School Poverty Concentration and Kindergarten Students' Numerical Skills

Schools that enroll disproportionately high percentages of pupils from low-income families are widely believed to have negative consequences for student performance. Prior research has investigated the relationship of school poverty and outcomes in numerous ways, but the basic proposition is that school composition affects student learning, such that otherwise similar students realize different levels of achievement in schools with different proportions of low-income. This paper updates and extends the research on compositional effects in several respects. First, we extend the research to the early elementary level of schooling. Second, the data needed to assess the relative importance of individual and school factors have not been available and the mechanisms that mediate the school-level effect independent of student background factors are thus not clear. This paper draws upon nationally representative data on kindergarten pupils and the schools they attend to estimate both the overall impact of school poverty on mathematics achievement and its impact on a variety of other school and schooling-experience variables that may in turn affect student learning. Finally, this paper analyzes the effects of high poverty schools on several schooling variables hypothesized to affect student achievement.

Association rule hiding using integer linear programming

Privacy preserving data mining has become the focus of attention of government statistical agencies and database security research community who are concerned with preventing privacy disclosure during data mining. Repositories of large datasets include sensitive rules that need to be concealed from unauthorized access. Hence, association rule hiding emerged as one of the powerful techniques for hiding sensitive knowledge that exists in data before it is published. In this paper, we present a constraint-based optimization approach for hiding a set of sensitive association rules, using a well-structured integer linear program formulation. The proposed approach reduces the database sanitization problem to an instance of the integer linear programming problem. The solution of the integer linear program determines the transactions that need to be sanitized in order to conceal the sensitive rules while minimizing the impact of sanitization on the non-sensitive rules. We also present a heuristic sanitization algorithm that performs hiding by reducing the support or the confidence of the sensitive rules. The results of the experimental evaluation of the proposed approach on real-life datasets indicate the promising performance of the approach in terms of side effects on the original database

Deep Learning for Fruit Grading: A State-of-the-Art Review

In the food industry, grading fruit quality is a critical responsibility. Throughout this process, fruits are sorted and categorized in by their quality. Fruit grading can be done using both machine learning and visual assessment. Visual inspection is subjective and can be influenced by human prejudice. Machine learning can produce more accurate and unbiased results. Deep learning-based methods can be used to evaluate the fruit quality by teaching a neural network to recognize various quality parameters like size, color, and defects. Deep learning methodologies for evaluating fruit quality offer further benefits. They are neutral and accurate, and they can manage enormous amounts of data. They can also save labor expenses and improve the efficiency of the grading process. Deep learning methods are useful for evaluating fruit quality, but they have several drawbacks. These include an intricate neural network, overfitting, and a lack of high-quality training data. Addressing these issues is crucial for the success of deep learning in fruit quality evaluation. In this paper, various significant deep-learning methods for evaluating fruit quality are described. The methods' advantages and disadvantages are also discussed. The study gives the researcher pointers on how to improve current strategies or create fresh ones to improve performance in terms of training effectiveness, accuracy, etc

Comparative clinical study of laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy and non-descent vaginal hysterectomy

Background: Laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH) is increasingly becoming popular. It's really a technique made to replace abdominal hysterectomy. The need of the hour is the minimal invasive surgery, early discharge from the hospital, early resumption of work, avoidance of disfiguring scar on the abdomen and cost-effectiveness of the procedure which are as important as cure of the disease. The objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness and safety of laparoscopic and vaginal hysterectomies for non-descent uteri (NDVH).Methods: The study was undertaken in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi for the period of one year. About 50 women in each group undergoing LAVH and NDVH for benign pelvic conditions were studied preoperatively, intra-operatively and post-operatively in detail for indications, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, duration of stay in hospital.Results: The mean operative time in LAVH was 240.6 minutes and in NDVH 168.3 minutes. Minimum duration of stay was in LAVH 3 days and in NDVH 4 days. Mean duration of stay in both groups was 6.4 days. Maximum duration of stay-15 days in both groups.Conclusions: LAVH is a better approach for a larger uterus whereas NDVH is preferable for a small uterus, not only for shorter operative time and minimal wound, but also for much lower costs

Comparison of Foley’s catheter with PGE2 gel and Foley’s catheter with PGE2 gel with extra amniotic saline infusion for labour induction

Background: Induction of labour is initiation of uterine contractions before the onset in order to vaginally deliver the foetoplacental unit. Common reasons for induction of labour are post-term and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of Foley catheter with intra cervical PGE2 gel and Foley catheter with PGE2 gel with extra amniotic saline infusion for induction of labour.Methods: The clinical trial was conducted from November 2016 to April 2017 at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubballi. 80 pregnant women which included both primigravidae and multigravidae were alternatively divided into two groups. Group 1 received Foley’s and PGE2 gel and group 2 received Foley’s, PGE2 gel and extra amniotic saline infusion for induction of labour.Results: Both groups were comparable with respect to maternal age, gestational age and indication for induction. There was no significant difference in the mean pre-induction Bishop score between two groups. In both the groups there was significant improvement in the Bishop score after 6 hours of induction. But progress in group 2 was greater than group 1(P <0.05). The mean time from induction to delivery in group 2 was shorter and was statistically significant(P<0.05). There was no difference in mode of delivery, neonatal and maternal morbidity and mortality between 2 groups.Conclusions: The present study showed that Foley’s with PGE2 gel with extra amniotic saline infusion is better for labour induction though both groups appear to be effective agents

Proactive cloud service assurance framework for fault remediation in cloud environment

Cloud resiliency is an important issue in successful implementation of cloud computing systems. Handling cloud faults proactively, with a suitable remediation technique having minimum cost is an important requirement for a fault management system. The selection of best applicable remediation technique is a decision making problem and considers parameters such as i) Impact of remediation technique ii) Overhead of remediation technique ii) Severity of fault and iv) Priority of the application. This manuscript proposes an analytical model to measure the effectiveness of a remediation technique for various categories of faults, further it demonstrates the implementation of an efficient fault remediation system using a rule-based expert system. The expert system is designed to compute an utility value for each remediation technique in a novel way and select the best remediation technique from its knowledgebase. A prototype is developed for experimentation purpose and the results shows improved availability with less overhead as compared to a reactive fault management system

Borderline Ovarian Malignancies : A Single Institute Retrospective Study.

Background: Borderline ovarian tumors are histologically characterized as epithelial tumors with a stratified growth pattern but without destructive stromal invasion. Little is known about the histological subtypes and outcome, role of fertility sparing surgery and role of postoperative therapy in advanced stage in Indian scenario. While there is ample data in the world literature about this disease, prognosis in Indian patients is largely unknown due to dearth of studies in our setting. Objective: To study the demographic profile, clinical features, imaging, treatment and outcome of borderline ovarian tumors. Methods: This is a retrospective study of eighty seven patients with pathologically proven diagnosis of borderline ovarian tumor, diagnosed and treated from January 2006 to October 2011 at our institution. Most patients underwent surgical staging which incuded total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salphingo-oophorectomy, infracolic omentectomy, bilateral pelvic and para aortic lymphadenectomy. Young patients who had not completed their family underwent fertility sparing surgery. Patients with invasive metastatic implants received adjuvant chemotherapy. The outcome of these patients was correlated with stage, type of peritoneal implant, type of surgical procedure and with histological subtype. Results: At a median follow-up of 48 months, 100 percent survival was noted. One patient with stage III disease had recurrence. Conclusions: Borderline ovarian tumors occur at a younger age compared to invasive tumors. In patients with early stage disease who wish to preserve fertility, hysterectomy and contralateral oophorectomy are not necessary. Serous tumors occur at a younger age. They can be associated with invasive peritoneal implants and raised CA125 values. Majority of the serous tumors are bilateral and smaller in size compared to mucinous and endometroid tumors. Raised CA125 values did not correlate with the stage of disease. These patients have an excellent prognosis even in Indian scenario where majority of patients present with big ovarian masses

Respectful maternity care for positive birthing experience at Pravara Rural Hospital

Background: Many women in developing countries experience disrespect and abuse during labour and delivery. Respectful maternity care (RMC) is considered as one of the basic reproductive health rights of the women. It is one of the essential components of LaQshya programme of Government of India. The aim of the study was to highlight the important components of the RMC, its implementation and its impact on patient turnover in the maternity unit of Pravara Rural Hospital Loni and review the literature on the subject.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted for a period of one year from January 2019 to December 2019 at tertiary care hospital. The implementation of RMC was observed and important findings were documented. The patient turnover and cliental satisfaction was noted.Results: It was observed that all components of RMC were strictly followed in maternity unit of Pravara Rural Hospital Loni. The staff and doctors were trained and oriented towards importance of RMC. The patient turnover has increased exponentially year by year. The patient feedback system about the quality of care in labour and delivery ward shows overall satisfaction score of 4.3 on the 5-point Likert scale. There was a surveillance system that supervises and closely monitor the quality of care in labour room in general and RMC in particular.Conclusions: RMC is one of the important components of LaQshya certification process. Respectful maternity care is implemented at Pravara Rural hospital in its true spirit. It has resulted in gaining the faith and trust of the community, which is reflected through exponential rise in the number of deliveries taking place in the hospital

Study of hypertensive subjects with diabetes as co-morbidity

Background: Combined presence of diabetes and hypertension increases the chances of various complications manifold than individually. Together, they accelerate the development of left ventricular hypertrophy, coronary artery disease, renal dysfunction, diabetic retinopathy and cerebrovascular diseases.Methods: After ethical considerations this observational study was carried out to identify the clinical, laboratory and end-organ profile of Hypertensive subjects who also had Diabetes; this cohort was also compared with subjects who had hypertension only.Results: The prevalence of hypertensive subjects with diabetes as co-morbidity was 10.26%. 26.4% subjects had family history of diabetes and 20.4% had family history of hypertension. The mean diastolic blood pressure (83.66±12.0) was significantly higher in hypertensive diabetes group, than the subjects with hypertension only (76.98±6.46) and the difference was statistically significant (p <0.0001). 51.9% of hypertensive females with diabetes had significantly higher (p 0.0003) central obesity. Macrovascular damage was slightly more common in females and microvascular damage was common in male hypertensive diabetic subjects. Out of 102 patients having end organ damage 37.25% had single organ involvement and 62.75% had multiple organ involvement. Retinopathy (33.2%) was commonest followed by renal (27.6%), cardiovascular (16.2%) and cerebrovascular (14.8%). Hypertensive diabetic patients had higher occurrence of end organ damage reflecting the impact of diabetes-hypertension co-morbidity on target organs.Conclusions: Given the increasing rates of coronary artery disease among Indians, especially at a younger age, 5understanding and successfully managing this deadly duo may hold the key to reducing cardiovascular mortality in India