Another Look at the New York City School Voucher Experiment

This paper reexamines data from the New York City school choice program, the largest and best implemented private school scholarship experiment yet conducted. In the experiment, low-income public school students in grades K-4 were eligible to participate in a series of lotteries for a private school scholarship in May 1997. Data were collected from students and their parents at baseline, and in the Spring of each of the next three years. Students with missing baseline test scores, which encompasses all those who were initially in Kindergarten and 11 percent of those initially in grades 1-4, were excluded from previous analyses of achievement, even though these students were tested in the follow-up years. In principle, random assignment would be expected to lead treatment status to be uncorrelated with all baseline characteristics. Including students with missing baseline test scores increases the sample size by 44 percent. For African American students, the only group to show a significant, positive effect of vouchers on achievement in past studies, the difference in average follow-up test scores between the treatment group (those offered a voucher) and control group (those not offered a voucher) becomes statistically insignificant at the .05 level and much smaller if the full sample is used. In addition, the effect of vouchers is found to be sensitive to the particular way race/ethnicity was defined. Previously, race was assigned according to the racial/ethnic category of the child's mother. If children with a Black (non-Hispanic) father are added to the sample of children with a Black (non-Hispanic) mother, the effect of vouchers is smaller and statistically insignificant at conventional levels.

Measurements of SCRF cavity dynamic heat load in horizontal test system

The Horizontal Test System (HTS) at Fermilab is currently testing fully assembled, dressed superconducting radio frequency (SCRF) cavities. These cavities are cooled in a bath of superfluid helium at 1.8K. Dissipated RF power from the cavities is a dynamic heat load on the cryogenic system. The magnitude of heat flux from these cavities into the helium is also an important variable for understanding cavity performance. Methods and hardware used to measure this dynamic heat load are presented. Results are presented from several cavity tests and testing accuracy is discussed.Comment: 6 pp. Cryogenic Engineering Conference and International Cryogenic Materials Conference 28 Jun - 2 Jul 2009. Tucson, Arizon

Relations between Neutrino and Charged Fermion Masses

We find an intriguing relation between neutrino and charged fermion masses, $|m_{\nu_3^{}}^2- m_{\nu_1^{}}^2| : (m_{\nu_2^{}}^2- m_{\nu_1^{}}^2):: V_{tb}^4 m_\tau^2 m_b^2/m_t^2 : V_{cs}^4 m_\mu^2 m_s^2/m_c^2$. We further indicate this relation can be predicted by a left-right symmetric model.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Model is slightly corrected. Title is changed. Journal versio

Competing orders and inter-layer tunnelling in cuprate superconductors: A finite temperature Landau theory

We propose a finite temperature Landau theory that describes competing orders and interlayer tunneling in cuprate superconductors as an important extension to a corresponding theory at zero temperature [Nature {\bf 428}, 53 (2004)], where the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ is defined in three possible ways as a function of the zero temperature order parameter. For given parameters, our theory determines $T_c$ without any ambiguity. In mono- and double-layer systems we discuss the relation between zero temperature order parameter and the associated transition temperature in the presence of competing orders, and draw a connection to the puzzling experimental fact that the pseudo-gap temperature is much higher than the corresponding energy scale near optimum doping. Applying the theory to multi-layer systems, we calculate the layer-number dependence of $T_c$. In a reasonable parameter space the result turns out to be in agreement with experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Modified Mediterranean Diet for Enrichment of Short Chain Fatty Acids: Potential Adjunctive Therapeutic to Target Immune and Metabolic Dysfunction in Schizophrenia?

Growing interest in gut and digestive processes and their potential link to brain and peripheral based inflammation or biobehavioral phenotypes has led to an increasing number of basic and translational scientific reports focused on the role of gut microbiota within the context of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the effect of dietary modification on specific gut metabolites, in association with immune, metabolic, and psychopathological functioning in schizophrenia spectrum disorders has not been well characterized. The short chain fatty acids (SCFA) acetate, butyrate, and propionate, major metabolites derived from fermentation of dietary fibers by gut microbes, interact with multiple immune and metabolic pathways. The specific pathways that SCFA are thought to target, are dysregulated in cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, and systemic inflammation. Most notably, these disorders are consistently linked to an attenuated lifespan in schizophrenia. Although, unhealthy dietary intake patterns and increased prevalence of immune and metabolic dysfunction has been observed in people with schizophrenia; dietary interventions have not been well utilized to target immune or metabolic illness. Prior schizophrenia patient trials primarily focused on the effects of gluten free diets. Findings from these studies indicate that a diet avoiding gluten benefits a limited subset of patients, individuals with celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Therefore, alternative dietary and nutritional modifications such as high-fiber, Mediterranean style, diets that enrich the production of SCFA, while being associated with a minimal likelihood of adverse events, may improve immune and cardiovascular outcomes linked to premature mortality in schizophrenia. With a growing literature demonstrating that SCFA can cross the blood brain barrier and target key inflammatory and metabolic pathways, this article highlights enriching dietary intake for SCFA as a potential adjunctive therapy for people with schizophrenia

3D Alchemy: a guide to 3D realistic computer graphics

Last year, many films and commercials took advantage of computer technology to create astonishing 3D animations. Examples such as the Listerine commercial series, the NBA logo on TV, and the Chip & Pepper TV cartoon, featured unique and vibrant computer images. Among the various animations, some were made by high end computer systems, but some simply by personal computers. Small, fast, and more capable personal computers are now performing professional-level video production roles and, in fact, they are a staple of many feature film productions and broadcast television facilities

Applications of concurrent access patterns in web usage mining

This paper builds on the original data mining and modelling research which has proposed the discovery of novel structural relation patterns, applying the approach in web usage mining. The focus of attention here is on concurrent access patterns (CAP), where an overarching framework illuminates the methodology for web access patterns post-processing. Data pre-processing, pattern discovery and patterns analysis all proceed in association with access patterns mining, CAP mining and CAP modelling. Pruning and selection of access pat-terns takes place as necessary, allowing further CAP mining and modelling to be pursued in the search for the most interesting concurrent access patterns. It is shown that higher level CAPs can be modelled in a way which brings greater structure to bear on the process of knowledge discovery. Experiments with real-world datasets highlight the applicability of the approach in web navigation