701 research outputs found
Raising standards in American schools: the case of No Child Left Behind
In January 2002, President George W Bush signed into law what is arguably the most important piece of US educational legislation for the past 35 years. For the first time, Public Law 107-110 links high stakes testing with strict accountability measures designed to ensure that, at least in schools that receive government funding, no child is left behind. The appropriately named No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) links government funding to strict improvement policies for America’s public schools. Much of what is undertaken in NCLB is praiseworthy, the Act is essentially equitable for it ensures that schools pay due regard to the progress of those sections of the school population who have traditionally done less well in school, in particular, students from economically disadvantaged homes, as well as those from ethnic minority backgrounds and those who have limited proficiency to speak English. However, this seemingly salutatory aspect of the Act is also the one that has raised the most objections. This paper describes the key features of this important piece of legislation before outlining why it is that a seemingly equitable Act has produced so much consternation in US education circles. Through an exploration of school level data for the state of New Jersey, the paper considers the extent to which these concerns have been justified during the early days of No Child Left Behind
Developing and validating subjective and objective risk-assessment measures for predicting mortality after major surgery: An international prospective cohort study
Background:
Preoperative risk prediction is important for guiding clinical decision-making and resource allocation. Clinicians frequently rely solely on their own clinical judgement for risk prediction rather than objective measures. We aimed to compare the accuracy of freely available objective surgical risk tools with subjective clinical assessment in predicting 30-day mortality.
Methods and findings:
We conducted a prospective observational study in 274 hospitals in the United Kingdom (UK), Australia, and New Zealand. For 1 week in 2017, prospective risk, surgical, and outcome data were collected on all adults aged 18 years and over undergoing surgery requiring at least a 1-night stay in hospital. Recruitment bias was avoided through an ethical waiver to patient consent; a mixture of rural, urban, district, and university hospitals participated. We compared subjective assessment with 3 previously published, open-access objective risk tools for predicting 30-day mortality: the Portsmouth-Physiology and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality (P-POSSUM), Surgical Risk Scale (SRS), and Surgical Outcome Risk Tool (SORT). We then developed a logistic regression model combining subjective assessment and the best objective tool and compared its performance to each constituent method alone. We included 22,631 patients in the study: 52.8% were female, median age was 62 years (interquartile range [IQR] 46 to 73 years), median postoperative length of stay was 3 days (IQR 1 to 6), and inpatient 30-day mortality was 1.4%. Clinicians used subjective assessment alone in 88.7% of cases. All methods overpredicted risk, but visual inspection of plots showed the SORT to have the best calibration. The SORT demonstrated the best discrimination of the objective tools (SORT Area Under Receiver Operating Characteristic curve [AUROC] = 0.90, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.88–0.92; P-POSSUM = 0.89, 95% CI 0.88–0.91; SRS = 0.85, 95% CI 0.82–0.87). Subjective assessment demonstrated good discrimination (AUROC = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.86–0.91) that was not different from the SORT (p = 0.309). Combining subjective assessment and the SORT improved discrimination (bootstrap optimism-corrected AUROC = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.90–0.94) and demonstrated continuous Net Reclassification Improvement (NRI = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.06–0.20, p < 0.001) compared with subjective assessment alone. Decision-curve analysis (DCA) confirmed the superiority of the SORT over other previously published models, and the SORT–clinical judgement model again performed best overall. Our study is limited by the low mortality rate, by the lack of blinding in the ‘subjective’ risk assessments, and because we only compared the performance of clinical risk scores as opposed to other prediction tools such as exercise testing or frailty assessment.
Conclusions:
In this study, we observed that the combination of subjective assessment with a parsimonious risk model improved perioperative risk estimation. This may be of value in helping clinicians allocate finite resources such as critical care and to support patient involvement in clinical decision-making
Generalized Flows around Neutron Stars
In this chapter, we present a brief and non-exhaustive review of the
developments of theoretical models for accretion flows around neutron stars. A
somewhat chronological summary of crucial observations and modelling of timing
and spectral properties are given in sections 2 and 3. In section 4, we argue
why and how the Two-Component Advective Flow (TCAF) solution can be applied to
the cases of neutron stars when suitable modifications are made for the NSs. We
showcase some of our findings from Monte Carlo and Smoothed Particle
Hydrodynamic simulations which further strengthens the points raised in section
4. In summary, we remark on the possibility of future works using TCAF for both
weakly magnetic and magnetic Neutron Stars.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1901.0084
‘[It] isn’t designed to be assessed how we assess’:Rethinking assessment for qualification in the context of the implementation of the Curriculum for Wales
This paper reports teacher and learner perspectives on how assessment and reform influences pedagogical practices and behaviours. The research was conducted in a context of policy reform, at a time when Wales’ revised General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) specifications had been implemented, and learners were preparing for their assessments; but, also during the period of debate on the development of Wales’ new curriculum, which has taken a distinct and contrasting position on assessment to the assumptions underlying the reform of Welsh GCSEs implemented from 2015. These data, therefore, offer unique insights into the affordances and limitations of two sharply contrasting systems at a time of considerable change, offering reflections on the current curriculum and its attendant assessment practices, and also a prospective analysis of how the principles embedded in the new curriculum could challenge these existing assumptions and conventions. Findings suggest that teachers and learners currently inhabit an assessment‐driven system, which encourages performative practices in pedagogy and is governed by external accountability; and that these practices are at odds with the principles of assessment articulated in Successful Futures. Consequently, teachers in this study expressed uncertainty about how assessment for certification purposes at GCSE could be compatible with the principles of the Curriculum for Wales
Energy Release During Disk Accretion onto a Rapidly Rotating Neutron Star
The energy release L_s on the surface of a neutron star (NS) with a weak
magnetic field and the energy release L_d in the surrounding accretion disk
depend on two independent parameters that determine its state (for example,
mass M and cyclic rotation frequency f) and is proportional to the accretion
rate. We derive simple approximation formulas illustrating the dependence of
the efficiency of energy release in an extended disk and in a boundary layer
near the NS surface on the frequency and sense of rotation for various NS
equations of state. Such formulas are obtained for the quadrupole moment of a
NS, for a gap between its surface and a marginally stable orbit, for the
rotation frequency in an equatorial Keplerian orbit and in the marginally
stable circular orbit, and for the rate of NS spinup via disk accretion. In the
case of NS and disk counterrotation, the energy release during accretion can
reach . The sense of NS rotation is a factor that strongly
affects the observed ratio of nuclear energy release during bursts to
gravitational energy release between bursts in X-ray bursters. The possible
existence of binary systems with NS and disk counterrotation in the Galaxy is
discussed. Based on the static criterion for stability, we present a method of
constructing the dependence of gravitational mass M on Kerr rotation parameter
j and on total baryon mass (rest mass) m for a rigidly rotating neutron star.
We show that all global NS characteristics can be expressed in terms of the
function M(j, m) and its derivatives.Comment: 42 pages, 12 figures, to appear in Astronomy Letters, 2000, v.26,
p.69
Neutron-Rich Freeze-Out in Viscously Spreading Accretion Disks Formed from Compact Object Mergers
Accretion disks with masses ~0.001-0.1 Msun form during the merger of neutron
star (NS)-NS and black hole-NS binaries. Initially, such hyper-accreting disks
cool efficiently by neutrino emission and their composition is driven
neutron-rich by pair captures under degenerate conditions. However, as the disk
viscously spreads and its temperature drops, cooling becomes inefficient and
the disk becomes advective. Analytic arguments and numerical simulations
suggest that once this occurs, powerful winds likely drive away most of the
disk's remaining mass. We calculate the thermal evolution and nuclear
composition of viscously spreading accretion disks formed from compact object
mergers using one-dimensional height-integrated simulations. We show that
freeze-out from weak equilibrium necessarily accompanies the disk's late-time
transition to an advective state. As a result, hyper-accreting disks
generically freeze out neutron-rich (with electron fraction Ye ~ 0.2-0.4), and
their late-time outflows robustly synthesize rare neutron-rich isotopes. Using
the measured abundances of these isotopes in our solar system, we constrain the
compact object merger rate in the Milky Way to be < 1e-5 (M_d,0/0.1 Msun)^(-1)
per year, where M_d,0 is the average initial mass of the accretion disk. Thus,
either the NS-NS merger rate is at the low end of current estimates or the
average disk mass produced during a typical merger is << 0.1 Msun. We also show
that if most short duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are produced by compact
object mergers, their beaming fraction must exceed f_b ~ 0.13(M_d,0/0.1 Msun),
corresponding to a jet half-opening angle > 30(M_d,0/0.1 Msun)^(1/2) degrees.
This is consistent with other evidence that short duration GRB outflows are
less collimated than those produced in long duration GRBs.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 table; accepted to MNRAS; minor changes to
text and figure
Ballooning Instability in Polar Caps of Accreting Neutron Stars
We assess the stability of Kruskal-Schwarzschild (magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor)
type modes for accreted matter on the surface of a neutron star confined by a
strong (>= 1.E12 G) magnetic field. Employing the energy principle to analyze
the stability of short-wavelength ballooning modes, we find that line-tying to
the neutron star crust stabilizes these modes until the overpressure at the top
of the neutron star crust exceeds the magnetic pressure by a factor ~ 8(a/h),
where a and h are respectively the lateral extent of the accretion region and
the density scale height. The most unstable modes are localized within a
density scale height above the crust. We calculate the amount of mass that can
be accumulated at the polar cap before the onset of instability.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication by ApJ, uses AASTEX 5.0
and emulateapj5.sty (included
Phenoloxidase activity acts as a mosquito innate immune response against infection with semliki forest virus
Several components of the mosquito immune system including the RNA interference (RNAi), JAK/STAT, Toll and IMD pathways have previously been implicated in controlling arbovirus infections. In contrast, the role of the phenoloxidase (PO) cascade in mosquito antiviral immunity is unknown. Here we show that conditioned medium from the Aedes albopictus-derived U4.4 cell line contains a functional PO cascade, which is activated by the bacterium Escherichia coli and the arbovirus Semliki Forest virus (SFV) (Togaviridae; Alphavirus). Production of recombinant SFV expressing the PO cascade inhibitor Egf1.0 blocked PO activity in U4.4 cell- conditioned medium, which resulted in enhanced spread of SFV. Infection of adult female Aedes aegypti by feeding mosquitoes a bloodmeal containing Egf1.0-expressing SFV increased virus replication and mosquito mortality. Collectively, these results suggest the PO cascade of mosquitoes plays an important role in immune defence against arboviruses
A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007
We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts
associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal
new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy,
particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the
underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the
period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first
science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed
for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with
the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place
limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave
emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of
merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000
Energy Release on the Surface of a Rapidly Rotating Neutron Star during Disk Accretion: A Thermodynamic Approach
The total energy E of a star as a function of its angular momentum J and mass
M in the Newtonian theory: E = E(J, M) [in general relativity, the
gravitational mass M of a star as a function of its angular momentum J and rest
mass m, M = M(J, m)], is used to determine the remaining parameters (angular
velocity, equatorial radius, chemical potential, etc.) in the case of rigid
rotation. Expressions are derived for the energy release during accretion onto
a cool (with constant entropy), rapidly rotating neutron star (NS) in the
Newtonian theory and in general relativity. A separate analysis is performed
for the cases where the NS equatorial radius is larger and smaller than the
radius of the marginally stable orbit in the disk plane. An approximate formula
is proposed for the NS equatorial radius for an arbitrary equation of state,
which matches the exact one at J = 0.Comment: 12 pages, 0 figures (Astronomy Letters in press
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