Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Studies Teachers and the Common Core: A Study of Instructional Practices, Teaching Conditions, and Professional Development

Author(s): Hipolito, Emma Delia | Advisor(s): Durkin, Diane; Rogers, John S. | Abstract: The Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts a Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects lays out a role for history/social studies in the teaching of disciplinary literacy, writing, and speaking and listening. While the effects of the Standards on the teaching of English/Language Arts and Math has been a source of discussion, the impact on social studies instruction has not been studied. Through surveys (n= 217) and interviews (n=20), this explanatory sequential mixed methods study examines the practice of social studies teachers as it relates to the Standards approach to critical reading, historical inquiry, and argumentation. I also investigate the conditions that support or hinder these practices as well as access to professional development. Differences among schools in low-income communities and more affluent neighborhoods are considered as part of these lines of inquiry. My findings show that teachers in low- income schools are concerned about the academic preparedness of students to engage in Common Core activities. This is in spite of a finding that teachers in less affluent schools have a strong repertoire of literacy practices. Second, teachers are making changes to their practice. The most commonly cited change was a depth over breadth approach to the California History-Social Science Standards. Third, only a small percentage of teachers report that the Common Core Standards are integrated into the practices of teachers in their department. Thus, this study sheds light on the current practices of social studies teachers in California and the supports needed to enact the Common Core Standards.
How not to present poverty research results: The South African case

Because of their vital role in charting progress (or the lack thereof) in the pursuit of the povert y reduction, statistics are of obvious importance. In South Africa, these leave much to be desired.Disagreements among academics on the severity of poverty, the result of the failure of Statistics South Africa to conduct the appropriate surveys, are the inevitable result. Far from losing money (or sleep) as a result, some in the profession resort to further research, some of it quite highly paid, to squeeze new results out of old, often unreliable data. This could have serious consequences for the poor – policy failure caused by faulty monitoring can easily damage the vulnerable. Regardless of the reliability or otherwise of their findings, it is argued in the present paper that researchers would do well to offer them in a way that minimises the possibility of their being misinterpreted and/or misrepresented, and that maximises the likelihood that the non-specialist reader will be able to understand them. It is common practice to give poverty estimates in the form of the (FGT) ratios suggested by Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (1984), often without accompanying estimates of the absolute magnitudes involved. This, the present paper claims, allows overly optimistic conclusions to be drawn, making possible the concealment of rising misery behind a veil of aggregate improvement. Commencing with a glance in the abstract at the FGT ratios, the paper concludes that in order for poverty statistics not to convey a misleading impression of changes in the phenomenon they seek to represent, the ratios have to be augmented with sufficient information of concurrent changes in the income distribution. Most poverty studies look at changes in inequality. Often, however, the inequality results are not linked directly to the changes in poverty. As far as income poverty is concerned, the present piece of research suggests that doing so is the only appropriate way to present results. Having sketched a conceptual foundation, the paper looks at the regurgitation by government, without comment, of poverty statistics that directly contradict each other. After that, the strange case of an undeserved accolade government awards its anti-poverty policies, is found to be based upon a misinterpretation of their own findings by the authors of a recent poverty and inequality study (Bhorat and van der Westhuizen, 2008). A new set of poverty and inequality estimates (Leibbrandt et al, 2010), although it does not conform to the mode of presentation suggested above as necessary, points (as do the Bhorat and van der Westhuizen findings) to the strong likelihood that although the poverty headcount ratio may have fallen since the advent of democracy in the country, the poverty headcount is likely to have risen by several million between 1993 and 2008. An appendix at the end of the paper offers a little speculation on what poverty levels might have been had the AIDS epidemic not killed so many people.
A preliminary in situ calibration for HY-2A satellite altimeter

Since the launch, HY-2A has observing global ocean dynamic environment data over the last 5 years including sea surface height (SSH), significant wave height (SWH) and corresponding auxiliary data (wind fields and water vapor). The in-orbit validation and crossover comparison of which suggest that the various technical indicators cater for basic needs in practicality. However, for the most important ocean dynamic environment parameter SSH, the accurate, reliable and standard processing for absolute calibration has not achieved yet, significantly limiting quantitative application of altimetry production. To evaluate the accuracy of HY-2A, we perform absolute calibration at California offshore Harvest Oil Platform. HY-2A interim geophysical dataset records (IGDR) are used to perform comparison. All corrections are estimated independently avoiding instruments aging. According to results, there are two significant linear trends for HY-2A derived SSHs consisting of -0.001083m/day for cycle 1~99 and 0.001475m/day afterward. The results indicate that HY-2A observations are low by -40.5 ±1.2 cm.
Minimum Energy Expenditure of Arm and Leg Motions

The purpose of the study is to find the optimized arm and leg motions by computer simulation. The research method of this study was based on Lagrange-Euler equations (LEE) of motion and the seven types of homogeneous transformation matrices (CH-7T) defined by Chiu [1]. A dynamic system with 10 degrees of freedom (DoF) was established for segments of the right arm, while segments of the right leg were defined as a dynamic system with 9 DoF. A video camera was used to shoot two motions of 16 male subjects. For the first motion, subjects stood motionless in the initial state, and then they were free to adopt what they consider the most comfortable way to lift their right arm until it rested alongside the head in the final state. For the second motion, subjects were required to lift their right leg. Then applying LEE of motion in analyzing the video, this study calculated the energy expenditure for the arm motion and the leg motion. Additionally, the video was used to locate the boundary conditions for the initial state and the final state of two motions. With the data on boundary conditions, the minimum energy expenditure(MEE) was calculated. There were three major findings in the analytic results. First, the calculated energy expenditure for simulated optimal arm motion of 16 subjects was 93% of the energy expenditure for the real arm motion done in an individualized way. Second, the calculated energy expenditure for simulated optimal leg motion of 16 subjects was 81% of the energy expenditure for the real leg motion done in an individualized way. It was obvious that adopting the simulated optimal trajectory required less energy than completing the motion in individualized ways. Third, it was found that performing arm motion required less energy than performing leg motion. The result demonstrated that the former had more efficiency than the latter, evidencing that humans manipulate their arm better than their leg. Whether there are other factors involved in the difference of efficiency between arm and leg motion will be reserved for further research.
A Service‐oriented Manufacturing Strategy

Introduces the concept of a manufacturing strategy based on a service orientation. Traditional manufacturing strategies have often been driven by cost minimization decisions and have encouraged the over‐reliance by managers on inventories to satisfy demand. In today′s business environment, a reliance on inventory is often not feasible. Suggests a reliance on capacity available to meet demand, as used by the service industry. Such a strategy is in direct conflict with most cost‐accounting systems because of the absorption of overhead costs based on direct labour. Proposes two alternatives for changing the accounting system, to enhance the move towards the service‐based strategy. Lastly, presents a case study of a US plant to illustrate the results that a company adopting this approach should expect.
The bi-objective stochastic chance-constrained optimization model of multi-project & multi-item investment combination based on the view of real options

This paper presents a new stochastic chance-constrained 0–1 integer programming model for investigating the investment combination problem in multi-project multi-item investment combination. The proposed model includes two objectives with stochastic constraints to construct a 0–1 integer programming model. On the one hand, the risk value will be measured by negative entropy; on the other hand, the pursued value objective will be composed of two parts, which including classical NPV and the corresponding real option for any item of any project. Then how to use DE to solve the model with a small modification of constraint-handling rule will be illustrated. A simulation experiment is employed to illustrate the application of the proposed model to get the Pareto-optimal solutions by applying the modified algorithm DE.
Analysis of the relationship between the development of logistics industry and the evolution of global economic regions

This paper selects the data of 26 hot global economic regions from 2000 to 2010, and through panel unit root and the co-integration test, systematically studies the relationship between the development of logistics industry and the evolution of international economic regions. The study concludes that the development of logistics industry is closely related to the concern degree of regional economy, and there is a long-term and stable equilibrium in between. Finally, it points out that China’s logistics enterprises should expand their market among emerging developing countries, including any important results found or conclusions drawn. This paper will play a guiding role in logistics enterprises in China; they should expand the international market and extend services to such emerging developing countries. However, regarding how to choose a more accurate index, the model needs further research.
Information Asymmetry and Competitive Bidding in Auditing

This article finds that clients with greater risk of fraud are less likely to engage prospective auditors in competitive bidding, consistent with the theory that these companies seek to limit access to information that might reveal their high-risk status. In contrast, we find no support for the expectation that companies with higher agency costs will seek competitive auditor bids, due to the need for better monitoring. Our results also show that bidding competition is more likely when the bidding firm is not an industry specialist, when clients have more active corporate governance, and when there are difficulties with the predecessor auditor. (JEL D44, D82, M42) Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.
Production of somatic cell nuclear transfer embryos using in vitro-grown and in vitro-matured oocytes in rabbits

Summary We examined growing oocytes collected from follicles remaining in superovulated rabbit ovaries, that were grown (in vitro growth, IVG) and matured (in vitro maturation, IVM) in vitro. We produced somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos using the mature oocytes and examined whether these embryos have the ability to develop to the blastocyst stage. In addition, we examined the effects of trichostatin A (TSA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), on the developmental competence of SCNT embryos derived from IVG–IVM oocytes. After growth for 7 days and maturation for 14–16 h in vitro, the growing oocytes reached the metaphase II stage (51.4%). After SCNT, these reconstructed embryos reached the blastocyst stage (20%). Furthermore, the rate of development to the blastocyst stage and the number of cells in the blastocysts in SCNT embryos derived from IVG–IVM oocytes were significantly higher for TSA-treated embryos compared with TSA-untreated embryos (40.6 versus 21.4% and 353.1 ± 59.1 versus 202.5 ± 54.6, P < 0.05). These results indicate that rabbit SCNT embryos using IVG–IVM oocytes have the developmental competence to reach the blastocyst stage.
Regional Disparities in Social Security in China and Transfer Payments

In this article the regional disparities in social security in China are analyzed in terms of such indicators as the proportion of social security expenditure in the gross domestic product (GDP) across the country, the proportion of overall social security expenditure in the fiscal expenditure, ratio between revenue and expenditure of the old-age social insurance funds, shortfall, pension replacement rate, and the dependency ratio. With old-age insurance as an example, the disparities are divided into two factors, namely, dependency ratio and replacement rate. Based on the national average level, subsidies amounting to social security transfer payments for the shortfall area can be determined. Proposals for reforms in basic work including finance and statistics are made from the angle of social security transfer payments.
Impacts of Multiple Strain-Gate Engineering on a Zero-Temperature-Coefficient Point

The impacts of zero-temperature-coefficient (ZTC) points of various strained devices is presented in this paper. The current and mobility are reduced at high temperature by phonon scattering. The degree of mobility reduction becomes severe on devices with multiple strain-gate engineering. The reduction of mobility becomes severe as a result of impurity scattering, which results from gate implantation impurities. The ZTC point is decreased by multiple strain-gate engineering due to the decreased Vth.
Overweight and obesity: a major challenge for coronary heart disease secondary prevention in clinical practice in Europe.

AIMS To evaluate the management of overweight and obesity in coronary artery disease patients in Europe. METHODS AND RESULTS The EUROASPIRE Study is a multicentre epidemiological study involving nine European countries. The major cardiovascular risk factors and their management were collected from hospital records and measured at least 6 months after hospitalization during a specific interview. A total of 4863 consecutive records from men and women with coronary artery disease, under 71 years of age, were reviewed. Interviews were obtained for 3569 (73%). Body mass index was computed from height and weight noted in the medical records and measured at interview. Management of overweight and obesity was recorded at interview. At least 6 months after hospitalization, 75% of women and 80% of men were overweight and 33% of women and 23% of men were obese. Height noted in medical records was over-estimated, inducing an under-estimation of obesity in 16% of men and 33% of women. Advice from a nutritionist was offered in less than 20% of obese patients. The same trends were observed in all participating countries. CONCLUSIONS Prevalences of overweight and obesity are high in coronary artery disease patients in Europe. A systematic measurement of height and weight is a prerequisite to a better management of this common modifiable risk factor.
Professional Service Fees and Auditor Objectivity

This study investigates whether an auditor's objectivity is impaired by nonaudit services or by the level of economic dependence on a client. Like several contemporaneous studies, we use recent mandated proxy statement audit and nonaudit fee disclosures to measure economic dependence and we use discretionary accruals as a surrogate for auditor objectivity. The results in the extant literature are mixed. We provide some explanations for those inconsistent results. First, we replicate the results of Frankel et al. (2002), finding, as they did, a significantly positive association between the relative level of nonaudit fees and discretionary accruals. Second, we document that this initial result is primarily due to small‐tomedium‐sized high‐growth firms, especially firms having initial public offerings and in the e‐commerce, biomedical, telecommunication, and pharmaceutical industries. After factoring these characteristics into the analysis, we find no evidence that the relative level of nonaudit service fee.
Prosthetic Mitral Valve Leaflet Escape

Leaflet escape of prosthetic valve is rare but potentially life threatening. It is essential to make timely diagnosis in order to avoid mortality. Transesophageal echocardiography and cinefluoroscopy is usually diagnostic and the location of the missing leaflet can be identified by computed tomography (CT). Emergent surgical correction is mandatory. We report a case of fractured escape of Edward-Duromedics mitral valve 27 years after the surgery. The patient presented with symptoms of acute decompensated heart failure and cardiogenic shock. She was instantly intubated and mechanically ventilated. After prompt evaluation including transthoracic echocardiography and CT, the escape of the leaflet was confirmed. The patient underwent emergent surgery for replacement of the damaged prosthetic valves immediately. Eleven days after the surgery, the dislodged leaflet in iliac artery was removed safely and the patient recovered well.
Regulation of GRP1-catalyzed ADP Ribosylation Factor Guanine Nucleotide Exchange by Phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-Trisphosphate*

Cellular levels of phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4,5)P3) are rapidly elevated in response to activation of growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases. This polyphosphoinositide binds the pleckstrin homology (PH) domain of GRP1, a protein that also contains 200 residues with high sequence similarity to a segment of the yeast Sec7 protein that functions as an ADP ribosylation exchange factor (ARF) (Klarlund, J., Guilherme, A., Holik, J. J., Virbasius, J. V., Chawla, A., and Czech, M. P. (1997)Science 275, 1927–1930). Here we show that dioctanoyl PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 binds the PH domain of GRP1 with aK d = 0.5 μm, an affinity 2 orders of magnitude greater than dioctanoyl-PtdIns(4,5)P2. Further, the Sec7 domain of GRP1 is found to catalyze guanine nucleotide exchange of ARF1 and -5 but not ARF6. Importantly, PtdIns(3,4,5)P3, but not PtdIns(4,5)P2, markedly enhances the ARF exchange activity of GRP1 in a reaction mixture containing dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine micelles, 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonic acid, and a low concentration of sodium cholate. PtdIns(3,4,5)P3-mediated ARF nucleotide exchange through GRP1 is selectively blocked by 100 μm inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate, which also binds the PH domain of GRP1. Taken together, these data are consistent with the hypothesis that selective recruitment of GRP1 to PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 in membranes activates ARF1 and -5, known regulators of intracellular membrane trafficking.
A Novel Method for Multiple Labeling Combining In Situ Hybridization With Immunofluorescence

In situ hybridization (ISH) is a particularly useful method to investigate de novo mRNA expression in tissue sections. High specificity and sensitivity of this technique combined with the great preservation of tissue and cellular morphology conferred by fixatives such as 4% paraformaldehyde, pH 9.5, make ISH a tool of choice for detecting genes of interest in individual cells in the central nervous system (CNS). Here we describe a novel method that combines radioactive ISH with immunofluorescence on the same tissue section to identify cell populations expressing selected mRNA transcripts. This novel method has several major advantages over previously described double-labeling light microscopic methods combining enzymatic immunohistochemistry and ISH including (1) complete protection against loss of hybridization signal that normally occurs during the immunoenzymatic reaction, (2) improved immunolabeling sensitivity due to the proteinase K digestion step during ISH, (3) detection of several proteins specific for different cell populations on the same tissue section, and (4) counterstaining of tissue sections without affecting visualization of immunolabeling. This new method will be particularly useful for investigators looking to identify cell populations producing mRNAs expressed in low abundance such as cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors in the intact and/or injured mammalian CNS.
Classification of varying length multivariate time series using Gaussian mixture models and support vector machines

In this paper, we propose two approaches in a hybrid framework in which a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) based method is used to obtain a fixed length pattern representation for a varying length time series and then a discriminative model is used for classification. In score vector based approach, each time series in a training data set is modelled by a GMM. A log-likelihood score vector representation is obtained by applying a time series to all GMMs. In segment modelling based approach, a time series is segmented into fixed number of segments and a GMM is built for each segment. Parameters of GMMs of segments are concatenated to obtain a parametric vector representation. Support vector machine is used for classification of score vector representation and parametric vector representation of time series. The proposed approaches are studied for speech emotion recognition and audio clip classification tasks.
The impact of macroeconomic indicators on Vietnamese stock prices

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of macroeconomic indicators (the interest rate and the industrial production) on Vietnamese stock prices. The paper examines how US macroeconomic indicators affect Vietnamese stock prices.Design/methodology/approach – The authors use monthly time series data covering the period from January 2001 to April 2008. The methodology introduced by Nasseh and Strauss and Canova and de Nicolo to investigate the linkage between stock prices and macroeconomic indicators.Findings – This paper provides the first empirical evidence that there are statistically significant associations among the domestic production sector, money markets, and stock prices in Viet Nam. Another novel finding is that the US macroeconomic fundamentals significantly affect Vietnamese stock prices. Finally, the results show that the influence of the US real sector is stronger than that of the money market.Originality/value – Since prior research has focused on developed economies.