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In an effort to improve high school graduation and college enrollment rates among students who are Black, Latino, or experiencing poverty, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation established the Networks for School Improvement (NSI) initiative and awarded five-year grants to intermediary organizations to develop networks of school teams that work together using continuous improvement (CI) processes. RAND researchers are leading a study on 25 of these networks to understand how networks launch and operate, as well as the factors that contribute to strong networks. This report is designed to help organizations that are working toward school improvement, such as intermediaries and school districts, weigh strategies to use CI networks as part of their efforts. The researchers describe the common models and strategies in place across intermediaries to create and lead their networks, facilitate learning among network members, and help build schools' capacity to use CI to improve outcomes for students who are Black, Latino, or experiencing poverty. The researchers also explore crosscutting patterns in how intermediaries centered equity in these activities and how network activities shifted over time. Additionally, the researchers examine patterns in network engagement and development of network cohesiveness. This interim report summarizes findings from school years (SYs) SY2020-2021 through SY2022-2023. This report is accompanied by three other reports: The American Institutes for Research (AIR) is evaluating CI processes in NSI schools through SY2022-2023, Mathematica is evaluating early outcomes of the NSI initiative through SY2021-2022, and the three evaluation teams collaborated on a summary report.

"Assessment of Gifted and High-Ability Learners" equips readers with the knowledge and skills to evaluate and document student progress using a cyclical systematic process. This book: (1) Highlights and explains the importance of curriculum-based assessments; (2) Connects classroom content with the assessment process; (3) Includes sample assessments for use with gifted and high-ability students; (4) Illustrates the best methods for evaluating gifted students based on standards in each content area; and (5) Describes how students' progress can be improved through formative and pre- and post-assessments. Learning how to effectively assess students will assist teachers in appropriately differentiating instruction based on student performance and allow each student to progress through content at his or her own pace.

African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) produces more than five times the yield of oil/year/hectare of any annual oil crop. In consequence, it represents a key species for meeting future vegetable oil needs (both for food and for industry) against the background of a rising world population. As it is a tree crop and naturally out-crossing current planting material is, in contrast to most annual crops, generally heterogeneous. This complicates breeding for future needs. Recent developments in molecular biology have the potential to substantially alter approaches for the genetic improvement of oil palm. Some of these biotechnological approaches have already made an impact, for example, somatic embryogenesis for clonal propagation and routine genetic fingerprinting for quality control. The recent development of plant sequence-based approaches, supported by bioinformatics and broadly classified into genomics (DNA) and functional genomics (mRNA, protein and metabolites) could lead to a step-wise change in our understanding of the genetic basis of agronomic traits and the development of practical tools and trait information for plant breeding. These high-throughput developments add significant new potential to the two broad approaches generally adopted in crop molecular research. The "bottom-up" approach involves investigating individual genes and the pathways in which they operate with a long-term aim to develop a complete understanding of these networks and their importance in trait specification. The alternative "top-down" approach starts with the trait in the species of interest and uses inheritance studies, anonymous molecular markers, and physiological techniques to begin to dissect the trait and its interactions with the environment. Genomics and functional genomics represent a suite of techniques which can help to bridge the gap between the bottom-up and the top-down approaches. In this article we review recent progress in developing molecular resources for oil palm and assess the potential impact that specific cutting edge techniques, already developed and implemented in other plant and crop species, could have in oil palm. The article gives background information on the various technologies, but is not intended to be exhaustive. A number of good text books and articles are available which go into greater detail. It also does not go into depth on discoveries in other species, except to illustrate their potential utility in oil palm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is a leading source of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide (Maher & Raviglione, 2005). In 1993, the World Health Organization declared TB a global health emergency. Over a decade later, despite TB control efforts, TB cases continued to rise. An estimated two billion people, or one-third of the world's population, are believed to be infected with M. tuberculosis and are at risk for developing active TB disease during their lifetime. Annually, worldwide, eight to nine million people develop active TB and nearly two million die from the disease. The expanding human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic and the emergence of multi- and extensively drug resistant TB contribute greatly to the global burden of TB disease (CDC, 2006b, 2007). TB is a major public health concern in correctional facilities throughout the world. Incarcerated populations are at disproportionately high risk for developing TB infection and disease compared to general populations (MacNeil, Lobato, & Moore, 2005; Hammett, Harmon, & Rhodes, 2002). Numerous TB outbreaks have occurred in correctional facilities and transmission of TB from inmates to persons within such facilities has been well documented (MacIntyre, Kendig, Kummer, Birago, Graham, & Plant, 1999; Jones, Craig, Valway, Woodley, & Schaffner, 1999; Valway, Richards, Kovacovich, Greifinger, Crawford, & Dooley, 1994; & CDC, 2004b). In the past 20 years, the number of ex-offenders released from U.S. prisons has increased fourfold, presenting significant public health challenges to the communities into which they are released (Jones, Woodley, Fountain, & Schaffner, 2003; Bur et al., 2003; Re-Entry Policy Council, 2003). This chapter is intended to provide an overview of current strategies and recommendations for the prevention and control of TB in correctional facilities, with an emphasis on discharge planning for soon-to-be-released inmates. The strengthening of TB prevention and control efforts worldwide is imperative if transmission of TB is to be prevented and elimination of TB is to be achieved (CDC, 1999a). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palms are woody monocotyledons in the family Arecaceae (an alternative name to Palmae) which is placed in the order Arecales (Jones 1994). They are a natural group of plants with fossil records dating from the late Cretaceous, and with a characteristic appearance that enables them to be recognized easily, despite occasional confusion with cycads or Cordylines. The present evidence also suggests that palms probably evolved very early in the history of the monocotyledons. Phylogenetic analysis of monocot relationships based on plastid atpB, rbcL, matK, and ndhF, mitochondrial atpA and nuclear 18S and 26S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) by Chase et al. (2004) placed Arecales as a sister group to the rest of Commelinids, which includes orders Commeliniales, Zingiberales, and Poales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in genetic technology have promoted an explosive increase in our knowledge of genes relevant to Candida infection, and our understanding of their mode of action. Although the major influence on susceptibility to systemic infection is the presence or absence of complement C5, at least two other genes, as yet unidentified, influence the severity of tissue damage. Mice in which specific genes have been deleted (gene-knockout) mice are now readily available, and have been used both in the analysis of receptor interactions with Candida, and to study the role of T cell-derived cytokines in clearance of the infection and the development of host resistance, but results have not always been consistent. Gene profiling studies, in both humans and mice, will no doubt resolve some of the present anomalies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OSIRIS is the optical Day 1 instrument for the 10.4 m GTC telescope. OSIRIS will cover the 365 to 1000 nm spectral range, featuring an 8.6×8.6 arcmin field of view, and capabilities for direct imaging, both long-slit and multiple object spectroscopy, and fast spectrophotometry. The combination of OSIRIS wide field, tunable filters plus charge shuffling array detectors, will constitute the most powerful instrument for studying faint emission-line sources at any redshift. The present contribution gives an overview of the instrument development, currently in its verification phase before commissioning on site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past several years, significant advances have been made towards our understanding of the physiological role of BACE1 and APP signaling pathway. Moreover, target validation studies indicate BACE1 to be a high priority anti-amyloid therapeutic target for the treatment of AD. However, inhibition of BACE1 activity may not be completely free of mechanism-based consequences related to possible roles of BACE1-dependent APP/AICD signaling in cognitive functions. It is anticipated that novel mechanism-based treatments such as BACE1 inhibitors will become available in the future. Therefore, it will be critical to understand some of the BACE1/APP mechanisms that influence cognition and emotional circuits in the CNS. BACE1 conditional knockout mouse models will be invaluable for clarifying whether cognitive deficits seen in BACE1−/− mice are related to development or to aging, and whether BACE1 is involved directly in memory formation, as well as for evaluating to what extent Aβ peptide associated synaptic abnormalities are reversible following reductions of BACE1 activity. Finally, studies summarized in this review emphasize the pivotal roles that BACE1 plays in both health and disease, findings that are pertinent to the development of effective and safe anti-amyloid therapies for the treatment of this devastating disease of the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 16 of the book "Seven Going on Seventeen: Tween Studies in the Culture of Girlhood," edited by Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh is presented. It examines the influence of mediated messages of consumption in fashion magazines in the consumption habits of tween girls and in the construction of their individual style and fashion. Girls' magazines are implicated in influencing early shopping, fashion and style habits and mediating consumption. It is concluded that the influence of girls' magazines require appreciation.

This chapter aims to provide insights into the different performance measures that have been constructed over the years with the aim of better evaluating and assessing the fund manager's abilities. Indeed, the finance literature has for some time been interested in this matter, first because superior ability and out performance by definition contradict the efficient market hypothesis and second because there is a very important need to justify active management and the high fees that fund managers tend to charge. After reviewing various performance measures and techniques, it is clear that there are still many questions concerning the extent to which these measures apply in the real world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While transplantation is an established form of treatment for many end stage disease processes that lead to heart failure, the number of transplants performed is limited by a relative lack of donor organs. This has led not only to a levelling off in heart transplant activity world-wide, but actually to a decrease in the number of operations performed in 1995 and 1996, despite the use of older organ donors each year. Although waiting lists are kept artificially low by patient selection, the disparity between growing waiting lists and falling transplant numbers continues to widen leading to a proportion of people dying whilst awaiting transplant. In the United Kingdom in 1996, of people waiting for a heart, only 63% were transplanted, and 14% died while waiting.1 Figures from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) at the end of 1996 show a similar situation, with 3700 people waiting for a heart transplant in the U.S.A., 2343 transplants being performed, and 744 deaths on the waiting list. The mismatch between the waiting lists and transplants actually performed is depicted, for all organs, in Figure 1.2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software development process is a very complex process that, at present, is primarily a human activity. Programming, in software development, requires the use of different types of knowledge: about the problem domain and the programming domain. It also requires many different steps in combining these types of knowledge into one final solution. This paper intends to study the techniques developed in artificial intelligence (AI) from the standpoint of their application in software engineering. In particular, it focuses on techniques developed (or that are being developed) in artificial intelligence that can be deployed in solving problems associated with software engineering processes. This paper highlights a comparative study between the software development and expert system development. This paper also highlights absence of risk management strategies or risk management phase in AI based systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article focuses on writer Nawal el Saadawi. Her personal journey is as remarkable as her professional career in overcoming insurmountable obstacles. El Saadawi considered herself a feminist from childhood although her first career was as a medical practitioner in Egypt. The topics and issues encompassed in Saadawi's work are as broad as she is prolific. Her landmark text "The Hidden Face of Eve" outlines her positionality on women's rights in the family, her insistence on women's unity and solidarity, and the necessity for building women's organisations to gain political knowledge, awareness, and power. In her novels, she explores physio-moral topics through her protagonists and the power of corporeal imagery. For Saadawi, whose writing often melds her scientific and aesthetic sensibilities, a consciousness of the body leads to a consciousness of gender, the first means for liberation from oppression. Her writings on the physical and social treatment of women have led to much controversy, as does her work to educate those still practising female genital mutilation in Egypt.