Parental Characteristics and Satisfaction with their Child\u27s School: A Comparison of Public, Voucher, and Charter School Families

Research suggests that families who make active choices regarding their child’s education differ from families who do not. Differences between families of private (voucher), charter, and public school students were examined using data collected as part of the evaluation of the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program. While both voucher and charter school families were more satisfied than public school families with their child’s school, charter school families were found to differ from both voucher and public school students in that they were more White, were of higher income, were more likely to be married, and were more highly educated

Three deaf mice: mouse models for TECTA-based human hereditary deafness reveal domain-specific structural phenotypes in the tectorial membrane

Tecta is a modular, non-collagenous protein of the tectorial membrane, an extracellular matrix of the cochlea essential for normal hearing. Missense mutations in Tecta cause dominant forms of nonsyndromic deafness and a genotype-phenotype correlation has been reported in humans, with mutations in different Tecta domains causing mid- or high-frequency hearing impairments that are either stable or progressive. Three mutant mice were created as models for human Tecta mutations; the TectaL1820F, G1824D/+ mouse for zona pellucida (ZP) domain mutations causing stable mid-frequency hearing loss in a Belgian family, the TectaC1837G/+ mouse for a ZP-domain mutation underlying progressive mid-frequency hearing loss in a Spanish family, and the TectaC1619S/+ mouse for a zonadhesin-like (ZA) domain mutation responsible for progressive, high-frequency hearing loss in a French family. Mutations in the ZP and ZA domains generate distinctly different changes in the structure of the tectorial membrane. ABR thresholds in the 8-40 kHz range are elevated by 30-40 dB in the ZP-domain mutants, whilst those in the ZA-domain mutant are elevated by 20-30 dB. The phenotypes are stable and no evidence has been found for a progressive deterioration in tectorial membrane structure or auditory function. Despite elevated auditory thresholds, the Tecta mutant mice all exhibit an enhanced tendency to have audiogenic seizures in response to white noise stimuli at low sound pressure levels (≤84 dB SPL), revealing a previously unrecognised consequence of Tecta mutations. These results, together with those from previous studies, establish an allelic series for Tecta unequivocally demonstrating an association between genotype and phenotype

The tip-link antigen, a protein associated with the transduction complex of sensory hair cells, is protocadherin-15

Sound and acceleration are detected by hair bundles, mechanosensory structures located at the apical pole of hair cells in the inner ear. The different elements of the hair bundle, the stereocilia and a kinocilium, are interconnected by a variety of link types. One of these links, the tip link, connects the top of a shorter stereocilium with the lateral membrane of an adjacent taller stereocilium and may gate the mechanotransducer channel of the hair cell. Mass spectrometric and Western blot analyses identify the tip-link antigen, a hitherto unidentified antigen specifically associated with the tip and kinocilial links of sensory hair bundles in the inner ear and the ciliary calyx of photoreceptors in the eye, as an avian ortholog of human protocadherin-15, a product of the gene for the deaf/blindness Usher syndrome type 1F/DFNB23 locus. Multiple protocadherin-15 transcripts are shown to be expressed in the mouse inner ear, and these define four major isoform classes, two with entirely novel, previously unidentified cytoplasmic domains. Antibodies to the three cytoplasmic domain-containing isoform classes reveal that each has a different spatiotemporal expression pattern in the developing and mature inner ear. Two isoforms are distributed in a manner compatible for association with the tip-link complex. An isoform located at the tips of stereocilia is sensitive to calcium chelation and proteolysis with subtilisin and reappears at the tips of stereocilia as transduction recovers after the removal of calcium chelators. Protocadherin-15 is therefore associated with the tip-link complex and may be an integral component of this structure and/or required for its formatio

Enhancement of PCA-based fault detection system through utilising dissimilarity matrix for continuous-based process

This research is about enhancement of PCA-based fault detection system through utilizing dissimilarity matrix. Nowadays, the chemical process industry is highly based on the non-linear relationships between measured variables. However, the conventional PCA-based MSPC is no longer effective because it only valid for the linear relationships between measured variables. Due in order to solve this problem, the technique of dissimilarity matrix is used in multivariate statistical process control as alternative technique which models the non-linear process and can improve the process monitoring performance. The conventional PCA system was run and the dissimilarity system was developed and lastly the monitoring performance in each technique were compared and analysed to achieve aims of this research. This research is to be done by using Matlab software. The findings of this study are illustrated in the form of Hotelling’s T2 and Squared Prediction Errors (SPE) monitoring statistics to be analysed. As a conclusion, the dissimilarity system is comparable to the conventional method. Thus can be the other alternative ways in the process monitoring performance. Finally, it is recommended to use data from other chemical processing systems for more concrete justification of the new technique

The Effects of Perinatal Oxycodone Exposure on Behavioral Outcome in a Rodent Model

Opiate addiction is now a major public health problem. Perinatal insults and exposure to opiates such as morphine in utero are well known to affect development of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis of the offspring adversely and are associated with a higher risk of developing neurobehavioral problems. Oxycodone is now one of the most frequently abused pain killers during pregnancy; however, limited data are available regarding whether and how perinatal oxycodone exposure (POE) alters neurobehavioral outcomes of the offspring. We demonstrated that exposure to 0.5 mg/kg/day oxycodone in utero was associated with hyperactivity in adult rats in an open field. No significant effects of POE were detected on isolation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations in the early postnatal period or on learning and memory in the water maze in adult offspring. Our findings are consistent with hyperactivity problems identified in children exposed to opiates in utero

Implications of the Actin Cytoskeleton on the Multi-Step Process of [ PSI+] Prion Formation

Yeast prions are self-perpetuating misfolded proteins that are infectious. In yeast, [PSI+] is the prion form of the Sup35 protein. While the study of [PSI+] has revealed important cellular mechanisms that contribute to prion propagation, the underlying cellular factors that influence prion formation are not well understood. Prion formation has been described as a multi-step process involving both the initial nucleation and growth of aggregates, followed by the subsequent transmission of prion particles to daughter cells. Prior evidence suggests that actin plays a role in this multi-step process, but actin’s precise role is unclear. Here, we investigate how actin influences the cell’s ability to manage newly formed visible aggregates and how actin influences the transmission of newly formed aggregates to future generations. At early steps, using 3D time-lapse microscopy, several actin mutants, and Markov modeling, we find that the movement of newly formed aggregates is random and actin independent. At later steps, our prion induction studies provide evidence that the transmission of newly formed prion particles to daughter cells is limited by the actin cytoskeletal network. We suspect that this limitation is because actin is used to possibly retain prion particles in the mother cell

Решение задач подготовки и повышения квалификации персонала энергопредприятии с помощью автоматизированного контроля знании

The article is devoted to the methods of training and advanced training of personnel of Russian enterprises. Attention is drawn to the fact that the methods of staff training in the United States are systemic, integrated using the technology of «adaptability». The training of personnel with the help of e-learning is mostly less systematic, and is oriented more likely to the application of some elements (tools) of electronic learning in Russia. Nevertheless, as part of the development of the project to integrate online technologies into professional education programs, including additional ones, the number of open online courses (MOOCs) used for staff training is growing. In Russia, the most used method for monitoring personnel knowledge in various forms of personnel training is automated testing with the help of distance educational technologies, which allows to achieve didactic goals. Various tools have been developed to automate the process of controlling the knowledge of enterprise personnel. The article provides a comparative analysis of the functionality of two systems for automated testing of personnel of energy enterprises - INDIGO and LMS NSTU Dispace 2.0. It is shown that LMS NSTU can be used not only for knowledge control, realizing the testing function, but also recommend it for training, pedagogical monitoring and correction of the pedagogical process of training enterprise personnel. The necessity of supplementing electronic educational resources under the program «Fire Safety» with the methods of «involving training»is shown. With a standard feature set, the INDIGO testing system has a more sophisticated and accurate multi-stage testing and evaluation system.Статья посвящена методам подготовки и повышения квалификации персонала предприятий России. Обращается внимание, что методы обучения персонала в США носят системный, комплексный характер с использованием технологии «адаптивности». В России обучение персонала с помощью электронных технологий в большинстве менее системно, и ориентировано, скорее на применение некоторых элементов (средств) электронного обучения. Тем не менее, в рамках развития проекта интеграции онлайн-технологий в программы профессионального образования, включая дополнительное, растет количество открытых онлайн курсов (МООК), применяемых для обучения персонала. В России наиболее применяемым методом контроля знаний персонала при различных формах обучения персонала является автоматизированное Тестирование с помощью дистанционных образовательных технологий (ДОТ), позволяющее достичь дидактических целей. Разработаны различные инструменты автоматизации процесса контроля знаний персонала предприятий. В статье приведен сравнительный анализ функциональных возможностей двух систем для автоматизированного тестирования персонала энергетических предприятий - INDIGO и платформы для дистанционного обучения (СДО) НГТУ Dispace 2.0. Показано, что СДОНГТУ можно применять не только для контроля знаний, реализуя функцию тестирование, но и рекомендовать ее для обучения, педагогического мониторинга и коррекции педагогического процесса обучения персонала предприятий в качестве электронной образовательной среды. Показана необходимость дополнения электронных образовательных ресурсов по программе «Пожарная безопасность» методами «вовлекающего обучения». При стандартном наборе функциональных возможностей, система тестирования INDIGO имеет более сложную и точную многоступенчатую систему тестирования и оценивания