Strengthening Paraprofessional Effectiveness Through Mentoring

According to research, mentoring programs in schools have been inconsistent and unaccountable, putting new or existing paraprofessionals behind and ill-prepared in providing instruction to at- risk students. Paraprofessionals work with at-risk students to improve learning and assist them in achieving their goals while being supervised by professional and trained staff. Previous studies have shown that paraprofessionals play an important role in the support of at-risk students and training is needed but most times is not feasible for every school district to implement for each paraprofessional that is employed in their school. A school improvement plan was created to put in place a mentoring program to help paraprofessionals become more equipped and increase understanding of instructional and behavioral intervention strategies that support student achievement

Investigating the Pathogenecity of CHL1 Leu17Phe Polymorphism in Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a devastating brain disorder that affects a surprising 1% of the world\u27s population. Despite this prevalence, little is known about the molecular aspects of this disorder making it both difficult to diagnose and treat. Several studies have identified the CHL1 gene (Close Homolog of L1), sometimes referred to as CALL, as a risk gene for schizophrenia. CHL1, a neural cell adhesion molecule, has major roles in cell migration, and the development of dendritic and axonal projections. Therefore any deficiency in CHL1 may result in brain defects similar to those identified in schizophrenic populations. Moreover, in genetically engineered mice, studies have shown that deficiency of the CHL1 gene results in altered emotional reactivity (such as altered fear responses) and motor coordination, reduced sensorimotor gating and impaired working memory and spatial-temporal integration, similar characteristics to those seen in patients with schizophrenia. The focus of this study is to assess the research literature available for CHL1 as well as investigate a single point mutation in the CHL1 sequence altering a leucine residue to a phenylalanine in the signal peptide of the protein (Leu17Phe) in order to produce a functional deficit of the CHL1 gene. This missense polymorphism has been identified as a risk factor for schizophrenia in Asian populations. Through this mutagenesis, we are able to study CHL1 protein recruitment to the cell membrane in order to understand CHL1\u27s role in schizophrenia at a molecular level

Assessing the Effectiveness of a Learning Community Course Design to Improve the Math Performance of First-Year Students

National attention is focused on the persistent high failure rates for students enrolled in math courses, and the search for strategies to change these outcomes is on. This study used a mixed-method research design to assess the effectiveness of a learning community course designed to improve the math performance levels of first-year students. Results suggested that investing resources into learning community programs that help students meet collegiate-level math course demands helps promote academic success in math courses and eases students’ college transitions. Participants in the math learning communities reported significantly higher rates of using academic supports, engaging in campus activities, and understanding general education learning outcomes compared to a quasi-control group of students enrolled in the same math courses. Math learning community participants enrolled in introductory algebra courses had higher levels of math performance compared to nonparticipants

Making GDPR Usable: A Model to Support Usability Evaluations of Privacy

We introduce a new model for evaluating privacy that builds on the criteria proposed by the EuroPriSe certification scheme by adding usability criteria. Our model is visually represented through a cube, called Usable Privacy Cube (or UP Cube), where each of its three axes of variability captures, respectively: rights of the data subjects, privacy principles, and usable privacy criteria. We slightly reorganize the criteria of EuroPriSe to fit with the UP Cube model, i.e., we show how EuroPriSe can be viewed as a combination of only rights and principles, forming the two axes at the basis of our UP Cube. In this way we also want to bring out two perspectives on privacy: that of the data subjects and, respectively, that of the controllers/processors. We define usable privacy criteria based on usability goals that we have extracted from the whole text of the General Data Protection Regulation. The criteria are designed to produce measurements of the level of usability with which the goals are reached. Precisely, we measure effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction, considering both the objective and the perceived usability outcomes, producing measures of accuracy and completeness, of resource utilization (e.g., time, effort, financial), and measures resulting from satisfaction scales. In the long run, the UP Cube is meant to be the model behind a new certification methodology capable of evaluating the usability of privacy, to the benefit of common users. For industries, considering also the usability of privacy would allow for greater business differentiation, beyond GDPR compliance.Comment: 41 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, and appendixe

Želimo li biti uključeni? Promicanje turizma i industrijske baštine Nijemaca u Vojvodini

Local community members are considered as one of key stakeholder groups for sustainable tourism development, not only as service providers, but also as an important part of a decision-making process in tourism development. In respect to that, this study was focused on their perceptions of potential tourism activities based on resources that are still not valued for the purpose of tourism. There is a question whether the local community members want to be involved and whether they perceive the industrial heritage as beneficial for the local development. The research was conducted on the example of the industrial heritage in Vojvodina (Autonomous Province in Serbia, former part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), characterized by its historical, cultural, technical, architectural, and educational values of the industrial heritage of Germans as a national minority. The survey research based on the 44- item SUS TAS scale was conducted on a sample of 300 respondents, between October 2021 and March 2022. The main findings highlight the positive attitudes of the local community members on sustainable development of the industrial heritage, but also their insufficient knowledge of values in terms of German industrial legacy within their local environment. The research results may contribute to experts in the field of tourism and culture for domestic and international tourism development.Članovi lokalne zajednice smatraju se jednim od ključnih skupina dionika za razvoj održivoga turizma, ne samo kao pružatelji usluga, nego i kao važan segment procesa donošenja odluka u razvoju turizma. U skladu s time ovo se istraživanje usmjerilo na njihove percepcije potencijalnih turističkih aktivnosti temeljem resursa koji se još uvijek ne vrednuju u turističke svrhe. Nameće se pitanje žele li se članovi lokalne zajednice uključiti te percipiraju li industrijsku baštinu kao pogodnu za lokalni razvoj. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku industrijske baštine u Vojvodini (autonomna pokrajina u Srbiji, ranije dio Austro-Ugarskog Carstva), obilježene povijesnim, kulturnim, tehničkim, arhitektonskim i obrazovnim vrijednostima industrijske baštine Nijemaca kao nacionalne manjine. Istraživanje temeljeno na skali SUS TAS sastavljenoj od 44 čestice provedeno je na uzorku od 300 ispitanika između listopada 2021. i ožujka 2022. godine. Kao glavni nalazi ističu se pozitivni stavovi članova lokalne zajednice o održivom razvoju industrijske baštine, ali i njihovo nedovoljno znanje o vrijednostima u smislu njemačkog industrijskog nasljeđa unutar lokalne sredine. Rezultati istraživanja mogli bi koristiti stručnjacima u polju turizma i kulture za razvoj domaćeg i međunarodnog turizma

Performance of the CMS Global Calorimeter Trigger

The CMS Global Calorimeter Trigger system performs a wide-variety of calorimeter data processing functions required by the CMS Level-1 trigger. It is responsible for finding and classifying jets and tau-jets, calculating total and missing transverse energy, total transverse energy identified within jets, sorting e/$\gamma$ candidates, and calculating several quantities based on forward calorimetry for minimum-bias triggers. The system is based on high-speed serial optical links and large FPGAs. The system has provided CMS with calorimeter triggers during commissioning and cosmic runs throughout 2008. The performance of the system in validation tests and cosmic runs is presented here

First results on the performance of the CMS global calorimeter trigger

The CMS Global Calorimeter Trigger (GCT) uses data from the CMS calorimeters to compute a number kinematical quantities which characterize the LHC event. The GTC output is used by the Global Trigger (GT) along with data from the Global Muon Trigger (GMT) to produce the Level-1 Accept (L1A) decision. The design for the current GCT system commenced early in 2006. After a rapid development phase all the different GCT components have been produced and a large fraction of them have been installed at the CMS electronics cavern (USC-55). There the GCT system has been under test since March 2007. This paper reports results from tests which took place at the USC-55. Initial tests aimed to test the integrity of the GCT data and establish that the proper synchronization had been achieved both internally within GCT as well as with the Regional Calorimeter Trigger (RCT) which provides the GCT input data and with GT which receives the GCT results. After synchronization and data integrity had been established, Monte Carlo Events with electrons in the final state were injected at the GCT inputs and were propagated to the GCT outputs. The GCT output was compared with the predictions of the GCT emulator model in the CMS Monte Carlo and were found to be identical