The Jewish Educational System—A Plea for Organic Unity

This article analyzes the career commitments and retention patterns among graduates of the DeLeT program (Day School Leadership Through Teaching) who were prepared for day-school teaching at Brandeis University and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Employing t-tests to analyze survey responses, we identify factors that shape and support teachers' career commitments to Jewish day schools. Our findings suggest that those who stay in Jewish day school teaching are likely to do so because of more commitment to the Jewish community, greater perception of effective teacher preparation experience, and better school support in comparison to those who leave teaching in this setting. These findings are consistent with a multi-layered understanding of teachers' lives and career commitments, which is illustrated in the interaction between person, program, and setting.     

Care,thoughtfulness, and tact: a conceptual framework for university supervisors

The pedagogical work of university supervisors has received little attention in teacher education literature. Based on this concern, this paper provides a conceptual framework for university supervisors, recasting their role as teacher pedagogues focused on responding to the particular contextual needs of student teachers as they learn to teach. Using care, thoughtfulness, and tact as a conceptual framework, the author argues for an interactive and responsive pedagogy of field‐based teacher education grounded in the university supervisor’s concern for the development of the student teacher.     

Fateful aspects of aspiration among graduates in New York and Los Angeles

ABSTRACT

This article presents ethnographic research on the aspirations of graduates from a private university in New York City, some of whom move to Los Angeles. Findings depict financial and family pressures exerting a governing force upon the graduates’ futures, often beyond their control. Focusing on the narratives of four individuals, we introduce the language of fate as a means of conceptualising the potential repercussions of aspiration and Higher Education. The premise of both is an increased determinacy over one’s future, yet in the high-stakes U.S. context here examined, this financial investment and articulation of family hope may generate fated (seemingly inescapable) and/or fateful (ominous) outcomes. The dynamic of ‘cruel optimism’ illustrates some of the paradoxical consequences of Higher Education, whereby people may be punished by their aspirations. We discuss what factors affect differing outlooks on the future and imply alternative dimensions to adversity beyond the remit of ‘inequality’.     

The One and the Many: Enduring Legacies of Spearman and Thurstone on Intelligence Test Score Interpretation

ABSTRACT

Charles Spearman and L. L. Thurstone were pioneers in the field of intelligence. They not only developed methods to assess and understand intelligence, but also developed theories about its structure and function. Methodologically, their approaches were not that distinct, but their theories of intelligence were philosophically very different – and this difference is still seen in modern approaches to intellectual assessment. In this article, we describe their theories of intelligence and then trace how these theories have influenced the development and use of intelligence instruments, paying particular attention to score interpretation.     

Product review summarization through question retrieval and diversification

Product reviews have become an important resource for customers before they make purchase decisions. However, the abundance of reviews makes it difficult for customers to digest them and make informed choices. In our study, we aim to help customers who want to quickly capture the main idea of a lengthy product review before they read the details. In contrast with existing work on review analysis and document summarization, we aim to retrieve a set of real-world user questions to summarize a review. In this way, users would know what questions a given review can address and they may further read the review only if they have similar questions about the product. Specifically, we design a two-stage approach which consists of question selection and question diversification. For question selection phase, we first employ probabilistic retrieval models to locate candidate questions that are relevant to a given review. A Recurrent Neural Network Encoder–Decoder is utilized to measure the “answerability” of questions to a review. We then design a set function to re-rank the questions with the goal of rewarding diversity in the final question set. The set function satisfies submodularity and monotonicity, which results in an efficient greedy algorithm of submodular optimization. Evaluation on product reviews from two categories shows that the proposed approach is effective for discovering meaningful questions that are representative of individual reviews.     

The furniture company: deductive databases and the scheduling problem

In this paper we address the possibility of utilizing a deductive database solution to assist a furniture company to solve its delivery scheduling problems. We first present the company's current approach to scheduling furniture deliveries using their present computing facilities. Then, we discuss their search for an off-the-self solution, resulting in the proposed solution employing the capabilities of a deductive database application. An evaluation of the current state of commercially available deductive database is conducted and presented to assess the possibilities and availability of the technology to focus on an alternative for the furniture company.     

CRISPR/Cas: a Nobel Prize award-winning precise genome editing technology for gene therapy and crop improvement

Since it was first recognized in bacteria and archaea as a mechanism for innate viral immunity in the early 2010 s,clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein(Cas) has rapidly been developed into a robust, multifunctional genome editing tool with many uses. Following the discovery of the initial CRISPR/Cas-based system, the technology has been advanced to facilitate a multitude of different functions. These include development as a base editor, prime editor, epigenetic editor, and CRISPR interference(CRISPRi) and CRISPR activator(CRISPRa) gene regulators. It can also be used for chromatin and RNA targeting and imaging. Its applications have proved revolutionary across numerous biological fields, especially in biomedical and agricultural improvement. As a diagnostic tool, CRISPR has been developed to aid the detection and screening of both human and plant diseases, and has even been applied during the current coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic. CRISPR/Cas is also being trialed as a new form of gene therapy for treating various human diseases, including cancers, and has aided drug development. In terms of agricultural breeding, precise targeting of biological pathways via CRISPR/Cas has been key to regulating molecular biosynthesis and allowing modification of proteins, starch, oil, and other functional components for crop improvement. Adding to this, CRISPR/Cas has been shown capable of significantly enhancing both plant tolerance to environmental stresses and overall crop yield via the targeting of various agronomically important gene regulators. Looking to the future, increasing the efficiency and precision of CRISPR/Cas delivery systems and limiting off-target activity are two major challenges for wider application of the technology. This review provides an in-depth overview of current CRISPR development, including the advantages and disadvantages of the technology,recent applications, and future considerations.     

Predictors and outcomes of low-income fathers’ reading with their toddlers

Most studies of parent–child bookreading have focused on mothers reading to their children. Though the role of fathers in children's lives is widely emphasized, we know almost nothing about father–child bookreading, particularly among low-income families. The present study was designed to examine how often low-income fathers report reading to their children and what the predictors and effects of paternal bookreading are. The fathers in this study were participants in the national evaluation of Early Head Start (EHS) and were recruited via mothers enrolled in the EHS study. Participating fathers were interviewed at home and their children's cognitive and language development were assessed using standardized measures from ages 2 to 5. Results demonstrated a wide variety in frequency of bookreading among fathers. Fathers were more likely to read to their children frequently if they spoke English at home, if they had a high school education, and if their children had better language skills. Fathers’ bookreading predicted children's cognitive outcome. Paternal bookreading did predict children's language outcomes but only for children whose fathers had at least a high school education.