Building an Adaptive Culture where Collaborative Teaching Teams Leverage Data to Improve Student Achievement and Wellbeing

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) seeks to open up the black box of classroom teaching to data informed collaborative inquiry by teachers for teachers using formative feedback as the model for instructional improvement. Teacher collective efficacy is developed through ongoing professional learning in collaborative teaching teams that use multiple measures of data to limit bias and improve equity of outcomes for students. Such a process is iterative, and the OIP envisions the combined use of adaptive leadership and distributed leadership approaches to support Kotter’s 8-step model for change implementation. The desired outcome is an adaptive and agile school culture where teachers are empowered to use data in collaborative teams. A distributed leadership team will develop a culture of collaborative inquiry and improve data literacy within teaching teams to create school level narratives of student achievement and growth. This OIP applies critical theory frameworks of empowerment and liberation to data generated in schools with the firm belief that teachers and students who generate data must be empowered to analyse and use such data for self-improvement. This shift from the evaluative use of data for school ranking to the use of data by collaborative teams of teacher leaders as formative feedback for self-improvement is an act of resistance to the colonial use of data in 21st century neoliberal accountability regimes. A successful implementation of this OIP seeks to return sense-making of knowledge back to teachers as professionals and students as partners in learning through data-informed, collaborative decision making

An interactive, graphical coding environment for EarSketch online using Blockly and Web Audio API

Presented at the 2nd Web Audio Conference (WAC), April 4-6, 2016, Atlanta, Georgia.This paper presents an interactive graphical programming environment for EarSketch, using Blockly and Web Audio API. This visual programming element sidesteps syntac- tical challenges common to learning text-based languages, thereby targeting a wider range of users in both informal and academic settings. The implementation allows seamless integration with the existing EarSketch web environment, saving block-based code to the cloud as well as exporting it to Python and JavaScript

Gefitinib and High-Dose Fractionated Radiotherapy for Carcinomatous Encephalitis from Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma

Carcinomatous encephalitis is a rapidly fatal form of metastasis caused by miliary spread of systemic cancer into the brain parenchyma. The diagnostic criteria and optimal treatment for this disease are not well defined. We report a patient with rapid neurologic deterioration from carcinomatous encephalitis from lung adenocarcinoma. She was treated with gefitinib and high-dose fractionated whole brain radiotherapy, and eventually improved neurologically and was discharged home on hospital day 48. Gefitinib and high-dose fractionated radiotherapy may have synergistic activity in patients with carcinomatous encephalitis from non-small cell lung cancer having favorable prognostic factors. More importantly, timely recognition of this disease and the use of large fraction radiation therapy are necessary to control rapid neurologic deterioration

An overview of automatic identification (Auto-Id) in the supply chain

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been in existence for decades.Extensive research, new innovation and initiatives anchored by MIT’s Auto-ID Centre as well as key advancements in the information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, has set the stage for a phased adoption and eventually mass scale embracement of this technology, communally termed as Automatic Identification (Auto-ID).This is further reinforced by the fact that businesses have obtained extensive and concrete evidence that this technology will produce a high return on investment in the short and long term.This paper commences with an introduction to Auto-ID and proceeds to highlight the key forces that are driving the embracement of this technology. It will then discuss the architecture of Auto-ID that enables it to serve as the underpinning infrastructure and mechanism for dynamic information generation.Next, the discussion is framed around the key applications and advantages of Auto-ID within and external to the supply chain.Finally, an explanation on how Auto-ID is bridging the transition to the fourth information revolution is put forward, where through the use of dynamic information, supply chain efficiency will be amplified and organizational agility will be enhanced significantly

RPCH modulation of a multi-oscillator network: Effects on the pyloric network of the spiny lobster

The neuropeptide red pigment concentrating hormone (RPCH), which we have previously shown to activate the cardiac sac motor pattern and lead to a conjoint gastric mill-cardiac sac pattern in the spiny lobster Panulirus, also activates and modulates the pyloric pattern. Like the activity of gastric mill neurons in RPCH, the pattern of activity in the pyloric neurons is considerably more complex than that seen in control saline. This reflects the influence of the cardiac sac motor pattern, and particularly the upstream inferior ventricular (IV) neurons, on many of the pyloric neurons. RPCH intensifies this interaction by increasing the strength of the synaptic connections between the IV neurons and their targets in the stomatogastric ganglion. At the same time, RPCH enhances postinhibitory rebound in the lateral pyloric (LP) neuron. Taken together, these factors largely explain the complex pyloric pattern recorded in RPCH in Panulirus

The RSSearch™ Registry: patterns of care and outcomes research on patients treated with stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy

Background: The RSSearch™ Registry is a multi-institutional, observational, ongoing registry established to standardize data collection from patients treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and/or stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). This report describes the design, patient demographics, lesion characteristics, and SRS/SBRT treatment patterns in RSSearch™. Illustrative patient-related outcomes are also presented for two common treatment sites – brain metastases and liver metastases. Materials and methods Thirty-nine US centers participated in RSSearch™. Patients screened for SRS/SBRT were eligible to be enrolled. Descriptive analyses were performed to assess patient characteristics, physician treatment practices, and clinical outcomes. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to determine overall survival (OS), local progression-free (LPFS), and distant disease-free survival (DDFS). Results: From January, 2008 – January, 2013, 11,457 patients were enrolled. The median age was 67 years (range 7–100 years); 51% male and 49% female. Forty-six percent had no prior treatment, 22% had received chemotherapy, 19% radiation therapy and 17% surgery. There were 11,820 lesions from 65 treatment locations; 54% extracranial and 46% intracranial. The most common treatment locations were brain/cranial nerve/spinal cord, lung, prostate and liver. Metastatic lesions accounted for the majority of cases (41.6%), followed by primary malignant (32.9%), benign (10.9%), recurrent (9.4%), and functional diseases (4.3%). SRS/SBRT was used with a curative intent in 39.8% and palliative care in 44.8% of cases. The median dose for all lesions was 30 Gy (range 70, OS was 11 months vs. 4 months for KPS ≤ 70. Six-month and 12-month local control was 79% and 61%, respectively for patients with KPS ≤ 70, and 85% and 74%, respectively for patients with KPS > 70. In a second subset analysis including 174 patients with 204 liver metastases, median OS was 22 months. At 1-year, LPFS and DDFS rates were 74% and 53%, respectively. LPFS. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that collective patterns of care and outcomes research for SRS/SBRT can be performed and reported from data entered by users in a common database. The RSSearch™ dataset represents SRS/SBRT practices in a real world setting, providing a useful resource for expanding knowledge of SRS/SBRT treatment patterns and outcomes and generating robust hypotheses for randomzed clinical studies

Stereotactic body radiotherapy for centrally located early-stage non-small cell lung cancer or lung metastases from the RSSearch (R) patient registry

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate treatment patterns and outcomes of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for centrally located primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or lung metastases from the RSSearch (R) Patient Registry, an international, multi-center patient registry dedicated to radiosurgery and SBRT. Methods: Eligible patients included those with centrally located lung tumors clinically staged T1-T2 N0, M0, biopsy-confirmed NSCLC or lung metastases treated with SBRT between November 2004 and January 2014. Descriptive analysis was used to report patient demographics and treatment patterns. Overall survival (OS) and local control (LC) were determined using Kaplan-Meier method. Toxicity was reported using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.0. Results: In total, 111 patients with 114 centrally located lung tumors (48 T1-T2, N0, M0 NSCLC and 66 lung metastases) were treated with SBRT at 19 academic and community-based radiotherapy centers in the US and Germany. Median follow-up was 17 months (range, 1-72). Median age was 74 years for primary NSCLC patients and 65 years for lung metastases patients (p < 0.001). SBRT dose varied from 16 - 60 Gy (median 48 Gy) delivered in 1-5 fractions (median 4 fractions). Median dose to centrally located primary NSCLC was 48 Gy compared to 37.5 Gy for lung metastases (p = 0.0001) and median BED10 was 105.6 Gy for primary NSCLC and 93.6 Gy for lung metastases (p = 0.0005). Two-year OS for T1N0M0 and T2N0M0 NSCLC was 79 and 32.1 %, respectively (p = 0.009) and 2-year OS for lung metastases was 49.6 %. Two-year LC was 76.4 and 69.8 % for primary NSCLC and lung metastases, respectively. Toxicity was low with no Grade 3 or higher acute or late toxicities. Conclusion: Overall, patients with centrally located primary NSCLC were older and received higher doses of SBRT than those with lung metastases. Despite these differences, LC and OS was favorable for patients with central lung tumors treated with SBRT. Reported toxicity was low, although low grade toxicities were observed in patients where dose tolerances approached or exceeded published guidelines. Prospective studies are needed to further define the optimal SBRT dose for this cohort of patients

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SECONDARY METABOLITE FROM HABENARIA INTERMEDIA D. DON FOR SCREENING OF HEPATOPROTECITVE POTENTIAL AGAINST CARBON TETRACHLORIDE INDUCED TOXICITY IN ALBINO RAT LIVER

The purpose of the study was to isolate the coumarin glycoside constituent from the ethyl acetate fraction of tubers of Habenaria intermedia D. Don by column chromatography using the gradient elution technique. The isolated coumarin glycoside was characterized by spectral studies and screened for hepatoprotecitve potential on CCl4 induced toxicity in rat liver. The coumarin glycoside (Scopoletin) protective activity was evaluated by the assay of liver function biochemical parameters such as SGOT, SGPT, Bilirubin, total protein and histopathological studies of the liver. Results showed that the toxic effect of CCl4 was controlled significantly by restoration of the levels of serum bilirubin, proteins and enzymes as compared to the normal and standard drug Silymarin treated groups. Histology of the liver sections of the rats treated with isolated coumarin glycoside showed the presence of normal hepatic cords, absence of necrosis and fatty infiltration, which further substantiated hepatoprotecitve activity. Therefore, outcome of the present study ascertains that the isolated coumarin glycoside possesses significant hepatoprotecitve activity