Special education policy and practice: A comparison of Singapore and the United States

Building an inclusive society in which all people can participate effectively and live together requires understanding inclusive education and its impact on the social order. As countries of different regions face the vast array of challenges unique to their educational systems, it becomes apparent that inclusive societies are intricately tied to social inclusion policy initiatives and developments in education. Governments are becoming increasingly aware of the need to review their educational systems as they attempt to define what an inclusive society is and how to make inclusion truly effective. Singapore is a unique example of a country that has the resources and the vision, but currently lacks an educational system designed to fully include individuals with special needs. Although Singaporean students consistently score near the top in science, math, and reading achievement on international assessments, many students with special needs still receive their education in schools separated from their mainstream peers. In 2004, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong discussed a new vision of Singapore becoming an inclusive society that embraces all individuals with special learning needs. In this manuscript, the authors provide a brief history of Singapore and its education system and explore how PM Lee’s vision of an inclusive society has shaped practice and policy in Singapore schools in the last decade. Specific ideas and next steps for creating an inclusive Singapore for individuals with disabilities are discussed

A volatility decomposition control variate technique for Monte Carlo simulations of Heath Jarrow Morton models

The aim of this work is to develop a simulation approach to the yield curve evolution in the Heath, Jarrow and Morton [Econometrica 60 (1) (1992) 77] framework. The stochastic quantities considered as affecting the forward rate volatility function are the spot rate and the forward rate. A decomposition of the volatility function into a Hull and White [Rev. Financial Stud. 3 (1990) 573] volatility and a remainder allows us to develop an efficient Control Variate Method that makes use of the closed form solution of the Hull and White call option. This technique considerably speeds up the simulation algorithm to approximate call option values with Monte Carlo simulation. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Inclusion in High-Achieving Singapore: Challenges of Building an Inclusive Society in Policy and Practice

Building an inclusive society in which all people can participate effectively and live together requires understanding inclusive education and its impact on the social order. As countries of different regions face the vast array of challenges unique to their educational systems, it becomes apparent that inclusive societies are intricately tied to social inclusion policy initiatives and developments in education. Governments are becoming increasingly aware of the need to review their educational systems as they attempt to define what an inclusive society is and how to make inclusion truly effective. Singapore is a unique example of a country that has the resources and the vision, but currently lacks an educational system designed to fully include individuals with special needs. Although Singaporean students consistently score near the top in science, math, and reading achievement on international assessments, many students with special needs still receive their education in schools separated from their mainstream peers. In 2004, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong discussed a new vision of Singapore becoming an inclusive society that embraces all individuals with special learning needs. In this manuscript, the authors provide a brief history of Singapore and its education system and explore how PM Lee’s vision of an inclusive society has shaped practice and policy in Singapore schools in the last decade. Specific ideas and next steps for creating an inclusive Singapore for individuals with disabilities are discussed

Molecular characterization of tlyA gene product, Rv1694 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: A non-conventional hemolysin and a ribosomal RNA methyl transferase

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>is a virulent bacillus causing tuberculosis, a disease responsible for million deaths each year worldwide. In order to understand its mechanism of pathogenesis in humans and to help control tuberculosis, functions of numerous <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>genes are being characterized. In this study we report the dual functionality of <it>tlyA </it>gene product of <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>annotated as Rv1694, a 268 amino acid long basic protein.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The recombinant purified Rv1694 protein was found to exhibit hemolytic activity <it>in vitro</it>. It showed concentration and time-dependent hemolysis of rabbit and human erythrocytes. Multiple oligomeric forms (dimers to heptamers) of this protein were seen on the membranes of the lysed erythrocytes. Like the oligomers of conventional, well-known, pore-forming toxins, the oligomers of Rv1694 were found to be resistant to heat and SDS, but were susceptible to reducing agents like β-mercaptoethanol as it had abolished the hemolytic activity of Rv1694 indicating the role of disulfide bond(s). The Rv1694 generated <it>de novo </it>by <it>in vitro </it>transcription and translation also exhibited unambiguous hemolysis confirming the self assembly and oligomerization properties of this protein. Limited proteolytic digestion of this protein has revealed that the amino terminus is susceptible while in solution but is protected in presence of membrane. Striking feature of Rv1694 is its presence on the cell wall of <it>E. coli </it>as visualized by confocal microscopy. The surface expression is consistent with the contact dependent haemolytic ability of <it>E. coli </it>expressing this protein. Also, immune serum specific to this protein inhibits the contact dependent hemolysis. Moreover, Rv1694 protein binds to and forms stable oligomers on the macrophage phagosomal membranes. In addition to all these properties, <it>E. coli </it>expressing Rv1694 was found to be susceptible to the antibiotic capreomycin as its growth was significantly slower than mock vector transformed <it>E. coli</it>. The S30 extract of <it>E. coli </it>expressing the Rv1694 had poor translational activity in presence of capreomycin, further confirming its methylation activity. Finally, incorporation of methyl group of [³H]-S-adenosylmethionine in isolated ribosomes also confirmed its methylation activity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The Rv1694 has an unusual dual activity. It appears to contain two diverse functions such as haemolytic activity and ribosomal RNA methylation activity. It is possible that the haemolytic activity might be relevant to intra-cellular compartments such as phagosomes rather than cell lysis of erythrocytes and the self-assembly trait may have a potential role after successful entry into macrophages by <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</it>.</p

Isothermal Titration Calorimetric Studies on the Interaction of the Major Bovine Seminal Plasma Protein, PDC-109 with Phospholipid Membranes

The interaction of the major bovine seminal plasma protein, PDC-109 with lipid membranes was investigated by isothermal titration calorimetry. Binding of the protein to model membranes made up of diacyl phospholipids was found to be endothermic, with positive values of binding enthalpy and entropy, and could be analyzed in terms of a single type of binding sites on the protein. Enthalpies and entropies for binding to diacylphosphatidylcholine membranes increased with increase in temperature, although a clear-cut linear dependence was not observed. The entropically driven binding process indicates that hydrophobic interactions play a major role in the overall binding process. Binding of PDC-109 with dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine membranes containing 25 mol% cholesterol showed an initial increase in the association constant as well as enthalpy and entropy of binding with increase in temperature, whereas the values decreased with further increase in temperature. The affinity of PDC-109 for phosphatidylcholine increased at higher pH, which is physiologically relevant in view of the basic nature of the seminal plasma. Binding of PDC-109 to Lyso-PC could be best analysed in terms of two types of binding interactions, a high affinity interaction with Lyso-PC micelles and a low-affinity interaction with the monomeric lipid. Enthalpy-entropy compensation was observed for the interaction of PDC-109 with phospholipid membranes, suggesting that water structure plays an important role in the binding process

Oligomerization, Conformational Stability and Thermal Unfolding of Harpin, HrpZPss and Its Hypersensitive Response-Inducing C-Terminal Fragment, C-214-HrpZPss.

HrpZ-a harpin from Pseudomonas syringae-is a highly thermostable protein that exhibits multifunctional abilities e.g., it elicits hypersensitive response (HR), enhances plant growth, acts as a virulence factor, and forms pores in plant plasma membranes as well as artificial membranes. However, the molecular mechanism of its biological activity and high thermal stability remained poorly understood. HR inducing abilities of non-overlapping short deletion mutants of harpins put further constraints on the ability to establish structure-activity relationships. We characterized HrpZPss from Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and its HR inducing C-terminal fragment with 214 amino acids (C-214-HrpZPss) using calorimetric, spectroscopic and microscopic approaches. Both C-214-HrpZPss and HrpZPss were found to form oligomers. We propose that leucine-zipper-like motifs may take part in the formation of oligomeric aggregates, and oligomerization could be related to HR elicitation. CD, DSC and fluorescence studies showed that the thermal unfolding of these proteins is complex and involves multiple steps. The comparable conformational stability at 25°C (∼10.0 kcal/mol) of HrpZPss and C-214-HrpZPss further suggest that their structures are flexible, and the flexibility allows them to adopt proper conformation for multifunctional abilities

Sputum induced cellularity in a group of traffic policemen.

It has been demonstrated that a group of workers (e.g. waste handlers) daily exposed to a traffic related air pollution present airway inflammation in term of an increase of neutrophilic inflammation. The aim of our study was to determine the presence of airways inflammation detected by induced sputum in a population of traffic policemen (TP) in the city of Bari, compared to a group of healthy subjects (HS) without any occupational exposure to inhalation of traffic-related air pollution. Twelve non smokers, non atopics, healthy traffic policemen with a history of exposure to airway pollution and 12 HS underwent sputum induction. TP show a statistically significant increase in the percentage neutrophil cell count (median and IQ range) compared to the HS (65 and 13.5 vs. 40.5 and 9.5; p<0.01). In conclusion we have found that policemen chronically exposed to air pollution presented airway neutrophilic inflammation and the results of this pilot study could be strictly considered for the long term effect of a traffic pollution in airway inflammation and the lung function

Membrane Bound Monomer of Staphylococcal α-Hemolysin Induces Caspase Activation and Apoptotic Cell Death despite Initiation of Membrane Repair Pathway

BACKGROUND: Wild type Staphylococcal alpha-hemolysin (alpha-HL) assembly on target mammalian cells usually results in necrotic form of cell death; however, caspase activation also occurs. The pathways of caspase activation due to binding/partial assembly by alpha-HL are unknown till date. RESULTS: Cells treated with H35N (a mutant of alpha-HL that remains as membrane bound monomer), have been shown to accumulate hypodiploid nuclei, activate caspases and induce intrinsic mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. We have earlier shown that the binding and assembly of alpha-HL requires functional form of Caveolin-1 which is an integral part of caveolae. In this report, we show that the caveolae of mammalian cells, which undergo a continuous cycle of 'kiss and run' dynamics with the plasma membrane, have become immobile upon the binding of the monomer. The cells treated with H35N were unable to recover despite activation of membrane repair mechanism involving caspase-1 dependent activation of sterol regulatory element binding protein-1. CONCLUSIONS: This is for the first time we show the range of cellular changes and responses that take place immediately after the binding of the monomeric form of staphylococcal alpha-hemolysin

Power System Load Flow Analysis using Microsoft Excel

This paper presents the design and development of a Microsoft Excel based Power System Load Flow Analysis (MSEBPSLF) tool and its application for system planning and operation. This is a simple desktop tool which provides an interactive and simplified interface for users to store different systems with different operating conditions and then to observe the response of the system. Four different load flow algorithms have been implemented to provide wider choice for the users. All intermediate numerical results are made available for verification purposes. End results are verified and benchmarked with standard applications such as PSS/E, PowerWorld, InterPSS etc. The standard IEEE 14-bus system is provided with the spreadsheet to provide a head start for users

Socio-Economic and Clinical Factors as Predictors of Disease Evolution and Acute Events in COPD Patients

BACKGROUND: Socio-economic, cultural and environmental factors are becoming increasingly important determinants of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We conducted a study to investigate socio-demographic, lifestyle and clinical factors, and to assess their role as predictors of acute events (mortality or hospitalization for respiratory causes) in a group of COPD patients. METHODS: Subjects were recruited among outpatients who were undertaking respiratory function tests at the Pneumology Unit of the Sant'Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Bologna. Patients were classified according to the GOLD Guidelines. RESULTS: 229 patients with COPD were included in the study, 44 with Mild, 68 Moderate, 52 Severe and 65 Very Severe COPD (GOLD stage). Significant differences among COPD stage, in terms of smoking status and fragility index, were detected. COPD stage significantly affected the values of all clinical tests (spirometry and ABG analysis). Kaplan-Meier estimates showed a significant difference between survival curves by COPD stage with lower event-free probability in very severe COPD stage. Significant risk factors for acute events were: underweight (HR = 4.08; 95% CI 1.01-16.54), having two or more comorbidities (HR = 4.71; 95% CI 2.52-8.83), belonging to moderate (HR = 3.50; 95% CI 1.01-12.18) or very severe COPD stage (HR = 8.23; 95% CI 2.35-28.85). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that fragility is associated with COPD stage and that comorbidities and the low body mass index are predictors of mortality or hospitalization. Besides spirometric analyses, FeNO measure and comorbidities, body mass index could also be considered in the management and monitoring of COPD patients