Approximately 12.5 % of the overall education funding, the special education grant increased from $1.6 billion in 2002-03 to $3.2 billion in 2020-21. For equity and inclusion, demands to increase the ...special education funding continue. Students with exceptionalities are at risk of lower achievement. All schools must provide special education programs. However, there has been no study investigating the special education grant per se. The purpose of this study is to examine how the special education grant for elementary and secondary students with exceptionalities in Ontario, Canada, is determined. The research questions are: How is the special education grant determined? How is funding for different exceptionalities determined? Document analysis is the main method for this study, but the author has also contacted the Ministry of Education for information not available through open documents. This article reviews funding information since 1998 and indicates that the special education grant increases almost annually. It is decided with a variety of mechanisms with six components. Three are determined mainly by total enrollment and three are determined mainly by claimed cases for different exceptionalities. The article helps us understand how the special education grant is determined, informing the discussion on policies of funding for students with exceptionalities.
Abstract
ICEberg 2.0 (http://db-mml.sjtu.edu.cn/ICEberg/) is an updated database that provides comprehensive information about bacterial integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs). Compared with the ...previous version, three major improvements were made. First, with the aid of text mining and manual curation, it now recorded the details of 1032 ICEs, including 270 with experimental supports and 762 from bioinformatics prediction. Second, as increasing evidence has shown that ICEs frequently mobilize the so-called ‘hitchhikers’, such as integrative and mobilizable elements (IMEs) and cis-mobilizable elements (CIMEs), 83 known transfer interactions between 49 IMEs and 7 CIMEs with 19 ICEs taken from the literature were included and illustrated with visually intuitive directed graphs. An expanded collection of 260 chromosome-borne IMEs and 235 CIMEs was also added. At last, ICEberg 2.0 provides an online tool ICEfinder to predict ICEs or IMEs in bacterial genome sequences. It combines a similarity search for the integrase, relaxase and/or type IV secretion system and the co-localization of these corresponding homologous genes. With the recent updates, ICEberg 2.0 might provide better support for understanding the biological traits of ICEs, especially as their interaction with cognate mobilizable elements may further promote horizontal gene flow.
A
bstract
In this paper, we study 5d
N
= 1 Sp(
N
) gauge theory with
N
f
(
≤
2
N
+ 3) flavors based on 5-brane web diagram with
O
5-plane. On the one hand, we discuss Seiberg-Witten curve based on ...the dual graph of the 5-brane web with
O
5-plane. On the other hand, we compute the Nekrasov partition function based on the topological vertex formalism with
O
5-plane. Rewriting it in terms of profile functions, we obtain the saddle point equation for the profile function after taking thermodynamic limit. By introducing the resolvent, we derive the Seiberg-Witten curve and its boundary conditions as well as its relation to the prepotential in terms of the cycle integrals. They coincide with those directly obtained from the dual graph of the 5-brane web with
O
5-plane. This agreement gives further evidence for mirror symmetry which relates Nekrasov partition function with Seiberg-Witten curve in the case with orientifold plane and shed light on the non-toric Calabi-Yau 3-folds including D-type singularities.
Background:
Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal and aggressive with increasing trend of mortality in both genders. An effective prediction model is needed to assess prognosis of patients for ...optimization of treatment.
Materials and Methods:
Seven datasets of mRNA expression and clinical data were obtained from gene expression omnibus (GEO) database. Level 3 mRNA expression and clinicopathological data were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (TCGA-PAAD) dataset. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between pancreatic tumor and normal tissue were identified by integrated analysis of multiple GEO datasets. Univariate and Lasso Cox regression analyses were applied to identify overall survival-related DEGs and establish a prognostic gene signature whose performance was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier curve, receiver operating characteristic (ROC), Harrell's concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve. GSE62452 and GSE57495 were used for external validation. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and tumor immunity analysis were applied to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and immune relevance. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to identify independent prognostic factors in pancreatic cancer. Finally, a prognostic nomogram was established based on the TCGA PAAD dataset.
Results:
A nine-gene signature comprising MET, KLK10, COL17A1, CEP55, ANKRD22, ITGB6, ARNTL2, MCOLN3, and SLC25A45 was established to predict overall survival of pancreatic cancer. The ROC curve and C-index indicated good performance of the nine-gene signature at predicting overall survival in the TCGA dataset and external validation datasets relative to classic AJCC staging. The nine-gene signature could classify patients into high- and low-risk groups with distinct overall survival and differentiate tumor from normal tissue. Univariate Cox regression revealed that the nine-gene signature was an independent prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer. The nomogram incorporating the gene signature and clinical prognostic factors was superior to AJCC staging in predicting overall survival. The high-risk group was enriched with multiple oncological signatures and aggressiveness-related pathways and associated with significantly lower levels of CD4
+
T cell infiltration.
Conclusion:
Our study identified a nine-gene signature and established a prognostic nomogram that reliably predict overall survival in pancreatic cancer. The findings may be beneficial to therapeutic customization and medical decision-making.
•Effect of natural and artificial reclamation in coastal saline wasteland was studied.•Soil physical and chemical properties were improved rapidly for artificial method.•Plant and bacteria species ...diversity increasing obviously for artificial method.•Artificial reclamation process is faster than natural reclamation.•Special attention should be given to alkalization and nutrient losses.
Sparse vegetation and soil desertification are widespread phenomena in coastal regions due to the accumulation of excess sodium in soil, which results in degraded land quality and ecological impairment. Artificial reclamation approaches, including physical, chemical, hydro-technical, and phytoremediation techniques, have failed mainly due to freshwater shortages, high costs, and a relative lack of salt-tolerant plant types suitable for the landscape ecology. In recent years, a method based on water-salt regulation through drip irrigation combined with agronomic engineering including soil removal, layout of a gravel and sand layer, soil backfilling and land leveling, has been developed and was successfully applied in coastal saline wastelands in China. This paper presents the results of a study concerning responses of soil properties and vegetation in coastal saline wastelands reclaimed through natural and artificial afforestation using water-salt regulation based on drip irrigation. Different reclamation time spans (4–6 years) and afforestation modes (orchard, protection forest, poplar forest, and mixed forest) were compared. The results showed that after 4 years of drip irrigation, the soil bulk density decreased from 1.7 to 1.8 g/cm3 to levels typical of farmland and field water holding capacity increased. Additionally, the soil electrical conductivity and sodium adsorption ratio decreased significantly as the severely saline soil shifted to non-saline conditions, thereby creating a suitable environment for the soil microbial community and plant seed germination. As a result, vegetation cover and plant and bacteria species diversity increased and the soil received increasing organic matter inputs; thus, developing a higher organic carbon content and carbon to nitrogen ratio. These results suggested the feasibility of using water-salt regulation through drip irrigation to develop a good quality environment in coastal saline wastelands without soil amendments, especially with a rapid reclamation process. This approach could help to arrest desertification due to salinity, aid the rehabilitation of wastelands, and thus contribute to improvements in the local environment.
Object detection in remote sensing images has long been studied, but it remains challenging due to the diversity of objects and the complexity of backgrounds. In this letter, we propose an object ...detection method using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in a coarse-to-fine manner. In the coarse step, coarse candidate regions that may contain objects are proposed. In the fine step, fine candidate regions are cropped from coarse candidate regions, and are classified as objects or backgrounds. We design a concise and efficient framework that can propose fewer candidate regions and extract more discriminative features. The framework consists of two eight-layer CNNs that are well designed and powerful. To use CNNs to detect inshore ships, image samples are required, each of which should contain only one ship. However, the traditional image cropping method cannot generate such samples. To solve this problem, we present an orientation-free image cropping method that can generate trapezium rather than rectangle samples, making inshore ship detection by CNN feasible. Experimental results on Google Earth images demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods.
Abstract
oriTfinder is a web server that facilitates the rapid identification of the origin of transfer site (oriT) of a conjugative plasmid or chromosome-borne integrative and conjugative element. ...The utilized back-end database oriTDB was built upon more than one thousand known oriT regions of bacterial mobile genetic elements (MGEs) as well as the known MGE-encoding relaxases and type IV coupling proteins (T4CP). With a combination of similarity searches for the oriTDB-archived oriT nucleotide sequences and the co-localization of the flanking relaxase homologous genes, the oriTfinder can predict the oriT region with high accuracy in the DNA sequence of a bacterial plasmid or chromosome in minutes. The server also detects the other transfer-related modules, including the potential relaxase gene, T4CP gene and the type IV secretion system gene cluster, and the putative genes coding for virulence factors and acquired antibiotic resistance determinants. oriTfinder may contribute to meeting the increasing demands of re-annotations for bacterial conjugative, mobilizable or non-transferable elements and aid in the rapid risk accession of disease-relevant trait dissemination in pathogenic bacteria of interest. oriTfinder is freely available to all users without any login requirement at http://bioinfo-mml.sjtu.edu.cn/oriTfinder.
Abstract
TADB2.0 (http://bioinfo-mml.sjtu.edu.cn/TADB2/) is an updated database that provides comprehensive information about bacterial type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) loci. Compared with the previous ...version, the database refined and the new data schema is employed. With the aid of text mining and manual curation, it recorded 6193 type II TA loci in 870 replicons of bacteria and archaea, including 105 experimentally validated TA loci. In addition, the newly developed tool TAfinder combines the homolog searches and the operon structure detection, allowing the prediction for type II TA pairs in bacterial genome sequences. It also helps to investigate the genomic context of predicted TA loci for putative virulence factors, antimicrobial resistance determinants and mobile genetic elements via alignments to the specific public databases. Additionally, the module TAfinder-Compare allows comparing the presence of the given TA loci across the close relative genomes. With the recent updates, TADB2.0 might provide better support for understanding the important roles of type II TA systems in the prokaryotic life activities.
A source depth discrimination method based on intensity striations in the frequency–depth plane with a vertical linear array in a shallow water environment is proposed and studied theoretically and ...experimentally. To quantify the orientation of the interference patterns, a generalized waveguide variant (GWV) η is introduced. Due to the different dominance of the mode groups, the GWV distribution in the surface source is sharply peaked, indicating the presence of striations in the interferogram and the slope associated with the source–array range, while the distribution of the submerged source is more diffuse, and its interferogram is chaotic. The existence or lack of a distinct peak is used to separate the surface and submerged source classes. The method does not demand prior knowledge of the sound speed profile or the relative movement between the source and the array. In addition, it is the presence of the striations, not the value of η, that is exploited to separate the surface and submerged source classes, which means the source–array range can be unknown. The proposed method is validated using experimental data on the towing ship in SWellEx–96 and numerical modeling. The method’s performance under noise situations and for different source–array ranges is also investigated.
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