The Teach for Florida Project: A Case Study of Alternative Route Certification Policy

This study examined the policy implementation of the Teach for Florida Project, which was conducted as a grant program in 2003. The project was designed to help alleviate a critical shortage of teachers brought about in part by the passage in the fall of 2002 of Florida Constitutional Amendment 9, a referendum setting specific limits on the number of students who could be taught by one teacher. The project was created and run on a tight timeline, allowing only 6 months from initiation of the request for proposals to placement of new alternatively prepared teachers in their classrooms. Despite the short notice, 23 institutions submitted proposals, of which 19 were considered worthy of funding and 7 were selected. Of the institutions selected, three represented the State University System, three the State Community College System, and one was a consortium of independent private colleges and universities in Florida. Although each institution created its own plan, the programs demonstrated two divergent paradigms. The schools all proposed some form of classroom education methodology, while the consortium created an online training system. The potential to examine in detail the outcomes of the two approaches was lost because, as the literature review points out, there was no requirement in the request for proposals to maintain the data necessary to conduct such an investigation. The Teach for Florida Project was effective in creating alternative programs for teacher certification but could have provided greater insight into the alternative preparation process had evaluation planning been part of the implementation

Tensor hypercontraction: A universal technique for the resolution of matrix elements of local, finite-range NN-body potentials in many-body quantum problems

Configuration-space matrix elements of N-body potentials arise naturally and ubiquitously in the Ritz-Galerkin solution of many-body quantum problems. For the common specialization of local, finite-range potentials, we develop the eXact Tensor HyperContraction (X-THC) method, which provides a quantized renormalization of the coordinate-space form of the N-body potential, allowing for a highly separable tensor factorization of the configuration-space matrix elements. This representation allows for substantial computational savings in chemical, atomic, and nuclear physics simulations, particularly with respect to difficult "exchange-like" contractions.Comment: Third version of the manuscript after referee's comments. In press in PRL. Main text: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; Supplemental material (also included): 14 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

Active Brain Regions During Sleep Using Electroencephalography-Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Purpose: To determine the differences in functional connectivity among brain regions during the different stages of the human sleep cycle

Using Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Basal Ganglia as a Biomarker for Symptoms of Parkinson\u27s Disease

Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) is characterized by the degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons, resulting in dysfunctional cortico­-striato-­thalamic­cortical loops. Parkinson\u27s disease patients suffer from chronic movement disabilities as well as cognitive impairments and other nonmotor symptoms, which implies a system­wide effect on overall brain function. Because the disease currently has no cure, the discovery of a biomarker for specific PD symptoms is crucial for monitoring treatment potency. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of using functional connectivity between regions of the basal ganglia as a biomarker for specific symptoms of PD

Diffractive imaging of dissociation and ground state dynamics in a complex molecule

We have investigated the structural dynamics in photoexcited 1,2-diiodotetrafluoroethane molecules (C2F4I2) in the gas phase experimentally using ultrafast electron diffraction and theoretically using FOMO-CASCI excited state dynamics simulations. The molecules are excited by an ultra-violet femtosecond laser pulse to a state characterized by a transition from the iodine 5p orbital to a mixed 5p|| hole and CF2 antibonding orbital, which results in the cleavage of one of the carbon-iodine bonds. We have observed, with sub-Angstrom resolution, the motion of the nuclear wavepacket of the dissociating iodine atom followed by coherent vibrations in the electronic ground state of the C2F4I radical. The radical reaches a stable classical (non-bridged) structure in less than 200 fs.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure

Parsimonious continuous time random walk models and kurtosis for diffusion in magnetic resonance of biological tissue

In this paper, we provide a context for the modeling approaches that have been developed to describe non-Gaussian diffusion behavior, which is ubiquitous in diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging of water in biological tissue. Subsequently, we focus on the formalism of the continuous time random walk theory to extract properties of subdiffusion and superdiffusionthrough novel simplifications of the Mittag-Leffler function. For the case of time-fractional subdiffusion, we compute the kurtosis for the Mittag-Leffler function, which provides both a connection and physical context to the much-used approach of diffusional kurtosis imaging. We provide Monte Carlo simulations to illustrate the concepts of anomalous diffusion as stochastic processes of the random walk. Finally, we demonstrate the clinical utility of the Mittag-Leffler function as a model to describe tissue microstructure through estimations of subdiffusion and kurtosis with diffusion MRI measurements in the brain of a chronic ischemic stroke patient

Brain Networks for Analyzing Eye Gaze

The eyes convey a wealth of information in social interactions. This information is analyzed by multiple brain networks, which we identified using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Subjects attempted to detect a particular directional cue provided either by gaze changes on an image of a face or by an arrow presented alone or by an arrow superimposed on the face. Another control condition was included in which the eyes moved without providing meaningful directional information. Activation of the superior temporal sulcus accompanied extracting directional information from gaze relative to directional information from an arrow and relative to eye motion without relevant directional information. Such selectivity for gaze processing was not observed in face-responsive fusiform regions. Brain activations were also investigated while subjects viewed the same face but attempted to detect when the eyes gazed directly at them. Most notably, amygdala activation was greater during periods when direct gaze never occurred than during periods when direct gaze occurred on 40% of the trials. In summary, our results suggest that increases in neural processing in the amygdala facilitate the analysis of gaze cues when a person is actively monitoring for emotional gaze events, whereas increases in neural processing in the superior temporal sulcus support the analysis of gaze cues that provide socially meaningful spatial information.Psycholog

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Aphasia Treatment: A Pilot Study of Anodal, Cathodal and Sham Stimulation

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may potentially enhance language therapy outcomes in aphasia. We report behavioral results for twelve participants with chronic aphasia matched for severity and randomized to receive anodal, cathodal or sham stimulation to the left hemisphere, concurrent with intensive speech-language therapy. Importantly, tDCS (1mA for 13 minutes) given 5 days a week over a prolonged period of time (6 weeks) was found to be safe. There was an advantage of both anodal and cathodal stimulation over sham stimulation. Cathodal stimulation to the left hemisphere may be a viable option and should not be overlooked in future research