Transformational school leadership effects on student achievement

Este estudio, basado en la síntesis de una investigación inédita sobre liderazgo transformacional en la escuela (LTE) realizada en los últimos catorce años, aborda la naturaleza del LTE y sus efectos sobre el logro de los estudiantes empleando métodos de revisión que incluyen un meta-análisis estándar y técnicas de recuento. Los resultados muestran un amplio espectro de prácticas de LTE que han sido medidas en investigaciones previas, sugieren que el LTE tiene un pequeño pero significativo efecto en el logro de los estudiantes y que algunas prácticas de LTE son explicaciones poderosas de estos efectos. También se ha demostrado que un número importante de variables hacen de moderadores y mediadores de los efectos del LTE sobre los estudiantesBased on a synthesis of unpublished transformational school leadership (TSL) research completed during the last 14 years, this study inquired into the nature of TSL and its effects on student achievement using review methods including standard meta-analysis and vote-counting techniques. Results identift a wider range of TSL practices than typically has been measured in previous TSL research. Results also suggest that TSL has small but significant efli!cts on student achievement, some TSL practices are especially powerful explanations of these effects, and a large handful of variables both moderate and mediate TSL effects on student

A novel semisupervised support vector machine classifier based on active learning and context information

This paper proposes a novel semisupervised support vector machine classifier (Formula presented.) based on active learning (AL) and context information to solve the problem where the number of labeled samples is insufficient. Firstly, a new semisupervised learning method is designed using AL to select unlabeled samples as the semilabled samples, then the context information is exploited to further expand the selected samples and relabel them, along with the labeled samples train (Formula presented.) classifier. Next, a new query function is designed to enhance the reliability of the classification results by using the Euclidean distance between the samples. Finally, in order to enhance the robustness of the proposed algorithm, a fusion method is designed. Several experiments on change detection are performed by considering some real remote sensing images. The results show that the proposed algorithm in comparison with other algorithms can significantly improve the detection accuracy and achieve a fast convergence in addition to verify the effectiveness of the fusion method developed in this paper

Human cytomegalovirus exploits interferon-induced transmembrane proteins to facilitate morphogenesis of the virion assembly compartment

Recently, interferon-induced transmembrane proteins (IFITMs) have been identified to be key effector molecules in the host type I interferon defense system. The invasion of host cells by a large range of RNA viruses is inhibited by IFITMs during the entry step. However, the roles of IFITMs in DNA virus infections have not been studied in detail. In this study, we report that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a large human DNA virus, exploits IFITMs to facilitate the formation of the virion assembly compartment (vAC) during infection of human fibroblasts. We found that IFITMs were expressed constitutively in human embryonic lung fibroblasts (MRC5 cells). HCMV infection inhibited IFITM protein accumulation in the later stages of infection. Overexpression of an IFITM protein in MRC5 cells slightly enhanced HCMV production and knockdown of IFITMs by RNA interference reduced the virus titer by about 100-fold on day 8 postinfection, according to the findings of a virus yield assay at a low multiplicity of infection. Virus gene expression and DNA synthesis were not affected, but the typical round structure of the vAC was not formed after the suppression of IFITMs, thereby resulting in defective virion assembly and the production of less infectious virion particles. Interestingly, the replication of herpes simplex virus, a human herpesvirus that is closely related to HCMV, was not affected by the suppression of IFITMs in MRC5 cells. These results indicate that IFITMs are involved in a specific pathway required for HCMV replication. IMPORTANCE HCMV is known to repurpose the interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) viperin and tetherin to facilitate its replication. Our results expand the range of ISGs that can be exploited by HCMV for its replication. This is also the first report of a proviral function of IFITMs in DNA virus replication. In addition, whereas previous studies showed that IFITMs modulate virus entry, which is a very early stage in the virus life cycle, we identified a new function of IFITMs during the very late stage of virus replication, i.e., virion assembly. Virus entry and assembly both involve vesicle transport and membrane fusion; thus, a common biochemical activity of IFITMs is likely to be involved. Therefore, our findings may provide a new platform for dissecting the molecular mechanism of action of IFITMs during the blocking or enhancement of virus infection, which are under intense investigation in this field

A New Multiple Hypothesis Tracker Using Validation Gate with Motion Direction Constraint.

In multi-target tracking scenarios with dense and heterogeneous clutter, there is a substantial increase in the false measurements that originated from the clutter within the validation gate, and consequently, the number of measurement-to-track association hypothesis grows rapidly in traditional multiple hypothesis tracker (MHT), leading to a sharp decrease in data association accuracy and tracking performance. A new multiple hypothesis tracker using validation gate with motion direction constraint (MHT-MDC) is proposed to solve these problems. In the MHT-MDC, a motion direction constraint (MDC) gate is designed by considering the prior target maneuvering information, which effectively reduces the volume of validation gate and, thus, diminishes the number of false measurements in the gate when the innovation covariance is large. Subsequently, the clutter density in the MDC gate is adaptively estimated by the conditional mean estimator of clutter density (CMECD), based on which the score functions in the MDC gate can be calculated. The MHT-MDC is compared with the MHT algorithm in simulations, and the experimental results demonstrate its superior tracking performance for weakly maneuvering targets in high clutter density scenarios

A New Multiple Hypothesis Tracker Integrated with Detection Processing.

In extant radar signal processing systems, detection and tracking are carried out independently, and detected measurements are utilized as inputs to the tracking procedure. Therefore, the tracking performance is highly associated with detection accuracy, and this performance may severely degrade when detections include a mass of false alarms and missed-targets errors, especially in dense clutter or closely-spaced trajectories scenarios. To deal with this issue, this paper proposes a novel method for integrating the multiple hypothesis tracker with detection processing. Specifically, the detector acquires an adaptive detection threshold from the output of the multiple hypothesis tracker algorithm, and then the obtained detection threshold is employed to compute the score function and sequential probability ratio test threshold for the data association and track estimation tasks. A comparative analysis of three tracking algorithms in a clutter dense scenario, including the proposed method, the multiple hypothesis tracker, and the global nearest neighbor algorithm, is conducted. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed multiple hypothesis tracker integrated with detection processing method outperforms both the standard multiple hypothesis tracker algorithm and the global nearest neighbor algorithm in terms of tracking accuracy

Pattern Synthesis of Linear Antenna Array Using Improved Differential Evolution Algorithm with SPS Framework.

In this paper, an improved differential evolution (DE) algorithm with the successful-parent-selecting (SPS) framework, named SPS-JADE, is applied to the pattern synthesis of linear antenna arrays. Here, the pattern synthesis of the linear antenna arrays is viewed as an optimization problem with excitation amplitudes being the optimization variables and attaining sidelobe suppression and null depth being the optimization objectives. For this optimization problem, an improved DE algorithm named JADE is introduced, and the SPS framework is used to solve the stagnation problem of the DE algorithm, which further improves the DE algorithm's performance. Finally, the combined SPS-JADE algorithm is verified in simulation experiments of the pattern synthesis of an antenna array, and the results are compared with those obtained by other state-of-the-art random optimization algorithms. The results demonstrate that the proposed SPS-JADE algorithm is superior to other algorithms in the pattern synthesis performance with a lower sidelobe level and a more satisfactory null depth under the constraint of beamwidth requirement

Coupling of Peridynamics and Numerical Substructure Method for Modeling Structures with Local Discontinuities

Peridynamics (PD) is a widely used theory to simulate discontinuities, but its application in real-world structural problems is somewhat limited due to the relatively low-efficiency. The numerical substructure method (NSM) presented by the authors and co-workers provides an efficient approach for modeling structures with local nonlinearities, which is usually restricted in problems of continuum mechanics. In this paper, an approach is presented to couple the PD theory with the NSM for modeling structures with local discontinuities, taking advantage of the powerful capability of the PD for discontinuities simulation and high computational efficiency of the NSM. The structure is simulated using liner elastic finite element (FE) model while the local cracking regions are isolated and simulated using a PD substructure model. A force corrector calculated from the PD model is applied on the FE model to consider the effect of discontinuities. The PD is integrated in the substructure model using interface elements with embedded PD nodes. The equations of motions of both the NSM system and the PD substructure are solved using the central difference method. Three examples of two-dimensional (2D) concrete cantilever beams under the concentrated force are investigated to verify the proposed coupling approach

An Efficient ΣΔ-STAP Detector for Radar Seeker using RPCA Post-processing

Adaptive detection of moving targets in sea clutter environment is considered as one of the crucial tasks for radar seekers. Due to the severe spreading of the sea clutter spectrum, the ability of space-time adaptive processing with sum and difference beams (ΣΔ-STAP) algorithms to suppress the sea clutter is very limited. This paper, investigated the low-rank property of the range-Doppler data matrix according to the eigenvalue distribution from the eigen spectrum, and proposed an efficient ΣΔ-STAP detector based on the robust principle component analysis (RPCA) algorithm to detect moving targets, which meets the low-rank matrix recovery conditions. The proposed algorithm first adopts ΣΔ-STAP algorithm to preprocess the sea clutter, then separates the sparse matrix of target component from the range-Doppler data matrix through the RPCA algorithm, and finally, effectively detects moving targets in the range-Doppler plane. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm in the low signal-to-noise ratio scenarios.Defence Science Journal, Vol. 64, No. 4, July 2014, pp. 344-349, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.486

Low Correlation Interference OFDM-NLFM Waveform Design for MIMO Radar Based on Alternating Optimization.

The OFDM chirp signal is suitable for MIMO radar applications due to its large time-bandwidth product, constant time-domain, and almost constant frequency-domain modulus. Particularly, by introducing the time-frequency structure of the non-linear frequency modulation (NLFM) signal into the design of an OFDM chirp waveform, a new OFDM-NLFM waveform with low peak auto-correlation sidelobe ratio (PASR) and peak cross-correlation ratio (PCCR) is obtained. IN-OFDM is the OFDM-NLFM waveform set currently with the lowest PASR and PCCR. Here we construct the optimization model of the OFDM-NLFM waveform set with the objective function being the maximum of the PASR and PCCR. Further, this paper proposes an OFDM-NLFM waveform set design algorithm inspired by alternating optimization. We implement the proposed algorithm by the alternate execution of two sub-algorithms. First, we keep both the sub-chirp sequence code matrix and sub-chirp rate plus and minus (PM) code matrix unchanged and use the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to obtain the optimal parameters of the NLFM signal's time-frequency structure (NLFM parameters). Next, we keep current optimal NLFM parameters unchanged, and optimize the sub-chirp sequence code matrix and sub-chirp rate PM code matrix using the block coordinate descent (BCD) algorithm. The above two sub-algorithms are alternately executed until the objective function converges to the optimal solution. The results show that the PASR and PCCR of the obtained OFDM-NLFM waveform set are about 5 dB lower than that of the IN-OFDM