Eight Questions about Implementing Standards-Based Education

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School District Leadership that Works: The Effect of Superintendent Leadership on Student Achievement

As the latest in its continuing series of research on school, leadership, and classroom practices related to student achievement, McREL conducted a meta-analysis of research on the effect of superintendent leadership on student achievement. For this study, McREL researchers identified 27 research reports conducted since 1970 that examined, using quantitative, rigorous methods, the influence of school district leaders on student performance. Using a sophisticated research technique called a meta-analysis, McREL combined data from separate studies into a single sample, creating what McREL believes to be the largest-ever quantitative examination of research on superintendents. Altogether, these studies involved 2,714 districts and the achievement scores of 3.4 million students. The study produced the following major findings. Finding 1: District-level leadership matters. The McREL research team, led by McREL President and CEO Tim Waters and McREL Senior Fellow Robert J. Marzano, found a statistically significant relationship (a positive correlation of .24) between district leadership and student achievement.Finding 2: Effective superintendents focus their efforts on creating goal-oriented districts. McREL researchers also identified five district-level leadership responsibilities that have a statistically significant correlation with average student academic achievement. All five of these responsibilities relate to setting and keeping districts focused on teaching and learning goals.Finding 3: Superintendent tenure is positively correlated with student achievement. McREL found two studies that looked specifically at the correlations between superintendent tenure and student achievement. The weighted average correlation in these two studies was a statistically significant .19, which suggests that length of superintendent tenure in a district positively correlates to student achievement. These positive effects appear to manifest themselves as early as two years into a superintendent's tenure

Combination of HBIG and lamivudine-resistant mutations: A formula for trouble?

Background & Aims: Lamivudine has become a main therapeutic option for treating hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Although drug resistance develops, the clinical course after selection of antiviral-resistant HBV mutants seems to be benign. However, we observed a severe clinical course of hepatitis B infection in several liver transplant recipients after the emergence of lamivudine resistance. This was associated with high viral load in the blood. Methods: In this report, we characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying drug-dependent enhanced replication of particular lamivudine-resistant HBV mutants selected in these patients, which were associated with sudden onset of liver failure. Results: The clinical course was characterized by a sudden rise in serum bilirubin, prothrombin time, and transaminase. HBV sequence analysis of these patients revealed both mutations in the “a-determinant” of the envelope and the YMDD (tyrosine, methionine, aspartate, aspartate) motif (domain C) of the polymerase protein. Transfection experiments with replication competent vectors indicated that the “a-determinant” changes were not associated with resistance, whereas mutations in the YMDD motif conferred resistance to lamivudine. More importantly, combinations of mutations in the “a-determinant” and the YMDD motif in patients with a severe hepatitis were not only resistant to lamivudine treatment, but showed enhanced replication in vitro in the presence of lamivudine. This observation was confirmed in separate laboratories. Conclusions: Severe and fatal hepatitis B infection can occur during lamivudine therapy and may be associated with certain HBV mutants selected during sequential nucleoside and HBIg treatment. The lamivudine-enhanced replication shown by these mutants suggests that continuation of therapy with lamivudine could be deleterious in some patients.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35279/1/500081118_ftp.pd

What causes hidradenitis suppurativa? - 15 years after

The 14 authors of the first review article on hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) pathogenesis published 2008 in EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY cumulating from the 1st International Hidradenitis Suppurativa Research Symposium held March 30?April 2, 2006 in Dessau, Germany with 33 participants were prophetic when they wrote "Hopefully, this heralds a welcome new tradition: to get to the molecular heart of HS pathogenesis, which can only be achieved by a renaissance of solid basic HS research, as the key to developing more effective HS therapy." (Kurzen et al. What causes hidradenitis suppurativa? Exp Dermatol 2008;17:455). Fifteen years later, there is no doubt that the desired renaissance of solid basic HS research is progressing with rapid steps and that HS has developed deep roots among inflammatory diseases in Dermatology and beyond, recognized as ?the only inflammatory skin disease than can be healed?. This anniversary article of 43 research-performing authors from all around the globe in the official journal of the European Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation e.V. (EHSF e.V.) and the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation, Inc (HSF USA) summarizes the evidence of the intense HS clinical and experimental research during the last 15 years in all aspects of the disease and provides information of the developments to come in the near future

The ATLAS Data Acquisition and High-Level Trigger: Concept, Design and Status

The Trigger and Data Acquisition system (TDAQ) of the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider is based on a multi-level selection process and a hierarchical acquisition tree. The system, consisting of a combination of custom electronics and commercial products from the computing and telecommunication industry, is required to provide an online selection power of 105 and a total throughput in the range of Terabit/sec. This paper introduces the basic system requirements and concepts, describes the architecture of the system, discusses the basic measurements supporting the validity of the design and reports on the actual status of construction and installation

Measurement of the W-Pair Production Cross Section and W-Decay Branching Fractions in e+e−e^{+}e^{-} Interactions at s\sqrt{s}= 189 GeV

The data collected by the L3 experiment at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of $188.6~\rm{Ge\kern -0.1em V}$ are used to measure the W-pair production cross section and the W-boson decay branching fractions. These data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 176.8~pb$^{-1}$. The total cross section for W-pair production, combining all final states, is measured to be $\sigma_{\rm{WW}}= 16.24 \pm 0.37~(stat.) \pm 0.22~(syst.)$~pb. Including our data collected at lower centre-of-mass energies, the hadronic branching fraction of the W-boson is determined to be $B(\rm{W} \rightarrow \rm{qq})= \left[ 68.20 \pm 0.68~(stat.) \pm 0.33~(syst.)\right]~\%$. The results agree with the Standard Model predictions.The data collected by the L3 experiment at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 188.6 GeV are used to measure the W-pair production cross section and the W-boson decay branching fractions. These data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 176.8pb^-1. The total cross section for W-pair production, combining all final states, is measured to be sigma_WW = 16.24 +/- 0.37(stat.) +/- 0.22(syst.) pb. Including our data collected at lower centre-of-mass energies, the hadronic branching fraction of the W-boson is determined to be B(W ->qq) = [68.20 +/- 0.68 (stat.) +/- 0.33 (syst.) ] %. The results agree with the Standard Model predictions.The data collected by the L3 experiment at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 188.6 GeV are used to measure the W-pair production cross section and the W-boson decay branching fractions. These data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 176.8 pb −1 . The total cross section for W-pair production, combining all final states, is measured to be σ WW =16.24±0.37 (stat.)±0.22 (syst.) pb. Including our data collected at lower centre-of-mass energies, the hadronic branching fraction of the W-boson is determined to be B (W→qq)=[68.20±0.68 (stat.)±0.33 (syst.)]%. The results agree with the Standard Model predictions

2021 Taxonomic update of phylum Negarnaviricota (Riboviria: Orthornavirae), including the large orders Bunyavirales and Mononegavirales.

Correction to: 2021 Taxonomic update of phylum Negarnaviricota (Riboviria: Orthornavirae), including the large orders Bunyavirales and Mononegavirales. Archives of Virology (2021) 166:3567–3579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05266-wIn March 2021, following the annual International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) ratification vote on newly proposed taxa, the phylum Negarnaviricota was amended and emended. The phylum was expanded by four families (Aliusviridae, Crepuscuviridae, Myriaviridae, and Natareviridae), three subfamilies (Alpharhabdovirinae, Betarhabdovirinae, and Gammarhabdovirinae), 42 genera, and 200 species. Thirty-nine species were renamed and/or moved and seven species were abolished. This article presents the updated taxonomy of Negarnaviricota as now accepted by the ICTV.This work was supported in part through Laulima Government Solutions, LLC prime contract with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. J.H.K. performed this work as an employee of Tunnell Government Services (TGS), a subcontractor of Laulima Government Solutions, LLC under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. This work was also supported in part with federal funds from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), under Contract No. 75N91019D00024, Task Order No. 75N91019F00130 to I.C., who was supported by the Clinical Monitoring Research Program Directorate, Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research. This work was also funded in part by Contract No. HSHQDC-15-C-00064 awarded by DHS S&T for the management and operation of The National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, a federally funded research and development center operated by the Battelle National Biodefense Institute (V.W.); and NIH contract HHSN272201000040I/HHSN27200004/D04 and grant R24AI120942 (N.V., R.B.T.). S.S. acknowledges partial support from the Special Research Initiative of Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES), Mississippi State University, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture, Hatch Project 1021494. Part of this work was supported by the Francis Crick Institute which receives its core funding from Cancer Research UK (FC001030), the UK Medical Research Council (FC001030), and the Wellcome Trust (FC001030).S

The ATLAS trigger - high-level trigger commissioning and operation during early data taking

The ATLAS experiment is one of the two general-purpose experiments due to start operation soon at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC will collide protons at a centre of mass energy of 14~TeV, with a bunch-crossing rate of 40~MHz. The ATLAS three-level trigger will reduce this input rate to match the foreseen offline storage capability of 100-200~Hz. This paper gives an overview of the ATLAS High Level Trigger focusing on the system design and its innovative features. We then present the ATLAS trigger strategy for the initial phase of LHC exploitation. Finally, we report on the valuable experience acquired through in-situ commissioning of the system where simulated events were used to exercise the trigger chain. In particular we show critical quantities such as event processing times, measured in a large-scale HLT farm using a complex trigger menu

Outcome measures for the evaluation of treatment response in hidradenitis suppurativa for clinical practice

Importance Although several clinician- and patient-reported outcome measures have been developed for trials in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), there is currently no consensus on which measures are best suited for use in clinical practice. Identifying validated and feasible measures applicable to the practice setting has the potential to optimize treatment strategies and generate generalizable evidence that may inform treatment guidelines. Objective To establish consensus on a core set of clinician- and patient-reported outcome measures recommended for use in clinical practice and to establish the appropriate interval within which these measures should be applied. Evidence Review Clinician- and patient-reported HS measures and studies describing their psychometric properties were identified through literature reviews. Identified measures comprised an item reduction survey and subsequent electronic Delphi (e-Delphi) consensus rounds. In each consensus round, a summary of outcome measure components and scoring methods was provided to participants. Experts were provided with feasibility characteristics of clinician measures to aid selection. Consensus was achieved if at least 67% of respondents agreed with use of a measure in clinical practice. Findings Among HS experts, response rates for item reduction, e-Delphi round 1, and e-Delphi round 2 surveys were 76.4% (42 of 55), 90.5% (38 of 42), and 92.9% (39 of 42), respectively; among patient research partners (PRPs), response rates were 70.8% (17 of 24), 100% (17 of 17), and 82.4% (14 of 17), respectively. The majority of experts across rounds were practicing dermatologists with 18 to 19 years of clinical experience. In the final e-Delphi round, most PRPs were female (12 [85.7%] vs 2 males [11.8%]) and aged 30 to 49 years. In the final e-Delphi round, HS experts and PRPs agreed with the use of the HS Investigator Global Assessment (28 [71.8%]) and HS Quality of Life score (13 [92.9%]), respectively. The most expert-preferred assessment interval in which to apply these measures was 3 months (27 [69.2%]). Conclusions and Relevance An international group of HS experts and PRPs achieved consensus on a core set of HS measures suitable for use in clinical practice. Consistent use of these measures may lead to more accurate assessments of HS disease activity and life outcomes, facilitating shared treatment decision-making in the practice setting