Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inspiration, Perspiration, and Time: Operations and Achievement in Edison Schools.

With the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 andwidespread charter school legislation, there is increasing interest ineducational management organizations (EMOs) to provide innovative, alternativeforms of governance and management of public schools, both contract andcharter. The largest EMO is Edison Schools, Inc., which operates 103 schools in18 states and the District of Columbia. This report was commissioned by Edison Schools to evaluate the schools itmanages. The analysisexamines Edison's strategies for improving schools,implementation in a sample of its schools, and achievement trends attained byits students. Edison has a two-part strategy: (1) provide resources to supporta coherent and comprehensive school design, and (2) implement accountabilitysystems to ensure resources for the design are in place and used asintended. Evaluation was based on interviews, Edison-provided documents, visits to 23Edison schools, and school-level test scores in reading and mathematics. Thefirst set of achievement analyses sought to estimate the effect of Edisonmanagement on reading and mathematics by examining longitudinal trends inaverage student proficiency. The second set used achievement data and casestudy data to identify factors that could explain differences in achievementamong Edison schools. Found that in case study schools the best-functioning Edison schools (thosewith strong instructional leadership, motivated teachers, effective use ofdata, implementation of Edison curricula, and high levels of professionalcollaboration) demonstrate the promise of the Edison ideal. However, it wasalso found that there was considerable variation in the extent to which theideal was realized. This is likely due to length of operation, instructionalleadership, and local constraints. When considering whether schools were conversion or charter schools, andlength of operation, and considering the incompleteness of information, theevaluation found that, despite first-year achievement decline in conversionschools, on average Edison schools do not exceed the gains of matchedcomparison schools, but Edison results do improve in years four and five. It isuncertain, then, whether achievement over four to five years is comparable orsuperior to matched schools. The variation in individual Edison schools'achievement is extensive: some having strong performance, and others fallingbehind comparison schools.Some evidence suggests Edison schools operatingwith fewer local constraints may have better achievement trends. Severalexplanations are offered for the variations. In summary, the net long-termeffects of Edison schools is uncertain, and predictions cannot be made aboutthe long-term effects of Edison's program. In conclusion, the study offers sets of recommendations for Edison schooladministrators and for district staff and policymakers considering hiring theEdison educational management organization. (TNM)
Depression and anxiety outcomes at a free clinic in a rural state

PurposeTo describe the diagnostic and treatment patterns for depression and anxiety in clients receiving care at a free clinic. Data sourcesCharts for 43 clients who received antidepressant or anxiolytic medications were randomly selected and reviewed. ConclusionsClients presented to the clinic symptomatic; almost two thirds had been treated elsewhere. Most clients received pharmacological treatment and referral for counseling. Forty-four percent of the clients were still being treated at their last visit, but 33% were no longer being seen, and it could not be determined if they were receiving care at another clinic. Implications for practiceIf sustained relationships with clients with depression and anxiety can be developed, appropriate care can be provided.
Primer Screening for Dyera costulata (Miq) Hook.f Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Analyses

Dyera costulata (Miq.) Hook.f (Apocynaceae) is a large tree of the lowland tropical rain forest of Southeast Asia, Thailand, Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, especially in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Borneo) islands. Its economic value was in its copious latex, used as gum in the manufacture of chewing gum. Today the timber of this species is much sought after for the manufacture of pencils and picture frames. Information on genetic diversity of the species is very limited. Hence studieswere initiated to screen primers for RAPD analyses of Dyera costulata for use in genetic variation studies. Seventy one Operon primers (10 mer) were used to generate a total of 864 consistent and ambiguous amplification products ranging from 200 bp to 2.0 kb. Rare and genotype specific bands were identified which could be effectively used to distinguish the genotypes. 34 highly polymorphic primers (100%) are recorded from 71 primers used. Three primers (OPA-04, OPU-06, and OPU-07) produced highest variable RAPD profiles. The dendrogram separated the 8 genotypes into 2 groups. Geneticdissimilarity ranged from 0.07 to 0.71 %. Key words: Dyera costulata, jelutong, primer screening, RAPD.
RISK FACTORS FOR NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES AMONG RURAL ADOLESCENTS: A SCHOOL-BASED CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objective: Non-communicable diseases (NCD) in recent times have attained a magnitude of epidemic proportion, with increasing number of adolescence being reported as obese. The risk factors for NCD such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, dietary habits, etc. are inculcated during adolescence and continue to exist in adult life there by increasing the risk for hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. To assess the prevalence of risk factors for NCD among adolescents of a high school in rural Karnataka. Methods: In a school-based cross-sectional study 297 adolescents belonging to classes 8, 9 and 10 were assessed for the presence of risk factors for NCD using pretested questionnaire modified from NCD Risk Factor Survey Questionnaire, WHO-STEPS Questionnaire and Integrated Disease Surveillance Project Questionnaire. Results: The participants were aged between 12 and 17 years; mean age of the participants being 14.3 years. More than half (n=158, 53.2%) of the participants were boys, and a higher proportion (n=119, 40%) belonged to low socio-economic status class 5 according to B.G Prasad Scale. Based on International Physical Activity Questionnaire scoring protocol, 30.3% (n=90) participants were minimally active. The family history of hypertension and diabetes was seen among 55 (18.5%) and 28 (9.5%) of the participants respectively. Based on CDC 2000 standards 7 (2.4%) of the participants were overweight. The proportion of participants who were classified as having prehypertension, Stage I and Stage II hypertension was 20 (6.7%), 16 (5.4%) and 1 (0.3%) respectively. Inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables was seen in 235 (80.1%) and inappropriate dietary intake (fried foods, salted items more than 3 times/week) was seen in 166 (55.9%) of the participants. Conclusion: Several risk factors, both modifiable and non-modifiable are prevalent among the adolescents. Early detection of the risk factors and timely interventions are essential to reduce the burden of NCDs in future. Simple measures such as health education, nutritional education, and lifestyle modifications could go a long way in reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with NCD. Keywords: Adolescents, Non-communicable diseases, Risk factors, South India.
Redislocation Following Zigzag Osteotomy Combined with Fibular Allograt for Dislocation of the Hip in Children

We have reviewed 17 patients (18 hips) who required repeated open reduction for recurrent or persistent dislocation after a previous attempt at zigzag osteotomy combined with fibular allowgraft for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). The purposes of this study were to examine predictors of redislocation and to evaluate the long-term outcomes after revision surgery. The mean age at primary open reduction was 24 months (13 to 36). The median time to the recognition of failure was 4.6 months. The second reduction was performed at a mean age of 26.3 months (17 to 42) and the mean age at final follow-up was 79.7 months (58 to 105) and the mean time follow-up was 42.4 months (37 to 76). We treated the hips with a new open reduction through an anteromedial approach. A constricted anteromedial capsule was always found as the main factor; all had an intact anteromedial capsule, and there was an inverted transverse ligament in five cases and a very tight psoas tendon in another four cases, eversion of the limbus in six cases, densing anterior capsule in five cases. We perform with the condition that all hips were cleared of scar tissue; five hips had adductor tenotomy; four hips required release of the psoas tendon, five eversion of the limbus. Release of the transverse ligament was required in five cases each. All hips with Kirschner wire through the femoral head into the acetabulum. Three hips required femoral shortening (average of 1.5 cm); a derotation varus osteotomy was performed in two hips from ten and twelve weeks after repeated open reduction. Postoperative results according to modified McKay criteria for clinical: excellent: 3 of 18 hips (16.7%); good: 8 of 18 hips (44.4%); fair: 6 of 18 hips (33.3%); and poor: 1 of 18 hips (5.6%). We suggest that technical failure is usually the cause for redislocation with all that has an intact anteromedial capsule. There was an inverted transverse ligament, tight psoas tendon, eversion of the limbus, and densing anterior capsule. We believe that abnormal femoral version and femoral head dysplasia are also important factors for redislocation too.
Effects of Dendrite Cell Size and Eutectic Si Particle Morphology on Fatigue Crack Growth in Cast and HIPed AC4CH Alloys

Fatigue crack growth tests were performed for structurally controlled AC4CH cast alloys. Elimination of casting defects from the casts was achieved by means of post-casting HIP treatment. Compliance change measurement was made during the fatigue crack growth test to investigate crack closure. The level of crack closure was comparable among the alloys with different microstructure. Sheroidizing and refining of the eutectic Si particles are essential in terms of reduced propensity of particle fracture, which results in prolonged stable crack growth region of the da/dN-ΔK relationship and improved fatigue crack growth resistance at the high ΔK. At low ΔK, however, the fatigue crack growth rate is controlled by general matrix strength. The higher proof stress due to the irregular shaped Si particles and fine dendrite cell size results in the reduced crack opening displacement of each fatigue cycle or the reduced crack growth rate.
C reactive protein concentration and recurrence of atrial fibrillation after electrical cardioversion

Background: To test the hypothesis that a high C reactive protein (CRP) concentration would predict recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after cardioversion in patients taking antiarrhythmic drugs. Methods: 111 patients who underwent direct current cardioversion for symptomatic AF were enrolled. Blood was drawn for CRP determination before cardioversion on the same day. All patients were taking antiarrhythmic drugs before and after electrical cardioversion. Results: After a mean follow up of 76 days, 75 patients had recurrence of AF. In univariate analysis, the median CRP concentration was significantly higher in patients with AF recurrence (3.95 mg/l v 1.81 mg/l, p = 0.002). Among the 55 patients with CRP in the upper 50th centile, 44 (80%) experienced recurrence of AF over a total follow up of 8.98 patient years, whereas among the 56 patients with CRP in the lower 50th centile, 31 (55%) experienced recurrence of AF over a total follow up of 14.3 patient years (p < 0.001). The adjusted hazard ratio comparing the upper 50th centile of CRP with the lower 50th centile of CRP was 2.0 (95% confidence interval 1.2 to 3.2, p = 0.007). Conclusions: CRP is independently associated with recurrence of AF after electrical cardioversion among patients taking antiarrhythmic drugs. These results suggest that inflammation may have a role in the pathogenesis of AF resistant to antiarrhythmic drugs.
Evaluation of postoperative spinal epidural hematoma after microendoscopic posterior decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis: a clinical and magnetic resonance imaging study.

OBJECT The incidence of postoperative spinal epidural hematoma (SEH) is low, and to the best of the authors' knowledge, no researchers have evaluated its actual incidence and clinical features. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical consequences of SEH after microendoscopic posterior decompression (MEPD) in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. METHODS Data obtained in 30 patients undergoing MEPD for lumbar spinal stenosis were reviewed. At 1 week after surgery, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging documented SEHs in 10 patients (33% [Group 1]) and no evidence of SEHs in 20 patients (67% [Group 2]). The authors compared MR imaging findings, postoperative morbidities, and clinical outcomes between the groups. Three Group 1 patients had symptomatic SEHs. All symptoms were mild without associated neurological deterioration and spontaneously subsided within 3 weeks of surgery. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated spontaneous regression of the SEH in all patients at 3 months after surgery. In Group 1 patients, however, the authors observed less expansion of the dural sac after 1 year despite sufficient widening of the osseous spinal canal. Low-back pain within 1 week of surgery was moderate in Group 1 and mild in Group 2. Improvements at the final follow up were greater in Group 2 patients. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of postoperative SEHs may be greater than reported. Postoperative SEHs caused poor expansion of the dural sac despite its spontaneous regression. In addition, postoperative SEHs caused a delay in the patient's recovery and led to a poor clinical improvement. The prevention of postoperative SEHs might be required to prevent not only neurological deterioration but also a delay in the patient's recovery.
Parameter Space Noise for Exploration

Deep reinforcement learning (RL) methods generally engage in exploratory behavior through noise injection in the action space. An alternative is to add noise directly to the agent's parameters, which can lead to more consistent exploration and a richer set of behaviors. Methods such as evolutionary strategies use parameter perturbations, but discard all temporal structure in the process and require significantly more samples. Combining parameter noise with traditional RL methods allows to combine the best of both worlds. We demonstrate that both off- and on-policy methods benefit from this approach through experimental comparison of DQN, DDPG, and TRPO on high-dimensional discrete action environments as well as continuous control tasks. Our results show that RL with parameter noise learns more efficiently than traditional RL with action space noise and evolutionary strategies individually.
Testicular and Color Variation in the Kissing Bug, Rhodnius brethesi, in Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract Because of the morphological and morphometric variation of testicular follicles in different genera of the subfamily Triatominae, it was of interest to associate those parameters with the different medial pronotal band patterns (wide and narrow) found in Rhodnius brethesi (Matta) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). This is a wild species often associated with Leopoldina piassaba Wallace (Arecales: Arecaceae) palm, with a geographical distribution restricted to the Amazon region. The specimens used were from the state of Amazonas, and were kept under conditions of 29 ± 1 °C, 80 ± 5% RH, 12:12 L:D photoperiod, and were fed weekly on blood from Swiss mice. Three—day—old fasting males were separated in accordance with the patterns of the medial pronotal band, dissected, and the testicles removed. After removal of the testicular membrane, the follicles were spread, drawn by camera lucida, and measured. The results showed that the testis of R. brethesi consists of seven follicles, divided into two groups by length; two long and five short. In specimens with a wide medial pronotal band, the long follicles were 5.4 mm in length, but in specimens with a narrow medial band, the long follicles were 5.64 mm in length. The difference was significant. The short follicles were not different in length, suggesting the presence of a possible complex “brethesi” in the Amazon region.
Toward Better Understanding of Engagement in Multiparty Spoken Interaction with Children

A system's ability to understand and model a human's engagement during an interactive task is important for both adapting its behavior to the moment and achieving a coherent interaction over time. Standard practice for creating such a capability requires uncovering and modeling the multimodal cues that predict engagement in a given task environment. The first step in this methodology is to have human coders produce "gold standard" judgments of sample behavior. In this paper we report results from applying this first step to the complex and varied behavior of children playing a fast-paced, speech-controlled, side-scrolling game called Mole Madness. We introduce a concrete metric for engagement-willingness to continue the interaction--that leads to better inter-coder judgments for children playing in pairs, explore how coders perceive the relative contribution of audio and visual cues, and describe engagement trends and patterns in our population. We also examine how the measures change when the same children play Mole Madness with a robot instead of a peer. We conclude by discussing the implications of the differences within and across play conditions for the automatic estimation of engagement and the extension of our autonomous robot player into a "buddy" that can individualize interaction for each player and game.
Effect of drop jump technique on the reactive strength index

Abstract The basic drill of plyometric training aimed at improving lower limb power and jump height is a drop jump. This exercise can be performed using different techniques, which substantially affects jump variables. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the values of the reactive strength index (RSI) for countermovement drop jumps (CDJs) and bounce drop jumps (BDJs). The study was carried out in a group of 8 male youth basketball players. The tests were conducted using the AMTI BP600900 force plate to measure ground reaction forces and the Noraxon MyoMotion system to record kinematic data. Each player performed two CDJs and two BDJs from the height of 15, 30, 45 and 60 cm. The RSI was calculated as a ratio of jump height and contact time. Moreover, the RSI was determined for the amortization and take-off phases separately. Significant differences (p < 0.05) between RSI values for CDJs and BDJs were recorded for jumps from 30, 45 and 60 cm. Differences in RSI values for jumps from 15 cm were not significant. Furthermore, CDJ height values were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the values recorded for BDJs. Times of contact, amortization and take-off during BDJs were significantly shorter (p < 0.05) than the respective values obtained for CDJs. Therefore, the use of the RSI to monitor plyometric training should be based on the drop jump technique that is commonly performed by basketball players.
Non-Perturbative Corrections and Modularity in N=1 Type IIB Compactifications

Non-perturbative corrections and modular properties of four-dimensional type IIB Calabi-Yau orientifolds are discussed. It is shown that certain non-perturbative α' corrections survive in the large volume limit of the orientifold and periodically correct the Kahler potential. These corrections depend on the NS-NS two form and have to be completed by D-instanton contributions to transform covariantely under symmetries of the type IIB orientifold background. It is shown that generically also the D-instanton superpotential depends on the two-form moduli as well as on the complex dilaton. These contributions can arise through theta-functions with the dilaton as modular parameter. An orientifold of the Enriques Calabi-Yau allows to illustrate these general considerations. It is shown that this compactification leads to a controlled four-dimensional = 1 effective theory due to the absence of various quantum corrections. Making contact to the underlying topological string theory the D-instanton superpotential is proposed to be related to a specific modular form counting D3, D1, D(-1) degeneracies on the Enriques Calabi-Yau.
POWER: A cloud-based mobile augmentation approach for web- and cross-platform applications

Despite their continuously growing popularity, mobile end-user devices still suffer from limited computing resources. This complicates the use of complex mobile applications that require resource-intensive computations. Recently, several frameworks have been developed that enable mobile applications to follow the cloud-based mobile augmentation (CMA) approach. This approach defines a strategy to dynamically outsource resource-intensive tasks to external resources. None of the existing frameworks focuses on cross-platform applicability and interoperability issues. We propose an innovative approach, which provides a high level of flexibility in order to meet requirements of different mobile use cases and application scenarios. The POWER framework is applicable on all major mobile platforms and supports various types of external resources. Furthermore, we prove the feasibility of the proposed framework on current mobile end-user devices by means of a concrete implementation. Evaluation results yield significant performance boosts for resource-intensive tasks on mobile end-user devices. With the POWER framework we pave the way for complex mobile applications.
Gas Diffusion in Closed-Cell Foams

The objective of this paper is to present an engineering model, based on fundamentally sound but simplified treatment of mass diffusion phenomena, for practical predictions of the effective diffusion coefficient of gases through closed-cell foams. All assumptions and simplifications that define the range of applicability of the proposed model are clearly stated. The model developed is based on the electrical circuit analogy and on the first principles. The analysis suggests that the effective diffusion coefficient through the foam can be expressed as a product of the geometric factor and the gas diffusion coefficient through the foam membrane. Comparison of model predictions with experimental data available in the literature shows satisfactory agreement. Discrepancies between predictions and data have been noted for gases with high solubility in the condensed phase for which Henry's law does not apply. Additional experimental data for both the foam morphology and the diffusion coefficient in the membrane are needed to fully validate the model.