Benefits of New Principal Preparation Program in Indonesia

This study aimed to examine the benefits of a new principal preparation program (PPP) in Indonesia in this decentralization era. A qualitative interpretive approach was employed. The participants consisted of eight principals of public schools in Yogyakarta who graduated from the new PPP. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and document analysis. Data were then analyzed using the grounded theory method which included open coding and analytic induction. The trustworthiness criteria were used to ensure the quality of the data. The findings showed that the principals who graduated from the PPP felt the benefits of the recruitment and selection system which was standardized and rigorous. Also, the training for the prospective principals helped them to develop their managerial competencies, leadership skills, and self-confidence. Keywords: principal preparation program, school principal

The identity and significance of the high-latitude Early Ordovician Mediterranean brachiopod Province

During the Early Ordovician Epoch, the Mediterranean brachiopod Province was extensive in the higher-latitude sectors of the globe in the Southern Hemisphere. The latter was much occupied by the massive continent of Gondwana, which stretched from north of the Equator S-wards to cover the South Pole. The Mediterranean Province can be separated into two groups: Group 1, the higher-latitude fauna dominated by large linguliform brachiopods; and Group 2, which is more diverse, particularly in orthides. The large linguliform brachiopod faunas are particularly well known in southern Europe (France, Spain and Bohemia) and North Africa, and the second group in Avalonia, Chile and Argentina. The province is different from, but merges with, more diverse contemporary faunas in the lower latitudes of Gondwana to its north, although the latter contrast with other lower-latitude faunal provinces in South China, Laurentia, Siberia and elsewhere. Since the Rheic Ocean between Avalonia and Gondwana was relatively narrow during the Early Ordovician Epoch, the Avalonian brachiopods were integral parts of the Mediterranean Province, but only until end of the Dapingian Age. This paper focuses on the earlier phases of the Mediterranean Province, although the province continued until near the end of the Ordovician Period. Intermediate-latitude Baltica and some other faunas are included in new principal components and other analyses in order to compare them with the Mediterranean Province faunas. Radiation was very significant for many brachiopod taxa during the period, with first appearances of the Plectambonitoidea (Taffiidae), several orthide families (Euorthisinidae, Tarfayidae and Anamalorthidae) and the earliest endopunctate orthide, the dalmanelloid Lipanorthis.

The Impact of Principal Attrition and Replacement on Indicators of School Quality

Transitions to a new principal are common, especially within urban public schools, and potentially highly disruptive to a school's culture and operations. We use longitudinal data from New York City to investigate if the effect of principal transitions differs by whether the incoming principal was hired externally or promoted from within the school. We take advantage of variation in the timing of principal transitions within an event-study approach to estimate the causal effect of principal changes. Changing principals has an immediate negative effect on student test scores that is sustained over several years regardless of whether hired internally or externally. However, externally hired principals lead to an increase in teacher turnover and a decline in perceptions of the school's learning environment, whereas transitions to an internally promoted principal have no such effects. This pattern of results raises important questions about leadership transitions and the nature of principal effects on school quality.

A Predictive Model to Detect the Impending Electric Submersible Pump Trips and Failures

Trips and failures are common occurrences in the Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) systems. The random nature of these trips and failures will lead to low industry run-life and high workover costs for ESP companies and operators. To perform early detection and take corrective actions to handle the potential incidents, ESP operation data collected from downhole and surface sensors are used to perform diagnostics and prognostics to identify trips and failures. In this study, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method serves as a pre-processing method to retain the most essential principal components to reevaluate the initial ESP system. For a single well system, the Squared Prediction Error (SPE) and Hotelling T-square statistic (T2) equations are employed for numerical visualization in the new principal component space and therefore detection of the potential ESP trips or failures. For the whole well group, the score plot of three principal components provides a solution that enables to distinguish different clusters of stable operation, trip and failure regions, and diagnose the upcoming ESP trips and failures. In this way, the predictive model is bulit to continuously analyze the ESP operation and automatically perform health monitoring for any ESP system. This paper concludes that the predictive model has the potential to construct a real-time proactive surveillance system to identify dynamic anomalies and therefore predict developing trips or failures in the ESP system.

Career Confidential: Should teacher tell principal his colleagues criticize him behind his back?

Phyllis Fagell gives advice to educators about their professional dilemmas. In this month’s column, a teacher wonders if she should tell a principal that his colleagues are making fun of him behind his back. A teacher wishes her new principal would offer feedback after impromptu classroom visits. And a principal has been lying to his staff to spare their feelings.

Towards inclusive funding practices for early career researchers

Securing research funding is a challenge faced by most scientists in academic institutions worldwide. Funding success rates for all career stages are low, but the burden falls most heavily on early career researchers (ECRs). These are young investigators in training and new principal investigators who have a shorter track record. ECRs are dependent on funding to establish their academic careers. The low number of career development awards and the lack of sustained research funding result in the loss of ECR talent in academia. Several steps in the current funding process, from grant conditions to review, play significant roles in the distribution of funds. Furthermore, there is an imbalance where certain research disciplines and labs of influential researchers receive more funding. As a group of ECRs with global representation, we examined funding practices, barriers, and facilitators to the current funding systems. We also identified alternatives to the most common funding distribution practices, such as diversifying risk or awarding grants on a partly random basis. Here, we detail recommendations for funding agencies and grant reviewers to improve ECR funding prospects worldwide and promote a fairer and more inclusive funding landscape for ECRs.

Floating Shipyard: Drydock during the ship’s voyage

Shipyards are known as a land-based facility that ships steer to for docking and repair. This study represents a basic conceptual study for a new principal of developing a Floating shipyard: changing the phenomena of a fixed site shipyard into a self-propelled floating shipyard. This Floating Shipyard capable to travel and conduct drydock activities at the client's location or even can lift the client's vessel and travel to its next designated location, taking advantage of completing the dry dock and repair during the voyage. The arising challenges, to this floating shipyard, such as lay-offs, restructuring, and environment legislation requires a balanced solution. This solution, of all this, relays on the adaptation of talent management and competitive production tools, during this huge undergoing changes in its backbone structure. The Floating shipyard, here named "F-Yard", changes the mindset of dry-dock. This is because F-Yard travels to the client's location or capable of pick the client's ship towards the cargo destination, where it can complete the required drydock or repair. The cutthroat advantage of the F-Yard comes from self-propelled where the other approaches depend on others for mobilizing and anchoring from one location to another. Plus, F-Yard could serve other industries, due to its fully equipped workshops, that able to serve different market needs such as oil and gas and renewable energy...etc. These open the door for a variety of business scope. F-Yard depends on front end engineering and marketing teams to optimize its route and to sort the supply chain requirements.