STRATEGIC EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP WITHIN THE POLICY-MAKING ARENA: THE PROMULGATION, PASSAGE, AND PRACTICE OF TENNESSEE\u27S HIGH PERFORMING SCHOOL DISTRICTS FLEXIBILITY ACT OF 2013

In 2010, Tennessee’s 106th General Assembly passed the First to the Top Act (2010), a companion legislation for the federal Race to the Top Act (2009) program launched by the Obama Administration. A provision of this state law required that half of teacher and principal evaluations be based upon student achievement, which included a component of required continuous academic growth. For school districts whose students scored at the highest academic performance levels, the continuous growth component would negatively impact their teachers’ and principals’ annual evaluations. In 2012, the Williamson County Schools (WCS) superintendent requested mitigation for relieve from the Tennessee Commissioner of Education regarding the inadvertent negative impact of this evaluation provision. Without relief, this provision of the law could jeopardize the continued employment of teachers and principals who could not meet the growth score threshold. This imminent threat to WCS and other similarly situated high performing school districts became the catalyst for development and passage of Tennessee’s High Performing School Districts Flexibility Act (2013). This law allowed high performing school districts to seek relief from any state government mandate that the district believed “inhibits or hinders the district\u27s ability to meet its goals or comply with its mission statement” (Tennessee High Performing School Districts Flexibility, 2013). This qualitative exploratory case study sought to better understand the political role of one school district superintendent in promulgating Tennessee’s High Performing School Districts Flexibility Act (2013) as well as the influence relationship between local and state leaders and key stakeholders who facilitated the process. This study is unique in time and place where an analysis of publicly available demographic data suggests that the WCS district is the primary beneficiary of the Act as well as the only district to utilize its waiver provision since its inception. Participants interviewed included the WCS superintendent, select members of his administration, board of education members, state legislators, and other integral individuals. Five major themes emerged including roles, politics, influence, ethics, and organizational frameworks. Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education’s refusal to grant relief jeopardized the employees of Williamson County Schools and other similarly situated high performing school districts. However, with the realization that a remedy was necessary to protect the school district, the WCS superintendent and other leaders and key stakeholders utilized influence relationships to create an ethical, political solution. It was evident that conflict resolution through compromise could not have produced a lasting solution to this problem and required legislative intervention: the promulgation, passage, and practice of Tennessee’s High Performing School Districts Flexibility Act (2013)

Sternalis muscle: a mystery still

Despite intensive anatomical research during the last century, anatomical structures or variations of these structures may still cause confusion or even iatrogenic injury. A matter of debate is the sternalis muscle. We present a review of the literature of the sternalis muscle with special emphasis on its clinical anatomy

Enemy NPC Design Patterns in Shooter Games

Gameplay in single-player shooter games primarily consists of combat with Non-player Characters (NPCs). However, there has been little research done to study how enemy NPCs affect player behavior in shooter games. As a consequence, there is no formal language for designers to discuss how NPCs are used in shooter games. This paper presents design patterns for NPCs in shooter games and explores their effects on gameplay. These patterns help designers communicate about and explore new ideas for enemy NPCs and further our understanding about how NPC types can be implemented, enabling more engaging experiences

Rapid single nucleotide polymorphism mapping in C. elegans

BACKGROUND: In C. elegans, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can function as silent genetic markers, with applications ranging from classical two- and three-factor mapping to measuring recombination across whole chromosomes. RESULTS: Here, we describe a set of 48 primer pairs that flank SNPs evenly spaced across the C. elegans genome and that work under identical PCR conditions. Each SNP in this set alters a DraI site, enabling rapid and parallel scoring. We describe a procedure using these reagents to quickly and reliably map mutations. We show that these techniques correctly map a known gene, dpy-5. We then use these techniques to map mutations in an uncharacterized strain, and show that its behavioral phenotype can be simultaneously mapped to three loci. CONCLUSION: Together, the reagents and methods described represent a significant advance in the accurate, rapid and inexpensive mapping of genes in C. elegans

Augmenter of liver regeneration enhances the success rate of fetal pancreas transplantation in rodents

Background. Treatment of fetal pancreas (FP) isografts with insulin- like growth factor-I greatly improves the rate of conversion to euglycemia in diabetic rats. Complete knowledge of other factors that may facilitate the engraftment and function of FP in vivo is still embryonic. Augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) is a newly described polypeptide growth factor found in weanling rat livers. ALR has trophic effects on regenerating liver. We studied the effects of in situ administration of this agent on FP isografts in rats. Methods. Streptozotocin-diabetic Lewis rats (blood glucose >300 mg/dl) received 16 FP isografts transplanted intramuscularly. ALR was delivered from day 1 through day 14, in doses of 40 or 400 ng/kg/d. Animals were followed for 3 months with serial weights and blood glucose monitoring. These animals were compared with those treated with vehicle alone. Results. Of the group treated with ALR at 40 ng/kg/day for 14 days, 89% (eight of nine) were euglycemic (P=0.0003). Of the group treated with ALR at 400 ng/kg/day for 14 days, 88% (seven of eight) were euglycemic (P=0.0007). Of the group treated with vehicle alone, none of the six were euglycemic. Euglycemia is defined here as glucose<200 mg/dl for 3 days. Pathology of the intramuscular transplant site showed patches of islet tissue embedded in fat. These patches demonstrated insulin immunoreactivity. Conclusions. Diabetes was reversed in a significantly greater proportion of FP + ALR-treated recipients than those animals treated with vehicle alone. Local delivery of growth factors my be used as an adjunct to FP transplantation to improve the rate of success. This in situ model may be useful to further evaluate other soluble factors

Extending neuro-evolutionary preference learning through player modelling

In this paper we propose a methodology for improving the accuracy of models that predict self-reported player pairwise preferences. Our approach extends neuro-evolutionary preference learning by embedding a player modeling module for the prediction of player preferences. Player types are identified using self-organization and feed the preference learner. Our experiments on a dataset derived from a game survey of subjects playing a 3D prey/predator game demonstrate that the player model-driven preference learning approach proposed improves the performance of preference learning significantly and shows promise for the construction of more accurate cognitive and affective models.peer-reviewe

Pain assessment in children undergoing venipuncture: the Wong–Baker faces scale versus skin conductance fluctuations

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the subjective Wong–Baker faces pain rating scale (WBFS) and of the objective skin conductance fluctuation (SCF) test in assessing pain in children undergoing venipuncture. One-hundred and fifty children (aged 5–16 years) entered the study. All underwent venipuncture at the antecubital fossa to collect blood specimens for routine testing in the same environmental conditions. After venipuncture, the children indicated their pain intensity using the WBFS, whereas the number of SCFs was recorded before, during and after venipuncture. So, pain level was measured in each child with WBFS and SCF. We found that the level of WBFS-assessed pain was lower in all children, particularly those above 8 years of age, than SCF-assessed pain (p < 0.0001). Moreover, the number of SCFs was significantly higher during venipuncture than before or after venipuncture (p < 0.0001). At multivariate regression analysis, age and previous experience of venipuncture influenced the WBFS (β = −1.81, p < 0.001, and β = −0.86, p < 0.001, respectively) but not SCFs. In conclusion, although both procedures can be useful for research and clinical practice, our findings show that WBFS was affected by age and previous venipuncture, whereas SCF produced uniform data. If verified in other studies, our results should be taken into account when using these tools to evaluate pain in children

Leeching as salvage venous drainage in ear reconstruction: Clinical case and review of literature

Background: Ear avulsion is a rare complication of different traumas, such as car accidents, human or animal bites and stab wounds, and can result in dramatic cosmetic consequences for the patient. Ear replantation, revascularization, and reattachment are the options offering best aesthetic results. But venous outflow insufficiency is responsible for a high rate of failures. Leeching is one the most efficient methods to relieve venous congestion. It has been used as an alternative venous outflow in case of severe impairment of the physiologic one. Methods: We present a case of successful rescue of a congested reattached ear by leeching after subtotal avulsion, along with a review of the literature on cases of avulsed auricle reconstruction salvaged by hirudotherapy. Data were collected and analyzed to identify a best regimen to deal with venous congestion. Results: More than 130 cases of avulsed auricle savage are described in the literature, in a fourth of which leech therapy was used in the management of venous congestion. Discussion: In case of both venous outflow deficit or absence, leeches are a potentially successful option to correct the congestion while new veins reestablish normal physiology. The need for anticoagulant/antiaggregant therapy, antibiotics, and often blood transfusion are the main pitfalls of leeching. Conclusion: Leeches can be considered a salvage method for ear replantation and reattachment in those cases that lack venous outflow in the presence of valid arterial inflow