Does performance related pay for teachers improve student performance? Some evidence from India

In this paper data from a school survey in India is used to ask if there is evidence for the payment of performance related pay and whether such pay structures do impact on student achievement. It is shown that - after controlling for student ability, parental background and the resources available - private schools get significantly better academic results by relating pay to achievement; government schools do not. We discuss possible interpretations of this result.

Fluid flow analysis of the SSME high pressure fuel and oxidizer turbine coolant systems

The objective is to provide improved analysis capability for the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) high pressure fuel and oxidizer turbine coolant systems. Each of the systems was analyzed to determine fluid flow rate and thermodynamic and transport properties at all key points in the systems. Existing computer codes were used as a baseline for these analyses. These codes were modified to provide improved analysis capability. The major areas of improvement are listed. A review of the drawings was performed, and pertinent geometry changes were included in the models. Improvements were made in the calculation of thermodynamic and transport properties for a mixture of hydrogen and steam. A one-dimensional turbine model for each system is included as a subroutine to each code. This provides a closed loop analysis with a minimum of required boundary conditions as input. An improved labyrinth seal model is included in the high pressure fuel turbine coolant model. The modifications and the analysis results are presented in detail

Disciplining customers at the Grand Seaside Hotel

The Grand Seaside Hotel is a large five-star hotel in an Australian Coastal town. It is a place that not only aspires to provide excellent service but that also seeks to reconcile two apparently divergent demands: the need for customized service and the efficient management of business operations. To commit staff to the provision of service excellence, management has introduced a customer service programme that relies on various forms of training and rewards, as well as a guest response system. The customer service programme, particularly the use of guest questionnaires, appear as disciplinary strategies that aim to produce service encounters in which both staff and guests are 'normalized'. The main loci of ethnographic data collection for this paper are regular Management Briefings. Through data collected from these, the paper investigates the use of the 'imaginary' in constituting service encounters and guest expectations. It interprets these in terms of Foucault's Panoptic analysis to identify the immanent mechanisms of discipline in these customer service programmes

Cross-cultural comparison of sensory behaviors in children with autism.

Parents of children with autism frequently report that their children exhibit unusual responses to sensory experiences. Little research is available, however, describing how parents\u27 and children\u27s culture and environment might influence parents\u27 reports of their children\u27s behaviors. This study compared the frequency of parent-reported responses to sensory experiences in children from two countries-Israel and the United States. We administered the Short Sensory Profile to primary caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing peers. Results indicate that Israeli parents reported unusual responses to sensory experiences less frequently than U.S. parents for both ASD and typically developing children. U.S. children with ASD demonstrated significantly greater difficulty in the Auditory Filtering and Visual/Auditory Sensitivity domains than Israeli children with ASD. These findings indicate a need to further explore the influence of culture and environment on caregiver perceptions of the responses to sensory experiences of children with ASD

Space Shuttle main engine, powerhead structural modeling, stress and fatigue life analysis. Volume 4: Summary of investigation of unscheduled events and special tasks

Low pressure fuel turbopump turbine labyrinth send tip rubbing analysis, gas dynamic analysis, and HPFTP blade crack and blade impact are presented

Successful innominate thromboembolectomy of a paradoxic embolus

AbstractA 54 year-old man had symptoms of acute right hemispheric cerebral ischemia. He was initially considered for participation in a trial of early thrombolysis in stroke, but an innominate artery embolus was found with no apparent arterial source. The embolus was removed by means of a combined brachial and carotid bifurcation approach to protect the cerebral vasculature from embolic fragmentation during extraction. Further investigation revealed deep venous thrombosis, evidence of pulmonary emboli, and a patent foramen ovale, supporting a diagnosis of paradoxic embolus. Additional treatment included anticoagulation and placement of an inferior vena caval filter. The unusual condition of paradoxic embolus is reviewed, and the management of this patient is discussed. (J Vasc Surg 1998;28:742-5.

E-cigarettes, Hookah Pens and Vapes: Adolescent and Young Adult Perceptions of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems: Table 1.

Most studies have assessed use of “e-cigarettes” or “electronic cigarettes,” potentially excluding new electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), such as e-hookahs and vape pens. Little is known about how adolescents and young adults perceive ENDS and if their perceptions vary by sub-type. We explored ENDS perceptions among these populations

Supporting the Occupational Therapy Student in the Production and Dissemination of Systematic Reviews: An Interprofessional Collaboration among Librarians and Occupational Therapy Faculty

Objectives This poster describes the outcomes of a curriculum-based collaboration between librarians and OT faculty (‘collaboration’) to enhance graduate student skills for conducting a systematic review (SR); the collaboration included database instruction, bibliographic management software, and culminated in student presentations to healthcare practitioners for continuing education credit. Three outcome areas are discussed: impact of the collaboration on student satisfaction and perceived competence; characteristics of the included literature; and the dissemination of SR findings to healthcare practitioners. Methods Three librarians participated in the instruction and the institutional repository (Jefferson Digital Commons; JDC) deposits. A total of 132 students over a period of two years (2013-2014) completed the curriculum, engaging with librarians and OT faculty to iteratively build on skills. At the conclusion of their curriculum, the capstone presentations were recorded and made freely available through the JDC. Quantitative data were examined with descriptive statistics in SPSS, and qualitative data were thematically coded by hand: course evaluations, practitioner attendance, bibliographic evaluations of the systematic reviews, and download statistics from the institutional repository. Results Students reported on open-ended course evaluation questions that among the top three concepts learned was ‘how to conduct a replicable and effective search.’ On multiple answer questions 83.6% of students selected the ‘collaborative librarian-faculty lecture’ as among the most helpful lectures offered, and 78.2% selected ‘working with librarian staff and course mentors to develop a search strategy’ as highly rated among course activities. Bibliographic data were extracted from 22 of 28 capstone presentations available for analysis (2013-2014) in the institutional repository, which contained 305 citations from 157 journals. The average of age of included articles was 4.8 years (SD=4.2, Range=0-24). Among the top 10 cited journals were 2 occupational therapy, 5 rehabilitation, and 3 specialty. Overall health care practitioner attendance at student capstones from 2012-2014 was 323. JDC recordings (as of 1/6/2015) had been accessed from 25 different countries, and are located most frequently via Google, JDC, and GoogleScholar. The total number of views was 1,446, and the total number of hours viewed was 163 hours. Conclusions Librarian-faculty collaborations resulted in high student perception of competence to conduct systematic reviews, utilization of a broad variety of peer-reviewed journals, and enhanced dissemination of evidence

The Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Stroke has global importance and it causes an increasing amount of human suffering and economic burden, but its management is far from optimal. The unsuccessful outcome of several research programs highlights the need for reliable data on which to plan future clinical trials. The Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive aims to aid the planning of clinical trials by collating and providing access to a rich resource of patient data to perform exploratory analyses. METHODS: Data were contributed by the principal investigators of numerous trials from the past 16 years. These data have been centrally collated and are available for anonymized analysis and hypothesis testing. RESULTS: Currently, the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive contains 21 trials. There are data on \u3e15,000 patients with both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Ages range between 18 and 103 years, with a mean age of 69+/-12 years. Outcome measures include the Barthel Index, Scandinavian Stroke Scale, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Orgogozo Scale, and modified Rankin Scale. Medical history and onset-to-treatment time are readily available, and computed tomography lesion data are available for selected trials. CONCLUSIONS: This resource has the potential to influence clinical trial design and implementation through data analyses that inform planning