pace of this game made us lose interest quickly.
Trivia Millionaire has a one-day trial period. It installs desktop icons without asking but uninstalls cleanly. We recommend this program to all users; we didn't find it that exciting, but it's not awful.
Trivia Millionaire is a trivia game in which the objective is to become a millionaire. Much like the popular TV show. You are asked a series of 15 general knowledge questions (some of which are picture questions) which increase in difficulty to 1 million. Up to 9 players can play at once. Version 2.4.1 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, and bug fixes.
"Major cons but good qb tool"
Graphics will not work on all computers.
Does not let you install a second time bukllying you into paying for software which really isn't worth it. Let's face it, the quality of this game isn't good enough to charge for it!
Sounds very poor. Try to get replacement sounds from elsewhere on the internet. Replace the .wav files with files of the same name to replace sounds.
Very slow. Very, very slow.
Graphics will not work on all computers - need high quality graphics card although there are no complex visualisations in the program.
Three lifelines are different - an ask the audience and phone a friend simulation like many other online versions would be good.
Limited built-in questions. Software should come with lots of pre-made questions.
The Question Building tool is the only thing that really makes this program worth a second look. If you aren't made of money, you'll probably take a swerve away from this one!
the questions are really good although unlike millionaire the low dollar value questions at times can be quite thought provoking. graphics are really nice though.
would be nice if there was more lifelines or maybe i'm not understanding how to get to them.
It just looks so nice, and the gameplay is a proven format.
Would like to have catagory question sets, but with the Question Builder tool, I can make my own.
"looks good plays ok but"
This awesome game is perfect! Highly recommended.

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