Co-Teaching: Idea to Implementation

From a university perspective, it can be challenging finding field experience placements with quality mentor teachers. The field experiences we provide help shape (positively or negatively) the development of pre-service teacher candidates (PTCs). Our university is fortunate to have, as one of our field experience sites, a K-5 university Charter school in which faculty work closely with K-5 teachers. Together, faculty and teachers are able to provided meaningful experiences. As one of our field experiences, we require all EC-6 PTCs to experience a semester in the university Charter school. A benefit of this university and Charter school relationship is that the university is able to control the mentor teachers in which we work with and the experiences we provide our PTCs

Real-time dynamic holographic image storage device

A real-time dynamic holographic image storage device uses four-wave mixing in a pair of photorefractive crystals. An oscillation is produced between the crystals which can be maintained indefinitely after the initial object beam is discontinued. The object beam produces an interference pattern in a first crystal to produce phase-conjugated object beam which is directed towards the second crystal. In the second crystal another interference pattern is created which produces a reconstructed object beam. The reconstructed object beam is directed back towards the first crystal. The interference patterns are produced by interaction of the object and phase-conjugated object beam with a read and write beam in each of the crystals. By manipulation of the ratio of the read and write beam intensities in at least one of the crystals, the phase-conjugate or reconstructed object beam output therefrom can be amplified to maintain stable oscillation between the two crystals

The development of an automatic method of safety monitoring at Pelican Crossings

This paper reports on the development of a method for automatic monitoring of safety at Pelican crossings. Historically, safety monitoring has typically been carried out using accident data, though given the rarity of such events it is difficult to quickly detect change in accident risk at a particular site. An alternative indicator sometimes used is traffic conflicts, though this data can be time consuming and expensive to collect. The method developed in this paper uses vehicle speeds and decelerations collected using standard in-situ loops and tubes, to determine conflicts using vehicle decelerations and to assess the possibility of automatic safety monitoring at Pelican crossings. Information on signal settings, driver crossing behaviour, pedestrian crossing behaviour and delays, and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts was collected synchronously through a combination of direct observation, video analysis, and analysis of output from tube and loop detectors. Models were developed to predict safety, i.e. pedestrian-vehicle conflicts using vehicle speeds and decelerations

How TRAF-NETSIM Works.

This paper describes how TRAF-NETSIM works in detail. It is a review of the TRAF-NETSIM micro-simulation model, for use in the research topic "The Development of Queueing Simulation Procedures for Traffic in Bangkok". TRAF-NETSIM is a computer program for modelling of traffic in urban networks. It is written in the FORTRAN 77 computer language. It uses bit-manipulation mechanisms for "packing" and "unpacking" data and a program overlay structure to reduce the computer memory requirements of the program. The model is based on a fixed time, and discrete event simulation approach. The periodic scan method is used in the model with a time interval of one second. In the model, up to 16 different vehicle types with 4 different vehicle categories (car, carpool, bus and truck) can be identified. Also, the driver's behaviour (passive, normal, aggressive), pedestrians' movement, parking and blocking (eg a broken-down car) can be simulated. Moreover, it has the capability to simulate the effects of traffic control ranging from a simple stop sign controlled junction to a dynamic/real time control system. The effects of spillbacks can be simulated in detail. The estimation of fuel consumption and vehicle emissions are optional simulations. Car following and lane changing models are incorporated into TRAF-NETSIM. The outputs can be shown in US standard units, Metric units, or both

Embeddings of rearrangement invariant spaces that are not strictly singular

We give partial answers to the following conjecture: the natural embedding of a rearrangement invariant space E into L_1([0,1]) is strictly singular if and only if G does not embed into E continuously, where G is the closure of the simple functions in the Orlicz space L_Phi with Phi(x) = exp(x^2)-1.Comment: Also available at http://www.math.missouri.edu/~stephen/preprint

All-cause mortality following a cancer diagnosis amongst multiple sclerosis patients: A Swedish population-based cohort study

Background and purpose: A reduced cancer risk amongst patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been reported. Theoretically, this could represent a genuine reduction in risk or, alternatively, 'diagnostic neglect', where cancer is undiagnosed when symptoms are misattributed to MS. Objective: Assess all-cause mortality risk following a cancer diagnosis in patients with MS compared with a cohort without MS. Patients: A cohort of MS patients (n = 19 364) and a cohort of the general population (n = 192 519) were extracted from national Swedish registers from 1969 to 2005. All-cause mortality after cancer in MS was compared with the general population. Poisson regression analysis was conducted in the MS and non-MS cohorts separately. The models were adjusted for follow-up duration, year at entry, sex, region and socioeconomic index. The two cohorts were combined and differences in mortality risk were assessed using interaction testing. Results: The adjusted relative risk (and 95 confidence interval) for all-cause mortality following a cancer diagnosis in MS patients (compared with MS patients without cancer) is 3.06 (2.86-3.27; n = 1768) and amongst those without MS 5.73 (5.62-5.85; n = 24 965). This lower magnitude mortality risk in the MS patients was confirmed by multiplicative interaction testing (P < 0.001). Conclusions: A consistent pattern of lower magnitude of all-cause mortality risk following cancer in MS patients for a range of organ-specific cancer types was found. It suggests that cancer diagnoses tend not to be delayed in MS and diagnostic neglect is unlikely to account for the reduced cancer risk associated with MS. The lower magnitude cancer risk in MS may be due to disease-associated characteristics or exposures. © 2015 EAN

Reduction, Symmetry and Phases in Mechanics

Various holonomy phenomena are shown to be instances of the reconstruction procedure for mechanical systems with symmetry. We systematically exploit this point of view for fixed systems (for example with controls on the internal, or reduced, variables) and for slowly moving systems in an adiabatic context. For the latter, we obtain the phases as the holonomy for a connection which synthesizes the Cartan connection for moving mechanical systems with the Hannay-Berry connection for integrable systems. This synthesis allows one to treat in a natural way examples like the ball in the slowly rotating hoop and also non-integrable mechanical systems

Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease and the risk of injuries requiring hospitalization

Background and purpose Previous studies have suggested that Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD) is associated with repetitive trauma, coagulation problems and anatomical abnormalities of the blood supply to the femoral head. The hypothesis that repetitive trauma can affect the blood supply of the femoral head, leading to LCPD, is supported by an animal model. For evidence of an increased risk of repetitive trauma, we investigated whether patients with LCPD have a higher risk for severe injuries requiring hospitalization. Patients and methods We identified 2579 patients with LCPD in Sweden during the period 1964-2005. 13,748 individuals without LCPD were randomly selected from the Swedish general population, matched by year of birth, sex and region (control group). Cox proportional hazard regression estimated the risks. Results Compared to the control group, patients with LCPD had a modestly raised hazard ratio (HR) of 1.2 (95% CI 1.1-1.3) for injury requiring hospitalization. The risks were slightly higher for soft tissue injuries (HR = 1.3, 95% CI:1.1-1.4) than for fractures (HR = 1.1, 95% CI: 1.0-1.3) and more pronounced among females. Compared to the control group, the higher risk for injury only applied to the lower extremities (HR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0-1.4) in patients with LCPD. Interpretation Patients with LCPD are vulnerable to injuries which could be interpreted as a marker of hyperactive behavior. It could also implicate that anatomical changes in the bone formation or blood supply of the femoral head - increasing its sensibility for trauma - contribute to the etiology of LCPD. © Copyright: ©Nordic Orthopaedic Federation

Optimal regulation in systems with stochastic time sampling

An optimal control theory that accounts for stochastic variable time sampling in a distributed microprocessor based flight control system is presented. The theory is developed by using a linear process model for the airplane dynamics and the information distribution process is modeled as a variable time increment process where, at the time that information is supplied to the control effectors, the control effectors know the time of the next information update only in a stochastic sense. An optimal control problem is formulated and solved for the control law that minimizes the expected value of a quadratic cost function. The optimal cost obtained with a variable time increment Markov information update process where the control effectors know only the past information update intervals and the Markov transition mechanism is almost identical to that obtained with a known and uniform information update interval