A finite-valued solver for disjunctive fuzzy answer set programs

Fuzzy Answer Set Programming (FASP) is a declarative programming paradigm which extends the flexibility and expressiveness of classical Answer Set Programming (ASP), with the aim of modeling continuous application domains. In contrast to the availability of efficient ASP solvers, there have been few attempts at implementing FASP solvers. In this paper, we propose an implementation of FASP based on a reduction to classical ASP. We also develop a prototype implementation of this method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first solver for disjunctive FASP programs. Moreover, we experimentally show that our solver performs well in comparison to an existing solver (under reasonable assumptions) for the more restrictive class of normal FASP programs

Expectations for implementing Common Core State Standards and new programs for reading in a Title I school: case studies of the role of teachers’ knowledge and beliefs

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the role of six elementary teachers’ knowledge and beliefs when implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for reading in their school context. The source(s) of any change(s) in teachers’ knowledge and beliefs while learning about and implementing the CCSS was also investigated. Six focal teachers were selected to participate in this study based on purposeful sampling at a Title I school in the southeastern United States. Data were collected about these teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about reading through observations, interviews, and the Literacy Orientation Survey (Lenski, 1998) to craft case studies of each teacher. Three District and school leaders were also interviewed to provide additional perspectives on the context of this study. A cross-case analysis highlighted several key findings. First, the teachers did not have solid knowledge of reading or the CCSS for reading. Second, their prior beliefs, including their beliefs about their students’ abilities and motivation, informed their instructional decision-making. Third, although the teachers viewed themselves as constructivists, their traditional application of reading practices followed District and school expectations for instruction. Fourth, changes in teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices were attributed to those expectations. Finally, teachers in the study made choices about how to implement the CCSS based on District and school expectations, their students, state assessments, and online resources. This study yielded several recommendations related to implementing new instructional programs and structures for teaching reading when teachers are also expected to use standards-based instruction. Recommendations for district leaders include collaborating with teachers, administrators, and curriculum leaders to create a common vision, common vocabulary, and aligned goals for implementing new programs and standards. District leaders should also create a timeline for preparing and supporting school-based professionals implementing new programs and standards, allocating resources, and providing on-going professional development. School administrators must ensure that school visions and timelines are aligned with District expectations and support the needs of the school. School-based teachers, teacher leaders, curriculum coaches, and administrators need opportunities to collaborate in order to create a shared commitment to learning when implementing new programs and standards

Management information systems in social safety net programs : a look at accountability and control mechanisms

This paper is intended to provide task managers and World Bank Group clients working on Social Safety Net (SSN) programs with practical and systematic ways to use information management practices to mitigate risks by strengthening control and accountability mechanisms. It lays out practices and options to consider in the design and implementation of the Management Information System (MIS), and how to evaluate and mitigate operational risks originating from running a MIS. The findings of the paper are based on the review of several Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs in the Latin American Region and various World Bank publications on CCTs. The paper presents a framework for the implementation of MIS and cross-cutting information management systems that is based on industry standards and information management practices. This framework can be applied both to programs that make use of information and communications technology (ICT) and programs that are paper based. It includes examples of MIS practices that can strengthen control and accountability mechanisms of SSN programs, and presents a roadmap for the design and implementation of an MIS in these programs. The application of the framework is illustrated through case studies from three fictitious countries. The paper concludes with some considerations and recommendations for task managers and government officials in charge of implementing CCTs and other safety nets program, and with a checklist for the implementation and monitoring of MIS.E-Business,Technology Industry,Education for Development (superceded),Labor Policies,Knowledge Economy

Should We Flip the Script?: A Literature Review of Deficit-Based Perspectives on First-Year Undergraduate Students’ Information Literacy

This mixed method systematic review considers recent literature on the information literacy (IL) skills of first-year undergraduate students. The review uncovers the following themes: faculty and librarians perceive first-year students as lacking IL skills; students have varying perceptions of their IL skills; assessment studies yield conflicting findings on first-year students\u27 IL; communication between high school and college librarians is challenging; and some IL researchers emphasise and leverage first-year students\u27 prior knowledge and experience in IL instruction. These themes emerge from extensive searches in four research databases for scholarly and professional articles written in English within the past ten years. With the exception of a few articles, studies reviewed consistently express their findings in terms of students’ gaps or deficits. We question whether this is the most productive basis for developing effective IL programs. Instead, we call for further investigation of students’ existing knowledge and skills as a basis for implementing constructivist and strengths-based pedagogies

A Supplemental computer-assisted intervention to prevent early reading difficulties in spanish learners: a randomised controlled trial

Difficulties implementing effective instruction for at-risk students arise from two challenges: evidence-based knowledge transfer and lack of economic resources. Computer-assisted programs can offer a suitable solution, providing quality instruction with low cost resources. Thirty first grade students with learning difficulties were identified and paired on at least four pretest reading measures (reading efficiency of monosyllabic and disyllabic items, words, pseudowords, and texts). Each pair was assigned to two different intervention programs: a computer-assisted instructional program (CAP) focused on developing phonological route versus to the Spanish public school assistance services (AS). Computer-assisted instruction consisted of four individual 12-15 minute sessions per week focused on syllable decoding plus a collective comprehension session per week of 1 hour. CAP was delivered by university students. The assistance services typically consisted of one hour per week, individually or in small groups, delivered by trained teachers. Both programs were applied during eleven weeks. 9 of 15 subjects from the AS condition showed resistance to treatment, while only 5 of 15 subjects were treatment resisters on the CAP condition.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The Signs of Suicide (SOS) Prevention Program Pilot Study: High School Implementation Recommendations

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for high school aged youth. There are many suicide prevention programs available, but few are evidence-based. The Signs of Suicide (SOS) Prevention Program is one of the few youth suicide prevention programs that have shown improvement in students’ knowledge and adaptive attitudes about suicide risk and depression, including a reduction in self-reported suicide attempts. With this being the high school’s first formal attempt at implementing a psychoeducation prevention program, they wanted to use an evidence-based program targeting a primary mental health concern – depression and suicide. One goal of the initial implementation of psychoeducation based on the SOS prevention program was to increase students’ basic knowledge and self-awareness of depression and suicide. The other goal was to assess the effectiveness of the implementation process based on recommendations from previous years. A pilot study of the SOS prevention program was implemented over three years with data collection across grades 9-12. Results showed that psychoeducation based on the SOS prevention program was effective in enhancing students’ knowledge and awareness of depression and suicide, including learning how to seek help for themselves and their peers. It also appears that the modifications to the psychoeducation program and implementation process based on recommendations from the previous pilot study years (one and two) were effective in maintaining students’ gains in the following years (two and three). Practice implications and future research considerations are also provided by integrating key themes relevant to this study within the wider context of implementing future suicide prevention programs like SOS

A study of mapping exogenous knowledge representations into CONFIG

Qualitative reasoning is reasoning with a small set of qualitative values that is an abstraction of a larger and perhaps infinite set of quantitative values. The use of qualitative and quantitative reasoning together holds great promise for performance improvement in applications that suffer from large and/or imprecise knowledge domains. Included among these applications are the modeling, simulation, analysis, and fault diagnosis of physical systems. Several research groups continue to discover and experiment with new qualitative representations and reasoning techniques. However, due to the diversity of these techniques, it is difficult for the programs produced to exchange system models easily. The availability of mappings to transform knowledge from the form used by one of these programs to that used by another would open the doors for comparative analysis of these programs in areas such as completeness, correctness, and performance. A group at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) is working to develop CONFIG, a prototype qualitative modeling, simulation, and analysis tool for fault diagnosis applications in the U.S. space program. The availability of knowledge mappings from the programs produced by other research groups to CONFIG may provide savings in CONFIG's development costs and time, and may improve CONFIG's performance. The study of such mappings is the purpose of the research described in this paper. Two other research groups that have worked with the JSC group in the past are the Northwest University Group and the University of Texas at Austin Group. The former has produced a qualitative reasoning tool named SIMGEN, and the latter has produced one named QSIM. Another program produced by the Austin group is CC, a preprocessor that permits users to develop input for eventual use by QSIM, but in a more natural format. CONFIG and CC are both based on a component-connection ontology, so a mapping from CC's knowledge representation to CONFIG's knowledge representation was chosen as the focus of this study. A mapping from CC to CONFIG was developed. Due to differences between the two programs, however, the mapping transforms some of the CC knowledge to CONFIG as documentation rather than as knowledge in a form useful to computation. The study suggests that it may be worthwhile to pursue the mappings further. By implementing the mapping as a program, actual comparisons of computational efficiency and quality of results can be made between the QSIM and CONFIG programs. A secondary study may reveal that the results of the two programs augment one another, contradict one another, or differ only slightly. If the latter, the qualitative reasoning techniques may be compared in other areas, such as computational efficiency

School Psychologists’ Knowledge and Use of Evidence-based, Social-Emotional Learning Interventions

This article describes the results of a national survey pertaining to school psychologists’ knowledge and use of evidence-based, social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions. For the study, 331 school psychologists responded to a survey that listed (a) techniques for identifying SEL interventions, (b) 16 SEL programs that have been identified by more than one source as having strong evidence for their effectiveness, and (c) factors that school psychologists may use for deciding on a program to use in their schools. Participants in the survey were asked to rate their opinions about selecting and using SEL interventions, as well as their knowledge and experience with various SEL programs that have received much research attention. Results of the survey indicated that school psychologists have limited awareness of the majority of published, evidence-based SEL programs. These results are of interest to school psychologists and other school personnel who make decisions about purchasing and implementing SEL programs. Implications for training and practice are discussed

Case 2 : Understanding and Developing Conceptual Frameworks and Causal Models in Maternal and Child Health Programming

This case attempts to help students understand the various terminologies (“frameworks”, “pathways”, “models”, etc.) used by organizations in planning, implementing, and evaluating programs and interventions. It is based on the work done by the Center for Global Health at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto on the Knowledge Management Initiative (KMI) of the Muskoka Initiative Consortium (MIC). The case starts by reprising the Muskoka I and II Initiatives, and then focuses on the global context before narrowing down to programs and interventions for maternal health in Mali

Effects of a Parish Based Heart Healthy Education Program

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States. Some risk factors for cardiovascular disease can be modified which include: diet; physical activity; smoking; hypertension; diabetes; and weight. Various national programs, such as “Go Red for Women” and “Let’s Move,” have been implemented to address this growing epidemic. Community programs are needed as an adjunct to these national initiatives. Thus, a parish based cardiovascular disease educational program would provide for a unique socially and spiritually supportive environment for education at the community level. Research findings indicate that parish based educational programs are effective in increasing health knowledge of participants. The Health Belief Model and the IOWA model served as frameworks to support implementation of this Evidence Based Practice (EBP) project. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s “Ten Commandments for a Healthy Heart,” was utilized as the 20 minute educational platform. A convenience sample of 20 parishioners from a Midwestern, Roman Catholic Church was obtained to assess knowledge gained from the 20 minute heart healthy education session. A cardiovascular disease knowledge questionnaire evaluated baseline and post education intervention knowledge. Resulting data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a paired t-test to compare baseline and post education intervention knowledge scores. Results indicated a statistically significant improvement between baseline and post education intervention test scores (p\u3c.000). The findings of this EBP project support implementing parish based educational programs. The Advanced Practice Nurse, as a healthcare professional, can replicate this EBP project to provide education at the community level