Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Association of Principal Leadership Styles with Student Achievement in Traditional New Jersey Public Schools

iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . vii DEDICATION . ix TABLE OF CONTENTS . x LIST OF TABLES . xii I. CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Introduction . 1 Statement of the research problem . 4 Research questions . 7 Null hypothesis . 8 Significance of the study . 8 Conceptual framework . 9 Limitations . 12 Delimitations . 12 Operational definitions . 13 Summary . 16 II. CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Introduction . 17 Educational crisis in the United States . 17 Educational reform in the United States . 20 High-stakes testing . 24 Student achievement and socioeconomic status . 27 No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, ESSA . 29 NJDOE School (Performance) Report Card . 34 Educational leadership . 37 Bolman and Deal’s four frames . 42 School leadership and student achievement . 53 Summary . 61 III. CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY Introduction . 63 Research questions . 63 Research design . 64 Participants . 65 Instrumentations . 66 Data collection procedures . 67 Data analysis . 69 Summary . 74 xi IV. CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS Introduction . 76 Research design . 77 Respondents . 77 Descriptive analysis of the sample . 78 Descriptive analysis of the leadership frames . 81 Summary . 104 V. CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS Introduction . 107 Statement of the research problem . 107 Summary procedures . 108 Demographic data . 108 Summary of findings . 109 Discussions & deductions . 112 Recommendations for policy and practice . 114 Recommendations for future research . 116 Conclusion . 118 REFERENCES . 120 APPENDICES Appendix A: Permission to use Bolman & Deal’s Leadership Orientation Instrument. 135 Appendix B: Bolman and Deal’s Leadership Orientation Instrument . 136 Appendix C: Solicitation e-mail to New Jersey principals . 140 Appendix D: Subsequent e-mail to willing participants . 141 Appendix E: SHU Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to conduct research . 142
Prognostic importance of palpability as a feature of screen-detected breast cancers

Objectives: To determine epidemiological characteristics of palpability as a feature of asymptomatic invasive breast cancers detected through screening mammography, and to determine whether palpability is predictive of case survival after adjusting for conventional prognostic indicators such as diameter, grade and nodal status. Setting: The University of Adelaide, South Australian Department of Health, and The Cancer Council South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia. Methods: Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of 2108 screen-detected invasive breast cancers were compared by tumour palpability using univariate and multiple logistic regression analysis. Survival outcomes from breast cancer were compared using Kaplan–Meier product-limit estimates. Multivariable proportional hazard regression was employed to assess the association of palpability with survival after adjusting for conventional prognostic indicators. Results: Palpability was associated with year of diagnosis, ductal histology type, and unfavourable prognostic indicators such as larger tumour diameter, higher grade and nodal involvement. After adjusting for these variables, no associations were found with age at diagnosis, place of residence or socioeconomic status, or with presence of multifocal disease or presence of an extensive in situ component. Palpability was predictive of death from breast cancer in an unadjusted analysis, the relative risk (95% confidence limits) being 1.75 (1.12, 2.74). After adjusting for nodal involvement and larger tumour size, the relative risk no longer was elevated, reducing to 0.99 (0.60, 1.64). Discussion: Palpability is associated with unfavourable prognostic indicators, such as larger diameter, higher grade and nodal involvement, and is not an independent indicator of survival outcome for screen-detected female-breast cancers after accounting for nodal involvement and diameter.
The Effect of using Mobile Applications for Improving Oral Hygiene in Patients with Orthodontic Fixed Appliances: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Objective To investigate the effect of using mobile applications active reminders to improve oral hygiene in comparison to verbal oral hygiene instructions. Design Two-arm parallel randomised controlled trial. Setting orthodontic clinics at two branches of a university hospitals of the college of dentistry of Riyadh Colleges of Dentistry and Pharmacy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Participants Forty-four 12-year-old and older subjects. Method Subjects undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances were randomly assigned to one of two groups using simple randomisation. Group I: subjects received a mobile application that sends active reminders of oral hygiene three times a day (n = 22). Group II: subjects received verbal oral hygiene instructions verbally during their routine orthodontic visits (n = 22). Two primary outcomes were assessed using plaque index (PI) and gingival index (GI) for Ramfjord teeth to evaluate the level of oral hygiene at baseline and after 4 weeks. Results Mean differences for PI and GI for group I were reduced from T1 to T2 (P < 0.05, P < 0.05) but did not significantly change for group II (P > 0.05, P > 0.05). Both PI and GI significantly reduced for group I compared to group II between T1 and T2 (P < 0.05, P < 0.05). Conclusions PI and GI all significantly decreased after 4 weeks of using active reminders of oral hygiene instructions on mobile application compared to verbal oral hygiene instructions. The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov with number: NCT03109769.
Fastigial nucleus stimulation regulates neuroprotection via induction of a novel microRNA, rno‐miR‐676‐1, in middle cerebral artery occlusion rats

Previous studies have shown that fastigial nucleus stimulation (FNS) reduces tissue damage resulting from focal cerebral ischemia. Although the mechanisms of neuroprotection induced by FNS are not entirely understood, important data have been presented in the past two decades. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a newly discovered group of non‐coding small RNA molecules that negatively regulate target gene expression and are involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and cell apoptosis. To date, no studies have demonstrated whether miRNAs can serve as mediators of the brain's response to FNS, which leads to endogenous neuroprotection. Therefore, this study investigated the profiles of FNS‐mediated miRNAs. Using a combination of deep sequencing and microarray with computational analysis, we identified a novel miRNA in the rat ischemic cortex after 1 h of FNS. This novel miRNA (PC‐3p‐3469_406), herein referred to as rno‐miR‐676‐1, was upregulated in rats with cerebral ischemia after FNS. In vivo observations indicate that this novel miRNA may have antiapoptotic effects and contribute to neuroprotection induced by FNS. Our study provides a better understanding of neuroprotection induced by FNS. MicroRNA (miRNA) is defined as a small non‐coding RNA that fulfills both the expression and biogenesis criteria. Here, we describe a novel miRNA in the rat ischemic cortex expressed after 1 h of fastigial nucleus stimulation (FNS). The miRNA was functionally characterized by secondary structure, quantitative expression, the conservation analysis, target gene analysis, and biological functions. We consider rno‐miR‐676‐1 to be a true microRNA and present evidence for its neuroprotective effects exerted after induction by FNS.
New rat model of Pneumocystis carinii infection

Rats free of latent Pneumocystis carinii organisms were immunosuppressed with adrenal corticosteroids and transtracheally injected with P. carinii. These animals subsequently developed P. carinii pneumonia. Infection was accomplished by using organisms from infected rat lung or from culture. Diffuse infection was produced with no significant differences in the numbers of organisms found in various lobes of the lungs. Infections progressed over time so that by 6 weeks postinoculation all animals were heavily infected. Infection by transtracheal injection has three advantages over current models. First, transtracheal injection provides a reliable model which is not dependent on naturally occurring latent Pneumocystis infection. Second, transtracheal injection allows the perpetuation of specific Pneumocystis strains. Third, transtracheal injection is a more rapid and economical means of producing severe Pneumocystis pneumonia.
Structure-based prediction of ligand–protein interactions on a genome-wide scale

Significance The ability to identify protein targets for different ligands would have enormous impact on drug discovery, both in the repurposing of known drugs and in the identification of off-targets. Moreover, identifying small-molecule binding sites and associating potential ligands with those sites is important in protein function annotation. The methods described in this paper are designed to accomplish these goals. They rely heavily on the use of protein structural alignment to detect relationships not available from sequence alone and use a measure of protein–ligand interaction similarity to determine whether proteins with similar shapes are likely to bind similar ligands. We present results that compare favorably with existing methods using an approach that can be applied on a genome-wide scale. We report a template-based method, LT-scanner, which scans the human proteome using protein structural alignment to identify proteins that are likely to bind ligands that are present in experimentally determined complexes. A scoring function that rapidly accounts for binding site similarities between the template and the proteins being scanned is a crucial feature of the method. The overall approach is first tested based on its ability to predict the residues on the surface of a protein that are likely to bind small-molecule ligands. The algorithm that we present, LBias, is shown to compare very favorably to existing algorithms for binding site residue prediction. LT-scanner’s performance is evaluated based on its ability to identify known targets of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs and it too proves to be highly effective. The specificity of the scoring function that we use is demonstrated by the ability of LT-scanner to identify the known targets of FDA-approved kinase inhibitors based on templates involving other kinases. Combining sequence with structural information further improves LT-scanner performance. The approach we describe is extendable to the more general problem of identifying binding partners of known ligands even if they do not appear in a structurally determined complex, although this will require the integration of methods that combine protein structure and chemical compound databases.
Predicting Factors and Risk Stratification for Return Visits to the Emergency Department Within 72 Hours in Pediatric Patients

Objectives A return visit (RV) to the emergency department (ED) is usually used as a quality indicator for EDs. A thorough comprehension of factors affecting RVs is beneficial to enhancing the quality of emergency care. We performed this study to identify pediatric patients at high risk of RVs using readily available characteristics during an ED visit. Methods We retrospectively collected data of pediatric patients visiting 6 branches of an urban hospital during 2007. Potential variables were analyzed using a multivariable logistic regression analysis to determine factors associated with RVs and a classification and regression tree technique to identify high-risk groups. Results Of the 35,435 visits from which patients were discharged home, 2291 (6.47%) visits incurred an RV within 72 hours. On multivariable analysis, younger age, weekday visits, diagnoses belonging to the category of symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions, and being seen by a female physician were associated with a higher probability of RVs. Children younger than 6.5 years who visited on weekdays or between midnight and 8:00 AM on weekends or holidays had the highest probability of returning to the ED within 72 hours. Conclusions Our study reexamined several important factors that could affect RVs of pediatric patients to the ED and identified high-risk groups of RVs. Further intervention studies or qualitative research could be targeted on these at-risk groups.
Prevention mechanism for prohibiting SMS malware attack on android smartphone

Nowadays, use of android smartphone is increasing tremendously, because of their attractive features and capabilities. People store their confidential information on smartphones. Malware writers are more interested in writing malwares for smartphones, therefore malware attacks on smartphone devices have increased nowadays. Malware attack can be performed in various ways. The new evolving malwares are not detected by existing anti-malware software. In this dissertation we propose a malware, which will send SMS in background without knowledge of smartphone user. This malware can also collect all contacts; inbox messages and send it to command and control server, which is present in wireless network. In our system, we deploy the malware on the smartphone device present in our wireless network, by attracting user to download our malicious Sudoku app. To counteract for such SMS sending malware, we propose one application named as Monitor. Monitor app will be a system application with root permissions. This app will alert user, if malicious app sends SMS in background. Monitor app will display all running background services and apps to the user.
Memory for Intentions is Uniquely Associated with Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in Healthy Older Adults

Abstract Moderate declines in prospective memory (PM) are common among older adults, but whether such decrements are associated with everyday functioning problems is not well established. To examine this issue, we administered the Memory for Intentions Screening Test (MIST), Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ), and Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire (ADLQ) to 50 healthy older Australian adults as part of a broader neuropsychological battery. In a series of hierarchical regressions controlling for demographics, medical/psychiatric factors, and other neurocognitive functions, the MIST event-based PM score and PRMQ PM scale were significantly associated with the total number of instrumental ADL (IADL) domains in which participants reported needing assistance. Extending prior findings in clinical populations, results indicate that lower PM functioning is uniquely associated with mild, concurrent IADL problems in healthy older adults. Future investigation of the potentially moderating effects of cognitive and behavioral compensatory strategies may be beneficial. (JINS, 2012, 18, 134–138)
Further studies of hyperlysinemia.

THE ORIGINAL report of hyperlysinemia associated it with convulsions, mental retardation, delayed development, poor growth, anemia, and muscular and ligamentous asthenia; it outlined the clinical course of the patient until the age of 4½ years. 1 That paper also noted the presence of parental consanguinity, outlined biochemical findings which apparently resulted from the abnormality of lysine metabolism, advanced a hypothesis to explain the clinical and biochemical manifestations, and reported the results of family screening studies. Since then two more children, relatives of the original patient, have been found with hyperlysinemia, and additional studies have been made to clarify the nature of their metabolic defect. It is the intent of this report to describe the clinical findings, to record results of further biochemical investigation, and to advance another hypothesis for the nature of the metabolic defect in hyperlysinemia. Report of Cases Case1. —Patient 1 was the subject of the original case
Patterns of differentiation among wild rabbit populations Oryctolagus cuniculus L. in arid and semiarid ecosystems of north‐eastern Australia

Feral rabbit populations in Australia have generally been managed using localized control procedures. While these procedures may result in local extinctions, persistence of populations will depend on the probability of recolonization. Genetic markers developed using temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE) combined with heteroduplex analysis (HA) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) were used to characterize the degree of subdivision and extent of gene flow within and among rabbit populations distributed over large distances (up to 1000 km) in southern Queensland (QLD) and north‐west New South Wales (NSW), Australia. TGGE analyses revealed significant heterogeneity in mtDNA control region haplotype frequencies. From heterogeneity χ2 tests, it was evident that the differentiation observed was largely attributable to five sites which were located in the semiarid eastern region, whereas haplotype frequencies were homogeneous throughout the arid western region. These results suggest that there are independent population systems within the study area. The extent of gene flow among local populations within each system is related to the spatial configuration of acceptable habitat patches and the persistence of the populations is determined by the probability of recolonization following local extinction. These data suggest that to provide better overall control of rabbit populations, different management strategies may be necessary in arid and semiarid ecosystems. In arid south‐west QLD and north‐west NSW, where extensive gene flow occurs over large distances, rabbit populations should be managed at a regional level. In semiarid eastern QLD, where gene flow is restricted and populations are more isolated, localized control procedures may provide effective short‐term relief. These results indicate that in nonequilibrium systems with patchy distribution of individuals, the interpretation of migration rate from estimates of gene flow obtained using existing genetic models must include an understanding of the spatial and temporal scales over which population processes operate.
High-Current-Gain SiC BJTs With Regrown Extrinsic Base and Etched JTE

This paper describes successful fabrication of 4H-SiC bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) with a regrown extrinsic base layer and an etched junction termination extension (JTE). Large-area 4H-SiC BJTs measuring 1.8 times 1.8 mm (with an active area of 3.24 ) showed a common emitter current gain of 42, specific on-resistance of 9 , and open-base breakdown voltage of 1.75 kV at room temperature. The key to successful fabrication of high-current-gain SiC BJTs with a regrown extrinsic base is efficient removal of the regrown layer from the surface of the emitter-base junction. The BJT with regrown layer has the advantage of lower base contact resistivity and current gain that is less sensitive to the distance between the emitter edge and the base contact, compared to a BJT with ion-implanted base. Fabrication of BJTs without ion implantation means less lifetime-reducing defects, and in addition, the surface morphology is improved since high-temperature annealing becomes unnecessary. BJTs with flat-surface junction termination that combine etched regrown layers show about 250 V higher breakdown voltage than BJTs with only etched flat-surface JTE.
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors: an overview on drug discovery

Background: Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that participate in many physiological functions. Receptors result from the assembly of five homologous or heterologous subunits that form the ligand-binding site and an ionic pore. In vertebrates, 17 subunits have been identified, α (1 – 10), β (1 – 4), γ, δ and ϵ. Assembly of different subunit combinations allows a diversity of physiological and pharmacological properties. Objective: To review the putative involvement of nAChRs in several diseases. Methods: We discuss the expression pattern of the subunits, the pharmacological tools for distinguishing them and their role in pathogenesis. Results/conclusion: Long-standing efforts in this field should soon result in the finding of new molecules that might be applicable to situations ranging from neurological diseases to immune treatments.
Design and implementation of real time video streaming and ROI transmission system using RTP on an embedded digital signal processing (DSP) platform

Recently, video streaming has been extensively used for information broadcasting. Availability of improved and enhanced transmission facilities make it possible to use video streaming in fast real time applications. Real time video transmission is widely used in surveillance, conferencing, media broadcasting and applications that include remote assistance. Though a lot of work has already been done in the field of video streaming and many systems are already available, most of them either use a dedicated physical medium for data transmission or rely on general purpose computer systems as servers; which make these systems less efficient and un-suitable for such real time applications that require high speed dedicated video servers. This issue can be resolved by deploying special purpose high speed dedicated embedded processors. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a real-time video streaming system by using an embedded media processing platform. The system deals with the issues of real-time protocol implementation on captured video and serving it to a client system via Ethernet which plays it in real-time. Further, in this piece of work we also deal with ‘Region of Interest’ (ROI) transmission to improve processing efficiency of the system, which allows video fragmentation and communication together in real-time.
Treatment of NSCLC patients with an EGF-based cancer vaccine: Report of a phase I trial

Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) promotes tumor cell proliferation and survival upon binding to its receptor. We have developed a new active specific immunotherapy based on EGF deprivation. In the present paper, we show the results of a Phase I trial in 43 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received the EGF vaccine. Patients who had already received first line therapy were randomized to receive a single or double dose of the EGF vaccine, weekly for four weeks and monthly thereafter. No significant toxicity was seen after vaccination. Adverse events consisted primarily of fever, chills, nausea, vomiting and flushing. Fifteen patients (39%) developed a good antibody response (GAR) against EGF. The geometric mean of the antibody titer was higher in the double dose group. EGF concentration was quantified in serum. An inverse correlation between anti-EGF antibody titers and EGF concentration was seen after immunization. Vaccinated patients achieved median survival times of 8.23 months from randomization. Patients who received the double dose of treatment showed a trend toward increased survival in comparison with patients who received the single dose. GAR and patients in whom the serum EGF decreased below the 168 pg/ml cut-off point had a significantly better survival when compared to poor responders or patients in which the EGF levels were not considerably reduced. Our results confirm the immunogenicity of the EGF vaccine in the treatment of patients with advanced stage NSCLC. Antibody titers and serum EGF levels appear to correlate with patient survival.