Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teacher Participation in Content-Focused Professional Development & the Role of State Policy

Background/Context Recent research has demonstrated the potential for teacher professional development to enhance teacher learning, improve instruction, and increase student achievement. Nevertheless, research examining the relationship between state and local policies and teachers’ participation in professional development is sparse. This connection between policy environments and teacher-based outcomes becomes increasingly important as educational reforms place new demands on teachers. Since professional development is a key mechanism to improving teachers’ instruction and students’ achievement, we address the extent to which state and school policy environments are associated with teachers’ participation in content-focused professional development. We consider such policy environments within the context of both mathematics, a high-stakes subject area, and science, currently a low-stakes subject area. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In describing state policy environments along several dimensions, we seek to discover which types of policies are more or less influential in moving teachers into the types of professional development that research has shown to be most effective for improved teaching and learning. Research Design Using a national sample of high school mathematics and science teachers from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), we conduct a secondary analysis using a three-level hierarchical linear model (HLM) to predict teachers’ level of participation in different types of professional development. We conduct separate analyses for mathematics (a high-stakes subject area) and for science (currently a low-stakes subject area). Findings/Results We find that the policy context at both the school- and state-level is more predictive of teacher participation in effective professional development in a high-stakes subject (mathematics) than a low-stakes subject (science). We also find that the alignment between state standards and assessments is a key attribute of state-level policies that tend to promote teacher participation in content-focused professional development in high-stakes subject areas. Even though state-level policies are important in promoting participation in effective professional development, we find that policy environments are strongest when they are closest to the teacher. Conclusions/Recommendations We conclude that both state- and school-level policy environments are associated with teachers taking high-quality professional development, but these findings are most pronounced in high-stakes subject areas. We also find that policies promoting consistency in the form of alignment between standards and assessments are perhaps the most important type of policies that states can adopt to encourage teachers to participate in effective professional development.
The microRNA -23b/-27b Cluster Suppresses the Metastatic Phenotype of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Cells

MicroRNAs (miRs) are small, endogenous, non-coding RNAs that regulate the stability and/or translation of complementary mRNA targets. MiRs have emerged not only as critical modulators of normal physiologic processes, but their deregulation may significantly impact prostate and other cancers. The expression of miR-23b and miR-27b, which are encoded by the same miR cluster (miR-23b/-27b), are downregulated in metastatic, castration-resistant tumors compared to primary prostate cancer and benign tissue; however, their possible role in prostate cancer progression is unknown. We found that ectopic expression of miR-23b/-27b in two independent castration-resistant prostate cancer cell lines resulted in suppression of invasion and migration, as well as reduced survival in soft agar (a measure of anoikis). However, there was no effect of miR-23b/-27b on cell proliferation suggesting that these miRs function as metastasis (but not growth) suppressors in prostate cancer. Conversely, inhibition of miR-23b/-27b in the less aggressive androgen-dependent LNCaP prostate cancer cell line resulted in enhanced invasion and migration also without affecting proliferation. Mechanistically, we found that introduction of miR-23b/-27b in metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer cell lines resulted in a significant attenuation of Rac1 activity without affecting total Rac1 levels and caused increased levels of the tumor suppressor E-cadherin. Inhibition of these miRs had the opposite effect in androgen-dependent LNCaP cells. These results suggest that miR-23b/-27b are metastasis suppressors that might serve as novel biomarkers and therapeutic agents for castration-resistant disease.
Survey of Tobacco Cessation Curricula in Kansas Nursing Programs

Tobacco use is a major health risk that requires a comprehensive response by healthcare professionals. Nurse educators can contribute to the reduction of tobacco use by educating nursing students about tobacco use and smoking cessation strategies. The authors examine the breadth and depth of tobacco cessation content in Kansas registered nursing programs providing insight into the content and resources needed to teach nursing faculty and students how to assist individuals in tobacco use cessation.
Projecting changes in Tanzania rainfall for the 21st century

A non‐homogeneous hidden Markov model (NHMM) is developed using a 40‐year record (1950–1990) of daily rainfall at 11 stations in Tanzania and National Centers for Environmental Prediction‐National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP‐NCAR) re‐analysis atmospheric fields of a number of meteorological variables. The following atmospheric fields, temperature at 1000 hPa, geo‐potential height at 1000 hPa, meridional winds and zonal winds at 850 hPa, and zonal winds at the equator from 10 to 1000 hPa, in a region defined by 25°S–25°N and 25°–75°E are identified as appropriate predictors for the downscaling of the seasonal regime of daily rainfall in Tanzania. The NHMM is used to predict future rainfall patterns under a comparatively high greenhouse gas emissions scenario [Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5)], using predictors from the CMCC‐CMS (Centro Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici) simulations from 1950 to 2100. Instead of pre‐specifying a fixed rainy season, the model considers seasonality of precipitation to be determined by the 21st century simulations of the atmospheric variables used as predictors. The future downscaled precipitation simulations for the RCP8.5 scenario indicate that in the 21st century Tanzania may experience: (1) a slight decrease in the number of wet days and seasonal rainfall in MAM and JJAS, but not in OND; (2) a reduction of annual total rainfall; and (3) an intensification of the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall, as identified by 90th, 95th, and 99th percentiles.
Toward a therapy for mitochondrial disease

Mitochondrial disorders are a group of genetic diseases affecting the energy-converting process of oxidative phosphorylation. The extreme variability of symptoms, organ involvement, and clinical course represent a challenge to the development of effective therapeutic interventions. However, new possibilities have recently been emerging from studies in model organisms and awaiting verification in humans. I will discuss here the most promising experimental approaches and the challenges we face to translate them into the clinics. The current clinical trials will also be briefly reviewed.
Monochromatic Bi-Clustering

We propose a natural cost function for the bi-clustering task, the monochromatic cost. This cost function is suitable for detecting meaningful homogeneous bi-clusters based on categorical valued input matrices. Such tasks arise in many applications, such as the analysis of social networks and in systems-biology where researchers try to infer functional grouping of biological agents based on their pairwise interactions. We analyze the computational complexity of the resulting optimization problem. We present a polynomial time approximation algorithm for this bi-clustering task and complement this result by showing that finding (exact) optimal solutions is NP-hard. As far as we know, these are the first positive approximation guarantees and formal NP-hardness results for any bi-clustering optimization problem. In addition, we show that our optimization problem can be efficiently solved by deterministic annealing, yielding a promising heuristic for large problem instances.
Parkinson's disease patient rehabilitation using gaming platforms: lessons learnt

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder where motor dysfunction gradually increases as the disease progress. In addition to administering dopaminergic PD-specific drugs, attending neurologists strongly recommend regular exercise combined with physiotherapy. However, because of the long-term nature of the disease, patients following traditional rehabilitation programs may get bored, lose interest and eventually drop out as a direct result of the repeatability and predictability of the prescribed exercises. Technology supported opportunities to liven up a daily exercise schedule have appeared in the form of character-based, virtual reality games which promote physical training in a non-linear and looser fashion and provide an experience that varies from one game loop the next. Such "exergames", a word that results from the amalgamation of the words "exercise" and "game" challenge patients into performing movements of varying complexity in a playful and immersive virtual environment. Today's game consoles such as Nintendo's Wii, Sony PlayStation Eye and Microsoft's Kinect sensor present new opportunities to infuse motivation and variety to an otherwise mundane physiotherapy routine. In this paper we present some of these approaches, discuss their suitability for these PD patients, mainly on the basis of demands made on balance, agility and gesture precision, and present design principles that exergame platforms must comply with in order to be suitable for PD patients.
Simulation from a Target Distribution Based on Discretization and Weighting

We present a simulation method which is based on discretization of the state space of the target distribution (or some of its components) followed by proper weighting of the simulated output. The method can be used in order to simplify certain Monte Carlo and Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms. Its main advantage is that the autocorrelations of the weighted output almost vanish and therefore standard methods for iid samples can be used for estimating the Monte Carlo standard errors. We illustrate the method via toy examples as well as the well-known dugongs and Challenger datasets.
T Cell Lineage Commitment: Identity and Renunciation

Precursors undertaking T cell development shed their access to other pathways in a sequential process that begins before entry into the thymus and continues through many cell cycles afterward. This process involves three levels of regulatory change, in which the cells’ intrinsic transcriptional regulatory factors, expression of signaling receptors (e.g., Notch1), and expression of distinct homing receptors separately contribute to confirmation of T cell identity. Each alternative potential has a different underlying molecular basis that is neutralized and then permanently silenced through different mechanisms in early T cell precursors. This regulatory mosaic has notable implications for the hierarchy of relationships linking T lymphocytes to other hematopoietic fates.
'I Expected It to Happen/I Knew He'd Lost Control': The Impact of PTSD on Criminal Sentencing after the Promulgation of DSM-5

The adoption by the American Psychiatric Association of DSM-5 significantly changes (and in material ways, expands) the definition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a change that raises multiple questions that need to be considered carefully by lawyers, mental health professionals, advocates and policy makers.My thesis is that the expansion of the PTSD criteria in DSM-5 has the potential to make significant changes in legal practice in all aspects of criminal procedure, but none more so than in criminal sentencing. I believe that if courts treat DSM 5 with the same deference with which they have treated earlier versions of that Manual, it will force them to seriously confront - in a wide variety of cases - the impact of PTSD on sentencing decisions. And this may lead to more robust debates over the impact of mental disability generally on sentencing outcomes. My optimism here is tempered by (1) the reality that courts deal teleologically with mental disability evidence in general (subordinating it when it is introduced by the defendant, and privileging it when introduced by the state), and (2) the power of sanism - an irrational prejudice of the same quality and character as other irrational prejudices that cause, and are reflected in, prevailing social attitudes such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and ethnic bigotry - in this entire inquiry. On the other hand, we must also consider the impact of therapeutic jurisprudence on the question in hand. Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) presents a new model for assessing the impact of case law and legislation, recognizing that, as a therapeutic agent, the law that can have therapeutic or anti-therapeutic consequences. Although some scholars have considered TJ in the context of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, it remains mostly an “under the radar” topic. I believe it is essential we give it a new and urgent focus. I am convinced that, if courts take seriously the new treatment of PTSD in DSM 5, and couple that with an understanding of sanism and an application of TJ, that will lead to an important sea change in the ways that defendants with that condition - especially those who are Iraqi and Afghanistani war veterans - are sentenced. This paper proceeds in this manner. First, I briefly review the law of sentencing as it relates to persons with disabilities, focusing on developments that followed the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Booker (making the Federal Sentencing Guidelines advisory rather than mandatory) , the role of sanism, and the significance of therapeutic jurisprudence. Then, I look at how courts have, until this moment, treated PTSD in sentencing decisions. I will then look at DSM 5 to highlight its definitional changes. I then try to “connect the dots” to show how DSM 5 demands changes in sentencing practices, and explain how this change can be consonant with the principles of TJ. I will end with some modest conclusions.
Deterministic restrictions in circuit complexity

We study the complexity of computing Boolean functions using AND, OR and NOT gates. We show that a circuit of depth d with S gates can be made to output a constant by setting O(S1− ) (where (d) = 4−d) of its input values. This implies a superlinear size lower bound for a large class of functions. Using this, we obtain a function computable by a uniform family of constant depth polynomial size circuits that cannot be computed by constant depth circuits of linear size. We give circuit constructions that show that the bound O(S1− ) is near optimal. We also study the complexity of computing threshold functions. The function T r has the value 1 iff at least r of its inputs have the value 1. We show that a circuit computing T r has at least Ω(r (logn)/ log r) gates, for r ≤ n, improving previous bounds. We also show a trade-off between the number of gates and the number of wires in a threshold circuit, namely, a circuit with G (< n/2) gates and W wires computing T r satisfies W ≥ Ω(nr(logn)/(log(G/ logn))), showing that it is not possible to simultaneously optimize the number of gates and wires in a threshold circuit. Our bounds for threshold functions are based on a combinatorial lemma of independent interest.
Deep phenotyping for precision medicine

In medical contexts, the word “phenotype” is used to refer to some deviation from normal morphology, physiology, or behavior. The analysis of phenotype plays a key role in clinical practice and medical research, and yet phenotypic descriptions in clinical notes and medical publications are often imprecise. Deep phenotyping can be defined as the precise and comprehensive analysis of phenotypic abnormalities in which the individual components of the phenotype are observed and described. The emerging field of precision medicine aims to provide the best available care for each patient based on stratification into disease subclasses with a common biological basis of disease. The comprehensive discovery of such subclasses, as well as the translation of this knowledge into clinical care, will depend critically upon computational resources to capture, store, and exchange phenotypic data, and upon sophisticated algorithms to integrate it with genomic variation, omics profiles, and other clinical information. This special issue of Human Mutation offers a number of articles describing computational solutions for current challenges in deep phenotyping, including semantic and technical standards for phenotype and disease data, digital imaging for facial phenotype analysis, model organism phenotypes, and databases for correlating phenotypes with genomic variation. Hum Mutat 33:777–780, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Understanding Neural Networks in Awake Rat by Resting-State Functional MRI: A Dissertation

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that utilizes spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations of blood-oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) signals to examine resting-state functional connectivity in the brain. In the past two decades, this technique has been increasingly utilized to investigate properties of large-scale functional neural networks as well as their alterations in various cognitive and disease states. However, much less is known about large-scale functional neural networks of the rodent brain, particularly in the awake state. Therefore, we attempted to unveil local and global functional connectivity in awake rat through a combination of seed-based analysis, independent component analysis and graph-theory analysis. In the current studies, we revealed elementary local networks and their global organization in the awake rat brain. We further systematically compared the functional neural networks in awake and anesthetized states, revealing that the rat brain was locally reorganized while maintaining global topological properties from awake to anesthetized states. Furthermore, specific neural circuitries of the rat brain were examined using resting-state fMRI. First anticorrelated functional connectivity between infralimbic cortex and amygdala were found to be evident with different preprocessing methods (global signal regression, regression of ventricular and white matter signal and no signal regression). Secondly the thalamocortical connectivity was mapped for individual thalamic groups, revealing group-specific functional cortical connections that were generally consistent with known anatomical connections in rat. In conclusion, large-scale neural networks can be robustly and reliably studied using rs-fMRI in awake rat, and with this technique we established a baseline of local and global neural networks in the awake rat brain as well as their alterations in the anesthetized condition.
Changes in the determinants of inflation in Australia

In the past decade, inflation in Australia and most other industrialised countries has been extremely well behaved. An important question is whether this reflects a series of favourable shocks to prices or a more fundamental change in the inflation process. In this paper, we explore developments in each of the key explanators of inflation. We find that some of the determinants of inflation in Australia have exhibited unusual or structural change in recent years. Using a mark-up model of inflation, we attempt to identify whether there has been a change in the relationship between inflation and its determinants. We find some tentative evidence of change. Although this change is not statistically significant, it may be economically significant. It leaves open the possibility that some forces may be emerging that could help reduce the variability of inflation in response to shocks.
Experiments in Word Domain Disambiguation for Parallel Texts

This paper describes some preliminary results about Word Domain Disambiguation, a variant of Word Sense Disambiguation where words in a text are tagged with a domain label in place of a sense label. The English WORDNET and its aligned Italian version, MULTIWORDNET, both augmented with domain labels, are used as the main information repositories. A baseline algorithm for Word Domain Disambiguation is presented and then compared with a mutual help disambiguation strategy, which takes advantages of the shared senses of parallel bilingual texts.
Apolipoprotein E Levels in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of North Indian Patients With Alzheimer’s Disease

The etiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is multifactorial involving both genetic and environmental factors. Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene plays a pivotal role in risk and age of onset of AD. Although it is broadly accepted that ApoE genotype is linked to the pathogenesis of AD, there are still controversial results regarding the association of ApoE levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with the occurrence of AD. Some studies have shown a positive correlation between CSF ApoE levels and AD, whereas others showed no link. In this study, we measured ApoE levels to assess the usefulness of CSF ApoE as a diagnostic marker of AD by comparing the levels in 3 patient groups and in control participants. No significant difference was observed in CSF ApoE concentrations between the patients with AD and the controls. So, it appears that CSF ApoE measurement does not offer any diagnostic advantage for AD.
Quality of life: cost and future of bariatric surgery.

Obesity is increasing in epidemic proportions internationally. 1 Health care costs for the treatment of obesity and its complications have also increased. Recent estimates are that $70 billion or 9.4% of all health care costs are attributable to treating obesity and obesity-related complications. 2,3 As the population's weight has become heavier, 4,6 the prevalence of morbid obesity has dramatically increased.7 Morbid obesity is associated with significant medical complications such as sleep apnea, hypertension, osteoarthritis, diabetes mellitus, and other degenerative conditions. 8-18 Although these disorders respond to weight loss, individuals who have morbid obesity rarely achieve long-term weight loss with dietary interventions. 19 Bariatric surgery remains the only method that culminates in sustained weight loss with subsequent control of obesity-related complications. 20 Bariatric surgery effectively treats obesity-induced diabetes mellitus, 21,22 hypertension, 23-26 hyperlipidemia. 27-32 osteoarthritis, pulmonary hypertension, 33 and sleep apnea. 34-36 The effects of obesity on health and, similarly, the effectiveness of bariatric surgery in treating obesity-related comorbid conditions is well documented.