Improving Speed and Reliability of Database Queries

Low latency databases with high query volumes and large numbers of connections often have multiple redundant communication paths from clients to database servers. When queries fail, clients that submit queries have difficulty identifying the source of query failures and are unable to take actions to ensure high performance and service availability. This disclosure describes database techniques to tune performance and identify reasons for failed queries. A metadata layer within the database is used by the database server to provide anticipated time-to-serve based on the current server load and the complexity of the query. Clients can use the time-to-serve data to plan queries, set dynamic timeouts, detect network black holes, attempt alternate communication pathways, etc. Further, clients can share amongst each other the current time-to-serve and server health, enabling multiple clients to plan respective queries based on the response by the server to a single client. Similar techniques apply to identify communication failures generally in data transfer situations

The Design Organization Test: Further Demonstration of Reliability and Validity as a Brief Measure of Visuospatial Ability

Neuropsychological assessments are frequently time-consuming and fatiguing for patients. Brief screening evaluations may reduce test duration and allow more efficient use of time by permitting greater attention toward neuropsychological domains showing probable deficits. The Design Organization Test (DOT) was initially developed as a 2-min paper-and-pencil alternative for the Block Design (BD) subtest of the Wechsler scales. Although initially validated for clinical neurologic patients, we sought to further establish the reliability and validity of this test in a healthy, more diverse population. Two alternate versions of the DOT and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) were administered to 61 healthy adult participants. The DOT showed high alternate forms reliability (r = .90–.92), and the two versions yielded equivalent levels of performance. The DOT was highly correlated with BD (r = .76–.79) and was significantly correlated with all subscales of the WASI. The DOT proved useful when used in lieu of BD in the calculation of WASI IQ scores. Findings support the reliability and validity of the DOT as a measure of visuospatial ability and suggest its potential worth as an efficient estimate of intellectual functioning in situations where lengthier tests may be inappropriate or unfeasible

Readers\u27 advisory program for non proficient readers

Non proficient readers often demonstrate resistance towards reading and are especially in need of an environment that encourages students to select and read high quality materials at their level. However,current readers’ advisory practices lack cohesive strategies for specifically targeting non proficient readers in order to increase their motivation to read, self concept as readers, and time spent reading. To ascertain whether a structured and consistent readers’ advisory program for non proficient readers could have a positive influence on students’ motivation to read, self concept as readers and time spent reading, 10 second through fifth grade non proficient readers within a single midwest elementary school participated in an eight week readers’ advisory program, meeting weekly with the teacher librarian. The Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) was given as a pre and post assessment of students’ self concept as readers and the value they place on reading. Along with careful analysis of participants’ responses to the MRP interviews, biweekly survey responses and observational notes from the weekly readers’ advisory conferences were analyzed for evidence of improvement in students’ motivation to read, self concept as readers, and time spent reading. While the MRP results and analyzed student responses indicated that the readers’ advisory program had a positive influence on students’ motivation to read and self concept as readers, there was not definitive evidence of its impact on the amount of time students spent reading. A readers’ advisory program for non proficient readers can have a positive influence on reading behaviors, but further study is needed to understand the complex system that impacts students’ motivation to read, self concept as readers, and time spent reading

In the House of Change: The Making and Remaking of Female Youth in Residential Treatment

This study explores the experiences of female youth in a residential treatment center serving adolescents in the New York juvenile justice, foster care, and special education systems. Findings are based on 11 months of ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with eight female juvenile justice residents and ten staff members on the campus. Drawing on a robust literature in psychological anthropology and critically applied medical anthropology, as well as work on pathology and criminality in psychology, sociology, and philosophy, the study uncovers the processes through which a group of adolescent girls are made and remade within the space of residential treatment. I argue that such processes are contingent upon specific arrangements of institutional life that work toward the reform and reconstitution of individual selves. The chapters in this study demonstrate how institutional arrangements shape the lives of female youth in complex ways that are not entirely consistent. Some of these arrangements are wrought from above through the formal categorization of youth by their referral source, the psychiatric diagnoses attached to their case records, the staffing structure, and the design of therapeutic interventions. Others, however, are tinkered with from below, with residents and staff alike redefining the space of residential treatment and the type of work that gets done on the campus. What emerges is a complex interplay between the fairly strict principles structuring the institution and the creative work by residents and staff encountered in the minutiae of daily life. This interplay works to underscore the idea that categories (of referral sources, of diagnoses, of therapeutic interventions) are in flux, shaping youth and also shaped by youth in turn. Although this work is primarily ethnographic in nature, it also pays attention to the historical material that is linked to current perceptions about residential treatment, delinquent youth, and psychiatric disorder. I argue that deep understanding of the institutional arrangements at the center of this work depends on knowledge about the past and about transformations in the treatment of youth over time. This historical context is especially important for understanding the enduring ambivalence about residential treatment and for thinking about what place residential treatment centers might occupy on the continuum of treatment options for youth with behavioral and emotional health problems. By situating my findings within the broader context of residential treatment and juvenile justice in the United States, I call attention to some of the policy implications that arise from this study and suggest opportunities for re-envisioning residential treatment in the current child welfare environment

Orthopedia expression during Drosophila melanogaster nervous system development and its regulation by microRNA-252

During brain development of Drosophila melanogaster many transcription factors are involved in regulating neural fate and morphogenesis. In our study we show that the transcription factor Orthopedia (Otp), a member of the 57B homeobox gene cluster, plays an important role in this process. Otp is expressed in a stable pattern in defined lineages from mid-embryonic stages into the adult brain and therefore a very stable marker for these lineages. We determined the abundance of the two different otp transcripts in the brain and hindgut during development using qPCR. CRISPR/Cas9 generated otp mutants of the longer protein form significantly affect the expression of Otp in specific areas. We generated an otp enhancer trap strain by gene targeting and reintegration of Gal4, which mimics the complete expression of otp during development except the embryonic hindgut expression. Since in the embryo, the expression of Otp is posttranscriptionally regulated, we looked for putative miRNAs interacting with the otp 3′UTR, and identified microRNA-252 as a candidate. Further analyses with mutated and deleted forms of the microRNA-252 interacting sequence in the otp 3′UTR demonstrate an in vivo interaction of microRNA-252 with the otp 3′UTR. An effect of this interaction is seen in the adult brain, where Otp expression is partially abolished in a knockout strain of microRNA-252. Our results show that Otp is another important factor for brain development in Drosophila melanogaster

Empirical comparison of time series models and tensor product penalised splines for modelling spatial dependence in plant breeding field trials

Plant breeding field trials are typically arranged as a row by column rectangular lattice. They have been widely analysed using linear mixed models in which low order autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series models, and the subclass of separable lattice processes, are used to account for two-dimensional spatial dependence between the plot errors. A separable first order autoregressive model has been shown to be particularly useful in the analysis of plant breeding trials. Recently, tensor product penalised splines (TPS) have been proposed to model two-dimensional smooth variation in field trial data. This represents a non-stochastic smoothing approach which is in contrast to the autoregressive (AR) approach which models a stochastic covariance structure between the lattice of errors. This paper compares the AR and TPS methods empirically for a large set of early generation plant breeding trials. Here, the fitted models include information on genetic relatedness among the entries being evaluated. This provides a more relevant framework for comparison than the assumption of independent genetic effects. Judged by Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), the AR models were a better fit than the TPS model for more than 80% of trials. In the cases where the TPS model provided a better fit it did so by only a small amount whereas the AR models made a substantial improvement across a range of trials. When the AR and TPS models differ, there can be marked differences in the ranking of genotypes between the two methods of analysis based on their predicted genetic effects. Using the best fitting model for a trial as the benchmark, the rate of mis-classification of entries for selection was greater for the TPS model than the AR models. This has important practical implications for breeder selection decisions

Inhibition of PI3K-AKT-mTOR Signaling Sensitizes Melanoma Cells to Cisplatin and Temozolomide

In melanoma, the PI3K-AKT-mTOR (AKT) and RAF-MEK-ERK (MAPK) signaling pathways are constitutively activated and appear to play a role in chemoresistance. Herein, we investigated the effects of pharmacological AKT and MAPK pathway inhibitors on chemosensitivity of melanoma cells to cisplatin and temozolomide. Chemosensitivity was tested by examining effects on growth, cell cycle, survival, expression of antiapoptotic proteins, and invasive tumor growth of melanoma cells in monolayer and organotypic culture, respectively. MAPK pathway inhibitors did not significantly increase chemosensitivity. AKT pathway inhibitors consistently enhanced chemosensitivity yielding an absolute increase of cell growth inhibition up to 60% (P<0.05, combination therapy vs monotherapy with inhibitors or chemotherapeutics). Cotreatment of melanoma cells with AKT pathway inhibitors and chemotherapeutics led to a 2- to 3-fold increase of apoptosis (P<0.05, combination therapy vs monotherapy) and completely suppressed invasive tumor growth in organotypic culture. These effects were associated with suppression of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family protein Mcl-1. These data suggest that inhibition of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway potently increases sensitivity of melanoma cells to chemotherapy