School Type and Structure as Predictors of Perceived School Climate and Student Academic Achievement among Middle School Students in Baltimore City Public Schools

This study examined the impact of school type and school structure on perceived school climate and student achievement, for middle grades students in a large urban school district. The specific school types examined were charter schools, transformational schools, and traditional schools. For school structure, the grade configurations of K-8, 6-8, and 6-12 were examined. The total sample number for the first data set, the climate survey, was 12,258 students, and for the second data set, test scores, it was 17,472, and a total of 103 schools. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to measure the association among school types, school structure, and school climate factors. A significant finding was that students who attended charter schools had a more positive perception of school climate than students who attended both transformational and traditional schools, and students who attended transformational schools had the lowest perceptions of school climate of all three, school types. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to measure the association among school types, school structure, and state assessment results, both in reading and math. The findings revealed that students who attended charter schools had almost twice the odds of passing the state assessment in both reading and math, than students who attended traditional schools, and students who attended transformational schools had the lowest percentage of students passing the state test in both reading and math than students in charter and traditional schools

School Type and Structure as Predictors of Perceived School Climate and Student Academic Achievement among Middle School Students in Baltimore City Public Schools

This study examined the impact of school type and school structure on perceived school climate and student achievement, for middle grades students in a large urban school district. The specific school types examined were charter schools, transformational schools, and traditional schools. For school structure, the grade configurations of K-8, 6-8, and 6-12 were examined. The total sample number for the first data set, the climate survey, was 12,258 students, and for the second data set, test scores, it was 17,472, and a total of 103 schools. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to measure the association among school types, school structure, and school climate factors. A significant finding was that students who attended charter schools had a more positive perception of school climate than students who attended both transformational and traditional schools, and students who attended transformational schools had the lowest perceptions of school climate of all three, school types. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to measure the association among school types, school structure, and state assessment results, both in reading and math. The findings revealed that students who attended charter schools had almost twice the odds of passing the state assessment in both reading and math, than students who attended traditional schools, and students who attended transformational schools had the lowest percentage of students passing the state test in both reading and math than students in charter and traditional schools

Effect of micro-alloying on quenching behaviour of steels for back-up rolls

The use of micro-alloyed steels for back-up rolls manufacturing gives the possibility to obtain advantages associated with the benefit of the application of micro-alloying elements and thermo-mechanical treatments. In this paper the effect of alloying elements has been evaluated aimed to improve steel hardenability and at the same time to reduce the fabrication cost. 3% Cr and 5% Cr steels are considered with a reduced Mo content. Analysis of alloying on hardenability is performed by means of metallurgical models and on laboratory scale. Results show a higher hardenability in the case of 5% Cr steels. Moreover, such family of steels also show a dependence on prior austenitic grain size. In both the steel families no warnings are detected in terms of residual austenite presence after quenching.</p

New patents on topical anesthetics.

Anesthesia is defined as a total or partial loss of sensation and it may be general, local or topical, depending on the method of drug administration and area of the body affected. General anesthesia is a reversible state of unconsciousness produced by anesthetic agents, characterized by amnesia, muscle relaxation and loss of sensitivity to pain of the whole body. General anesthetic drugs can be classified into two main groups according to their predominant molecular pharmacological effects: volatile and intravenous agents. Local anesthesia produce a reversible loss of sensation in a portion of the body and it reversibly block impulse conduction along nerve axons and other excitable membrane. All local anesthetics (LA) are membrane stabilizing drugs; they reversibly decrease the rate of depolarization and repolarization of excitable membranes. They act mainly by inhibiting sodium influx through sodium-specific ion channels in the neuronal cell membrane, in particular the voltage-gated sodium channels. When the influx of sodium is interrupted, an action potential cannot arise and signal conduction is inhibited. The main local anesthetic (LA) agents for skin anesthesia are benzocaine (aminoester), prilocaine and lidocaine (aminoamides) which are commercially available as gels, ointments and creams (benzocaine and eutectic mixture of lidocaine and prilocaine) or as a bioadhesive (lidocaine) with different compositions (vehicles and excipients) for adults or pediatric use. Topical anesthetics decrease anxiety, pain and discomfort during cutaneous procedures and provide effective analgesia with rapid onset, prolonged duration and minimal side effects. This article outlines the different classes of topical anesthetics available and gives an overview of the mechanism of action, metabolism of each different class, of the possible complications that can occur because of their use and their possible treatment options and new patents. © 2014 Bentham Science Publishers

The subnational electoral coercion in India (SECI) data set, 1985–2015

This research note introduces the Subnational Electoral Coercion in India (SECI) Data Set, which provides comprehensive data on electoral coercion in 186 Indian Vidhan Sabha elections between 1985 and 2015. SECI draws on news reports to capture instances of electoral coercion, including coercive fraud, election boycotts by non-state armed groups, and deaths resulting from electoral violence at the assembly constituency level. SECI differs from existing data in its focus on subnational elections, its temporal coverage and its broad definition of electoral coercion, thus opening up new directions for research on electoral politics across Indian states

Shaping electoral outcomes: intra-and anti-systemic violence in Indian assembly elections

Electoral violence is perpetrated by anti-systemic actors opposed to the democratic system, as well as by those vying for power through the electoral process. Even though the motivations for violent tactics are distinct, we do not know whether intra- and anti-systemic violence differ in their effects. Focusing on state-level elections in India - a country that combines nationwide elections with persistent political violence - we demonstrate that the distinction is crucial for understanding spatial patterns of electoral violence and effects on election outcomes. Based on an original dataset of violence in legislative assembly elections between 1985 and 2008, we show that both tactics depress turnout overall but that the effect is larger for anti-systemic violence. Intra-systemic violence not only appears to be more selectively targeted, as it is more likely to occur in constituencies where the incumbent belongs to the state-level opposition, but also generates electoral benefits for the party in control of state government

Ground holding strategies for air traffic control under uncertainty

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1991.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-127).by Octavio Richetta.Ph.D

Case Report: Cetuximab use in advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma resistant to chemotherapy

We present the case of a 60-year-old man with unresectable cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) of the sternal area, which was not amenable to radiation therapy. The treatment history of this patient is remarkable as the disease had progressed through all lines of conventional therapy established in the literature. We decided to initiate treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor cetuximab and we reassessed the patient after 12 weeks with a whole-body CT scan, documenting stability in the size and radiologic features of the disease. Cetuximab, like all current treatments for advanced cSCC, is administered off-label and proved effective in preventing further progression of disease in our patient

Safety analysis in large volume vacuum systems like tokamak: Experiments and numerical simulation to analyze vacuum ruptures consequences

The large volume vacuum systems are used in many industrial operations and research laboratories. Accidents in these systems should have a relevant economical and safety impact. A loss of vacuum accident (LOVA) due to a failure of the main vacuum vessel can result in a fast pressurization of the vessel and consequent mobilization dispersion of hazardous internal material through the braches. It is clear that the influence of flow fields, consequence of accidents like LOVA, on dust resuspension is a key safety issue. In order to develop this analysis an experimental facility is been developed: STARDUST. This last facility has been used to improve the knowledge about LOVA to replicate a condition more similar to appropriate operative condition like to kamaks. By the experimental data the boundary conditions have been extrapolated to give the proper input for the 2D thermofluid-dynamics numerical simulations, developed by the commercial CFD numerical code. The benchmark of numerical simulation results with the experimental ones has been used to validate and tune the 2D thermofluid-dynamics numerical model that has been developed by the authors to replicate the LOVA conditions inside STARDUST. In present work, the facility, materials, numerical model, and relevant results will be presented. © 2014 A. Malizia et al