Sample records for achieve specifications typical

  1. How typical are 'typical' tremor characteristics? Sensitivity and specificity of five tremor phenomena.

    PubMed

    van der Stouwe, A M M; Elting, J W; van der Hoeven, J H; van Laar, T; Leenders, K L; Maurits, N M; Tijssen, M A J

    2016-09-01

    Distinguishing between different tremor disorders can be challenging. Some tremor disorders are thought to have typical tremor characteristics: the current study aims to provide sensitivity and specificity for five 'typical' tremor phenomena. Retrospectively, we examined 210 tremor patients referred for electrophysiological recordings between January 2008 and January 2014. The final clinical diagnosis was used as the gold standard. The first step was to determine whether patients met neurophysiological criteria for their type of tremor. Once established, we focused on 'typical' characteristics: tremor frequency decrease upon loading (enhanced physiological tremor (EPT)), amplitude increase upon loading, distractibility and entrainment (functional tremor (FT)), and intention tremor (essential tremor (ET)). The prevalence of these phenomena in the 'typical' group was compared to the whole group. Most patients (87%) concurred with all core clinical neurophysiological criteria for their tremor type. We found a frequency decrease upon loading to be a specific (95%), but not a sensitive (42%) test for EPT. Distractibility and entrainment both scored high on sensitivity (92%, 91%) and specificity (94%, 91%) in FT, whereas a tremor amplitude increase was specific (92%), but not sensitive (22%). Intention tremor was a specific finding in ET (85%), but not a sensitive test (45%). Combination of characteristics improved sensitivity. In this study, we retrospectively determined sensitivity and specificity for five 'typical' tremor characteristics. Characteristics proved specific, but few were sensitive. These data on tremor phenomenology will help practicing neurologists to improve distinction between different tremor disorders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Computation Error Analysis: Students with Mathematics Difficulty Compared to Typically Achieving Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nelson, Gena; Powell, Sarah R.

    2018-01-01

    Though proficiency with computation is highly emphasized in national mathematics standards, students with mathematics difficulty (MD) continue to struggle with computation. To learn more about the differences in computation error patterns between typically achieving students and students with MD, we assessed 478 third-grade students on a measure…

  3. Phonological Processing in Children with Specific Reading Disorder versus Typical Learners: Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance in a Transparent Orthography

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brandenburg, Janin; Klesczewski, Julia; Schuchardt, Kirsten; Fischbach, Anne; Büttner, Gerhard; Hasselhorn, Marcus

    2017-01-01

    Although children with specific reading disorder (RD) have often been compared to typically achieving children on various phonological processing tasks, to our knowledge no study so far has examined whether the structure of phonological processing applies to both groups of children alike. According to Wagner and Torgesen (1987), phonological…

  4. Locus of Control, Interest in Schooling and Science Achievement of Some Deaf and Typical Secondary School Students in Nigeria

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olatoye, R. Ademola; Aanu, E. Mosunmola

    2010-01-01

    This study compared locus of control, interest in school and science achievement of typical and deaf secondary school students. The study also investigated influence of students' locus of control and interest in school on general science achievement. Seventy two (72) deaf and 235 typical children were purposively selected from eight secondary…

  5. Disorders of representation and control in semantic cognition: Effects of familiarity, typicality, and specificity

    PubMed Central

    Rogers, Timothy T.; Patterson, Karalyn; Jefferies, Elizabeth; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.

    2015-01-01

    We present a case-series comparison of patients with cross-modal semantic impairments consequent on either (a) bilateral anterior temporal lobe atrophy in semantic dementia (SD) or (b) left-hemisphere fronto-parietal and/or posterior temporal stroke in semantic aphasia (SA). Both groups were assessed on a new test battery designed to measure how performance is influenced by concept familiarity, typicality and specificity. In line with previous findings, performance in SD was strongly modulated by all of these factors, with better performance for more familiar items (regardless of typicality), for more typical items (regardless of familiarity) and for tasks that did not require very specific classification, consistent with the gradual degradation of conceptual knowledge in SD. The SA group showed significant impairments on all tasks but their sensitivity to familiarity, typicality and specificity was more variable and governed by task-specific effects of these factors on controlled semantic processing. The results are discussed with reference to theories about the complementary roles of representation and manipulation of semantic knowledge. PMID:25934635

  6. Season of Birth Is Related to Child Retention Rates, Achievement, and Rate of Diagnosis of Specific LD

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Roy P.; Foels, Patricia; Clanton, Greg; Moon, Kathryn

    2004-01-01

    A sizable literature has demonstrated that the achievement of children in early elementary school is related to their season of birth: Those born in summer typically perform less well than those born in the fall. A small literature indicates that more children diagnosed with specific learning disabilities (SLD) are born in the summer. We have…

  7. For Your Local Eyes Only: Culture-Specific Face Typicality Influences Perceptions of Trustworthiness.

    PubMed

    Sofer, Carmel; Dotsch, Ron; Oikawa, Masanori; Oikawa, Haruka; Wigboldus, Daniel H J; Todorov, Alexander

    2017-08-01

    Recent findings show that typical faces are judged as more trustworthy than atypical faces. However, it is not clear whether employment of typicality cues in trustworthiness judgment happens across cultures and if these cues are culture specific. In two studies, conducted in Japan and Israel, participants judged trustworthiness and attractiveness of faces. In Study 1, faces varied along a cross-cultural dimension ranging from a Japanese to an Israeli typical face. Own-culture typical faces were perceived as more trustworthy than other-culture typical faces, suggesting that people in both cultures employ typicality cues when judging trustworthiness, but that the cues, indicative of typicality, are culture dependent. Because perceivers may be less familiar with other-culture typicality cues, Study 2 tested the extent to which they rely on available facial information other than typicality, when judging other-culture faces. In Study 2, Japanese and Israeli faces varied from either Japanese or Israeli attractive to unattractive with the respective typical face at the midpoint. For own-culture faces, trustworthiness judgments peaked around own-culture typical face. However, when judging other-culture faces, both cultures also employed attractiveness cues, but this effect was more apparent for Japanese participants. Our findings highlight the importance of culture when considering the effect of typicality on trustworthiness judgments.

  8. Longitudinal Mediators of Achievement in Mathematics and Reading in Typical and Atypical Development

    PubMed Central

    Barnes, Marcia A.; Raghubar, Kimberly P.; English, Lianne; Williams, Jeffrey M.; Taylor, Heather; Landry, Susan

    2014-01-01

    Longitudinal studies of neurodevelopmental disorders that are diagnosed at or before birth and which are associated with specific learning difficulties at school-age provide one method for investigating developmental precursors of later-emerging academic disabilities. Spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with particular problems in mathematics, in contrast to well-developed word reading. Children with SBM (n = 30) and typically developing children (n = 35) were used to determine whether cognitive abilities measured at 36 and 60 months of age mediated the effect of group on mathematical and reading achievement outcomes at 8.5 and 9.5 years of age. A series of multiple mediator models showed that: visual-spatial working memory at 36 months and phonological awareness at 60 months partially mediated the effect of group on math calculations; phonological awareness partially mediated the effect of group on small addition and subtraction problems on a test of math fluency; and visual-spatial working memory mediated the effect of group on a test of math problem solving. Groups did not differ on word reading, and phonological awareness was the only mediator for reading fluency and reading comprehension. The findings are discussed with reference to theories of mathematical development and disability and with respect to both common and differing cognitive correlates of math and reading. PMID:24269579

  9. Longitudinal mediators of achievement in mathematics and reading in typical and atypical development.

    PubMed

    Barnes, Marcia A; Raghubar, Kimberly P; English, Lianne; Williams, Jeffrey M; Taylor, Heather; Landry, Susan

    2014-03-01

    Longitudinal studies of neurodevelopmental disorders that are diagnosed at or before birth and are associated with specific learning difficulties at school-age provide one method for investigating developmental precursors of later-emerging academic disabilities. Spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with particular problems in mathematics, in contrast to well-developed word reading. Children with SBM (n=30) and typically developing children (n=35) were used to determine whether cognitive abilities measured at 36 and 60 months of age mediated the effect of group on mathematical and reading achievement outcomes at 8.5 and 9.5 years of age. A series of multiple mediator models showed that: visual-spatial working memory at 36 months and phonological awareness at 60 months partially mediated the effect of group on math calculations, phonological awareness partially mediated the effect of group on small addition and subtraction problems on a test of math fluency, and visual-spatial working memory mediated the effect of group on a test of math problem solving. Groups did not differ on word reading, and phonological awareness was the only mediator for reading fluency and reading comprehension. The findings are discussed with reference to theories of mathematical development and disability and with respect to both common and differing cognitive correlates of math and reading. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Development of Product Relatedness and Distance Effects in Typical Achievers and in Children with Mathematics Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rotem, Avital; Henik, Avishai

    2015-01-01

    The current study examined the development of two effects that have been found in single-digit multiplication errors: relatedness and distance. Typically achieving (TA) second, fourth, and sixth graders and adults, and sixth and eighth graders with a mathematics learning disability (MLD) performed a verification task. Relatedness was defined by a…

  11. Lipreading Ability and Its Cognitive Correlates in Typically Developing Children and Children with Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heikkilä, Jenni; Lonka, Eila; Ahola, Sanna; Meronen, Auli; Tiippana, Kaisa

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: Lipreading and its cognitive correlates were studied in school-age children with typical language development and delayed language development due to specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Forty-two children with typical language development and 20 children with SLI were tested by using a word-level lipreading test and an extensive…

  12. Examining the Language Phenotype in Children with Typical Development, Specific Language Impairment, and Fragile X Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haebig, Eileen; Sterling, Audra; Hoover, Jill

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: One aspect of morphosyntax, finiteness marking, was compared in children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), specific language impairment (SLI), and typical development matched on mean length of utterance (MLU). Method: Nineteen children with typical development (mean age = 3.3 years), 20 children with SLI (mean age = 4.9 years), and 17 boys…

  13. Observing Iconic Gestures Enhances Word Learning in Typically Developing Children and Children with Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vogt, Susanne; Kauschke, Christina

    2017-01-01

    Research has shown that observing iconic gestures helps typically developing children (TD) and children with specific language impairment (SLI) learn new words. So far, studies mostly compared word learning with and without gestures. The present study investigated word learning under two gesture conditions in children with and without language…

  14. Neighborhood Density and Syntactic Class Effects on Spoken Word Recognition: Specific Language Impairment and Typical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoover, Jill R.

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to determine the effect of neighborhood density and syntactic class on word recognition in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typical development (TD). Method: Fifteen children with SLI ("M" age = 6;5 [years;months]) and 15 with TD ("M" age = 6;4) completed a…

  15. Socioemotional self-perceptions, family climate, and hopeful thinking among students with learning disabilities and typically achieving students from the same classes.

    PubMed

    Idan, Orly; Margalit, Malka

    2014-01-01

    This study aimed at examining the adjustment of students with learning disabilities (LD) and at exploring the mediating role of hope. By means of a multidimensional approach, the interactions between risk and protective factors emerging from internal and external resources among 856 high school students (10th to 12th grades) were analyzed. A total of 529 typically achieving students and 327 students with LD attending general education classes in seven high schools completed seven instruments measuring sense of coherence, basic psychological needs, loneliness, family climate, hope, academic self-efficacy, and effort. The students' achievements in English, history, and mathematics were collected. The analysis used structural equation modeling, and the results emphasized the significant role of hope as a mediator between risk and protective factors and academic self-efficacy and its significance for students with and without LD in explaining achievements and effort investment.

  16. Cognitive Processes that Account for Mental Addition Fluency Differences between Children Typically Achieving in Arithmetic and Children At-Risk for Failure in Arithmetic

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berg, Derek H.; Hutchinson, Nancy L.

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated whether processing speed, short-term memory, and working memory accounted for the differential mental addition fluency between children typically achieving in arithmetic (TA) and children at-risk for failure in arithmetic (AR). Further, we drew attention to fluency differences in simple (e.g., 5 + 3) and complex (e.g., 16 +…

  17. Investigation of language and motor skills in Serbian speaking children with specific language impairment and in typically developing children.

    PubMed

    Vukovic, Mile; Vukovic, Irena; Stojanovik, Vesna

    2010-01-01

    Specific language impairment (SLI) is usually defined as a developmental language disorder which does not result from a hearing loss, autism, neurological and emotional difficulties, severe social deprivation, low non-verbal abilities. Children affected with SLI typically have difficulties with the acquisition of different aspects of language and by definition, their impairment is specific to language and no other skills are affected. However, there has been a growing body of literature to suggest that children with SLI also have non-linguistic deficits, including impaired motor abilities. The aim of the current study is to investigate language and motor abilities of a group of thirty children with SLI (aged between 4 and 7) in comparison to a group of 30 typically developing children matched for chronological age. The results showed that the group of children with SLI had significantly more difficulties on the language and motor assessments compared to the control group. The SLI group also showed delayed onset in the development of all motor skills under investigation in comparison to the typically developing group. More interestingly, the two groups differed with respect to which language abilities were correlated with motor abilities, however Imitation of Complex Movements was the unique skill which reliably predicted expressive vocabulary in both typically developing children and in children with SLI. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Empirical Implications of Matching Children with Specific Language Impairment to Children with Typical Development on Nonverbal IQ

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Earle, F. Sayako; Gallinat, Erica L.; Grela, Bernard G.; Lehto, Alexa; Spaulding, Tammie J.

    2017-01-01

    This study determined the effect of matching children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their peers with typical development (TD) for nonverbal IQ on the IQ test scores of the resultant groups. Studies published between January 2000 and May 2012 reporting standard nonverbal IQ scores for SLI and age-matched TD controls were categorized…

  19. The development of product parity sensitivity in children with mathematics learning disability and in typical achievers.

    PubMed

    Rotem, Avital; Henik, Avishai

    2013-02-01

    Parity helps us determine whether an arithmetic equation is true or false. The current research examines the development of sensitivity to parity cues in multiplication in typically achieving (TA) children (grades 2, 3, 4 and 6) and in children with mathematics learning disabilities (MLD, grades 6 and 8), via a verification task. In TA children the onset of parity sensitivity was observed at the beginning of 3rd grade, whereas in children with MLD it was documented only in 8th grade. These results suggest that children with MLD develop parity aspects of number sense, though later than TA children. To check the plausibility of equations, children used mainly the multiplication parity rule rather than familiarity with even products. Similar to observations in adults, parity sensitivity was largest for problems with two even operands, moderate for problems with one even and one odd operand, and smallest for problems with two odd operands. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. The contribution of goal specificity to goal achievement in collaborative goal setting for the management of asthma.

    PubMed

    Smith, Lorraine; Alles, Chehani; Lemay, Kate; Reddel, Helen; Saini, Bandana; Bosnic-Anticevich, Sinthia; Emmerton, Lynne; Stewart, Kay; Burton, Debbie; Krass, Ines; Armour, Carol

    2013-01-01

    Goal setting was investigated as part of an implementation trial of an asthma management service (PAMS) conducted in 96 Australian community pharmacies. Patients and pharmacists identified asthma-related issues of concern to the patient and collaboratively set goals to address these. Although goal setting is commonly integrated into disease state management interventions, the nature of goals, and their contribution to goal attainment and health outcomes are not well understood. To identify and describe: 1) goals set collaboratively between adult patients with asthma and their pharmacist, 2) goal specificity and goal achievement, and 3) describe the relationships between specificity, achievement, asthma control and asthma-related quality of life. Measures of goal specificity, and goal achievement were developed and applied to patient data records. Goals set were thematically analyzed into goal domains. Proportions of goals set, goals achieved and their specificity were calculated. Correlational and regression analyses were undertaken to determine the relationships between goal specificity, goal achievement, asthma control and asthma-related quality of life. Data were drawn from 498 patient records. Findings showed that patients set a wide range and number of asthma-related goals (N = 1787) and the majority (93%) were either achieved or being working toward by the end of the study. Goal achievement was positively associated with specific and moderately specific goals, but not non-specific goals. However, on closer inspection, an inconsistent pattern of relationships emerged as a function of goal domain. Findings also showed that goal setting was associated with end-of-study asthma control but not to asthma-related quality of life. Pharmacists can help patients to set achievable and specific asthma management goals, and these have the potential to directly impact health outcomes such as asthma control. Goal specificity appears to be an important feature in the

  1. Concept typicality responses in the semantic memory network.

    PubMed

    Santi, Andrea; Raposo, Ana; Frade, Sofia; Marques, J Frederico

    2016-12-01

    For decades concept typicality has been recognized as critical to structuring conceptual knowledge, but only recently has typicality been applied in better understanding the processes engaged by the neurological network underlying semantic memory. This previous work has focused on one region within the network - the Anterior Temporal Lobe (ATL). The ATL responds negatively to concept typicality (i.e., the more atypical the item, the greater the activation in the ATL). To better understand the role of typicality in the entire network, we ran an fMRI study using a category verification task in which concept typicality was manipulated parametrically. We argue that typicality is relevant to both amodal feature integration centers as well as category-specific regions. Both the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) and ATL demonstrated a negative correlation with typicality, whereas inferior parietal regions showed positive effects. We interpret this in light of functional theories of these regions. Interactions between category and typicality were not observed in regions classically recognized as category-specific, thus, providing an argument against category specific regions, at least with fMRI. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Elicited Production of Relative Clauses in German: Evidence from Typically Developing Children and Children with Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adani, Flavia; Stegenwallner-Schütz, Maja; Haendler, Yair; Zukowski, Andrea

    2016-01-01

    We elicited the production of various types of relative clauses in a group of German-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing controls in order to test the movement optionality account of grammatical difficulty in SLI. The results show that German-speaking children with SLI are impaired in relative clause…

  3. The Prevalence, Development and Domain Specificity of Elementary School Students' Achievement Goal Profiles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jansen in de Wal, Joost; Hornstra, Lisette; Prins, Frans J.; Peetsma, Thea; van der Veen, Ineke

    2016-01-01

    This study's aim was to examine the prevalence, development and domain specificity of fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students' achievement goal profiles. Achievement goals were measured for language and mathematics among 722 pupils at three points in time. These data were analysed through latent profile analysis and latent transition…

  4. Investigation of Language and Motor skills in Serbian Speaking Children with Specific Language Impairment and in Typically Developing Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vukovic, Mile; Vukovic, Irena; Stojanovik, Vesna

    2010-01-01

    Specific language impairment (SLI) is usually defined as a developmental language disorder which does not result from a hearing loss, autism, neurological and emotional difficulties, severe social deprivation, low non-verbal abilities. Children affected with SLI typically have difficulties with the acquisition of different aspects of language and…

  5. Acoustic Correlates of Inflectional Morphology in the Speech of Children with Specific Language Impairment and Their Typically Developing Peers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Owen, Amanda J.; Goffman, Lisa

    2007-01-01

    The development of the use of the third-person singular -s in open syllable verbs in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typically developing peers was examined. Verbs that included overt productions of the third-person singular -s morpheme (e.g. "Bobby plays ball everyday;" "Bear laughs when mommy buys…

  6. The Production of Finite and Nonfinite Complement Clauses by Children with Specific Language Impairment and Their Typically Developing Peers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Owen, Amanda J.; Leonard, Laurence B.

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore whether 13 children with specific language impairment (SLI; ages 5;1-8;0 [years;months]) were as proficient as typically developing age- and vocabulary-matched children in the production of finite and nonfinite complement clauses. Preschool children with SLI have marked difficulties with verb-related…

  7. Learning strategies and general cognitive ability as predictors of gender- specific academic achievement.

    PubMed

    Ruffing, Stephanie; Wach, F-Sophie; Spinath, Frank M; Brünken, Roland; Karbach, Julia

    2015-01-01

    Recent research has revealed that learning behavior is associated with academic achievement at the college level, but the impact of specific learning strategies on academic success as well as gender differences therein are still not clear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the incremental contribution of learning strategies over general cognitive ability in the prediction of academic achievement. The relationship between these variables was examined by correlation analyses. A set of t-tests was used to test for gender differences in learning strategies, whereas structural equation modeling as well as multi-group analyses were applied to investigate the incremental contribution of learning strategies for male and female students' academic performance. The sample consisted of 461 students (mean age = 21.2 years, SD = 3.2). Correlation analyses revealed that general cognitive ability as well as the learning strategies effort, attention, and learning environment were positively correlated with academic achievement. Gender differences were found in the reported application of many learning strategies. Importantly, the prediction of achievement in structural equation modeling revealed that only effort explained incremental variance (10%) over general cognitive ability. Results of multi-group analyses showed no gender differences in this prediction model. This finding provides further knowledge regarding gender differences in learning research and the specific role of learning strategies for academic achievement. The incremental assessment of learning strategy use as well as gender-differences in their predictive value contributes to the understanding and improvement of successful academic development.

  8. Predicting Levels of Reading and Writing Achievement in Typically Developing, English-Speaking 2nd and 5th Graders

    PubMed Central

    Jones, Jasmin Niedo; Abbott, Robert D.; Berninger, Virginia W.

    2014-01-01

    Human traits tend to fall along normal distributions. The aim of this research was to evaluate an evidence-based conceptual framework for predicting expected individual differences in reading and writing achievement outcomes for typically developing readers and writers in early and middle childhood from Verbal Reasoning with or without Working Memory Components (phonological, orthographic, and morphological word storage and processing units, phonological and orthographic loops, and rapid switching attention for cross-code integration). Verbal Reasoning (reconceptualized as Bidirectional Cognitive-Linguistic Translation) plus the Working Memory Components (reconceptualized as a language learning system) accounted for more variance than Verbal Reasoning alone, except for handwriting for which Working Memory Components alone were better predictors. Which predictors explained unique variance varied within and across reading (oral real word and pseudoword accuracy and rate, reading comprehension) and writing (handwriting, spelling, composing) skills and grade levels (second and fifth) in this longitudinal study. Educational applications are illustrated and theoretical and practical significance discussed. PMID:24948868

  9. Placement and Achievement of Urban Hispanic Middle Schoolers with Specific Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barrocas, Lisa; Cramer, Elizabeth D.

    2014-01-01

    This study examined achievement gains in reading and math for Hispanic middle school students with specific learning disabilities in inclusive versus segregated settings in a large urban school district. The authors report learning gains for students with and without disabilities in inclusive versus segregated settings. Results indicate no…

  10. A Sentence Repetition Task for Catalan-Speaking Typically-Developing Children and Children with Specific Language Impairment

    PubMed Central

    Gavarró, Anna

    2017-01-01

    It is common to find that so-called minority languages enjoy fewer (if any) diagnostic tools than the so-called majority languages. This has repercussions for the detection and proper assessment of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) brought up in these languages. With a view to remedy this situation for Catalan, I developed a sentence repetition task to assess grammatical maturity in school-age children; in current practice, Catalan-speaking children are assessed with tests translated from Spanish, with disregard of the fact that the markers of SLI may differ substantially from one language to another, even between closely related languages. The test proposed here is inspired by SASIT [School-Age Sentence Imitation Test – English], designed for English by Marinis et al. (2011); some of the constructions targeted are challenging in a subset of languages, but not others, and are included because they are indeed affected in Catalan SLI; other constructions appear to be disrupted universally. The test involves canonical SVO sentences, sentences with third person accusative clitics (known to be problematic in Catalan SLI, but not in Spanish), passives, wh- interrogatives, subordinate clauses, subject and object relatives and conditionals. The test was administered to thirty typically developing 6- and 7-year-olds (as reported in Gavarró et al., 2012b), and five children diagnosed with SLI (mean age 10;7). The results of the task were scored under two systems: (i) identical vs. non-identical repetition and (ii) identical, grammatical and ungrammatical repetition, with detail regarding the error type. The results for typically developing and SLI children showed differences between the groups: identical repetition was found in 88.9% of cases for typically developing children but only 48% for SLI children. Ungrammatical productions were higher for the SLI group, and so were grammatical but different repetitions, a trend which was found in every child

  11. Effect of Phonotactic Probability and Neighborhood Density on Word-Learning Configuration by Preschoolers with Typical Development and Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gray, Shelley; Pittman, Andrea; Weinhold, Juliet

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: In this study, the authors assessed the effects of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density on word-learning configuration by preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) and typical language development (TD). Method: One hundred thirty-one children participated: 48 with SLI, 44 with TD matched on age and gender, and 39…

  12. Learning strategies and general cognitive ability as predictors of gender- specific academic achievement

    PubMed Central

    Ruffing, Stephanie; Wach, F. -Sophie; Spinath, Frank M.; Brünken, Roland; Karbach, Julia

    2015-01-01

    Recent research has revealed that learning behavior is associated with academic achievement at the college level, but the impact of specific learning strategies on academic success as well as gender differences therein are still not clear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the incremental contribution of learning strategies over general cognitive ability in the prediction of academic achievement. The relationship between these variables was examined by correlation analyses. A set of t-tests was used to test for gender differences in learning strategies, whereas structural equation modeling as well as multi-group analyses were applied to investigate the incremental contribution of learning strategies for male and female students’ academic performance. The sample consisted of 461 students (mean age = 21.2 years, SD = 3.2). Correlation analyses revealed that general cognitive ability as well as the learning strategies effort, attention, and learning environment were positively correlated with academic achievement. Gender differences were found in the reported application of many learning strategies. Importantly, the prediction of achievement in structural equation modeling revealed that only effort explained incremental variance (10%) over general cognitive ability. Results of multi-group analyses showed no gender differences in this prediction model. This finding provides further knowledge regarding gender differences in learning research and the specific role of learning strategies for academic achievement. The incremental assessment of learning strategy use as well as gender-differences in their predictive value contributes to the understanding and improvement of successful academic development. PMID:26347698

  13. Abnormal functional lateralization and activity of language brain areas in typical specific language impairment (developmental dysphasia)

    PubMed Central

    De Guibert, Clément; Maumet, Camille; Jannin, Pierre; Ferré, Jean-Christophe; Tréguier, Catherine; Barillot, Christian; Le Rumeur, Elisabeth; Allaire, Catherine; Biraben, Arnaud

    2011-01-01

    Atypical functional lateralization and specialization for language have been proposed to account for developmental language disorders, yet results from functional neuroimaging studies are sparse and inconsistent. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study compared children with a specific subtype of specific language impairment affecting structural language (n=21), to a matched group of typically-developing children using a panel of four language tasks neither requiring reading nor metalinguistic skills, including two auditory lexico-semantic tasks (category fluency and responsive naming) and two visual phonological tasks based on picture naming. Data processing involved normalizing the data with respect to a matched pairs pediatric template, groups and between-groups analysis, and laterality indexes assessment within regions of interest using single and combined task analysis. Children with specific language impairment exhibited a significant lack of left lateralization in all core language regions (inferior frontal gyrus-opercularis, inferior frontal gyrus-triangularis, supramarginal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus), across single or combined task analysis, but no difference of lateralization for the rest of the brain. Between-group comparisons revealed a left hypoactivation of Wernicke’s area at the posterior superior temporal/supramarginal junction during the responsive naming task, and a right hyperactivation encompassing the anterior insula with adjacent inferior frontal gyrus and the head of the caudate nucleus during the first phonological task. This study thus provides evidence that this specific subtype of specific language impairment is associated with atypical lateralization and functioning of core language areas. PMID:21719430

  14. Parental overprotection engenders dysfunctional attitudes about achievement and dependency in a gender-specific manner.

    PubMed

    Otani, Koichi; Suzuki, Akihito; Matsumoto, Yoshihiko; Shibuya, Naoshi; Sadahiro, Ryoichi; Enokido, Masanori

    2013-12-24

    It has been suggested that dysfunctional attitudes, cognitive vulnerability to depression, have developmental origins. The present study examined the effects of parental rearing on dysfunctional attitudes in three areas of life with special attention to gender specificity. The subjects were 665 Japanese healthy volunteers. Dysfunctional attitudes were assessed by the 24-item Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, which has the Achievement, Dependency and Self-control subscales. Perceived parental rearing was assessed by the Parental Bonding Instrument, which has the Care and Protection subscales. Higher scores of the Achievement (β = 0.293, p < 0.01) and Dependency (β = 0.224, p < 0.05) subscales were correlated with higher scores of the Protection subscale in the combination of mother and daughter, but not in other combinations of parents and recipients. Scores of the Self-control subscale were not correlated with paternal or maternal rearing scores. The present study suggests that parental overprotection engenders dysfunctional attitudes about achievement and dependency in a gender-specific manner.

  15. Improving Reading Achievement Through Increased Motivation, Specific Skill Enhancement, and Practice Time for Elementary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ecklund, Britt K.; Lamon, Kathryn M.

    2008-01-01

    The action research project report began when the teacher researchers determined that students at Sites A and B struggled with reading achievement. The purpose of the project was to improve students' reading achievement through increased motivation, specific skill instruction, and additional practice time. The project involved 26 students: 17…

  16. Identifying Country-Specific Cultures of Physics Education: A Differential Item Functioning Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mesic, Vanes

    2012-01-01

    In international large-scale assessments of educational outcomes, student achievement is often represented by unidimensional constructs. This approach allows for drawing general conclusions about country rankings with respect to the given achievement measure, but it typically does not provide specific diagnostic information which is necessary for…

  17. Parental overprotection engenders dysfunctional attitudes about achievement and dependency in a gender-specific manner

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background It has been suggested that dysfunctional attitudes, cognitive vulnerability to depression, have developmental origins. The present study examined the effects of parental rearing on dysfunctional attitudes in three areas of life with special attention to gender specificity. Methods The subjects were 665 Japanese healthy volunteers. Dysfunctional attitudes were assessed by the 24-item Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, which has the Achievement, Dependency and Self-control subscales. Perceived parental rearing was assessed by the Parental Bonding Instrument, which has the Care and Protection subscales. Results Higher scores of the Achievement (β = 0.293, p < 0.01) and Dependency (β = 0.224, p < 0.05) subscales were correlated with higher scores of the Protection subscale in the combination of mother and daughter, but not in other combinations of parents and recipients. Scores of the Self-control subscale were not correlated with paternal or maternal rearing scores. Conclusions The present study suggests that parental overprotection engenders dysfunctional attitudes about achievement and dependency in a gender-specific manner. PMID:24365104

  18. 49 CFR 178.358-6 - Typical assembly detail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Typical assembly detail. 178.358-6 Section 178.358-6 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS... PACKAGINGS Specifications for Packagings for Class 7 (Radioactive) Materials § 178.358-6 Typical assembly...

  19. 49 CFR 178.356-5 - Typical assembly detail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Typical assembly detail. 178.356-5 Section 178.356-5 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS... PACKAGINGS Specifications for Packagings for Class 7 (Radioactive) Materials § 178.356-5 Typical assembly...

  20. Developmental Change in the Influence of Domain-General Abilities and Domain-Specific Knowledge on Mathematics Achievement: An Eight-Year Longitudinal Study

    PubMed Central

    Geary, David C.; Nicholas, Alan; Li, Yaoran; Sun, Jianguo

    2016-01-01

    The contributions of domain-general abilities and domain-specific knowledge to subsequent mathematics achievement were longitudinally assessed (n = 167) through 8th grade. First grade intelligence and working memory and prior grade reading achievement indexed domain-general effects and domain-specific effects were indexed by prior grade mathematics achievement and mathematical cognition measures of prior grade number knowledge, addition skills, and fraction knowledge. Use of functional data analysis enabled grade-by-grade estimation of overall domain-general and domain-specific effects on subsequent mathematics achievement, the relative importance of individual domain-general and domain-specific variables on this achievement, and linear and non-linear across-grade estimates of these effects. The overall importance of domain-general abilities for subsequent achievement was stable across grades, with working memory emerging as the most important domain-general ability in later grades. The importance of prior mathematical competencies on subsequent mathematics achievement increased across grades, with number knowledge and arithmetic skills critical in all grades and fraction knowledge in later grades. Overall, domain-general abilities were more important than domain-specific knowledge for mathematics learning in early grades but general abilities and domain-specific knowledge were equally important in later grades. PMID:28781382

  1. 49 CFR 178.356-5 - Typical assembly detail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Typical assembly detail. 178.356-5 Section 178.356-5 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS... Specifications for Packagings for Class 7 (Radioactive) Materials § 178.356-5 Typical assembly detail. (a...

  2. 49 CFR 178.358-6 - Typical assembly detail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Typical assembly detail. 178.358-6 Section 178.358-6 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS... Specifications for Packagings for Class 7 (Radioactive) Materials § 178.358-6 Typical assembly detail. (a...

  3. 49 CFR 178.356-5 - Typical assembly detail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Typical assembly detail. 178.356-5 Section 178.356-5 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS... Specifications for Packagings for Class 7 (Radioactive) Materials § 178.356-5 Typical assembly detail. (a...

  4. 49 CFR 178.356-5 - Typical assembly detail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Typical assembly detail. 178.356-5 Section 178.356-5 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS... Specifications for Packagings for Class 7 (Radioactive) Materials § 178.356-5 Typical assembly detail. (a...

  5. 49 CFR 178.358-6 - Typical assembly detail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Typical assembly detail. 178.358-6 Section 178.358-6 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS... Specifications for Packagings for Class 7 (Radioactive) Materials § 178.358-6 Typical assembly detail. (a...

  6. 49 CFR 178.358-6 - Typical assembly detail.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Typical assembly detail. 178.358-6 Section 178.358-6 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS... Specifications for Packagings for Class 7 (Radioactive) Materials § 178.358-6 Typical assembly detail. (a...

  7. Effects of target typicality on categorical search.

    PubMed

    Maxfield, Justin T; Stalder, Westri D; Zelinsky, Gregory J

    2014-10-01

    The role of target typicality in a categorical visual search task was investigated by cueing observers with a target name, followed by a five-item target present/absent search array in which the target images were rated in a pretest to be high, medium, or low in typicality with respect to the basic-level target cue. Contrary to previous work, we found that search guidance was better for high-typicality targets compared to low-typicality targets, as measured by both the proportion of immediate target fixations and the time to fixate the target. Consistent with previous work, we also found an effect of typicality on target verification times, the time between target fixation and the search judgment; as target typicality decreased, verification times increased. To model these typicality effects, we trained Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers on the target categories, and tested these on the corresponding specific targets used in the search task. This analysis revealed significant differences in classifier confidence between the high-, medium-, and low-typicality groups, paralleling the behavioral results. Collectively, these findings suggest that target typicality broadly affects both search guidance and verification, and that differences in typicality can be predicted by distance from an SVM classification boundary. © 2014 ARVO.

  8. Development of Product Relatedness and Distance Effects in Typical Achievers and in Children With Mathematics Learning Disabilities.

    PubMed

    Rotem, Avital; Henik, Avishai

    2015-01-01

    The current study examined the development of two effects that have been found in single-digit multiplication errors: relatedness and distance. Typically achieving (TA) second, fourth, and sixth graders and adults, and sixth and eighth graders with a mathematics learning disability (MLD) performed a verification task. Relatedness was defined by a slow and inaccurate response to false results that were related to one of the operands via a shared multiplication row (e.g., 3 × 4 = 16). Distance was defined by a slow and inaccurate response to false results that were close in magnitude to the true result (e.g., 6 × 8 = 49). The presence of these effects indicates that participants are sensitive to numerical features of products. TA children demonstrated sensitivity to relatedness and distance from second grade onward. With age their sensitivity expanded from easy problems (e.g., 2 × 3) to difficult ones (e.g., 8 × 9). Children with MLD were sensitive to relatedness on easy problems. Their sensitivity to distance differed from the pattern seen in sixth grade and was partial in eighth grade. The presence of numerical sensitivity in children with MLD calls for instructional methods that would further develop their number sense. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

  9. A Method for Examining Productivity of Grammatical Morphology in Children with and without Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Carol A.; Deevy, Patricia

    2003-01-01

    Children with specific language impairment (SLI) show inconsistent use of grammatical morphology. Children who are developing language typically also show a period during which they produce grammatical morphemes inconsistently. Various theories claim that both young typically developing children and children with SLI achieve correct production…

  10. Differences in the Performance of Children with Specific Language Impairment and Their Typically Developing Peers on Nonverbal Cognitive Tests: A Meta-Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gallinat, Erica; Spaulding, Tammie J.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: This study used meta-analysis to investigate the difference in nonverbal cognitive test performance of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typically developing (TD) peers. Method: The meta-analysis included studies (a) that were published between 1995 and 2012 of children with SLI who were age matched (and not…

  11. Specific Early Number Skills Mediate the Association between Executive Functioning Skills and Mathematics Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fuhs, Mary Wagner; Hornburg, Caroline Byrd; McNeil, Nicole M.

    2016-01-01

    A growing literature reports significant associations between children's executive functioning skills and their mathematics achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine if specific early number skills, such as quantity discrimination, number line estimation, number sets identification, fast counting, and number word comprehension, mediate…

  12. Learning novel words: detail and vulnerability of initial representations for children with specific language impairment and typically developing peers.

    PubMed

    Alt, Mary; Suddarth, Rachael

    2012-01-01

    This study examines the phonological representations that children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing peers (TD) have during the initial process of word learning. The goals of this study were to determine if children with SLI attended to different components of words than peers, and whether they were more vulnerable to interference than peers. Forty 7- and 8-year-old children, half with SLI, took part in a fast mapping, word learning task. In addition to producing the word, there was a mispronunciation detection task that included mispronunciations of the target word in the initial position, final position or that modified the word's syllable structure. Children with SLI showed a different learning profile than peers, demonstrating stronger representations of the word-initial phonemes, but less information about word-final phonemes. They were more prone to interference overall, but especially from word-final foils. Children with SLI did not demonstrate less-defined phonological representations, but did attend to different features than TD children, perhaps in an attempt to compensate for problems learning longer words. The greatest weakness of children with SLI appears to be their susceptibility to interference, particularly for word-final information. Readers will be able to: (1) explain what children attend to when learning new words; (2) state the pattern of recognition and production performance for both children with SLI and their typical language peers; and (3) identify specific parts of novel words that are most susceptible to interference in children with SLI. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Language, cognitive flexibility, and explicit false belief understanding: longitudinal analysis in typical development and specific language impairment.

    PubMed

    Farrant, Brad M; Maybery, Murray T; Fletcher, Janet

    2012-01-01

    The hypothesis that language plays a role in theory-of-mind (ToM) development is supported by a number of lines of evidence (e.g., H. Lohmann & M. Tomasello, 2003). The current study sought to further investigate the relations between maternal language input, memory for false sentential complements, cognitive flexibility, and the development of explicit false belief understanding in 91 English-speaking typically developing children (M age = 61.3 months) and 30 children with specific language impairment (M age = 63.0 months). Concurrent and longitudinal findings converge in supporting a model in which maternal language input predicts the child's memory for false complements, which predicts cognitive flexibility, which in turn predicts explicit false belief understanding. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  14. Adaptive behaviour in children and adolescents with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders: a comparison with specific learning disability and typical development

    PubMed Central

    Autti-Rämö, Ilona; Kalland, Mirjam; Santtila, Pekka; Hoyme, H. Eugene; Mattson, Sarah N.; Korkman, Marit

    2013-01-01

    Foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is a leading cause of intellectual disability in the western world. Children and adolescents with FASD are often exposed to a double burden in life, as their neurological sequelae are accompanied by adverse living surroundings exposing them to further environmental risk. In the present study, the adaptive abilities of a group of children and adolescents with FASD were examined using the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales (VABS) and compared to those of a group of IQ-matched children with specific learning disorder (SLD) as well as with typically developing controls (CON). The results showed significantly different adaptive abilities among the groups: Children with FASD performed worse than IQ-matched children with SLD, who in turn performed worse than typically developing children on all domains (communication, daily living skills and socialization) on the VABS. Compared to the other groups, social skills declined with age in the FASD group. These results support previous studies of adaptive behaviour deficits in children with FASD and provide further evidence of the specificity of these deficits. On a societal level, more efforts and resources should be focused on recognizing and diagnosing FASD and supporting communication skills, daily living skills and most of all social skills across diagnostic groups within FASD. Without adequate intervention, adolescents and young adults with FASD run a great risk of marginalization and social maladjustment, costly not only to society but also to the lives of the many young people with FASD. PMID:22358422

  15. Developmental Change in the Influence of Domain-General Abilities and Domain-Specific Knowledge on Mathematics Achievement: An Eight-Year Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geary, David C.; Nicholas, Alan; Li, Yaoran; Sun, Jianguo

    2017-01-01

    The contributions of domain-general abilities and domain-specific knowledge to subsequent mathematics achievement were longitudinally assessed (n = 167) through 8th grade. First grade intelligence and working memory and prior grade reading achievement indexed domain-general effects, and domain-specific effects were indexed by prior grade…

  16. Poor Results for High Achievers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bui, Sa; Imberman, Scott; Craig, Steven

    2012-01-01

    Three million students in the United States are classified as gifted, yet little is known about the effectiveness of traditional gifted and talented (G&T) programs. In theory, G&T programs might help high-achieving students because they group them with other high achievers and typically offer specially trained teachers and a more advanced…

  17. 10. Typical Masonry Longitudinal Section Arch Seven; Typical Masonry ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    10. Typical Masonry Longitudinal Section - Arch Seven; Typical Masonry Longitudinal Section - Arch Eight - Arlington Memorial Bridge, Spanning Potomac River between Lincoln Memorial & Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

  18. The solar spectrum at typical clear weather days

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Boer, K. W.

    1976-01-01

    The solar spectrum in the range of 300 is less than lambda is less than 1500nm is given for five typical clear weather days. These days are selected to represent typical seasonal conditions in respect to airmass water vapor, ozone, and turbidity. Present data are reviewed, and specific conditions are selected. The spectral distribution of the irradiance is given for the direct component, the scattered skylight, the total flux on a horizontal surface, and the flux on an inclined surface normal to the direct beam.

  19. Toward a domain-specific approach to the study of parental psychological control: distinguishing between dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented psychological control.

    PubMed

    Soenens, Bart; Vansteenkiste, Maarten; Luyten, Patrick

    2010-02-01

    Theory and research suggest that psychologically controlling parenting can be driven by parental concerns in two different domains, that is, interpersonal closeness and achievement. Three studies addressing this hypothesis are presented. Study 1 provides evidence for the validity of the Dependency-Oriented and Achievement-Oriented Psychological Control Scale (DAPCS), a new measure assessing psychological control in these two domains. Study 2 showed that dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented psychological control were related in expected ways to parental separation anxiety and perfectionism in a sample of mothers and fathers. Finally, Study 3 showed that dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented psychological control were differentially related to middle adolescent dependency and self-criticism and that these personality features act as specific intervening variables between the domain-specific expressions of psychological control and depressive symptoms. It is argued that the distinction between two domain-specific expressions of psychological control may allow for a more intricate analysis of the processes involved in intrusive parenting.

  20. Sport-related achievement motivation and alcohol outcomes: an athlete-specific risk factor among intercollegiate athletes.

    PubMed

    Weaver, Cameron C; Martens, Matthew P; Cadigan, Jennifer M; Takamatsu, Stephanie K; Treloar, Hayley R; Pedersen, Eric R

    2013-12-01

    Intercollegiate athletes report greater alcohol consumption and more alcohol-related problems than their non-athlete peers. Although college athletes share many of the same problems faced by non-athletes, there are some consequences that are unique to athletes. Studies have demonstrated that alcohol negatively affects athletic performance including increased dehydration, impeded muscle recovery, and increased risk for injury. Beyond risk factors for alcohol misuse that may affect college students in general, research has begun to examine risk factors that are unique to collegiate athletes. For example, research has found that off-season status, the leadership role, and athlete-specific drinking motives are associated with increased alcohol use. Given these findings, it is possible that other athlete-specific variables influence alcohol misuse. One such variable may be sport achievement orientation. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between sport achievement orientation and alcohol outcomes. Given previous research regarding seasonal status and gender, these variables were examined as moderators. Varsity athletes (n=263) completed the Sport Orientation Questionnaire, which assesses sport-related achievement orientation on three scales (Competitiveness, Win Orientation, and Goal Orientation). In addition, participants completed measures of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Results indicated that Competitiveness, Win Orientation, and Goal Orientation were all significantly associated with alcohol use, but not alcohol-related problems. Moreover, these relationships were moderated by seasonal status and gender. These interactions, clinical implications, and limitations are discussed. © 2013.

  1. Sport-Related Achievement Motivation and Alcohol Outcomes: An Athlete-Specific Risk Factor among Intercollegiate Athletes

    PubMed Central

    Weaver, Cameron C.; Martens, Matthew P.; Cadigan, Jennifer M.; Takamatsu, Stephanie K.; Treloar, Hayley R.; Pedersen, Eric R.

    2014-01-01

    Intercollegiate athletes report greater alcohol consumption and more alcohol-related problems than their non-athlete peers. Although college athletes share many of the same problems faced by non-athletes, there are some consequences that are unique to athletes. Studies have demonstrated that alcohol negatively affects athletic performance including increased dehydration, impeded muscle recovery, and increased risk for injury. Beyond risk factors for alcohol misuse that may affect college students in general, research has begun to examine risk factors that are unique to collegiate athletes. For example, research has found that off-season status, the leadership role, and athlete-specific drinking motives are associated with increased alcohol use. Given these findings, it is possible that other athlete-specific variables influence alcohol misuse. One such variable may be sport achievement orientation. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between sport achievement orientation and alcohol outcomes. Given previous research regarding seasonal status and gender, these variables were examined as moderators. Varsity athletes (n = 263) completed the Sport Orientation Questionnaire, which assesses sport-related achievement orientation on three scales (Competitiveness, Win Orientation, and Goal Orientation). In addition, participants completed measures of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Results indicated that Competitiveness, Win Orientation, and Goal Orientation were all significantly associated with alcohol use, but not alcohol-related problems. Moreover, these relationships were moderated by seasonal status and gender. These interactions, clinical implications, and limitations are discussed. PMID:24064192

  2. Linguistic and pragmatic aspects of narration in Finnish typically developing children and children with specific language impairment.

    PubMed

    Mäkinen, Leena; Loukusa, Soile; Laukkanen, Päivi; Leinonen, Eeva; Kunnari, Sari

    2014-06-01

    This study investigates narratives of Finnish children with specific language impairment (SLI) from linguistic and pragmatic perspectives, in order to get a comprehensive overview of these children's narrative abilities. Nineteen children with SLI (mean age 6;1 years) and 19 typically developing age-matched children participated in the study. Their picture-elicited narrations were analysed for linguistic productivity and complexity, grammatical and referential accuracy, event content, the use of mental state expressions and narrative comprehension. Children with SLI showed difficulties in every aspect of narration in comparison to their peers. Only one measure of productivity, the number of communication units, did not reach statistical significance. Not only was linguistic structure fragile but also pragmatic aspects of storytelling (referencing, event content, mental state expressions and inferencing) were demanding for children with SLI. Results suggest that pragmatic aspects of narration should be taken into account more often when assessing narrative abilities of children with SLI.

  3. Empirical Implications of Matching Children With Specific Language Impairment to Children With Typical Development on Nonverbal IQ.

    PubMed

    Earle, F Sayako; Gallinat, Erica L; Grela, Bernard G; Lehto, Alexa; Spaulding, Tammie J

    This study determined the effect of matching children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their peers with typical development (TD) for nonverbal IQ on the IQ test scores of the resultant groups. Studies published between January 2000 and May 2012 reporting standard nonverbal IQ scores for SLI and age-matched TD controls were categorized into those that matched and did not match children with SLI and TD on nonverbal IQ. We then compared the nonverbal IQ scores across matching criterions within each diagnostic category. In studies that matched children on nonverbal IQ, children with SLI scored significantly higher on nonverbal IQ tests relative to children with SLI in studies that did not match on this criterion. Therefore, it appears that the nonverbal IQ performance of children with SLI is not comparable across studies that do and do not match samples on nonverbal IQ. This suggests that the practice of nonverbal IQ matching may have unintended consequences for the generalization of research findings to the broader SLI population.

  4. Efficiency and specificity of RAAS inhibitors in cardiovascular diseases: how to achieve better end-organ protection?

    PubMed

    Nehme, Ali; Zibara, Kazem

    2017-11-01

    RAAS, a major pharmacological target in cardiovascular medicine, is inhibited by pharmacological classes including angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (ACEIs), angiotensin-II type 1 blockers (ARBs) and aldosterone receptors antagonists, in addition to the recently introduced direct renin inhibitors (DRIs). However, currently used RAAS inhibitors still cannot achieve their desired effects and are associated with certain drawbacks, such as adverse side effects, incomplete blockage of the system and poor end-organ protection. In this review, we discuss the efficiency and specificity of the current RAAS inhibitors and propose some recommendations for achieving better treatments with better end-organ protection.

  5. Academic Self-Concept and Achievement in Polish Primary Schools: Cross-Lagged Modelling and Gender-Specific Effects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grygiel, Pawel; Modzelewski, Michal; Pisarek, Jolanta

    2017-01-01

    This study reports relationships between general academic self-concept and achievement in grade 3 and grade 5. Gender-specific effects were investigated using a longitudinal, two-cycle, 3-year autoregressive cross-lagged panel design in a large, representative sample of Polish primary school pupils (N = 4,226). Analysis revealed (a) reciprocal…

  6. Cognitive Correlates of Mathematical Achievement in Children with Cerebral Palsy and Typically Developing Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jenks, Kathleen M.; van Lieshout, Ernest C. D. M.; de Moor, Jan M. H.

    2012-01-01

    Background: Remarkably few studies have investigated the nature and origin of learning difficulties in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Aims: To investigate math achievement in terms of word-problem solving ability in children with CP and controls. Because of the potential importance of reading for word-problem solving, we investigated reading…

  7. 29 CFR 780.210 - The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.”

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... EXEMPTIONS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURE, PROCESSING OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, AND RELATED SUBJECTS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT Agriculture as It Relates to Specific Situations Hatchery Operations § 780.210 The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.” As stated in § 780.127, the typical hatchery...

  8. 29 CFR 780.210 - The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.”

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... EXEMPTIONS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURE, PROCESSING OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, AND RELATED SUBJECTS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT Agriculture as It Relates to Specific Situations Hatchery Operations § 780.210 The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.” As stated in § 780.127, the typical hatchery...

  9. 29 CFR 780.210 - The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.”

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... EXEMPTIONS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURE, PROCESSING OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, AND RELATED SUBJECTS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT Agriculture as It Relates to Specific Situations Hatchery Operations § 780.210 The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.” As stated in § 780.127, the typical hatchery...

  10. 29 CFR 780.210 - The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.”

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... EXEMPTIONS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURE, PROCESSING OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, AND RELATED SUBJECTS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT Agriculture as It Relates to Specific Situations Hatchery Operations § 780.210 The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.” As stated in § 780.127, the typical hatchery...

  11. 29 CFR 780.210 - The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.”

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... EXEMPTIONS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURE, PROCESSING OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES, AND RELATED SUBJECTS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT Agriculture as It Relates to Specific Situations Hatchery Operations § 780.210 The typical hatchery operations constitute “agriculture.” As stated in § 780.127, the typical hatchery...

  12. Predicting Mathematics Achievement by Motivation and Self-Efficacy across Gender and Achievement Levels

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sartawi, AbdelAziz; Alsawaie, Othman N.; Dodeen, Hamzeh; Tibi, Sana; Alghazo, Iman M.

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the extent to which self-efficacy and motivation served as a predictor for mathematics achievement of fifth grade students in United Arab Emirates (UAE) across gender and achievement levels. Self-efficacy was measured by two scales, which differed in levels of specificity--Category Specific and Task Specific. Motivation was…

  13. Sensitivity to Audiovisual Temporal Asynchrony in Children with a History of Specific Language Impairment and Their Peers with Typical Development: A Replication and Follow-Up Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaganovich, Natalya

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: Earlier, my colleagues and I showed that children with a history of specific language impairment (H-SLI) are significantly less able to detect audiovisual asynchrony compared with children with typical development (TD; Kaganovich & Schumaker, 2014). Here, I first replicate this finding in a new group of children with H-SLI and TD and…

  14. Details: Elevation of Plate Typical Bay, SectionThrough Plate Typical Bay, ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    Details: Elevation of Plate Typical Bay, Section-Through Plate Typical Bay, Section-Through Plate Center Bay, Elevation of Plate Center Bay - Contoocook Covered Bridge, Spanning Contoocook River, Hopkinton, Merrimack County, NH

  15. How specific is second language-learning ability? A twin study exploring the contributions of first language achievement and intelligence to second language achievement.

    PubMed

    Rimfeld, K; Dale, P S; Plomin, R

    2015-09-22

    Learning a second language is crucially important in an increasingly global society, yet surprisingly little is known about why individuals differ so substantially in second language (SL) achievement. We used the twin design to assess the nature, nurture and mediators of individual differences in SL achievement. For 6263 twin pairs, we analyzed scores from age 16 UK-wide standardized tests, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). We estimated genetic and environmental influences on the variance of SL for specific languages, the links between SL and English and the extent to which the links between SL and English are explained by intelligence. All SL measures showed substantial heritability, although heritability was nonsignificantly lower for German (36%) than the other languages (53-62%). Multivariate genetic analyses indicated that a third of genetic influence in SL is shared with intelligence, a third with English independent of intelligence and a further third is unique to SL.

  16. Improving Mathematics: An Examination of the Effects of Specific Cognitive Abilities on College-Age Students' Mathematics Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taub, Gordon E.; Benson, Nicholas; Szente, Judit

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of general intelligence and seven specific cognitive abilities on college-age students' mathematics achievement. The present investigation went beyond previous research by employing structural equation modeling. It also represents the first study to examine the direct and indirect effects of general and specific…

  17. Does achievement motivation mediate the semantic achievement priming effect?

    PubMed

    Engeser, Stefan; Baumann, Nicola

    2014-10-01

    The aim of our research was to understand the processes of the prime-to-behavior effects with semantic achievement primes. We extended existing models with a perspective from achievement motivation theory and additionally used achievement primes embedded in the running text of excerpts of school textbooks to simulate a more natural priming condition. Specifically, we proposed that achievement primes affect implicit achievement motivation and conducted pilot experiments and 3 main experiments to explore this proposition. We found no reliable positive effect of achievement primes on implicit achievement motivation. In light of these findings, we tested whether explicit (instead of implicit) achievement motivation is affected by achievement primes and found this to be the case. In the final experiment, we found support for the assumption that higher explicit achievement motivation implies that achievement priming affects the outcome expectations. The implications of the results are discussed, and we conclude that primes affect achievement behavior by heightening explicit achievement motivation and outcome expectancies.

  18. Chapter 16: Retrocommissioning Evaluation Protocol. The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kurnik, Charles W.; Tiessen, Alex

    Retrocommissioning (RCx) is a systematic process for optimizing energy performance in existing buildings. It specifically focuses on improving the control of energy-using equipment (e.g., heating, ventilation, and air conditioning [HVAC] equipment and lighting) and typically does not involve equipment replacement. Field results have shown proper RCx can achieve energy savings ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent, with a typical payback of two years or less (Thorne 2003). The method presented in this protocol provides direction regarding: (1) how to account for each measure's specific characteristics and (2) how to choose the most appropriate savings verification approach.

  19. The Typicality Ranking Task: A New Method to Derive Typicality Judgments from Children

    PubMed Central

    Ameel, Eef; Storms, Gert

    2016-01-01

    An alternative method for deriving typicality judgments, applicable in young children that are not familiar with numerical values yet, is introduced, allowing researchers to study gradedness at younger ages in concept development. Contrary to the long tradition of using rating-based procedures to derive typicality judgments, we propose a method that is based on typicality ranking rather than rating, in which items are gradually sorted according to their typicality, and that requires a minimum of linguistic knowledge. The validity of the method is investigated and the method is compared to the traditional typicality rating measurement in a large empirical study with eight different semantic concepts. The results show that the typicality ranking task can be used to assess children’s category knowledge and to evaluate how this knowledge evolves over time. Contrary to earlier held assumptions in studies on typicality in young children, our results also show that preference is not so much a confounding variable to be avoided, but that both variables are often significantly correlated in older children and even in adults. PMID:27322371

  20. The Typicality Ranking Task: A New Method to Derive Typicality Judgments from Children.

    PubMed

    Djalal, Farah Mutiasari; Ameel, Eef; Storms, Gert

    2016-01-01

    An alternative method for deriving typicality judgments, applicable in young children that are not familiar with numerical values yet, is introduced, allowing researchers to study gradedness at younger ages in concept development. Contrary to the long tradition of using rating-based procedures to derive typicality judgments, we propose a method that is based on typicality ranking rather than rating, in which items are gradually sorted according to their typicality, and that requires a minimum of linguistic knowledge. The validity of the method is investigated and the method is compared to the traditional typicality rating measurement in a large empirical study with eight different semantic concepts. The results show that the typicality ranking task can be used to assess children's category knowledge and to evaluate how this knowledge evolves over time. Contrary to earlier held assumptions in studies on typicality in young children, our results also show that preference is not so much a confounding variable to be avoided, but that both variables are often significantly correlated in older children and even in adults.

  1. Varieties of (Scientific) Creativity: A Hierarchical Model of Domain-Specific Disposition, Development, and Achievement.

    PubMed

    Simonton, Dean Keith

    2009-09-01

    Prior research supports the inference that scientific disciplines can be ordered into a hierarchy ranging from the "hard" natural sciences to the "soft" social sciences. This ordering corresponds with such objective criteria as disciplinary consensus, knowledge obsolescence rate, anticipation frequency, theories-to-laws ratio, lecture disfluency, and age at recognition. It is then argued that this hierarchy can be extrapolated to encompass the humanities and arts and interpolated within specific domains to accommodate contrasts in subdomains (e.g., revolutionary versus normal science). This expanded and more finely differentiated hierarchy is then shown to have a partial psychological basis in terms of dispositional traits (e.g., psychopathology) and developmental experiences (e.g., family background). This demonstration then leads to three hypotheses about how a creator's domain-specific impact depends on his or her disposition and development: the domain-progressive, domain-typical, and domain-regressive creator hypotheses. Studies published thus far lend the most support to the domain-regressive creator hypothesis. In particular, major contributors to a domain are more likely to have dispositional traits and developmental experiences most similar to those that prevail in a domain lower in the disciplinary hierarchy. However, some complications to this generalization suggest the need for more research on the proposed hierarchical model. © 2009 Association for Psychological Science.

  2. Using Principles of Learning to Inform Language Therapy Design for Children with Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alt, Mary; Meyers, Christina; Ancharski, Alexandra

    2012-01-01

    Background: Language treatment for children with specific language impairment (SLI) often takes months to achieve moderate results. Interventions often do not incorporate the principles that are known to affect learning in unimpaired learners. Aims: To outline some key findings about learning in typical populations and to suggest a model of how…

  3. Enzyme Prodrug Therapy Achieves Site-Specific, Personalized Physiological Responses to the Locally Produced Nitric Oxide

    PubMed Central

    2018-01-01

    Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly potent but short-lived endogenous radical with a wide spectrum of physiological activities. In this work, we developed an enzymatic approach to the site-specific synthesis of NO mediated by biocatalytic surface coatings. Multilayered polyelectrolyte films were optimized as host compartments for the immobilized β-galactosidase (β-Gal) enzyme through a screen of eight polycations and eight polyanions. The lead composition was used to achieve localized production of NO through the addition of β-Gal–NONOate, a prodrug that releases NO following enzymatic bioconversion. The resulting coatings afforded physiologically relevant flux of NO matching that of the healthy human endothelium. The antiproliferative effect due to the synthesized NO in cell culture was site-specific: within a multiwell dish with freely shared media and nutrients, a 10-fold inhibition of cell growth was achieved on top of the biocatalytic coatings compared to the immediately adjacent enzyme-free microwells. The physiological effect of NO produced via the enzyme prodrug therapy was validated ex vivo in isolated arteries through the measurement of vasodilation. Biocatalytic coatings were deposited on wires produced using alloys used in clinical practice and successfully mediated a NONOate concentration-dependent vasodilation in the small arteries of rats. The results of this study present an exciting opportunity to manufacture implantable biomaterials with physiological responses controlled to the desired level for personalized treatment. PMID:29570264

  4. Windows on Achievement and Inequality. Policy Information Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barton, Paul E.; Coley, Richard J.

    2008-01-01

    Shifting focus from typical data and information about the status of educational achievement in the United States and about gaps in achievement among the nation's students, this report undertakes investigation of less-frequently-asked questions. As required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), educators are continuously monitoring whether more…

  5. Self-Concept Predicts Academic Achievement Across Levels of the Achievement Distribution: Domain Specificity for Math and Reading.

    PubMed

    Susperreguy, Maria Ines; Davis-Kean, Pamela E; Duckworth, Kathryn; Chen, Meichu

    2017-09-18

    This study examines whether self-concept of ability in math and reading predicts later math and reading attainment across different levels of achievement. Data from three large-scale longitudinal data sets, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, and Panel Study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement, were used to answer this question by employing quantile regression analyses. After controlling for demographic variables, child characteristics, and early ability, the findings indicate that self-concept of ability in math and reading predicts later achievement in each respective domain across all quantile levels of achievement. These results were replicated across the three data sets representing different populations and provide robust evidence for the role of self-concept of ability in understanding achievement from early childhood to adolescence across the spectrum of performance (low to high). © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  6. The influence of deliberate practice on musical achievement: a meta-analysis.

    PubMed

    Platz, Friedrich; Kopiez, Reinhard; Lehmann, Andreas C; Wolf, Anna

    2014-01-01

    Deliberate practice (DP) is a task-specific structured training activity that plays a key role in understanding skill acquisition and explaining individual differences in expert performance. Relevant activities that qualify as DP have to be identified in every domain. For example, for training in classical music, solitary practice is a typical training activity during skill acquisition. To date, no meta-analysis on the quantifiable effect size of deliberate practice on attained performance in music has been conducted. Yet the identification of a quantifiable effect size could be relevant for the current discussion on the role of various factors on individual difference in musical achievement. Furthermore, a research synthesis might enable new computational approaches to musical development. Here we present the first meta-analysis on the role of deliberate practice in the domain of musical performance. A final sample size of 13 studies (total N = 788) was carefully extracted to satisfy the following criteria: reported durations of task-specific accumulated practice as predictor variables and objectively assessed musical achievement as the target variable. We identified an aggregated effect size of r c = 0.61; 95% CI [0.54, 0.67] for the relationship between task-relevant practice (which by definition includes DP) and musical achievement. Our results corroborate the central role of long-term (deliberate) practice for explaining expert performance in music.

  7. The importance of being 'well-placed': the influence of context on perceived typicality and esthetic appraisal of product appearance.

    PubMed

    Blijlevens, Janneke; Gemser, Gerda; Mugge, Ruth

    2012-01-01

    Earlier findings have suggested that esthetic appraisal of product appearances is influenced by perceived typicality. However, prior empirical research on typicality and esthetic appraisal of product appearances has not explicitly taken context effects into account. In this paper, we investigate how a specific context influences perceived typicality and thus the esthetic appraisal of product appearances by manipulating the degree of typicality of a product's appearance and its context. The findings of two studies demonstrate that the perceived typicality of a product appearance and consequently its esthetic appraisal vary depending on the typicality of the context in which the product is presented. Specifically, contrast effects occur for product appearances that are perceived as typical. Typical product appearances are perceived as more typical and are more esthetically appealing when presented in an atypical context compared to when presented in a typical context. No differences in perceived typicality and esthetic appraisal were found for product appearances that are perceived as atypical. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. A Typical Synergy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    van Noort, Thomas; Achten, Peter; Plasmeijer, Rinus

    We present a typical synergy between dynamic types (dynamics) and generalised algebraic datatypes (GADTs). The former provides a clean approach to integrating dynamic typing in a statically typed language. It allows values to be wrapped together with their type in a uniform package, deferring type unification until run time using a pattern match annotated with the desired type. The latter allows for the explicit specification of constructor types, as to enforce their structural validity. In contrast to ADTs, GADTs are heterogeneous structures since each constructor type is implicitly universally quantified. Unfortunately, pattern matching only enforces structural validity and does not provide instantiation information on polymorphic types. Consequently, functions that manipulate such values, such as a type-safe update function, are cumbersome due to boilerplate type representation administration. In this paper we focus on improving such functions by providing a new GADT annotation via a natural synergy with dynamics. We formally define the semantics of the annotation and touch on novel other applications of this technique such as type dispatching and enforcing type equality invariants on GADT values.

  9. Conversational Profiles of Children with ADHD, SLI and Typical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Redmond, Sean M.

    2004-01-01

    Conversational indices of language impairment were used to investigate similarities and differences among children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and children with typical development (TD). Utterance formulation measures (per cent words mazed and average number of words per…

  10. Mathematics achievement and anxiety and their relation to internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

    PubMed

    Wu, Sarah S; Willcutt, Erik G; Escovar, Emily; Menon, Vinod

    2014-01-01

    Although behavioral difficulties are well documented in reading disabilities, little is known about the relationship between math ability and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Here, we use standardized measures to investigate the relation among early math ability, math anxiety, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors in a group of 366 second and third graders. Math achievement was significantly correlated with attentional difficulties and social problems but not with internalizing symptoms. The relation between math achievement and externalizing behavioral problems was stronger in girls than in boys. Math achievement was not correlated with trait anxiety but was negatively correlated with math anxiety. Critically, math anxiety differed significantly between children classified as math learning disabled (MLD), low achieving (LA), and typically developing (TD), with math anxiety significantly higher in the MLD and LA groups compared to the TD group. Our findings suggest that, even in nonclinical samples, math difficulties at the earliest stages of formal math learning are associated with attentional difficulties and domain-specific anxiety. These findings underscore the need for further examination of the shared cognitive, neural, and genetic influences underlying problem solving and nonverbal learning difficulties and accompanying internalizing and externalizing behaviors. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2013.

  11. Mathematics Achievement and Anxiety and Their Relation to Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors

    PubMed Central

    Wu, Sarah S.; Willcutt, Erik G.; Escovar, Emily; Menon, Vinod

    2013-01-01

    Although behavioral difficulties are well documented in reading disabilities, little is known about the relationship between math ability and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Here, we use standardized measures to investigate the relation among early math ability, math anxiety, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors in a group of 366 second and third graders. Math achievement was significantly correlated with attentional difficulties and social problems but not with internalizing symptoms. The relation between math achievement and externalizing behavioral problems was stronger in girls than in boys. Math achievement was not correlated with trait anxiety but was negatively correlated with math anxiety. Critically, math anxiety differed significantly between children classified as math learning disabled (MLD), low achieving (LA), and typically developing (TD), with math anxiety significantly higher in the MLD and LA groups compared to the TD group. Our findings suggest that, even in nonclinical samples, math difficulties at the earliest stages of formal math learning are associated with attentional difficulties and domain-specific anxiety. These findings underscore the need for further examination of the shared cognitive, neural, and genetic influences underlying problem solving and nonverbal learning difficulties and accompanying internalizing and externalizing behaviors. PMID:23313869

  12. Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Achievement Deficits in Children with Mathematical Learning Disability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geary, David C.; Hoard, Mary K.; Byrd-Craven, Jennifer; Nugent, Lara; Numtee, Chattavee

    2007-01-01

    Using strict and lenient mathematics achievement cutoff scores to define a learning disability, respective groups of children who are math disabled (MLD, n = 15) and low achieving (LA, n = 44) were identified. These groups and a group of typically achieving (TA, n = 46) children were administered a battery of mathematical cognition, working…

  13. Engaging with the Self: Mirror Behaviour in Autism, Down Syndrome and Typical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reddy, Vasudevi; Williams, Emma; Costantini, Cristina; Lan, Britta

    2010-01-01

    Children with autism achieve mirror self-recognition appropriate to developmental age, but are nonetheless reported to have problems in other aspects of a sense of self. We observed behaviour in the mirror in 12 pre-school children with autism, 13 pre-school children with Down syndrome (DS) and 13 typically developing (TD) toddlers. Reliable…

  14. Personality Traits, Learning and Academic Achievements

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jensen, Mikael

    2015-01-01

    There has been an increased interest in personality traits (especially the five-factor model) in relation to education and learning over the last decade. Previous studies have shown a relation between personality traits and learning, and between personality traits and academic achievement. The latter is typically described in terms of Grade Point…

  15. Producing specific milks for speciality cheeses.

    PubMed

    Bertoni, G; Calamari, L; Maianti, M G

    2001-05-01

    Protected denomination of origin (PDO) cheeses have distinctive sensorial characteristics. They can be made only from raw milk possessing specific features, which is processed through the 'art' of the cheesemaker. In general, the distinctive sensorial traits of PDO cheese cannot be achieved under different environmental-production conditions for two main reasons: (1) some milk features are linked to specific animal production systems; (2) cheese ripening is affected by the interaction between milk (specific) and the traditional technology applied to the transformation process (non-specific). Also, the environment for a good ripening stage can be quite specific and not reproducible. With reference to milk, factors of typicality are species and/or breed, pedoclimatic conditions, animal management system and feeding. Other factors that influence cheese quality are milk treatments, milk processing and the ripening procedures. The technology applied to most cheeses currently known as PDO utilizes only raw milk, rennet and natural lactic acid bacteria, so that milk must be, at its origin, suitable for processing. The specific milk characteristics that ensure a high success rate for PDO cheeses are high protein content and good renneting properties, appropriate fat content with appropriate fatty acid composition and the presence of chemical flavours originating from local feeds. Moreover, an appropriate microflora is also of major importance. The factors that contribute to achieving milk suitable for transformation into PDO cheese are genetics, age, lactation stage, season and climate, general management and health conditions, milking and particularly feeding, which affect nutrient availability, endocrine response and health status, and also the presence of microbes and chemical substances which enrich or reduce the milk-cheese quality. Many of these factors are regulated by the Producer Associations. However, the secret of the success of PDO cheeses is the combination of

  16. Comparing Science Achievement Constructs: Targeted and Achieved

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferrara, Steve; Duncan, Teresa

    2011-01-01

    This article illustrates how test specifications based solely on academic content standards, without attention to other cognitive skills and item response demands, can fall short of their targeted constructs. First, the authors inductively describe the science achievement construct represented by a statewide sixth-grade science proficiency test.…

  17. Ideals and Category Typicality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, ShinWoo; Murphy, Gregory L.

    2011-01-01

    Barsalou (1985) argued that exemplars that serve category goals become more typical category members. Although this claim has received support, we investigated (a) whether categories have a single ideal, as negatively valenced categories (e.g., cigarette) often have conflicting goals, and (b) whether ideal items are in fact typical, as they often…

  18. Specificity revisited and updated.

    PubMed

    Paulley, J W

    1991-01-01

    Typicality is probably a better representation of Alexander, Dunbar and others' conclusions than specificity, which was always too absolute a term. As such it became a valid cause of objection by opponents. No genuine attempts to repeat the original studies have been made and most of the original opposition to the concept is now acknowledged as invalid. Typicality (specificity) in psychosomatic disorders appears to be conferred by coping mechanisms acquired through interaction with mother and early surrogates in infancy and childhood as a means of reducing tensions and restoration of homeostatic emotional equilibrium. Psychosomatic medicine patients share one such mechanism, notably superstability/alexythymia, but contained within it are coping mechanisms typical for differing disorders. Examples are listed, and also mention of typicality of recurrently provocative life events/situations. Until typicality is appreciated, taught, learned and practised, success in management of psychosomatic disorders will be limited. The current bio-psycho-social approach is too imprecise.

  19. The attentional blink in typically developing and reading-disabled children.

    PubMed

    de Groot, Barry J A; van den Bos, Kees P; van der Meulen, Bieuwe F; Minnaert, Alexander E M G

    2015-11-01

    This study's research question was whether selective visual attention, and specifically the attentional blink (AB) as operationalized by a dual target rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task, can explain individual differences in word reading (WR) and reading-related phonological performances in typically developing children and reading-disabled subgroups. A total of 407 Dutch school children (Grades 3-6) were classified either as typically developing (n = 302) or as belonging to one of three reading-disabled subgroups: reading disabilities only (RD-only, n = 69), both RD and attention problems (RD+ADHD, n = 16), or both RD and a specific language impairment (RD+SLI, n = 20). The RSVP task employed alphanumeric stimuli that were presented in two blocks. Standardized Dutch tests were used to measure WR, phonemic awareness (PA), and alphanumeric rapid naming (RAN). Results indicate that, controlling for PA and RAN performance, general RSVP task performance contributes significant unique variance to the prediction of WR. Specifically, consistent group main effects for the parameter of AB(minimum) were found, whereas there were no AB-specific effects (i.e., AB(width) and AB(amplitude)) except for the RD+SLI group. Finally, there was a group by measurement interaction, indicating that the RD-only and comorbid groups are differentially sensitive for prolonged testing sessions. These results suggest that more general factors involved in RSVP processing may explain the group differences found. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Sequential Prediction of Literacy Achievement for Specific Learning Disabilities Contrasting in Impaired Levels of Language in Grades 4 to 9

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sanders, Elizabeth A.; Berninger, Virginia W.; Abbott, Robert D.

    2018-01-01

    Sequential regression was used to evaluate whether language-related working memory components uniquely predict reading and writing achievement beyond cognitive-linguistic translation for students in Grades 4 through 9 (N = 103) with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in subword handwriting (dysgraphia, n = 25), word reading and spelling…

  1. Milestone achievement in emerging adulthood in spina bifida: a longitudinal investigation of parental expectations

    PubMed Central

    Holbein, Christina E; Zebracki, Kathy; Bechtel, Colleen F; Papadakis, Jaclyn Lennon; Bruno, Elizabeth Franks; Holmbeck, Grayson N

    2016-01-01

    Aim To assess changes over time in parents' expectations of adult milestone achievement (college attendance, full-time job attainment, independent living, marriage, parenthood) for young people with spina bifida, to examine how expectancies relate to actual milestone achievement, and to compare milestone achievement in emerging adults with spina bifida with that of peers with typical development. Method Sixty-eight families of children with spina bifida (mean=8.34y, 37 male, 31 female) and 68 families of children with typical development (mean=8.49y, 37 male, 31 female) participated at Time 1. At all subsequent timepoints, parents of young people with spina bifida were asked to rate their expectations of emerging adulthood milestone achievement. At Time 7, when participants were 22 to 23 years old, milestone achievement was assessed. Results Parents of young people with spina bifida lowered their expectations over time for most milestones; parents of children with higher cognitive ability reported decreases of lower magnitude. Parent expectancies were optimistic and unrelated to actual milestone achievement. Emerging adults with spina bifida were less likely than individuals with typical development to achieve all milestones. Interpretation Optimistic parental expectations may be adaptive for children with spina bifida and their families, although it is important for families to set realistic goals. Healthcare providers serve a key role in helping families of young people with spina bifida prepare for emerging adulthood. PMID:27651215

  2. A method for examining productivity of grammatical morphology in children with and without specific language impairment.

    PubMed

    Miller, Carol A; Deevy, Patricia

    2003-10-01

    Children with specific language impairment (SLI) show inconsistent use of grammatical morphology. Children who are developing language typically also show a period during which they produce grammatical morphemes inconsistently. Various theories claim that both young typically developing children and children with SLI achieve correct production through memorization of some inflected forms (M. Gopnik, 1997; M. Tomasello, 2000a, 2000b). Adapting a method introduced by C. Miller and L. Leonard (1998), the authors investigated the use of present tense third singular -s by 24 typically developing preschoolers and 36 preschoolers with SLI. Each group was divided into 2 mean length of utterance (MLU) levels. Group and individual data provided little evidence that memorization could explain the correct productions of the third singular morpheme for either children with SLI or typically developing children, and there was no difference between children with higher and lower MLUs.

  3. Fact Retrieval Deficits in Low Achieving Children and Children with Mathematical Learning Disability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Geary, David C.; Hoard, Mary K.; Bailey, Drew H.

    2012-01-01

    Using 4 years of mathematics achievement scores, groups of typically achieving children (n = 101) and low achieving children with mild (LA-mild fact retrieval; n = 97) and severe (LA-severe fact retrieval; n = 18) fact retrieval deficits and mathematically learning disabled children (MLD; n = 15) were identified. Multilevel models contrasted…

  4. Plastic Deformation as a Means to Achieve Stretchable Polymer Semiconductors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    O'Connor, Brendan

    Developing intrinsically stretchable semiconductors will seamlessly transition traditional devices into a stretchable platform. Polymer semiconductors are inherently soft materials due to the weak van der Waal intermolecular bonding allowing for flexible devices. However, these materials are not typically stretchable and when large strains are applied they either crack or plastically deform. Here, we study the use of repeated plastic deformation as a means of achieving stretchable films. In this talk, critical aspects of polymer semiconductor material selection, morphology and interface properties will be discussed that enable this approach of achieving stretchable films. We show that one can employ high performance donor-acceptor polymer semiconductors that are typically brittle through proper polymer blending to significantly increase ductility to achieve stretchable films. We demonstrate a polymer blend film that can be repeatedly deformed over 65%, while maintaining charge mobility consistently above 0.15 cm2/Vs. During the stretching process we show that the films follow a well-controlled repeated deformation pattern for over 100 stretching cycles.

  5. Geographic Variation of District-Level Gender Achievement Gaps within the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reardon, Sean; Fahle, Erin; Kalogrides, Demetra; Podolsky, Anne; Zarate, Rosalia

    2016-01-01

    Gender achievement gaps on national and state assessments have been a popular research topic over the last few decades. Many prior studies examine these gaps in different subjects (e.g., mathematics, reading, and science) and grades (typically kindergarten through eighth grade) for students living in various regions (typically states or countries)…

  6. Milestone achievement in emerging adulthood in spina bifida: a longitudinal investigation of parental expectations.

    PubMed

    Holbein, Christina E; Zebracki, Kathy; Bechtel, Colleen F; Lennon Papadakis, Jaclyn; Franks Bruno, Elizabeth; Holmbeck, Grayson N

    2017-03-01

    To assess changes over time in parents' expectations of adult milestone achievement (college attendance, full-time job attainment, independent living, marriage, parenthood) for young people with spina bifida, to examine how expectancies relate to actual milestone achievement, and to compare milestone achievement in emerging adults with spina bifida with that of peers with typical development. Sixty-eight families of children with spina bifida (mean age 8y 4mo, 37 males, 31 females) and 68 families of children with typical development (mean age 8y 6mo, 37 males, 31 females) participated at Time 1. At all subsequent timepoints, parents of young people with spina bifida were asked to rate their expectations of emerging adulthood milestone achievement. At Time 7, when participants were 22 to 23 years old, milestone achievement was assessed. Parents of young people with spina bifida lowered their expectations over time for most milestones; parents of children with higher cognitive ability reported decreases of lower magnitude. Parent expectancies were optimistic and unrelated to actual milestone achievement. Emerging adults with spina bifida were less likely than individuals with typical development to achieve all milestones. Optimistic parental expectations may be adaptive for children with spina bifida and their families, although it is important for families to set realistic goals. Healthcare providers serve a key role in helping families of young people with spina bifida prepare for emerging adulthood. © 2016 Mac Keith Press.

  7. An Analysis of the Relationship between Principal Employment Interview Scores and the Achievement Scores of Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ostmeyer, Susan S.

    2012-01-01

    The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between five of ISSLC's 2008 leadership standards as measured by a standardized employment interview (ICIS Principal) and the achievement of students with specific learning disabilities in core areas of instruction. Findings did not support the rejection of the null hypothesis.…

  8. Importance of baseline specification in evaluating conservation interventions and achieving no net loss of biodiversity.

    PubMed

    Bull, J W; Gordon, A; Law, E A; Suttle, K B; Milner-Gulland, E J

    2014-06-01

    There is an urgent need to improve the evaluation of conservation interventions. This requires specifying an objective and a frame of reference from which to measure performance. Reference frames can be baselines (i.e., known biodiversity at a fixed point in history) or counterfactuals (i.e., a scenario that would have occurred without the intervention). Biodiversity offsets are interventions with the objective of no net loss of biodiversity (NNL). We used biodiversity offsets to analyze the effects of the choice of reference frame on whether interventions met stated objectives. We developed 2 models to investigate the implications of setting different frames of reference in regions subject to various biodiversity trends and anthropogenic impacts. First, a general analytic model evaluated offsets against a range of baseline and counterfactual specifications. Second, a simulation model then replicated these results with a complex real world case study: native grassland offsets in Melbourne, Australia. Both models showed that achieving NNL depended upon the interaction between reference frame and background biodiversity trends. With a baseline, offsets were less likely to achieve NNL where biodiversity was decreasing than where biodiversity was stable or increasing. With a no-development counterfactual, however, NNL was achievable only where biodiversity was declining. Otherwise, preventing development was better for biodiversity. Uncertainty about compliance was a stronger determinant of success than uncertainty in underlying biodiversity trends. When only development and offset locations were considered, offsets sometimes resulted in NNL, but not across an entire region. Choice of reference frame determined feasibility and effort required to attain objectives when designing and evaluating biodiversity offset schemes. We argue the choice is thus of fundamental importance for conservation policy. Our results shed light on situations in which biodiversity offsets may

  9. Testing typicality in multiverse cosmology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Azhar, Feraz

    2015-05-01

    In extracting predictions from theories that describe a multiverse, we face the difficulty that we must assess probability distributions over possible observations prescribed not just by an underlying theory, but by a theory together with a conditionalization scheme that allows for (anthropic) selection effects. This means we usually need to compare distributions that are consistent with a broad range of possible observations with actual experimental data. One controversial means of making this comparison is by invoking the "principle of mediocrity": that is, the principle that we are typical of the reference class implicit in the conjunction of the theory and the conditionalization scheme. In this paper, we quantitatively assess the principle of mediocrity in a range of cosmological settings, employing "xerographic distributions" to impose a variety of assumptions regarding typicality. We find that for a fixed theory, the assumption that we are typical gives rise to higher likelihoods for our observations. If, however, one allows both the underlying theory and the assumption of typicality to vary, then the assumption of typicality does not always provide the highest likelihoods. Interpreted from a Bayesian perspective, these results support the claim that when one has the freedom to consider different combinations of theories and xerographic distributions (or different "frameworks"), one should favor the framework that has the highest posterior probability; and then from this framework one can infer, in particular, how typical we are. In this way, the invocation of the principle of mediocrity is more questionable than has been recently claimed.

  10. Word Detection in Sung and Spoken Sentences in Children With Typical Language Development or With Specific Language Impairment

    PubMed Central

    Planchou, Clément; Clément, Sylvain; Béland, Renée; Cason, Nia; Motte, Jacques; Samson, Séverine

    2015-01-01

    Background: Previous studies have reported that children score better in language tasks using sung rather than spoken stimuli. We examined word detection ease in sung and spoken sentences that were equated for phoneme duration and pitch variations in children aged 7 to 12 years with typical language development (TLD) as well as in children with specific language impairment (SLI ), and hypothesized that the facilitation effect would vary with language abilities. Method: In Experiment 1, 69 children with TLD (7–10 years old) detected words in sentences that were spoken, sung on pitches extracted from speech, and sung on original scores. In Experiment 2, we added a natural speech rate condition and tested 68 children with TLD (7–12 years old). In Experiment 3, 16 children with SLI and 16 age-matched children with TLD were tested in all four conditions. Results: In both TLD groups, older children scored better than the younger ones. The matched TLD group scored higher than the SLI group who scored at the level of the younger children with TLD . None of the experiments showed a facilitation effect of sung over spoken stimuli. Conclusions: Word detection abilities improved with age in both TLD and SLI groups. Our findings are compatible with the hypothesis of delayed language abilities in children with SLI , and are discussed in light of the role of durational prosodic cues in words detection. PMID:26767070

  11. Development of Tract-Specific White Matter Pathways During Early Reading Development in At-Risk Children and Typical Controls.

    PubMed

    Wang, Yingying; Mauer, Meaghan V; Raney, Talia; Peysakhovich, Barbara; Becker, Bryce L C; Sliva, Danielle D; Gaab, Nadine

    2017-04-01

    Developmental dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a strong genetic basis. Previous studies observed white matter alterations in the left posterior brain regions in adults and school-age children with dyslexia. However, no study yet has examined the development of tract-specific white matter pathways from the pre-reading to the fluent reading stage in children at familial risk for dyslexia (FHD+) versus controls (FHD-). This study examined white matter integrity at pre-reading, beginning, and fluent reading stages cross-sectionally ( n = 78) and longitudinally (n = 45) using an automated fiber-tract quantification method. Our findings depict white matter alterations and atypical lateralization of the arcuate fasciculus at the pre-reading stage in FHD+ versus FHD- children. Moreover, we demonstrate faster white matter development in subsequent good versus poor readers and a positive association between white matter maturation and reading development using a longitudinal design. Additionally, the combination of white matter maturation, familial risk, and psychometric measures best predicted later reading abilities. Furthermore, within FHD+ children, subsequent good readers exhibited faster white matter development in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus compared with subsequent poor readers, suggesting a compensatory mechanism. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of white matter pathway maturation in the development of typical and atypical reading skills. Published by Oxford University Press 2016. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

  12. Autonomic Regulation on the Stroop Predicts Reading Achievement in School Age Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Becker, Derek R.; Carrere, Sybil; Siler, Chelsea; Jones, Stephanie; Bowie, Bonnie; Cooke, Cheryl

    2012-01-01

    In this study we examined high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV, a parasympathetic index) both at rest and during challenge, to assess if variations in cardiovascular activity measured during a Stroop task could be used to predict reading achievement in typically developing children. Reading achievement was examined using the Peabody…

  13. Typical Vine or International Taste: Wine Consumers' Dilemma Between Beliefs and Preferences.

    PubMed

    Scozzafava, Gabriele; Boncinelli, Fabio; Contini, Caterina; Romano, Caterina; Gerini, Francesca; Casini, Leonardo

    2016-01-01

    The wine-growing sector is probably one of the agricultural areas where the ties between product quality and territory are most evident. Geographical indication is a key element in this context, and previous literature has focused on demonstrating how certification of origin influences the wine purchaser's behavior. However, less attention has been devoted to understanding how the value of a given name of origin may or may not be determined by the various elements that characterize the typicality of the wine product on that territory: vines, production techniques, etc. It thus seems interesting, in this framework, to evaluate the impacts of several characteristic attributes on the preferences of consumers. This paper will analyze, in particular, the role of the presence of autochthonous vines in consumers' choices. The connection between name of origin and autochthonous vines appears to be particularly important in achieving product "recognisability", while introducing "international" vines in considerable measure into blends might result in the loss of the peculiarity of certain characteristic and typical local productions. A standardization of taste could thus risk compromising the reputation of traditional production areas. The objective of this study is to estimate, through an experimental auction on the case study of Chianti, the differences in willingness to pay for wines produced with different shares of typical vines. The results show that consumers have a willingness to pay for wine produced with typical blends 34% greater than for wines with international blends. However, this difference is not confirmed by blind tasting, raising the issue of the relationship between exante expectations about vine typicality and real wine sensorial characteristics. Finally, some recent patents related to wine testing and wine packaging are reviewed.

  14. Conformer-specific hydrogen atom tunnelling in trifluoromethylhydroxycarbene

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mardyukov, Artur; Quanz, Henrik; Schreiner, Peter R.

    2017-01-01

    Conformational control of organic reactions is at the heart of the biomolecular sciences. To achieve a particular reactivity, one of many conformers may be selected, for instance, by a (bio)catalyst, as the geometrically most suited and appropriately reactive species. The equilibration of energetically close-lying conformers is typically assumed to be facile and less energetically taxing than the reaction under consideration itself: this is termed the 'Curtin-Hammett principle'. Here, we show that the trans conformer of trifluoromethylhydroxycarbene preferentially rearranges through a facile quantum-mechanical hydrogen tunnelling pathway, while its cis conformer is entirely unreactive. Hence, this presents the first example of a conformer-specific hydrogen tunnelling reaction. The Curtin-Hammett principle is not applicable, due to the high barrier between the two conformers.

  15. [Research on developping the spectral dataset for Dunhuang typical colors based on color constancy].

    PubMed

    Liu, Qiang; Wan, Xiao-Xia; Liu, Zhen; Li, Chan; Liang, Jin-Xing

    2013-11-01

    The present paper aims at developping a method to reasonably set up the typical spectral color dataset for different kinds of Chinese cultural heritage in color rendering process. The world famous wall paintings dating from more than 1700 years ago in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes was taken as typical case in this research. In order to maintain the color constancy during the color rendering workflow of Dunhuang culture relics, a chromatic adaptation based method for developping the spectral dataset of typical colors for those wall paintings was proposed from the view point of human vision perception ability. Under the help and guidance of researchers in the art-research institution and protection-research institution of Dunhuang Academy and according to the existing research achievement of Dunhuang Research in the past years, 48 typical known Dunhuang pigments were chosen and 240 representative color samples were made with reflective spectral ranging from 360 to 750 nm was acquired by a spectrometer. In order to find the typical colors of the above mentioned color samples, the original dataset was devided into several subgroups by clustering analysis. The grouping number, together with the most typical samples for each subgroup which made up the firstly built typical color dataset, was determined by wilcoxon signed rank test according to the color inconstancy index comprehensively calculated under 6 typical illuminating conditions. Considering the completeness of gamut of Dunhuang wall paintings, 8 complementary colors was determined and finally the typical spectral color dataset was built up which contains 100 representative spectral colors. The analytical calculating results show that the median color inconstancy index of the built dataset in 99% confidence level by wilcoxon signed rank test was 3.28 and the 100 colors are distributing in the whole gamut uniformly, which ensures that this dataset can provide reasonable reference for choosing the color with highest

  16. Achieving donor-specific hyporesponsiveness is associated with FOXP3+ regulatory T cell recruitment in human renal allograft infiltrates.

    PubMed

    Bestard, Oriol; Cruzado, Josep M; Mestre, Mariona; Caldés, Anna; Bas, Jordi; Carrera, Marta; Torras, Joan; Rama, Inés; Moreso, Francesc; Serón, Daniel; Grinyó, Josep M

    2007-10-01

    Exploring new immunosuppressive strategies inducing donor-specific hyporesponsiveness is an important challenge in transplantation. For this purpose, a careful immune monitoring and graft histology assessment is mandatory. Here, we report the results of a pilot study conducted in twenty renal transplant recipients, analyzing the immunomodulatory effects of a protocol based on induction therapy with rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin low doses, sirolimus, and mofetil mycophenolate. Evolution of donor-specific cellular and humoral alloimmune response, peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and apoptosis was evaluated. Six-month protocol biopsies were performed to assess histological lesions and presence of FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) in interstitial infiltrates. After transplantation, there was an early and transient apoptotic effect, mainly within the CD8+ HLADR+ T cells, combined with a sustained enhancement of CD4+ CD25(+high) lymphocytes in peripheral blood. The incidence of acute rejection was 35%, all steroid sensitive. Importantly, only pretransplant donor-specific cellular alloreactivity could discriminate patients at risk to develop acute rejection. Two thirds of the patients became donor-specific hyporesponders at 6 and 24 mo, and the achievement of this immunologic state was not abrogated by prior acute rejection episodes. Remarkably, donor-specific hyporesponders had the better renal function and less chronic renal damage. Donor-specific hyporesponsiveness was inhibited by depleting CD4+ CD25(+high) T cells, which showed donor-Ag specificity. FOXP3+ CD4+ CD25(+high) Tregs both in peripheral blood and in renal infiltrates were higher in donor-specific hyporesponders than in nonhyporesponders, suggesting that the recruitment of Tregs in the allograft plays an important role for renal acceptance. In conclusion, reaching donor-specific hyporesponsiveness is feasible after renal transplantation and associated with Treg recruitment in the graft.

  17. Prediction and typicality in multiverse cosmology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Azhar, Feraz

    2014-02-01

    In the absence of a fundamental theory that precisely predicts values for observable parameters, anthropic reasoning attempts to constrain probability distributions over those parameters in order to facilitate the extraction of testable predictions. The utility of this approach has been vigorously debated of late, particularly in light of theories that claim we live in a multiverse, where parameters may take differing values in regions lying outside our observable horizon. Within this cosmological framework, we investigate the efficacy of top-down anthropic reasoning based on the weak anthropic principle. We argue contrary to recent claims that it is not clear one can either dispense with notions of typicality altogether or presume typicality, in comparing resulting probability distributions with observations. We show in a concrete, top-down setting related to dark matter, that assumptions about typicality can dramatically affect predictions, thereby providing a guide to how errors in reasoning regarding typicality translate to errors in the assessment of predictive power. We conjecture that this dependence on typicality is an integral feature of anthropic reasoning in broader cosmological contexts, and argue in favour of the explicit inclusion of measures of typicality in schemes invoking anthropic reasoning, with a view to extracting predictions from multiverse scenarios.

  18. Ulcerative colitis followed by the development of typical intestinal Behçet disease: A case report.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Zhenhua; Shu, Xu; Long, Shunhua; Jiang, Xiaozhen; Lu, Nonghua; Zhu, Xuan; Liao, Wangdi

    2018-02-01

    Intestinal Behçet disease (intestinal BD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) share a lot of characteristics, including genetic background, clinical manifestations, and therapeutic strategies, especially the extraintestinal manifestations, such as oral ulcers, arthralgia, eye lesions, skin lesions, etc, but the coexistence of these 2 diseases are uncommon. Behçet disease with gastrointestinal involvement in ulcerative colitis (UC) patient has been reported in just 1 previous case report, but, which can not be diagnosed as definite intestinal BD based on Korean novel diagnositic criteria due to lacking the typical ileocecal ulcer. We present a 23-year-old woman with ulcerative disease who developed typical intestinal BD, which is the first case report of patient with coexisting UC and typical intestinal BD. This patient was diagnosed as coexistence of intestinal BD and UC base on the clinical manifestations, extra intestinal manifestations and typical colonoscopic findings. Steroid and methotrexate were administered. This patient achieved clinical remission and mucosal healing. Coexistence of intestinal BD and UC is uncommon, and the combination with steroid, methotrexate, and 5-aminosalicylic acids is an effective therapy.

  19. Importance of Baseline Specification in Evaluating Conservation Interventions and Achieving No Net Loss of Biodiversity

    PubMed Central

    Bull, J W; Gordon, A; Law, E A; Suttle, K B; Milner-Gulland, E J

    2014-01-01

    There is an urgent need to improve the evaluation of conservation interventions. This requires specifying an objective and a frame of reference from which to measure performance. Reference frames can be baselines (i.e., known biodiversity at a fixed point in history) or counterfactuals (i.e., a scenario that would have occurred without the intervention). Biodiversity offsets are interventions with the objective of no net loss of biodiversity (NNL). We used biodiversity offsets to analyze the effects of the choice of reference frame on whether interventions met stated objectives. We developed 2 models to investigate the implications of setting different frames of reference in regions subject to various biodiversity trends and anthropogenic impacts. First, a general analytic model evaluated offsets against a range of baseline and counterfactual specifications. Second, a simulation model then replicated these results with a complex real world case study: native grassland offsets in Melbourne, Australia. Both models showed that achieving NNL depended upon the interaction between reference frame and background biodiversity trends. With a baseline, offsets were less likely to achieve NNL where biodiversity was decreasing than where biodiversity was stable or increasing. With a no-development counterfactual, however, NNL was achievable only where biodiversity was declining. Otherwise, preventing development was better for biodiversity. Uncertainty about compliance was a stronger determinant of success than uncertainty in underlying biodiversity trends. When only development and offset locations were considered, offsets sometimes resulted in NNL, but not across an entire region. Choice of reference frame determined feasibility and effort required to attain objectives when designing and evaluating biodiversity offset schemes. We argue the choice is thus of fundamental importance for conservation policy. Our results shed light on situations in which biodiversity offsets may

  20. Fast time-resolved electrostatic force microscopy: Achieving sub-cycle time resolution

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Karatay, Durmus U.; Harrison, Jeffrey S.; Glaz, Micah S.

    The ability to measure microsecond- and nanosecond-scale local dynamics below the diffraction limit with widely available atomic force microscopy hardware would enable new scientific studies in fields ranging from biology to semiconductor physics. However, commercially available scanning-probe instruments typically offer the ability to measure dynamics only on time scales of milliseconds to seconds. Here, we describe in detail the implementation of fast time-resolved electrostatic force microscopy using an oscillating cantilever as a means to measure fast local dynamics following a perturbation to a sample. We show how the phase of the oscillating cantilever relative to the perturbation event is criticalmore » to achieving reliable sub-cycle time resolution. We explore how noise affects the achievable time resolution and present empirical guidelines for reducing noise and optimizing experimental parameters. Specifically, we show that reducing the noise on the cantilever by using photothermal excitation instead of piezoacoustic excitation further improves time resolution. We demonstrate the discrimination of signal rise times with time constants as fast as 10 ns, and simultaneous data acquisition and analysis for dramatically improved image acquisition times.« less

  1. A computer-based measure of resultant achievement motivation.

    PubMed

    Blankenship, V

    1987-08-01

    Three experiments were conducted to develop a computer-based measure of individual differences in resultant achievement motivation (RAM) on the basis of level-of-aspiration, achievement motivation, and dynamics-of-action theories. In Experiment 1, the number of atypical shifts and greater responsiveness to incentives on 21 trials with choices among easy, intermediate, and difficult levels of an achievement-oriented game were positively correlated and were found to differentiate the 62 subjects (31 men, 31 women) on the amount of time they spent at a nonachievement task (watching a color design) 1 week later. In Experiment 2, test-retest reliability was established with the use of 67 subjects (15 men, 52 women). Point and no-point trials were offered in blocks, with point trials first for half the subjects and no-point trials first for the other half. Reliability was higher for the atypical-shift measure than for the incentive-responsiveness measure and was higher when points were offered first. In Experiment 3, computer anxiety was manipulated by creating a simulated computer breakdown in the experimental condition. Fifty-nine subjects (13 men, 46 women) were randomly assigned to the experimental condition or to one of two control conditions (an interruption condition and a no-interruption condition). Subjects with low RAM, as demonstrated by a low number of typical shifts, took longer to choose the achievement-oriented task, as predicted by the dynamics-of-action theory. The difference was evident in all conditions and most striking in the computer-breakdown condition. A change of focus from atypical to typical shifts is discussed.

  2. Preliminary tests of vulnerability of typical aircraft electronics to lightning-induced voltages

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Plumer, J. A.; Walko, L. C.

    1974-01-01

    Tests made on two pieces of typical aircraft electronics equipment to ascertain their vulnerability to simulated lightning-induced transient voltages representative of those which might occur in flight when the aircraft is struck by lightning were conducted. The test results demonstrated that such equipment can be interfered with or damaged by transient voltages as low as 21 volts peak. Greater voltages can cause failure of semiconductor components within the equipment. The results emphasize a need for establishment of coordinated system susceptibility and component vulnerability criteria to achieve lightning protection of aerospace electrical and electronic systems.

  3. Achievement Goals and Achievement Emotions: Testing a Model of Their Joint Relations with Academic Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pekrun, Reinhard; Elliot, Andrew J.; Maier, Markus A.

    2009-01-01

    The authors propose a theoretical model linking achievement goals and achievement emotions to academic performance. This model was tested in a prospective study with undergraduates (N = 213), using exam-specific assessments of both goals and emotions as predictors of exam performance in an introductory-level psychology course. The findings were…

  4. Usual interstitial pneumonia: typical, possible, and “inconsistent” patterns

    PubMed Central

    Torres, Pedro Paulo Teixeira e Silva; Rabahi, Marcelo Fouad; Moreira, Maria Auxiliadora Carmo; Meirelles, Gustavo de Souza Portes; Marchiori, Edson

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a severe and progressive chronic fibrosing interstitial lung disease, a definitive diagnosis being established by specific combinations of clinical, radiological, and pathological findings. According to current international guidelines, HRCT plays a key role in establishing a diagnosis of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP). Current guidelines describe three UIP patterns based on HRCT findings: a typical UIP pattern; a pattern designated “possible UIP”; and a pattern designated “inconsistent with UIP”, each pattern having important diagnostic implications. A typical UIP pattern on HRCT is highly accurate for the presence of histopathological UIP, being currently considered to be diagnostic of UIP. The remaining patterns require further diagnostic investigation. Other known causes of a UIP pattern include drug-induced interstitial lung disease, chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis, occupational diseases (e.g., asbestosis), and connective tissue diseases, all of which should be included in the clinical differential diagnosis. Given the importance of CT studies in establishing a diagnosis and the possibility of interobserver variability, the objective of this pictorial essay was to illustrate all three UIP patterns on HRCT. PMID:29160385

  5. Conservation Abilities, Visuospatial Skills, and Numerosity Processing Speed: Association With Math Achievement and Math Difficulties in Elementary School Children.

    PubMed

    Lambert, Katharina; Spinath, Birgit

    The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between elementary school children's mathematical achievement and their conservation abilities, visuospatial skills, and numerosity processing speed. We also assessed differences in these abilities between children with different types of learning problems. In Study 1 ( N = 229), we investigated second to fourth graders and in Study 2 ( N = 120), third and fourth graders. Analyses revealed significant contributions of numerosity processing speed and visuospatial skills to math achievement beyond IQ. Conservation abilities were predictive in Study 1 only. Children with math difficulties showed lower visuospatial skills and conservation abilities than children with typical achievement levels and children with reading and/or spelling difficulties, whereas children with combined difficulties explicitly showed low conservation abilities. These findings provide further evidence for the relations between children's math skills and their visuospatial skills, conservation abilities, and processing speed and contribute to the understanding of deficits that are specific to mathematical difficulties.

  6. Counterstereotypic Identity among High-Achieving Black Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harpalani, Vinay

    2017-01-01

    This article examines how racial stereotypes affect achievement and identity formation among low income, urban Black adolescents. Specifically, the major question addressed is: how do high-achieving Black students succeed academically despite negative stereotypes of their intellectual abilities? Results indicate that high-achieving Black youth,…

  7. Sequential Prediction of Literacy Achievement for Specific Learning Disabilities Contrasting in Impaired Levels of Language in Grades 4 to 9

    PubMed Central

    Sanders, Elizabeth A.; Berninger, Virginia W.; Abbott, Robert D.

    2017-01-01

    Sequential regression was used to evaluate whether language-related working memory components uniquely predict reading and writing achievement beyond cognitive-linguistic translation for students in grades 4–9 (N=103) with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in subword handwriting (dysgraphia, n=25), word reading and spelling (dyslexia, n=60), or oral and written language (OWL LD, n=18). That is, SLDs are defined on basis of cascading level of language impairment (subword, word, and syntax/text). A 5-block regression model sequentially predicted literacy achievement from cognitive-linguistic translation (Block 1); working memory components for word form coding (Block 2), phonological and orthographic loops (Block 3), and supervisory focused or switching attention (Block4); and SLD groups (Block 5). Results showed that cognitive-linguistic translation explained an average of 27% and 15% of the variance in reading and writing achievement, respectively, but working memory components explained an additional 39% and 27% variance. Orthographic word form coding uniquely predicted nearly every measure, whereas attention switching only uniquely predicted reading. Finally, differences in reading and writing persisted between dyslexia and dysgraphia, with dysgraphia higher, even after controlling for Block 1 to 4 predictors. Differences in literacy achievement between students with dyslexia and OWL LD were largely explained by the Block 1 predictors. Applications to identifying and teaching students with these SLDs are discussed. PMID:28199175

  8. Sequential Prediction of Literacy Achievement for Specific Learning Disabilities Contrasting in Impaired Levels of Language in Grades 4 to 9.

    PubMed

    Sanders, Elizabeth A; Berninger, Virginia W; Abbott, Robert D

    Sequential regression was used to evaluate whether language-related working memory components uniquely predict reading and writing achievement beyond cognitive-linguistic translation for students in Grades 4 through 9 ( N = 103) with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in subword handwriting (dysgraphia, n = 25), word reading and spelling (dyslexia, n = 60), or oral and written language (oral and written language learning disabilities, n = 18). That is, SLDs are defined on the basis of cascading level of language impairment (subword, word, and syntax/text). A five-block regression model sequentially predicted literacy achievement from cognitive-linguistic translation (Block 1); working memory components for word-form coding (Block 2), phonological and orthographic loops (Block 3), and supervisory focused or switching attention (Block 4); and SLD groups (Block 5). Results showed that cognitive-linguistic translation explained an average of 27% and 15% of the variance in reading and writing achievement, respectively, but working memory components explained an additional 39% and 27% of variance. Orthographic word-form coding uniquely predicted nearly every measure, whereas attention switching uniquely predicted only reading. Finally, differences in reading and writing persisted between dyslexia and dysgraphia, with dysgraphia higher, even after controlling for Block 1 to 4 predictors. Differences in literacy achievement between students with dyslexia and oral and written language learning disabilities were largely explained by the Block 1 predictors. Applications to identifying and teaching students with these SLDs are discussed.

  9. Cognitive Processing and Mathematical Achievement: A Study with Schoolchildren between Fourth and Sixth Grade of Primary Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Iglesias-Sarmiento, Valentin; Deano, Manuel

    2011-01-01

    This investigation analyzed the relation between cognitive functioning and mathematical achievement in 114 students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Differences in cognitive performance were studied concurrently in three selected achievement groups: mathematical learning disability group (MLD), low achieving group (LA), and typically achieving…

  10. Bilingualism and Procedural Learning in Typically Developing Children and Children with Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Park, Jisook; Miller, Carol A.; Rosenbaum, David A.; Sanjeevan, Teenu; van Hell, Janet G.; Weiss, Daniel J.; Mainela-Arnold, Elina

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate whether dual language experience affects procedural learning ability in typically developing children and in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method: We examined procedural learning in monolingual and bilingual school-aged children (ages 8-12 years) with and without SLI. The…

  11. Typical action perception and interpretation without motor simulation.

    PubMed

    Vannuscorps, Gilles; Caramazza, Alfonso

    2016-01-05

    Every day, we interact with people synchronously, immediately understand what they are doing, and easily infer their mental state and the likely outcome of their actions from their kinematics. According to various motor simulation theories of perception, such efficient perceptual processing of others' actions cannot be achieved by visual analysis of the movements alone but requires a process of motor simulation--an unconscious, covert imitation of the observed movements. According to this hypothesis, individuals incapable of simulating observed movements in their motor system should have difficulty perceiving and interpreting observed actions. Contrary to this prediction, we found across eight sensitive experiments that individuals born with absent or severely shortened upper limbs (upper limb dysplasia), despite some variability, could perceive, anticipate, predict, comprehend, and memorize upper limb actions, which they cannot simulate, as efficiently as typically developed participants. We also found that, like the typically developed participants, the dysplasic participants systematically perceived the position of moving upper limbs slightly ahead of their real position but only when the anticipated position was not biomechanically awkward. Such anticipatory bias and its modulation by implicit knowledge of the body biomechanical constraints were previously considered as indexes of the crucial role of motor simulation in action perception. Our findings undermine this assumption and the theories that place the locus of action perception and comprehension in the motor system and invite a shift in the focus of future research to the question of how the visuo-perceptual system represents and processes observed body movements and actions.

  12. Typical action perception and interpretation without motor simulation

    PubMed Central

    Vannuscorps, Gilles; Caramazza, Alfonso

    2016-01-01

    Every day, we interact with people synchronously, immediately understand what they are doing, and easily infer their mental state and the likely outcome of their actions from their kinematics. According to various motor simulation theories of perception, such efficient perceptual processing of others’ actions cannot be achieved by visual analysis of the movements alone but requires a process of motor simulation—an unconscious, covert imitation of the observed movements. According to this hypothesis, individuals incapable of simulating observed movements in their motor system should have difficulty perceiving and interpreting observed actions. Contrary to this prediction, we found across eight sensitive experiments that individuals born with absent or severely shortened upper limbs (upper limb dysplasia), despite some variability, could perceive, anticipate, predict, comprehend, and memorize upper limb actions, which they cannot simulate, as efficiently as typically developed participants. We also found that, like the typically developed participants, the dysplasic participants systematically perceived the position of moving upper limbs slightly ahead of their real position but only when the anticipated position was not biomechanically awkward. Such anticipatory bias and its modulation by implicit knowledge of the body biomechanical constraints were previously considered as indexes of the crucial role of motor simulation in action perception. Our findings undermine this assumption and the theories that place the locus of action perception and comprehension in the motor system and invite a shift in the focus of future research to the question of how the visuo-perceptual system represents and processes observed body movements and actions. PMID:26699468

  13. Evolution of certain typical and atypical features in a case of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

    PubMed Central

    Raut, Tushar Premraj; Singh, Maneesh Kumar; Garg, Ravindra Kumar; Rai, Dheeraj

    2012-01-01

    Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a slowly progressive inflammatory disease of the central nervous system caused by a persistent measles virus usually affecting the childhood and adolescent age group. Clinical features at onset are very subtle and non-specific. Certain atypical features can occur at onset or during the course of illness which can be misleading. Neuroimaging features often are non-specific. Features like myoclonic jerks, cognitive decline and typical EEG findings lead to a strong suspicion of SSPE. Here, we describe the stagewise progression of a case of SSPE in a 14-year-old girl who had myoclonic jerks and cognitive decline at onset. During the course of disease, the patient developed cortical vision loss, atypical extrapyramidal features like segmental and hemifacial dystonia ultimately leading to a bedbound vegetative state. EEG showed typical periodic discharges along with positive cerebrospinal fluid serology for measles. PMID:23266775

  14. Evolution of certain typical and atypical features in a case of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

    PubMed

    Raut, Tushar Premraj; Singh, Maneesh Kumar; Garg, Ravindra Kumar; Rai, Dheeraj

    2012-12-23

    Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a slowly progressive inflammatory disease of the central nervous system caused by a persistent measles virus usually affecting the childhood and adolescent age group. Clinical features at onset are very subtle and non-specific. Certain atypical features can occur at onset or during the course of illness which can be misleading. Neuroimaging features often are non-specific. Features like myoclonic jerks, cognitive decline and typical EEG findings lead to a strong suspicion of SSPE. Here, we describe the stagewise progression of a case of SSPE in a 14-year-old girl who had myoclonic jerks and cognitive decline at onset. During the course of disease, the patient developed cortical vision loss, atypical extrapyramidal features like segmental and hemifacial dystonia ultimately leading to a bedbound vegetative state. EEG showed typical periodic discharges along with positive cerebrospinal fluid serology for measles.

  15. Suicide ideation and attempts in children with psychiatric disorders and typical development.

    PubMed

    Dickerson Mayes, Susan; Calhoun, Susan L; Baweja, Raman; Mahr, Fauzia

    2015-01-01

    Children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders are at increased risk for suicide behavior. This is the first study to compare frequencies of suicide ideation and attempts in children and adolescents with specific psychiatric disorders and typical children while controlling for comorbidity and demographics. Mothers rated the frequency of suicide ideation and attempts in 1,706 children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders and typical development, 6-18 years of age. For the typical group, 0.5% had suicide behavior (ideation or attempts), versus 24% across the psychiatric groups (bulimia 48%, depression or anxiety disorder 34%, oppositional defiant disorder 33%, ADHD-combined type 22%, anorexia 22%, autism 18%, intellectual disability 17%, and ADHD-inattentive type 8%). Most alarming, 29% of adolescents with bulimia often or very often had suicide attempts, compared with 0-4% of patients in the other psychiatric groups. It is important for professionals to routinely screen all children and adolescents who have psychiatric disorders for suicide ideation and attempts and to treat the underlying psychiatric disorders that increase suicide risk.

  16. Pragmatic Language Development in Language Impaired and Typically Developing Children: Incorrect Answers in Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ryder, Nuala; Leinonen, Eeva

    2014-01-01

    This study focused on young children's incorrect answers to pragmatically demanding questions. Children with specific language impairment (SLI), including a subgroup with pragmatic language difficulties (PLD) and typically developing children answered questions targeting implicatures, based on a storybook and short verbal scenarios.…

  17. Adolescent alcohol exposure and persistence of adolescent-typical phenotypes into adulthood: a mini-review

    PubMed Central

    Spear, Linda Patia; Swartzwelder, H. Scott

    2014-01-01

    Alcohol use is typically initiated during adolescence, which, along with young adulthood, is a vulnerable period for the onset of high-risk drinking and alcohol abuse. Given across-species commonalities in certain fundamental neurobehavioral characteristics of adolescence, studies in laboratory animals such as the rat have proved useful to assess persisting consequences of repeated alcohol exposure. Despite limited research to date, reports of long-lasting effects of adolescent ethanol exposure are emerging, along with certain common themes. One repeated finding is that adolescent exposure to ethanol sometimes results in the persistence of adolescent-typical phenotypes into adulthood. Instances of adolescent -like persistence have been seen in terms of baseline behavioral, cognitive, electrophysiological and neuroanatomical characteristics, along with the retention of adolescent-typical sensitivities to acute ethanol challenge. These effects are generally not observed after comparable ethanol exposure in adulthood. Persistence of adolescent-typical phenotypes is not always evident, and may be related to regionally-specific ethanol influences on the interplay between CNS excitation and inhibition critical for the timing of neuroplasticity. PMID:24813805

  18. New Directions in Social Psychological Interventions to Improve Academic Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilson, Timothy D.; Buttrick, Nicholas R.

    2016-01-01

    Attempts to improve student achievement typically focus on changing the educational environment (e.g., better schools, better teachers) or on personal characteristics of students (e.g., intelligence, self-control). The 6 articles in this special issue showcase an additional approach, emanating from social psychology, which focuses on students'…

  19. Quest for the Best Non-Cognitive Predictor of Academic Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stankov, Lazar; Lee, Jihyun

    2014-01-01

    This is a review of five studies that reported new empirical data relevant for the predictability gradient hypothesis. This hypothesis is focused on within-person psychological variables typically collected in background questionnaires that examine the role of non-cognitive influences on students' academic achievement. Broad measures of…

  20. Improving Literacy Achievement for English Learners in Transitional Bilingual Programs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saunders, William M.

    1999-01-01

    Reports on the development and evaluation of a transitional bilingual program for grades 2 through 5. Evaluation results based on achievement of 42 students and 42 comparisons show that the program is more effective than the transition program students typically receive. Discusses implications for education of English learners. (SLD)

  1. Preschool self regulation predicts later mental health and educational achievement in very preterm and typically developing children.

    PubMed

    Woodward, Lianne J; Lu, Zhigang; Morris, Alyssa R; Healey, Dione M

    2017-02-01

    To examine the extent to which preschool emotional and behavioral regulatory difficulties were associated with an increased risk of later mental health and educational problems. Of particular interest was whether early regulatory abilities contributed to later risk once baseline child behavioral adjustment and cognitive function were taken into account. Data were drawn from a prospective longitudinal study of 223 children born very preterm (VPT; <32 weeks gestation, n = 110) and full term (37-40 weeks gestation). At corrected ages 2 and 4 years, children's regulatory abilities were assessed using (1) direct observation of child behavior, (2) a modified version of the Emotion Regulation Checklist, and (3) tester ratings of child behavior during neuropsychological testing. At age 9 years, mental health and educational achievement were assessed using the Development and Well-being Assessment interview and the Woodcock Johnson-III Tests of Achievement. VPT-born children had poorer emotional and behavioral regulation across all measures and time points. They also had higher rates of DSM-IV mental health disorder and educational delay at age 9. Across both study groups, poorer self regulation was associated with an increased risk of ADHD, conduct disorder, anxiety disorders and any disorder net of preschool child behavior problems and social risk. In contrast, only associations between early regulation and later language and any educational delay remained significant after adjustment for preschool cognitive functioning and family social risk. Early assessment of regulation in addition to behavioral screening may improve the early identification of preschool children at mental health risk.

  2. Judged Similarity of Aptitude and Achievement Tests in Mathematics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donlon, Thomas F.

    This study attempts to establish the ability of a panel of five judges with varied mathematics background to distinguish between two types of mathematical tests by separating their component items when they are presented in a mixed pool of aptitude and achievement tests. Typically, the two tests show high correlation. The judges showed about 70%…

  3. Ecosystem responses to warming and watering in typical and desert steppes.

    PubMed

    Xu, Zhenzhu; Hou, Yanhui; Zhang, Lihua; Liu, Tao; Zhou, Guangsheng

    2016-10-10

    Global warming is projected to continue, leading to intense fluctuations in precipitation and heat waves and thereby affecting the productivity and the relevant biological processes of grassland ecosystems. Here, we determined the functional responses to warming and altered precipitation in both typical and desert steppes. The results showed that watering markedly increased the aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) in a typical steppe during a drier year and in a desert steppe over two years, whereas warming manipulation had no significant effect. The soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and the soil respiration (SR) were increased by watering in both steppes, but the SR was significantly decreased by warming in the desert steppe only. The inorganic nitrogen components varied irregularly, with generally lower levels in the desert steppe. The belowground traits of soil total organic carbon (TOC) and the MBC were more closely associated with the ANPP in the desert than in the typical steppes. The results showed that the desert steppe with lower productivity may respond strongly to precipitation changes, particularly with warming, highlighting the positive effect of adding water with warming. Our study implies that the habitat- and year-specific responses to warming and watering should be considered when predicting an ecosystem's functional responses under climate change scenarios.

  4. Ecosystem responses to warming and watering in typical and desert steppes

    PubMed Central

    Xu, Zhenzhu; Hou, Yanhui; Zhang, Lihua; Liu, Tao; Zhou, Guangsheng

    2016-01-01

    Global warming is projected to continue, leading to intense fluctuations in precipitation and heat waves and thereby affecting the productivity and the relevant biological processes of grassland ecosystems. Here, we determined the functional responses to warming and altered precipitation in both typical and desert steppes. The results showed that watering markedly increased the aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) in a typical steppe during a drier year and in a desert steppe over two years, whereas warming manipulation had no significant effect. The soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and the soil respiration (SR) were increased by watering in both steppes, but the SR was significantly decreased by warming in the desert steppe only. The inorganic nitrogen components varied irregularly, with generally lower levels in the desert steppe. The belowground traits of soil total organic carbon (TOC) and the MBC were more closely associated with the ANPP in the desert than in the typical steppes. The results showed that the desert steppe with lower productivity may respond strongly to precipitation changes, particularly with warming, highlighting the positive effect of adding water with warming. Our study implies that the habitat- and year-specific responses to warming and watering should be considered when predicting an ecosystem’s functional responses under climate change scenarios. PMID:27721480

  5. Ecosystem responses to warming and watering in typical and desert steppes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Zhenzhu; Hou, Yanhui; Zhang, Lihua; Liu, Tao; Zhou, Guangsheng

    2016-10-01

    Global warming is projected to continue, leading to intense fluctuations in precipitation and heat waves and thereby affecting the productivity and the relevant biological processes of grassland ecosystems. Here, we determined the functional responses to warming and altered precipitation in both typical and desert steppes. The results showed that watering markedly increased the aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) in a typical steppe during a drier year and in a desert steppe over two years, whereas warming manipulation had no significant effect. The soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and the soil respiration (SR) were increased by watering in both steppes, but the SR was significantly decreased by warming in the desert steppe only. The inorganic nitrogen components varied irregularly, with generally lower levels in the desert steppe. The belowground traits of soil total organic carbon (TOC) and the MBC were more closely associated with the ANPP in the desert than in the typical steppes. The results showed that the desert steppe with lower productivity may respond strongly to precipitation changes, particularly with warming, highlighting the positive effect of adding water with warming. Our study implies that the habitat- and year-specific responses to warming and watering should be considered when predicting an ecosystem’s functional responses under climate change scenarios.

  6. Development of sensitivity versus specificity for print in the visual word form area.

    PubMed

    Centanni, Tracy M; King, Livia W; Eddy, Marianna D; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Gabrieli, John D E

    2017-07-01

    An area near the left lateral occipito-temporal sulcus that responds preferentially to print has been designated as the visual word form area (VWFA). Research suggests that specialization in this brain region increases as reading expertise is achieved. Here we aimed to characterize that development in terms of sensitivity (response to printed words relative to non-linguistic faces) versus specificity (response to printed words versus line drawings of nameable objects) in typically reading children ages 7-14 versus young adults as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Relative to adults, children displayed equivalent sensitivity but reduced specificity. These findings suggest that sensitivity for print relative to non-linguistic stimuli develops relatively early in the VWFA in the course of reading development, but that specificity for printed words in VWFA is still developing through at least age 14. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Novel antipsychotics: issues and controversies. Typicality of atypical antipsychotics.

    PubMed Central

    Stip, E

    2000-01-01

    The typicality of atypical antipsychotic drugs remains debatable. Preclinical studies and findings from randomized, controlled and open trials of clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine, sertindole, ziprasidone and a substituted benzamide were examined. A MEDLINE search was conducted using key words, including "extrapyramidal side effects," "cognition," "schizophrenia" and the generic drug names. Over 140 articles from peer-reviewed journals were reviewed, some of which were based on a meta-analysis. New-generation neuroleptic agents were found to have greater efficacy on the negative symptoms of schizophrenia and to cause fewer unwanted extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) than the traditional antipsychotic drugs. On one hand, atypical neuroleptic agents could be strictly defined as any neuroleptic agent with antipsychotic effects at a dosage that does not cause extrapyramidal side effects. Thus, clozapine is regarded as the "standard" atypical antipsychotic drug. On the other hand, typicality is about dimension rather than category, and we suggest the use of the term "spectrum of atypicality." For example, an emphasis is placed on quetiapine to illustrate where a new compound fits in this spectrum. Although dose-related, atypicality may be more a question of prescription attitude than of a specific characteristic of a compound. The degree to which a new compound is clinically superior to another atypical antipsychotic drug, in terms of improving positive, negative or affective symptoms, cognitive function and long-term outcome, will require further a priori hypotheses based on conceptual frameworks that are clinically meaningful. In addition, the results from industry-sponsored trials should be more comparable to those obtained from investigator-leading trials. Finally, the patient characteristics that define a patient's response to a specific antipsychotic drug are unknown. PMID:10740987

  8. Typical entanglement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deelan Cunden, Fabio; Facchi, Paolo; Florio, Giuseppe; Pascazio, Saverio

    2013-05-01

    Let a pure state | ψ> be chosen randomly in an NM-dimensional Hilbert space, and consider the reduced density matrix ρ A of an N-dimensional subsystem. The bipartite entanglement properties of | ψ> are encoded in the spectrum of ρ A . By means of a saddle point method and using a "Coulomb gas" model for the eigenvalues, we obtain the typical spectrum of reduced density matrices. We consider the cases of an unbiased ensemble of pure states and of a fixed value of the purity. We finally obtain the eigenvalue distribution by using a statistical mechanics approach based on the introduction of a partition function.

  9. Executive function and academic achievement in primary - grade students with Down syndrome.

    PubMed

    Will, E; Fidler, D J; Daunhauer, L; Gerlach-McDonald, B

    2017-02-01

    Executive function (EF) plays a critical role in academic outcomes in typically developing children, but the contribution of EF to academic performance in Down syndrome (DS) is less well understood. This study evaluated differences in early academic foundations between primary school aged children with DS and non-verbal mental-age matched typically developing (TD) children. Additionally, the contribution of EF domains to academic outcomes was evaluated in each group. Participants with DS (n = 29) and mental-age matched TD participants (n = 23) were administered the Woodcock Johnson- III NU Tests of Academic Achievement, as well as a laboratory-based EF battery, including measures of working memory, shifting, inhibition and object-planning. Findings indicated a difference in early academic foundations profile between children with DS and mental-age matched TD children. Patterns of EF contributions towards academic outcomes were also observed across groups. Aspects of EF are critical to academic achievement in DS but differentially so relative to typical development. Implications for educational instruction are discussed. © 2016 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Test Characteristics of Neck Fullness and Witnessed Neck Pulsations in the Diagnosis of Typical AV Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia

    PubMed Central

    Sakhuja, Rahul; Smith, Lisa M; Tseng, Zian H; Badhwar, Nitish; Lee, Byron K; Lee, Randall J; Scheinman, Melvin M; Olgin, Jeffrey E; Marcus, Gregory M

    2011-01-01

    Summary Background Claims in the medical literature suggest that neck fullness and witnessed neck pulsations are useful in the diagnosis of typical AV nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT). Hypothesis Neck fullness and witnessed neck pulsations have a high positive predictive value in the diagnosis of typical AVNRT. Methods We performed a cross sectional study of consecutive patients with palpitations presenting to a single electrophysiology (EP) laboratory over a 1 year period. Each patient underwent a standard questionnaire regarding neck fullness and/or witnessed neck pulsations during their palpitations. The reference standard for diagnosis was determined by electrocardiogram and invasive EP studies. Results Comparing typical AVNRT to atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter (AFL) patients, the proportions with neck fullness and witnessed neck pulsations did not significantly differ: in the best case scenario (using the upper end of the 95% confidence interval [CI]), none of the positive or negative predictive values exceeded 79%. After restricting the population to those with supraventricular tachycardia other than AF or AFL (SVT), neck fullness again exhibited poor test characteristics; however, witnessed neck pulsations exhibited a specificity of 97% (95% CI 90–100%) and a positive predictive value of 83% (95% CI 52–98%). After adjustment for potential confounders, SVT patients with witnessed neck pulsations had a 7 fold greater odds of having typical AVNRT, p=0.029. Conclusions Although neither neck fullness nor witnessed neck pulsations are useful in distinguishing typical AVNRT from AF or AFL, witnessed neck pulsations are specific for the presence of typical AVNRT among those with SVT. PMID:19479968

  11. Anxiety and Depression in Children with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities, Reading Disabilities, or Typical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mammarella, Irene C.; Ghisi, Marta; Bomba, Monica; Bottesi, Gioia; Caviola, Sara; Broggi, Fiorenza; Nacinovich, Renata

    2016-01-01

    The main goal of the present study was to shed further light on the psychological characteristics of children with different learning disability profiles aged between 8 and 11 years, attending from third to sixth grade. Specifically, children with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD), reading disabilities (RD), or a typical development (TD) were…

  12. Multiple pregnancies achieved with IVF/ICSI and risk of specific congenital malformations: a meta-analysis of cohort studies.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Zan; Chen, Letao; Yang, Tubao; Yu, Hong; Wang, Hua; Qin, Jiabi

    2018-04-01

    Studies comparing risk of specific congenital malformations (CM) between multiple pregnancies resulting from IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and those conceived naturally report conflicting results; furthermore, there is a lack of a complete overview. This meta-analysis aimed to address which types of CM are increased in IVF/ICSI multiple pregnancies compared with those conceived naturally. All studies testing the association between IVF/ICSI multiple pregnancies and specific CM identified in various databases were considered. The literature search yielded 856 records, of which 21 cohort studies were included for analysis. Overall, multiple pregnancies achieved with IVF/ICSI experienced a significantly higher risk of chromosomal defects (relative risk [RR] = 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04-1.77), urogenital (RR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.03-1.36) and circulatory (RR = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.01-1.47) system malformations. However, the remaining specific CM, such as cleft lip and/or palate, eye, ear, face and neck, respiratory, musculoskeletal, nervous and digestive system malformations, were similar in the two groups. No substantial heterogeneity was observed for most outcomes except for digestive (P = 0.094; I 2 = 38.3%) and circulatory (P = 0.070; I 2 = 35.2%) system malformations. These findings provide additional information on risks of IVF/ICSI for use when counselling patients. Copyright © 2018 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Intellect: a theoretical framework for personality traits related to intellectual achievements.

    PubMed

    Mussel, Patrick

    2013-05-01

    The present article develops a theoretical framework for the structure of personality traits related to intellectual achievements. We postulate a 2-dimensional model, differentiating between 2 processes (Seek and Conquer) and 3 operations (Think, Learn, and Create). The framework was operationalized by a newly developed measure, which was validated based on 2 samples. Subsequently, in 3 studies (overall N = 1,478), the 2-dimensional structure of the Intellect framework was generally supported. Additionally, subdimensions of the Intellect framework specifically predicted conceptually related criteria, including scholastic performance, vocational interest, and leisure activities. Furthermore, results from multidimensional scaling and higher order confirmatory factor analyses show that the framework allows for the incorporation of several constructs that have been proposed on different theoretical backgrounds, such as need for cognition, typical intellectual engagement, curiosity, intrinsic motivation, goal orientation, and openness to ideas. It is concluded that based on the Intellect framework, these constructs, which have been researched separately in the literature, can be meaningfully integrated.

  14. Achievement motivation and memory: achievement goals differentially influence immediate and delayed remember-know recognition memory.

    PubMed

    Murayama, Kou; Elliot, Andrew J

    2011-10-01

    Little research has been conducted on achievement motivation and memory and, more specifically, on achievement goals and memory. In the present research, the authors conducted two experiments designed to examine the influence of mastery-approach and performance-approach goals on immediate and delayed remember-know recognition memory. The experiments revealed differential effects for achievement goals over time: Performance-approach goals showed higher correct remember responding on an immediate recognition test, whereas mastery-approach goals showed higher correct remember responding on a delayed recognition test. Achievement goals had no influence on overall recognition memory and no consistent influence on know responding across experiments. These findings indicate that it is important to consider quality, not just quantity, in both motivation and memory, when studying relations between these constructs.

  15. 33. Elevation of Doors / Typical Cement Toilet Partitions / ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    33. Elevation of Doors / Typical Cement Toilet Partitions / Typical Cement Shower Bath Partitions / Typical Marble Shower Bath Partitions / Dispensary Cupboard Supply Room Cupboard Similar / Section / Kitchen Cupboard and Sink / Screened Porch Cupboard (drawing 10) - Whittier State School, Hospital & Receiving Building, 11850 East Whittier Boulevard, Whittier, Los Angeles County, CA

  16. Satisfaction with tolterodine: assessing symptom-specific patient-reported goal achievement in the treatment of overactive bladder in female patients (STARGATE study).

    PubMed

    Choo, M-S; Doo, C K; Lee, K-S

    2008-02-01

    Open-label study to evaluate the effect of tolterodine extended-release (ER) on symptom-specific patient-reported goal achievement (PGA) of overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms in females. Eligible patients who had frequency >or= 8 and urgency >or= 2 episodes per 24 h with or without urgency incontinence were treated with 12-week tolterodine ER (4 mg once daily). Primary end-point was the rate of PGA by a visual analogue scale compared with initial expectation with treatment. At baseline, patients were asked to set their personal goals for each OAB symptom with treatment. Secondary efficacy variables were changes in symptom severity, voiding diary and patient perception of bladder condition (PPBC), global impression of improvement (GII), and willingness to continue treatment. A total of 56 patients were entered. The median rate of symptom-specific PGA and reductions in symptom severity were for frequency (60%, 45%), episodes of urgency 60%, 55%), urge incontinence (80%, 71%), nocturia (50%, 52%) and tenesmus (30%, 26%) after 12 weeks treatment. There was a significant improvement in all OAB symptoms in voiding diary. Thirty-five patients (62.5%) experienced an improvement of >or= 2 points in PPBC. Thirty (53.6%) and 22 (39.3%) of patients reported much and little improvement of their symptoms in GII. A total of 41 (73.2%) patients wanted to continue taking the medication at the end of the study. Most OAB patients reported improvement of their OAB symptoms with 12-week tolterodine ER 4 mg treatment. There was a significant achievement of symptom-specific goal on the key OAB symptoms. But, PGA did not correlate with objective outcomes.

  17. The Typical General Aviation Aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Turnbull, Andrew

    1999-01-01

    The reliability of General Aviation aircraft is unknown. In order to "assist the development of future GA reliability and safety requirements", a reliability study needs to be performed. Before any studies on General Aviation aircraft reliability begins, a definition of a typical aircraft that encompasses most of the general aviation characteristics needs to be defined. In this report, not only is the typical general aviation aircraft defined for the purpose of the follow-on reliability study, but it is also separated, or "sifted" into several different categories where individual analysis can be performed on the reasonably independent systems. In this study, the typical General Aviation aircraft is a four-place, single engine piston, all aluminum fixed-wing certified aircraft with a fixed tricycle landing gear and a cable operated flight control system. The system breakdown of a GA aircraft "sifts" the aircraft systems and components into five categories: Powerplant, Airframe, Aircraft Control Systems, Cockpit Instrumentation Systems, and the Electrical Systems. This breakdown was performed along the lines of a failure of the system. Any component that caused a system to fail was considered a part of that system.

  18. Abnormal Functional Lateralization and Activity of Language Brain Areas in Typical Specific Language Impairment (Developmental Dysphasia)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    de Guibert, Clement; Maumet, Camille; Jannin, Pierre; Ferre, Jean-Christophe; Treguier, Catherine; Barillot, Christian; Le Rumeur, Elisabeth; Allaire, Catherine; Biraben, Arnaud

    2011-01-01

    Atypical functional lateralization and specialization for language have been proposed to account for developmental language disorders, yet results from functional neuroimaging studies are sparse and inconsistent. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study compared children with a specific subtype of specific language impairment affecting…

  19. Consonant Acquisition in Young Cochlear Implant Recipients and Their Typically Developing Peers

    PubMed Central

    Jung, Jongmin; Ertmer, David J.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose Consonant acquisition was examined in 13 young cochlear implant (CI) recipients and 11 typically developing (TD) children. Method A longitudinal research design was implemented to determine the rate and nature of consonant acquisition during the first 2 years of robust hearing experience. Twenty-minute adult–child (typically a parent) interactions were video and audio recorded at 3-month intervals following implantation until 24 months of robust hearing experience was achieved. TD children were similarly recorded between 6 and 24 months of age. Consonants that were produced twice within a 50-utterance sample were considered “established” within a child's consonant inventory. Results Although the groups showed similar trajectories, the CI group produced larger consonant inventories than the TD group at each interval except for 21 and 24 months. A majority of children with CIs also showed more rapid acquisition of consonants and more diverse consonant inventories than TD children. Conclusions These results suggest that early auditory deprivation does not significantly affect consonant acquisition for most CI recipients. Tracking early consonant development appears to be a useful way to assess the effectiveness of cochlear implantation in young recipients. PMID:28474085

  20. Leveraging the Power of Experiential Learning to Achieve Higher-Order Proficiencies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Henderson, Amy

    2018-01-01

    Although experiential learning approaches, such as service-learning, have been shown to increase student motivation and academic achievement, faculty concerns about the costs of developing and implementing such courses have limited their adoption within economics. One cost that can be eliminated is the opportunity cost typically associated with…

  1. Sex ratio adjustment by sex-specific maternal cannibalism in hamsters.

    PubMed

    Beery, Annaliese K; Zucker, Irving

    2012-10-10

    Mammalian offspring sex ratios can be biased via prenatal and postnatal mechanisms, including sperm selection, sex-specific embryo loss, and differential postnatal investment in males and females. Syrian hamsters routinely cannibalize some of their pups in the first days after birth. We present evidence that short day lengths, typically predictive of poor autumn and winter field conditions, are associated with male-biased sex ratios, achieved in part through selective perinatal maternal infanticide of female offspring. Higher peak litter sizes were associated with increased cannibalism rates, decreased final litter counts, and increased body mass of pups surviving to weaning. To our knowledge this is the first report of sex ratio adjustment by offspring cannibalism. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Professional Learning Communities Impact on Student Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamilton, Jan L.

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the impact of the Professional Learning Community model on student achievement in the state of California. Specifically, the study compared student achievement between two school types: Professional Learning Community schools and Non Professional Learning schools. The research utilized existing API scores for California schools…

  3. Language Skills, Mathematical Thinking, and Achievement Motivation in Children with ADHD, Disruptive Behavior Disorders, and Normal Controls

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gut, Janine; Heckmann, Carmen; Meyer, Christine Sandra; Schmid, Marc; Grob, Alexander

    2012-01-01

    Recent models of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suggest that the association between achievement motivation and school performance may be stronger in children with ADHD than in typically developing children. Therefore, the present study investigated associations between achievement motivation and performance on language skills and…

  4. Exploring the role of auditory analysis in atypical compared to typical language development.

    PubMed

    Grube, Manon; Cooper, Freya E; Kumar, Sukhbinder; Kelly, Tom; Griffiths, Timothy D

    2014-02-01

    The relationship between auditory processing and language skills has been debated for decades. Previous findings have been inconsistent, both in typically developing and impaired subjects, including those with dyslexia or specific language impairment. Whether correlations between auditory and language skills are consistent between different populations has hardly been addressed at all. The present work presents an exploratory approach of testing for patterns of correlations in a range of measures of auditory processing. In a recent study, we reported findings from a large cohort of eleven-year olds on a range of auditory measures and the data supported a specific role for the processing of short sequences in pitch and time in typical language development. Here we tested whether a group of individuals with dyslexic traits (DT group; n = 28) from the same year group would show the same pattern of correlations between auditory and language skills as the typically developing group (TD group; n = 173). Regarding the raw scores, the DT group showed a significantly poorer performance on the language but not the auditory measures, including measures of pitch, time and rhythm, and timbre (modulation). In terms of correlations, there was a tendency to decrease in correlations between short-sequence processing and language skills, contrasted by a significant increase in correlation for basic, single-sound processing, in particular in the domain of modulation. The data support the notion that the fundamental relationship between auditory and language skills might differ in atypical compared to typical language development, with the implication that merging data or drawing inference between populations might be problematic. Further examination of the relationship between both basic sound feature analysis and music-like sound analysis and language skills in impaired populations might allow the development of appropriate training strategies. These might include types of musical

  5. Strategy Choice in Solving Arithmetic Word Problems: Are There Differences between Students with Learning Disabilities, G-V Poor Performance, and Typical Achievement Students?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gonzalez, Juan E. Jimenez; Espinel, Ana Isabel Garcia

    2002-01-01

    A study was designed to test whether there are differences between Spanish children (ages 7-9) with arithmetic learning disabilities (n=60), garden-variety (G-V) poor performance (n=44), and typical children (n=44) in strategy choice when solving arithmetic word problems. No significant differences were found between children with dyscalculia and…

  6. Gender Gap in the National College Entrance Exam Performance in China: A Case Study of a Typical Chinese Municipality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Yu; Tsang, Mun

    2015-01-01

    This is one of the first studies to investigate gender achievement gap in the National College Entrance Exam in a typical municipality in China, which is the crucial examination for the transition from high school to higher education in that country. Using ordinary least square model and quantile regression model, the study consistently finds that…

  7. A Comparison of Reading Growth and Outcomes of Kindergarten Students with Cognitive Impairments to Their Typical Peers: The Impact of Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Folsom, Jessica Sidler

    2012-01-01

    This research addressed the early reading instruction of students with cognitive impairments included in general education kindergarten classrooms. Research from 2002 to 2011 on early reading instruction for students with mental retardation were reviewed and current trends in measurement, typical instruction, intervention, and achievement were…

  8. The association of context-specific sitting time and physical activity intensity to working memory capacity and academic achievement in young adults.

    PubMed

    Felez-Nobrega, Mireia; Hillman, Charles H; Cirera, Eva; Puig-Ribera, Anna

    2017-08-01

    To examine combined associations between self-reported context-specific sitting time (ST) and physical activity (PA) with working memory capacity (WMC) and academic achievement in a sample of Spanish adults. Undergraduate students (n = 371; 21 years ± 3 years, 44% female) were recruited from University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia. Participants completed a 54-item survey that assessed socio-demographic variables (e.g. age, gender, academic year), min/week of light (LPA), moderate (MPA) and vigorous (VPA) intensity PA (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), min/day of domain-specific ST (Last 7 days sedentary behavior questionnaire) and academic performance (grade point average). WMC was assessed through a multiple complex span task that included: Operation Span, Symmetry Span and Rotation Span. These tasks interleave a processing task with a short list of to-be-remembered items. General linear models-adjusted by PA, ST and gender-assessed combined associations between ST and PA with WMC and academic achievement. Performing more than 3 h/week of MPA was related to increases in WMC (P < 0.001). However, PA was not associated with academic performance. More than 3 h seated on a weekend day while performing non-screen leisure activities were related to reduced WMC after adjusting for PA (P = 0.012). Similarly, >3 h/weekday spent seated in these sedentary activities or in leisure-forms of screen time were inversely associated with academic performance regardless of PA (P = 0.033; P = 0.048). MPA may benefit working memory; however, specific domains of leisure-time sedentary behavior may have an unfavorable influence on working memory and academic performance regardless of time spent in PA. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

  9. Achievement Test Provincial Report, June 1987 Administration.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton. Student Evaluation and Records Branch.

    This document summarizes results of province-wide achievement tests given in Alberta, Canada in June 1987. These tests evaluated student achievement in third grade science, sixth grade mathematics, and ninth grade social studies. The test questions for each subject area reflected Alberta's curriculum specifications for that subject. The grade 3…

  10. Understanding and Reversing Underachievement, Low Achievement, and Achievement Gaps among High-Ability African American Males in Urban School Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ford, Donna Y.; Moore, James L., III

    2013-01-01

    This article focuses on the achievement gap, with attention devoted to underachievement and low achievement among African American males in urban school contexts. More specifically, the article explains problems and issues facing or confronting these Black male students in urban education settings. A central part of this discussion is grounded in…

  11. Identifying typical patterns of vulnerability: A 5-step approach based on cluster analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sietz, Diana; Lüdeke, Matthias; Kok, Marcel; Lucas, Paul; Carsten, Walther; Janssen, Peter

    2013-04-01

    Specific processes that shape the vulnerability of socio-ecological systems to climate, market and other stresses derive from diverse background conditions. Within the multitude of vulnerability-creating mechanisms, distinct processes recur in various regions inspiring research on typical patterns of vulnerability. The vulnerability patterns display typical combinations of the natural and socio-economic properties that shape a systems' vulnerability to particular stresses. Based on the identification of a limited number of vulnerability patterns, pattern analysis provides an efficient approach to improving our understanding of vulnerability and decision-making for vulnerability reduction. However, current pattern analyses often miss explicit descriptions of their methods and pay insufficient attention to the validity of their groupings. Therefore, the question arises as to how do we identify typical vulnerability patterns in order to enhance our understanding of a systems' vulnerability to stresses? A cluster-based pattern recognition applied at global and local levels is scrutinised with a focus on an applicable methodology and practicable insights. Taking the example of drylands, this presentation demonstrates the conditions necessary to identify typical vulnerability patterns. They are summarised in five methodological steps comprising the elicitation of relevant cause-effect hypotheses and the quantitative indication of mechanisms as well as an evaluation of robustness, a validation and a ranking of the identified patterns. Reflecting scale-dependent opportunities, a global study is able to support decision-making with insights into the up-scaling of interventions when available funds are limited. In contrast, local investigations encourage an outcome-based validation. This constitutes a crucial step in establishing the credibility of the patterns and hence their suitability for informing extension services and individual decisions. In this respect, working at

  12. The BioFIND study: Characteristics of a clinically typical Parkinson's disease biomarker cohort

    PubMed Central

    Goldman, Jennifer G.; Alcalay, Roy N.; Xie, Tao; Tuite, Paul; Henchcliffe, Claire; Hogarth, Penelope; Amara, Amy W.; Frank, Samuel; Rudolph, Alice; Casaceli, Cynthia; Andrews, Howard; Gwinn, Katrina; Sutherland, Margaret; Kopil, Catherine; Vincent, Lona; Frasier, Mark

    2016-01-01

    ABSTRACT Background Identifying PD‐specific biomarkers in biofluids will greatly aid in diagnosis, monitoring progression, and therapeutic interventions. PD biomarkers have been limited by poor discriminatory power, partly driven by heterogeneity of the disease, variability of collection protocols, and focus on de novo, unmedicated patients. Thus, a platform for biomarker discovery and validation in well‐characterized, clinically typical, moderate to advanced PD cohorts is critically needed. Methods BioFIND (Fox Investigation for New Discovery of Biomarkers in Parkinson's Disease) is a cross‐sectional, multicenter biomarker study that established a repository of clinical data, blood, DNA, RNA, CSF, saliva, and urine samples from 118 moderate to advanced PD and 88 healthy control subjects. Inclusion criteria were designed to maximize diagnostic specificity by selecting participants with clinically typical PD symptoms, and clinical data and biospecimen collection utilized standardized procedures to minimize variability across sites. Results We present the study methodology and data on the cohort's clinical characteristics. Motor scores and biospecimen samples including plasma are available for practically defined off and on states and thus enable testing the effects of PD medications on biomarkers. Other biospecimens are available from off state PD assessments and from controls. Conclusion Our cohort provides a valuable resource for biomarker discovery and validation in PD. Clinical data and biospecimens, available through The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, can serve as a platform for discovering biomarkers in clinically typical PD and comparisons across PD's broad and heterogeneous spectrum. © 2016 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society PMID:27113479

  13. The Role of Principal Leadership in Achievement beyond Test Scores: An Examination of Leadership, Differentiated Curriculum and High-Achieving Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Else, Danielle F.

    2013-01-01

    Though research has validated a link between principal leadership and student achievement, questions remain regarding the specific relationship between the principal and high-achieving learners. This association facilitates understanding about forming curricular decisions for high ability learners. The study was conducted to examine the perceived…

  14. Student Perceptions of Classroom Achievement Goal Structure: Is It Appropriate to Aggregate?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lam, Arena C.; Ruzek, Erik A.; Schenke, Katerina; Conley, AnneMarie M.; Karabenick, Stuart A.

    2015-01-01

    Student reports are a common approach to characterizing how students experience their classrooms. We used a recently developed method--multilevel confirmatory factor analysis--to determine whether commonly employed measures of achievement goal structure constructs (mastery and performance) typically verified at the student level can be verified at…

  15. Maternal and paternal pragmatic speech directed to young children with Down syndrome and typical development

    PubMed Central

    de Falco, Simona; Venuti, Paola; Esposito, Gianluca; Bornstein, Marc H.

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study was to compare functional features of maternal and paternal speech directed to children with Down syndrome and developmental age-matched typically developing children. Altogether 88 parents (44 mothers and 44 fathers) and their 44 young children (22 children with Down syndrome and 22 typically developing children) participated. Parents’ speech directed to children was obtained through observation of naturalistic parent–child dyadic interactions. Verbatim transcripts of maternal and paternal language were categorized in terms of the primary function of each speech unit. Parents (both mothers and fathers) of children with Down syndrome used more affect-salient speech compared to parents of typically developing children. Although parents used the same amounts of information-salient speech, parents of children with Down syndrome used more direct statements and asked fewer questions than did parents of typically developing children. Concerning parent gender, in both groups mothers used more language than fathers and specifically more descriptions. These findings held controlling for child age and MLU and family SES. This study highlights strengths and weaknesses of parental communication to children with Down syndrome and helps to identify areas of potential improvement through intervention. PMID:21215458

  16. Maternal and paternal pragmatic speech directed to young children with Down syndrome and typical development.

    PubMed

    de Falco, Simona; Venuti, Paola; Esposito, Gianluca; Bornstein, Marc H

    2011-02-01

    The aim of this study was to compare functional features of maternal and paternal speech directed to children with Down syndrome and developmental age-matched typically developing children. Altogether 88 parents (44 mothers and 44 fathers) and their 44 young children (22 children with Down syndrome and 22 typically developing children) participated. Parents' speech directed to children was obtained through observation of naturalistic parent-child dyadic interactions. Verbatim transcripts of maternal and paternal language were categorized in terms of the primary function of each speech unit. Parents (both mothers and fathers) of children with Down syndrome used more affect-salient speech compared to parents of typically developing children. Although parents used the same amounts of information-salient speech, parents of children with Down syndrome used more direct statements and asked fewer questions than did parents of typically developing children. Concerning parent gender, in both groups mothers used more language than fathers and specifically more descriptions. These findings held controlling for child age and MLU and family SES. This study highlights strengths and weaknesses of parental communication to children with Down syndrome and helps to identify areas of potential improvement through intervention. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Typicality and Misinformation: Two Sources of Distortion

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Luna, Karlos; Migueles, Malen

    2008-01-01

    This study examined the effect of two sources of memory error: exposure to post-event information and extracting typical contents from schemata. Participants were shown a video of a bank robbery and presented with high-and low-typicality misinformation extracted from two normative studies. The misleading suggestions consisted of either changes in…

  18. Assessing Reading Comprehension in Adolescent Low Achievers: Subskills Identification and Task Specificity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van Steensel, Roel; Oostdam, Ron; van Gelderen, Amos

    2013-01-01

    On the basis of a validation study of a new test for assessing low-achieving adolescents' reading comprehension skills--the SALT-reading--we analyzed two issues relevant to the field of reading test development. Using the test results of 200 seventh graders, we examined the possibility of identifying reading comprehension subskills and the effects…

  19. Efficient Site-Specific Labeling of Proteins via Cysteines

    PubMed Central

    Kim, Younggyu; Ho, Sam O.; Gassman, Natalie R.; Korlann, You; Landorf, Elizabeth V.; Collart, Frank R.; Weiss, Shimon

    2011-01-01

    Methods for chemical modifications of proteins have been crucial for the advancement of proteomics. In particular, site-specific covalent labeling of proteins with fluorophores and other moieties has permitted the development of a multitude of assays for proteome analysis. A common approach for such a modification is solvent-accessible cysteine labeling using thiol-reactive dyes. Cysteine is very attractive for site-specific conjugation due to its relative rarity throughout the proteome and the ease of its introduction into a specific site along the protein's amino acid chain. This is achieved by site-directed mutagenesis, most often without perturbing the protein's function. Bottlenecks in this reaction, however, include the maintenance of reactive thiol groups without oxidation before the reaction, and the effective removal of unreacted molecules prior to fluorescence studies. Here, we describe an efficient, specific, and rapid procedure for cysteine labeling starting from well-reduced proteins in the solid state. The efficacy and specificity of the improved procedure are estimated using a variety of single-cysteine proteins and thiol-reactive dyes. Based on UV/vis absorbance spectra, coupling efficiencies are typically in the range 70–90%, and specificities are better than ~95%. The labeled proteins are evaluated using fluorescence assays, proving that the covalent modification does not alter their function. In addition to maleimide-based conjugation, this improved procedure may be used for other thiol-reactive conjugations such as haloacetyl, alkyl halide, and disulfide interchange derivatives. This facile and rapid procedure is well suited for high throughput proteome analysis. PMID:18275130

  20. Efficient site-specific labeling of proteins via cysteines.

    PubMed

    Kim, Younggyu; Ho, Sam O; Gassman, Natalie R; Korlann, You; Landorf, Elizabeth V; Collart, Frank R; Weiss, Shimon

    2008-03-01

    Methods for chemical modifications of proteins have been crucial for the advancement of proteomics. In particular, site-specific covalent labeling of proteins with fluorophores and other moieties has permitted the development of a multitude of assays for proteome analysis. A common approach for such a modification is solvent-accessible cysteine labeling using thiol-reactive dyes. Cysteine is very attractive for site-specific conjugation due to its relative rarity throughout the proteome and the ease of its introduction into a specific site along the protein's amino acid chain. This is achieved by site-directed mutagenesis, most often without perturbing the protein's function. Bottlenecks in this reaction, however, include the maintenance of reactive thiol groups without oxidation before the reaction, and the effective removal of unreacted molecules prior to fluorescence studies. Here, we describe an efficient, specific, and rapid procedure for cysteine labeling starting from well-reduced proteins in the solid state. The efficacy and specificity of the improved procedure are estimated using a variety of single-cysteine proteins and thiol-reactive dyes. Based on UV/vis absorbance spectra, coupling efficiencies are typically in the range 70-90%, and specificities are better than approximately 95%. The labeled proteins are evaluated using fluorescence assays, proving that the covalent modification does not alter their function. In addition to maleimide-based conjugation, this improved procedure may be used for other thiol-reactive conjugations such as haloacetyl, alkyl halide, and disulfide interchange derivatives. This facile and rapid procedure is well suited for high throughput proteome analysis.

  1. A Community Support Program for Children with Autism and Their Typically Developing Siblings: Initial Investigation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kryzak, Lauren A.; Cengher, Mirela; Feeley, Kathleen M.; Fienup, Daniel M.; Jones, Emily A.

    2015-01-01

    Siblings are a critical part of lifelong support for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). But siblings face their own social-emotional adjustment needs. These needs may be addressed through programs that include support groups specifically for the siblings. This study examined the effects of a community program on typical siblings'…

  2. The Effect of Foster Care Experience and Characteristics on Academic Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Calix, Alexandra

    2009-01-01

    This study examined the effect of foster care experience and characteristics on educational outcomes. The typical strategy in examining the effect foster care has on educational outcomes is to compare the educational achievement of youth with foster care experience to that of their peers or to national norms. This strategy fails to take selection…

  3. Can Automated Facial Expression Analysis Show Differences Between Autism and Typical Functioning?

    PubMed

    Borsos, Zsófia; Gyori, Miklos

    2017-01-01

    Exploratory analyses of emotional expressions using a commercially available facial expression recognition software are reported, from the context of a serious game for screening purposes. Our results are based on a comparative analysis of two matched groups of kindergarten-age children (high-functioning children with autism spectrum condition: n=13; typically developing children: n=13). Results indicate that this technology has the potential to identify autism-specific emotion expression features, and may play a role in affective diagnostic and assistive technologies.

  4. Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review

    PubMed Central

    Costa, Ana; Faria, Luísa

    2018-01-01

    The current study intended to model the link between implicit theories of intelligence (ITI) and students' academic achievement, within a meta-analytic review procedure. To assess studies' effect size, the Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was used. The review of 46 studies (94 effect sizes) with 412,022 students presented a low-to-moderate association between the ITI and students' academic achievement. The results indicated that incremental theorists are more likely to have higher grades in specific subjects (verbal and quantitative) and in overall achievement. The entity beliefs were positively associated with students' specific verbal and quantitative domains but at a lower magnitude than incremental beliefs. Moreover, the moderator effect analyses results indicated that the link between ITI and students' achievement was not moderated by gender, but there was a moderate association in student's middle school grade. Additionally, the ITI assessment based on the most recent versions of Dweck's scales, the use of specific academic scales instead of general ITI scales, and the use of the original measures rather than adapted versions strongly moderated the link between ITI and achievement. Moreover, students from Eastern continents (Asia and Oceania) reported a positive association between incremental beliefs and achievement, Europe displayed a positive link between entity beliefs and achievement, whereas North America presented negative correlations between entity perspectives and academic achievement. This meta-analysis updates the current evidence supporting the direct link of ITI and students' academic achievement and acknowledges specific effects that ITI could have in different academic outcomes. PMID:29922195

  5. An Examination of Selective Achievement in Gifted Males

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hebert, Thomas P.; Schreiber, Catherine A.

    2010-01-01

    Selective achievers are intrinsically motivated individuals whose performance matches ability only in specific areas that satisfy their interests and personal goal orientations. Through a qualitative research design, this study investigated the phenomenon of selective achievement by examining the experiences of 2 gifted university males. The…

  6. Effects of stress typicality during speeded grammatical classification.

    PubMed

    Arciuli, Joanne; Cupples, Linda

    2003-01-01

    The experiments reported here were designed to investigate the influence of stress typicality during speeded grammatical classification of disyllabic English words by native and non-native speakers. Trochaic nouns and iambic gram verbs were considered to be typically stressed, whereas iambic nouns and trochaic verbs were considered to be atypically stressed. Experiments 1a and 2a showed that while native speakers classified typically stressed words individual more quickly and more accurately than atypically stressed words during differences reading, there were no overall effects during classification of spoken stimuli. However, a subgroup of native speakers with high error rates did show a significant effect during classification of spoken stimuli. Experiments 1b and 2b showed that non-native speakers classified typically stressed words more quickly and more accurately than atypically stressed words during reading. Typically stressed words were classified more accurately than atypically stressed words when the stimuli were spoken. Importantly, there was a significant relationship between error rates, vocabulary size and the size of the stress typicality effect in each experiment. We conclude that participants use information about lexical stress to help them distinguish between disyllabic nouns and verbs during speeded grammatical classification. This is especially so for individuals with a limited vocabulary who lack other knowledge (e.g., semantic knowledge) about the differences between these grammatical categories.

  7. The Blackout of Native American Cultural Achievements.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vogel, Virgil J.

    1987-01-01

    Notes that American Indian achievements are overlooked and even specifically denied in the face of overwhelming evidence of their reality. Examines the denials of Indian originality in three specific matters that have been controversial in recent decades: medicine, the manufacture of maple syrup, and the use of fertilizer. (JHZ)

  8. Achievement Testing in the No Child Left Behind Era: The Arkansas Benchmark

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hall, John D.; Howerton, D. Lynn; Jones, Craig H.

    2008-01-01

    The No Child Left Behind Act and the accountability movement in public education caused many states to develop criterion-referenced academic achievement tests. Scores from these tests are often used to make high stakes decisions. Even so, these tests typically do not receive independent psychometric scrutiny. We evaluated the 2005 Arkansas…

  9. Comparing Episodes of Mathematics Teaching for Higher Achievers in England and Germany

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelly, Peter; Kotthoff, Hans-Georg

    2016-01-01

    To illustrate similarities and differences in lower secondary level mathematics teaching with higher achievers and thereby explore privileging processes, we contrast a teaching episode in Baden-Württemberg, Germany with one in South West England. These have been selected from a larger study as typical within each region for higher achieving…

  10. The Contributions of Orthographic Processing Factors to the Spelling Achievement of Middle-Elementary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Radaj, Jane M.

    2013-01-01

    The study examined the contributions of "orthographic processing" factors to the spelling achievement of typically developing middle-elementary students. The researcher framed orthographic processing as a multilinguistic, multidimensional construct involving process factors related to procedural orthographic operations and product…

  11. Cognitive State Verbs and Complement Clauses in Children with SLI and Their Typically Developing Peers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Horne, Amanda J. Owen; Lin, Shanju

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated the use of cognitive state verbs (CSVs) and complement clauses in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typically developing (TD) peers. In Study 1, conversational samples from 23 children with SLI (M = 6;2), 24 age-matched TD children (M = 6;2) and 21 vocabulary-matched TD children (M = 4;9) were…

  12. Understanding science teaching effectiveness: examining how science-specific and generic instructional practices relate to student achievement in secondary science classrooms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mikeska, Jamie N.; Shattuck, Tamara; Holtzman, Steven; McCaffrey, Daniel F.; Duchesneau, Nancy; Qi, Yi; Stickler, Leslie

    2017-12-01

    In order to create conditions for students' meaningful and rigorous intellectual engagement in science classrooms, it is critically important to help science teachers learn which strategies and approaches can be used best to develop students' scientific literacy. Better understanding how science teachers' instructional practices relate to student achievement can provide teachers with beneficial information about how to best engage their students in meaningful science learning. To address this need, this study examined the instructional practices that 99 secondary biology teachers used in their classrooms and employed regression to determine which instructional practices are predictive of students' science achievement. Results revealed that the secondary science teachers who had well-managed classroom environments and who provided opportunities for their students to engage in student-directed investigation-related experiences were more likely to have increased student outcomes, as determined by teachers' value-added measures. These findings suggest that attending to both generic and subject-specific aspects of science teachers' instructional practice is important for understanding the underlying mechanisms that result in more effective science instruction in secondary classrooms. Implications about the use of these observational measures within teacher evaluation systems are discussed.

  13. Memory for sequences of events impaired in typical aging.

    PubMed

    Allen, Timothy A; Morris, Andrea M; Stark, Shauna M; Fortin, Norbert J; Stark, Craig E L

    2015-03-01

    Typical aging is associated with diminished episodic memory performance. To improve our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying this age-related memory deficit, we previously developed an integrated, cross-species approach to link converging evidence from human and animal research. This novel approach focuses on the ability to remember sequences of events, an important feature of episodic memory. Unlike existing paradigms, this task is nonspatial, nonverbal, and can be used to isolate different cognitive processes that may be differentially affected in aging. Here, we used this task to make a comprehensive comparison of sequence memory performance between younger (18-22 yr) and older adults (62-86 yr). Specifically, participants viewed repeated sequences of six colored, fractal images and indicated whether each item was presented "in sequence" or "out of sequence." Several out of sequence probe trials were used to provide a detailed assessment of sequence memory, including: (i) repeating an item from earlier in the sequence ("Repeats"; e.g., AB A: DEF), (ii) skipping ahead in the sequence ("Skips"; e.g., AB D: DEF), and (iii) inserting an item from a different sequence into the same ordinal position ("Ordinal Transfers"; e.g., AB 3: DEF). We found that older adults performed as well as younger controls when tested on well-known and predictable sequences, but were severely impaired when tested using novel sequences. Importantly, overall sequence memory performance in older adults steadily declined with age, a decline not detected with other measures (RAVLT or BPS-O). We further characterized this deficit by showing that performance of older adults was severely impaired on specific probe trials that required detailed knowledge of the sequence (Skips and Ordinal Transfers), and was associated with a shift in their underlying mnemonic representation of the sequences. Collectively, these findings provide unambiguous evidence that the capacity to remember

  14. Memory for sequences of events impaired in typical aging

    PubMed Central

    Allen, Timothy A.; Morris, Andrea M.; Stark, Shauna M.; Fortin, Norbert J.

    2015-01-01

    Typical aging is associated with diminished episodic memory performance. To improve our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying this age-related memory deficit, we previously developed an integrated, cross-species approach to link converging evidence from human and animal research. This novel approach focuses on the ability to remember sequences of events, an important feature of episodic memory. Unlike existing paradigms, this task is nonspatial, nonverbal, and can be used to isolate different cognitive processes that may be differentially affected in aging. Here, we used this task to make a comprehensive comparison of sequence memory performance between younger (18–22 yr) and older adults (62–86 yr). Specifically, participants viewed repeated sequences of six colored, fractal images and indicated whether each item was presented “in sequence” or “out of sequence.” Several out of sequence probe trials were used to provide a detailed assessment of sequence memory, including: (i) repeating an item from earlier in the sequence (“Repeats”; e.g., ABADEF), (ii) skipping ahead in the sequence (“Skips”; e.g., ABDDEF), and (iii) inserting an item from a different sequence into the same ordinal position (“Ordinal Transfers”; e.g., AB3DEF). We found that older adults performed as well as younger controls when tested on well-known and predictable sequences, but were severely impaired when tested using novel sequences. Importantly, overall sequence memory performance in older adults steadily declined with age, a decline not detected with other measures (RAVLT or BPS-O). We further characterized this deficit by showing that performance of older adults was severely impaired on specific probe trials that required detailed knowledge of the sequence (Skips and Ordinal Transfers), and was associated with a shift in their underlying mnemonic representation of the sequences. Collectively, these findings provide unambiguous evidence that the

  15. Movement Issues Identified in Movement ABC2 Checklist Parent Ratings for Students with Persisting Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, and OWL LD and Typical Literacy Learners.

    PubMed

    Nielsen, Kathleen; Henderson, Sheila; Barnett, Anna L; Abbott, Robert D; Berninger, Virginia

    2018-01-01

    Movement, which draws on motor skills and executive functions for managing them, plays an important role in literacy learning (e.g., movement of mouth during oral reading and movement of hand and fingers during writing); but relatively little research has focused on movement skills in students with specific learning disabilities as the current study did. Parents completed normed Movement Assessment Battery for Children Checklist, 2nd edition (ABC-2), ratings and their children in grades 4 to 9 ( M = 11 years, 11 months; 94 boys, 61 girls) completed diagnostic assessment used to assign them to diagnostic groups: control typical language learning ( N = 42), dysgraphia (impaired handwriting) ( N = 29), dyslexia (impaired word decoding/reading and spelling) ( N = 65), or oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD) (impaired syntax in oral and written language) ( N = 19). The research aims were to (a) correlate the Movement ABC-2 parent ratings for Scale A Static/Predictable Environment (15 items) and Scale B Dynamic/Unpredictable Environment (15 items) with reading and writing achievement in total sample varying within and across different skills; and (b) compare each specific learning disability group with the control group on Movement ABC-2 parent ratings for Scale A, Scale B, and Scale C Movement-Related (Non-Motor Executive Functions, or Self-Efficacy, or Affect) (13 items). At least one Movement ABC-2 parent rating was correlated with each assessed literacy achievement skill. Each of three specific learning disability groups differed from the control group on two Scale A (static/predictable environment) items (fastens buttons and forms letters with pencil or pen) and on three Scale C items (distractibility, overactive, and underestimates own ability); but only OWL LD differed from control on Scale B (dynamic/unpredictable environment) items. Applications of findings to assessment and instruction for students ascertained for and diagnosed with persisting

  16. Toddlers' categorization of typical and scrambled dolls and cars.

    PubMed

    Heron, Michelle; Slaughter, Virginia

    2008-09-01

    Previous research has demonstrated discrimination of scrambled from typical human body shapes at 15-18 months of age [Slaughter, V., & Heron, M. (2004). Origins and early development of human body knowledge. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 69]. In the current study 18-, 24- and 30-month-old infants were presented with four typical and four scrambled dolls in a sequential touching procedure, to assess the development of explicit categorization of human body shapes. Infants were also presented with typical and scrambled cars, allowing comparison of infants' categorization of scrambled and typical exemplars in a different domain. Spontaneous comments regarding category membership were recorded. Girls categorized dolls and cars as typical or scrambled at 30 months, whereas boys only categorized the cars. Earliest categorization was for typical and scrambled cars, at 24 months, but only for boys. Language-based knowledge, coded from infants' comments, followed the same pattern. This suggests that human body knowledge does not have privileged status in infancy. Gender differences in performance are discussed.

  17. "Whatever I have, I have made by coming into this profession": the intersection of resources, agency, and achievements in pathways to sex work in Kolkata, India.

    PubMed

    Swendeman, Dallas; Fehrenbacher, Anne E; Ali, Samira; George, Sheba; Mindry, Deborah; Collins, Mallory; Ghose, Toorjo; Dey, Bharati

    2015-05-01

    This article investigated the complex interplay of choice, socioeconomic structural factors, and empowerment influencing engagement in sex work. The analysis was focused on pathways into and reasons for staying in sex work from in-depth qualitative interviews with participants (n = 37) recruited from the Durbar community-led structural intervention in Kolkata, India. Kabeer's theory of empowerment focused on resources, agency, and achievements was utilized to interpret the results. Results identified that contexts of disempowerment constraining resources and agency set the stage for initiating sex work, typically due to familial poverty, loss of a father or husband as a breadwinner, and lack of economic opportunities for women in India. Labor force participation in informal sectors was common, specifically in domestic, construction, and manufacturing work, but was typically insufficient to provide for families and also often contingent on sexual favors. The availability of an urban market for sex work served as a catalyst or resource, in conjunction with Durbar's programmatic resources, for women to find and exercise agency and achieve financial and personal autonomy not possible in other work or as dependents on male partners. Resources lost in becoming a sex worker due to stigma, discrimination, and rejection by family and communities were compensated for by achievements in gaining financial and social resources, personal autonomy and independence, and the ability to support children and extended family. Durbar's programs and activities (e.g., savings and lending cooperative, community mobilization, advocacy) function as empowering resources that are tightly linked to sex workers' agency, achievements, and sex work pathways.

  18. Analysis of novel low specific speed pump designs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klas, R.; Pochylý, F.; Rudolf, P.

    2014-03-01

    Centrifugal pumps with very low specific speed present significant design challenges. Narrow blade channels, large surface area of hub and shroud discs relative to the blade area, and the presence of significant of blade channel vortices are typical features linked with the difficulty to achieve head and efficiency requirements for such designs. This paper presents an investigation of two novel designs of very low specific speed impellers: impeller having blades with very thick trailing edges and impeller with thick trailing edges and recirculating channels, which are bored along the impeller circumference. Numerical simulations and experimental measurements were used to study the flow dynamics of those new designs. It was shown that thick trailing edges suppress local eddies in the blade channels and decrease energy dissipation due to excessive swirling. Furthermore the recirculating channels will increase the circumferential velocity component on impeller outlet thus increasing the specific energy, albeit adversely affecting the hydraulic efficiency. Analysis of the energy dissipation in the volute showed that the number of the recirculating channels, their geometry and location, all have significant impact on the magnitude of dissipated energy and its distribution which in turn influences the shape of the head curve and the stability of the pump operation. Energy dissipation within whole pump interior (blade channels, volute, rotor- stator gaps) was also studied.

  19. [Typical atrial flutter: Diagnosis and therapy].

    PubMed

    Thomas, Dierk; Eckardt, Lars; Estner, Heidi L; Kuniss, Malte; Meyer, Christian; Neuberger, Hans-Ruprecht; Sommer, Philipp; Steven, Daniel; Voss, Frederik; Bonnemeier, Hendrik

    2016-03-01

    Typical, cavotricuspid-dependent atrial flutter is the most common atrial macroreentry tachycardia. The incidence of atrial flutter (typical and atypical forms) is age-dependent with 5/100,000 in patients less than 50 years and approximately 600/100,000 in subjects > 80 years of age. Concomitant heart failure or pulmonary disease further increases the risk of typical atrial flutter.Patients with atrial flutter may present with symptoms of palpitations, reduced exercise capacity, chest pain, or dyspnea. The risk of thromboembolism is probably similar to atrial fibrillation; therefore, the same antithrombotic prophylaxis is required in atrial flutter patients. Acutely symptomatic cases may be subjected to cardioversion or pharmacologic rate control to relieve symptoms. Catheter ablation of the cavotricuspid isthmus represents the primary choice in long-term therapy, associated with high procedural success (> 97 %) and low complication rates (0.5 %).This article represents the third part of a manuscript series designed to improve professional education in the field of cardiac electrophysiology. Mechanistic and clinical characteristics as well as management of isthmus-dependent atrial flutter are described in detail. Electrophysiological findings and catheter ablation of the arrhythmia are highlighted.

  20. The relative importance of two different mathematical abilities to mathematical achievement.

    PubMed

    Nunes, Terezinha; Bryant, Peter; Barros, Rossana; Sylva, Kathy

    2012-03-01

    Two distinct abilities, mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skill, might make separate and specific contributions to mathematical achievement. However, there is little evidence to inform theory and educational practice on this matter. The aims of this study were (1) to assess whether mathematical reasoning and arithmetic make independent contributions to the longitudinal prediction of mathematical achievement over 5 years and (2) to test the specificity of this prediction. Data from Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were available on 2,579 participants for analyses of KS2 achievement and on 1,680 for the analyses of KS3 achievement. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to assess the independence and specificity of the contribution of mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skill to the prediction of achievement in KS2 and KS3 mathematics, science, and English. Age, intelligence, and working memory (WM) were controls in these analyses. Mathematical reasoning and arithmetic did make independent contributions to the prediction of mathematical achievement; mathematical reasoning was by far the stronger predictor of the two. These predictions were specific in so far as these measures were more strongly related to mathematics than to science or English. Intelligence and WM were non-specific predictors; intelligence contributed more to the prediction of science than of maths, and WM predicted maths and English equally well. There is clear justification for making a distinction between mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skills. The implication is that schools must plan explicitly to improve mathematical reasoning as well as arithmetic skills. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

  1. Investigation of Icing Characteristics of Typical Light Airplane Engine Induction Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Coles, W. D.

    1949-01-01

    The icing characteristics of two typical light-airplane engine induction systems were investigated using the carburetors and manifolds of engines in the horsepower ranges from 65 to 85 and 165 to 185. The smaller system consisted of a float-type carburetor with an unheated manifold and the larger system consisted of a single-barrel pressure-type carburetor with an oil-jacketed manifold. Carburetor-air temperature and humidity limits of visible and serious Icing were determined for various engine power conditions. Several.methods of achieving ice-free induction systems are discussed along with estimates of surface heating requirements of the various induct ion-system components. A study was also made of the icing characteristics of a typical light-airplane air scoop with an exposed filter and a modified system that provided a normal ram inlet with the filter located in a position to Induce inertia separation of the free water from the charge air. The principle of operation of float-type carburetors is proved to make them inherently more susceptible to icing at the throttle plate than pressure-type carburetors.. The results indicated that proper jacketing and heating of all parts exposed to the fuel spray can satisfactorily reduce or eliminate icing in the float-type carburetor and the manifold. Pressure-type carburetors can be protected from serious Icing by proper location of the fuel-discharge nozzle combined with suitable application of heat to critical parts.

  2. Ecological analysis of a typical farm-scale biogas plant in China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Duan, Na; Lin, Cong; Wang, Pingzhi; Meng, Jing; Chen, Hui; Li, Xue

    2014-09-01

    The aim of this work was to present the common anaerobic digestion technologies in a typical farm-scale biogas plant in China. The comprehensive benefits of most biogas plants in China have not been fully assessed in past decades due to the limited information of the anaerobic digestion processes in biogas plants. This paper analyzed four key aspects (i.e., operational performance, nonrenewable energy (NE) savings, CO2 emission reduction (CER) and economic benefits (EBs)) of a typical farm-scale biogas plant, where beef cattle manure was used as feedstock. Owing to the monitoring system, stable operation was achieved with a hydraulic retention time of 18-22 days and a production of 876,000 m3 of biogas and 37,960 t of digestate fertilizer annually. This could substantially substitute for the nonrenewable energy and chemical fertilizer. The total amount of NE savings and CER derived from biogas and digestate fertilizer was 2.10×107 MJ (equivalent to 749.7 tce) and 9.71×105 kg, respectively. The EBs of the biogas plant was 6.84×105 CNY·yr-1 with an outputs-to-inputs ratio of 2.37. As a result, the monitoring system was proved to contribute significantly to the sound management and quantitative assessment of the biogas plant. Biogas plants could produce biogas which could be used to substitute fossil fuels and reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, and digestate fertilizer is also an important bio-product.

  3. Investigating the Relationship between Nonword Repetition Performance and Syllabic Structure in Typical and Atypical Language Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tamburelli, Marco; Jones, Gary

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: In this study, the authors examined the role of syllabic structure in nonword repetition performance in typically developing (TD) children and children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Eighteen children with SLI (5;7--6;7 [years;months]) and 18 TD children matched for chronological age were tested on their ability to…

  4. Quality of life in newly diagnosed children with specific learning disabilities (SpLD) and differences from typically developing children: a study of child and parent reports.

    PubMed

    Ginieri-Coccossis, M; Rotsika, V; Skevington, S; Papaevangelou, S; Malliori, M; Tomaras, V; Kokkevi, A

    2013-07-01

    Research on quality of life (QoL) of school children with specific learning disabilities (SpLD) and their parents is scarce. The present study explores QoL deficits in newly diagnosed children with SpLD and their parents, in comparison to a similar age group of typically developing children. Possible associations between parental and child QoL were statistically explored in both groups of children. 70 newly diagnosed children with SpLD [International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) criteria] (38 boys, 32 girls, mean age 10.1 years) and a control group of 69 typically developing children of the same age (40 boys, 29 girls, mean age 10.6 years) were recruited. Children were of normal intelligence quotient, attending mainstream schools. Their parents were also recruited so a child's scores could be associated with corresponding parental scores (mother or father). Children's QoL was assessed by the German questionnaire for measuring quality of life in children and adolescents (KINDL(R) ) questionnaire and parental QoL by World Health Organization Quality of Life brief questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) of the World Health Organization. Children with SpLD in comparison to typically developing children reported according to the KINDL(R) measurement poorer emotional well-being, lower self-esteem and satisfaction in their relationships with family and friends. Surprisingly, school functioning was not reported by these children as an area of concern. Parents of children with SpLD indicated experiencing lower satisfaction in the WHOQOL-BREF domains of social relationships and environment. Correlational and regression analysis with parental-child QoL scores provided evidence that in the SpLD group, parental scores on WHOQOL-BREF social relationships and psychological health domains could be predictors of the child's emotional well-being, satisfaction with family, friends and school functioning. Stepwise regression analysis verified the effect of parents' WHOQOL-BREF social

  5. An Investigation of the Relationship of Achievement Motivation with Achievement in Mathematics for Students in the United States and Japan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harnisch, Delwyn L.; Ryan, Katherine E.

    A study was made of cross-cultural patterns of achievement motivation in relationship to the mathematics achievement of Japanese and American boys and girls approximately 16 years of age. Sample sizes were 9,582 for the United States subjects (specifically, from Illinois) and 1,700 for the participants from Japan. Data came from performance on the…

  6. Identifying Country-Specific Cultures of Physics Education: A differential item functioning approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mesic, Vanes

    2012-11-01

    In international large-scale assessments of educational outcomes, student achievement is often represented by unidimensional constructs. This approach allows for drawing general conclusions about country rankings with respect to the given achievement measure, but it typically does not provide specific diagnostic information which is necessary for systematic comparisons and improvements of educational systems. Useful information could be obtained by exploring the differences in national profiles of student achievement between low-achieving and high-achieving countries. In this study, we aimed to identify the relative weaknesses and strengths of eighth graders' physics achievement in Bosnia and Herzegovina in comparison to the achievement of their peers from Slovenia. For this purpose, we ran a secondary analysis of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 data. The student sample consisted of 4,220 students from Bosnia and Herzegovina and 4,043 students from Slovenia. After analysing the cognitive demands of TIMSS 2007 physics items, the correspondent differential item functioning (DIF)/differential group functioning contrasts were estimated. Approximately 40% of items exhibited large DIF contrasts, indicating significant differences between cultures of physics education in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. The relative strength of students from Bosnia and Herzegovina showed to be mainly associated with the topic area 'Electricity and magnetism'. Classes of items which required the knowledge of experimental method, counterintuitive thinking, proportional reasoning and/or the use of complex knowledge structures proved to be differentially easier for students from Slovenia. In the light of the presented results, the common practice of ranking countries with respect to universally established cognitive categories seems to be potentially misleading.

  7. Cultural Identification and Academic Achievement among African American Males

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Irving, Miles Anthony; Hudley, Cynthia

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated the relationship between intercultural perceptions, identity, and academic achievement among African American males. Specifically, this study investigated the relationship of academic achievement, cultural mistrust, oppositional cultural attitudes, ethnic identity development and educational outcome expectations and value,…

  8. Student-generated questions during chemistry lectures: Patterns, self-appraisals, and relations with motivational beliefs and achievement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bergey, Bradley W.

    Self-generated questions are a central mechanism for learning, yet students' questions are often infrequent during classroom instruction. As a result, little is known about the nature of student questioning during typical instructional contexts such as listening to a lecture, including the extent and nature of student-generated questions, how students evaluate their questions, and the relations among questions, motivations, and achievement. This study examined the questions undergraduate students (N = 103) generated during 8 lectures in an introductory chemistry course. Students recorded and appraised their question in daily question logs and reported lecture-specific self-efficacy beliefs. Self-efficacy, personal interest, goal orientations, and other motivational self-beliefs were measured before and after the unit. Primary analyses included testing path models, multiple regressions, and latent class analyses. Overall, results indicated that several characteristics of student questioning during lectures were significantly related to various motivations and achievement. Higher end-of-class self-efficacy was associated with fewer procedural questions and more questions that reflected smaller knowledge deficits. Lower exam scores were associated with questions reflecting broader knowledge deficits and students' appraisals that their questions had less value for others than for themselves. Individual goal orientations collectively and positively predicted question appraisals. The questions students generated and their relations with motivational variables and achievement are discussed in light of the learning task and academic context.

  9. A community support program for children with autism and their typically developing siblings: Initial investigation.

    PubMed

    Kryzak, Lauren A; Cengher, Mirela; Feeley, Kathleen M; Fienup, Daniel M; Jones, Emily A

    2015-06-01

    Siblings are a critical part of lifelong support for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). But siblings face their own social-emotional adjustment needs. These needs may be addressed through programs that include support groups specifically for the siblings. This study examined the effects of a community program on typical siblings' depression, anxiety, ASD knowledge, and peer network as well as reciprocal interactions between the typical sibling and sibling with ASD. The program provided a sibling support group, a skills intervention for children with ASD, and an inclusive recreation time. Siblings reported significant decreases in depression and physiological anxiety and improvements in their peer network. Autism knowledge increased but only approached significance. Direct observations revealed improvement in reciprocal interactions by most children that did not reach statistical significance. Parents, typical siblings, and interventionists indicated positive reactions to the program and its goals and outcomes. Findings are discussed in terms of the need to continue to explore interventions for siblings of children with ASD. © The Author(s) 2014.

  10. Complement Coercion: The Joint Effects of Type and Typicality.

    PubMed

    Zarcone, Alessandra; McRae, Ken; Lenci, Alessandro; Padó, Sebastian

    2017-01-01

    Complement coercion ( begin a book → reading ) involves a type clash between an event-selecting verb and an entity-denoting object, triggering a covert event ( reading ). Two main factors involved in complement coercion have been investigated: the semantic type of the object (event vs. entity), and the typicality of the covert event ( the author began a book → writing ). In previous research, reading times have been measured at the object. However, the influence of the typicality of the subject-object combination on processing an aspectual verb such as begin has not been studied. Using a self-paced reading study, we manipulated semantic type and subject-object typicality, exploiting German word order to measure reading times at the aspectual verb. These variables interacted at the target verb. We conclude that both type and typicality probabilistically guide expectations about upcoming input. These results are compatible with an expectation-based view of complement coercion and language comprehension more generally in which there is rapid interaction between what is typically viewed as linguistic knowledge, and what is typically viewed as domain general knowledge about how the world works.

  11. Complement Coercion: The Joint Effects of Type and Typicality

    PubMed Central

    Zarcone, Alessandra; McRae, Ken; Lenci, Alessandro; Padó, Sebastian

    2017-01-01

    Complement coercion (begin a book →reading) involves a type clash between an event-selecting verb and an entity-denoting object, triggering a covert event (reading). Two main factors involved in complement coercion have been investigated: the semantic type of the object (event vs. entity), and the typicality of the covert event (the author began a book →writing). In previous research, reading times have been measured at the object. However, the influence of the typicality of the subject–object combination on processing an aspectual verb such as begin has not been studied. Using a self-paced reading study, we manipulated semantic type and subject–object typicality, exploiting German word order to measure reading times at the aspectual verb. These variables interacted at the target verb. We conclude that both type and typicality probabilistically guide expectations about upcoming input. These results are compatible with an expectation-based view of complement coercion and language comprehension more generally in which there is rapid interaction between what is typically viewed as linguistic knowledge, and what is typically viewed as domain general knowledge about how the world works. PMID:29225585

  12. Characterisation of lab in typical Salento Pecorino cheese.

    PubMed

    Cappello, M S; Laddomada, B; Poltronieri, P; Zacheo, G

    2001-01-01

    Twenty-nine strains of Lactic Acid Bacteria isolated from the typical Pecorino cheese of the Salento area of Italy, were identified and grouped according to their genetic similarity. A preliminary characterisation of the strains was conducted by means of morphological and biochemical analysis, but molecular approaches were necessary for the clear identification of the species. For the species detection, the amplification and sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene was employed In addition, restriction analysis of amplified rDNA (ARDRA) and PCR and AFLP fingerprinting enabled inter- and intra-specific variation to be estimated UPGMA cluster analysis was used to divide the strains into distinct clusters which corresponded with the species delineation obtained by molecular identification. The data obtained show that the community of lactobacilli responsible for the fermentation and aging of Pecorino cheese is composed of a limited number of species. The main identified strains were Lactobacillus brevis, L. plantarum, L. casei, L. sakei, L. pentosus, L. farciminis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides.

  13. “Whatever I have, I have made by coming into this profession”: The intersection of resources, agency, and achievements in pathways to sex work in Kolkata, India

    PubMed Central

    Swendeman, Dallas; Fehrenbacher, Anne E.; Ali, Samira; George, Sheba; Mindry, Deborah; Collins, Mallory; Ghose, Toorjo; Dey, Bharati

    2015-01-01

    This paper investigates the complex interplay of choice, socio-economic structural factors, and empowerment influencing engagement in sex work. The analysis is focused on pathways into and reasons for staying in sex work from in-depth qualitative interviews with participants (n=37) recruited from the Durbar community-led structural intervention in Kolkata, India. Kabeer’s theory of empowerment focused on resources, agency, and achievements is utilized to interpret the results. Results identify that contexts of disempowerment constraining resources and agency set the stage for initiating sex work, typically due to familial poverty, loss of a father or husband as a breadwinner, and lack of economic opportunities for women in India. Labor force participation in informal sectors was common, specifically in domestic, construction, and manufacturing work, but was typically insufficient to provide for families and also often contingent on sexual favors. The availability of an urban market for sex work served as a catalyst or resource, in conjunction with Durbar’s programmatic resources, for women to find and exercise agency and achieve financial and personal autonomy not possible in other work or as dependents on male partners. Resources lost in becoming a sex worker due to stigma, discrimination, and rejection by family and communities were compensated for by achievements in gaining financial and social resources, personal autonomy and independence, and the ability to support children and extended family. Durbar’s programs and activities (e.g., savings and lending cooperative, community mobilization, advocacy) function as empowering resources that are tightly linked to sex workers’ agency, achievements, and sex work pathways. PMID:25583373

  14. Improved specific energy Ni-H2 cell

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miller, L. E.

    1985-12-01

    Significant improvements in specific energy for Ni-H2 battery cells have been and will be achieved. Current flight cell designs in operation on multiple satellites have achieved a specific energy of 52 Whr/Kg (this value may be compared to 45 Whr/Kg for advanced, light-weight Ni-Cd space cells). Battery cells operating at increased pressures (61 atm/900 psi) have been manufactured and successfully tested demonstrating a specific energy of 70 Whr/Kg. Further optimization of electrode substrate, pressure vessel wall thickness and cell terminal/conductor assembly designs will permit achievement of specific energies between 75-80 Whr/Kg. Energy density (outline volume) will be improved from 49 Whr/L to 79 Whr/L.

  15. Effects of Stress Typicality during Speeded Grammatical Classification

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arciuli, Joanne; Cupples, Linda

    2003-01-01

    The experiments reported here were designed to investigate the influence of stress typicality during speeded grammatical classification of disyllabic English words by native and non-native speakers. Trochaic nouns and iambic verbs were considered to be typically stressed, whereas iambic nouns and trochaic verbs were considered to be atypically…

  16. Subitizing and Counting in Typical and Atypical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schleifer, Patrick; Landerl, Karin

    2011-01-01

    Enumeration performance in standard dot counting paradigms was investigated for different age groups with typical and atypically poor development of arithmetic skills. Experiment 1 showed a high correspondence between response times and saccadic frequencies for four age groups with typical development. Age differences were more marked for the…

  17. Precautionary measures reduce risk of definite neuroleptic malignant syndrome in newly typical neuroleptic-treated schizophrenia inpatients.

    PubMed

    Shiloh, Roni; Valevski, Avi; Bodinger, Liron; Misgav, Sagit; Aizenberg, Dov; Dorfman-Etrog, Pnina; Weizman, Abraham; Munitz, Hanan

    2003-05-01

    Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is a potentially lethal antipsychotic drug (APD)-induced thermoregulatory disturbance. We hypothesized that several precautionary measures taken after administeration of APDs might prevent progression to definite NMS. The study group included 657 consecutively admitted drug-free schizophrenia inpatients who received various typical APDs for 28 days. Specific predefined precautionary measures were employed for this group. The comparison group (n=192) consisted of typical APD-treated schizophrenia inpatients in whom such precautionary measures were not imposed. The study group exhibited a significantly lower incidence of definite NMS (1/657=0.2% versus 4/192=2.1%; P=0.01, odds ratio=13.96; 95% confidence interval 1.55-125.63). Antipsychotics were discontinued in 28 patients (28/657=4.3%) from the study group due to NMS (n=1) or early detection of potential NMS-related signs (probable abortive NMS) (n=27). Our findings suggest that specific precautionary measures can effectively reduce the incidence of definite NMS by approximately one order in newly medicated schizophrenia inpatients.

  18. Relationships among Taiwanese Children's Computer Game Use, Academic Achievement and Parental Governing Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeh, Duen-Yian; Cheng, Ching-Hsue

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the relationships among children's computer game use, academic achievement and parental governing approach to propose probable answers for the doubts of Taiwanese parents. 355 children (ages 11-14) were randomly sampled from 20 elementary schools in a typically urbanised county in Taiwan. Questionnaire survey (five questions)…

  19. Uncinate fasciculus fractional anisotropy correlates with typical use of reappraisal in women but not men.

    PubMed

    Zuurbier, Lisette A; Nikolova, Yuliya S; Ahs, Fredrik; Hariri, Ahmad R

    2013-06-01

    Emotion regulation refers to strategies through which individuals influence their experience and expression of emotions. Two typical strategies are reappraisal, a cognitive strategy for reframing the context of an emotional experience, and suppression, a behavioral strategy for inhibiting emotional responses. Functional neuroimaging studies have revealed that regions of the prefrontal cortex modulate amygdala reactivity during both strategies, but relatively greater downregulation of the amygdala occurs during reappraisal. Moreover, these studies demonstrated that engagement of this modulatory circuitry varies as a function of gender. The uncinate fasciculus is a major structural pathway connecting regions of the anterior temporal lobe, including the amygdala to inferior frontal regions, especially the orbitofrontal cortex. The objective of the current study was to map variability in the structural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus onto individual differences in self-reported typical use of reappraisal and suppression. Diffusion tensor imaging was used in 194 young adults to derive regional fractional anisotropy values for the right and left uncinate fasciculus. All participants also completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. In women but not men, self-reported typical reappraisal use was positively correlated with fractional anisotropy values in a region of the left uncinate fasciculus within the orbitofrontal cortex. In contrast, typical use of suppression was not significantly correlated with fractional anisotropy in any region of the uncinate fasciculus in either men or women. Our data suggest that in women typical reappraisal use is specifically related to the integrity of white matter pathways linking the amygdala and prefrontal cortex.

  20. UNCINATE FASCICULUS FRACTIONAL ANISOTROPY CORRELATES WITH TYPICAL USE OF REAPPRAISAL IN WOMEN BUT NOT MEN

    PubMed Central

    Zuurbier, Lisette A.; Nikolova, Yuliya S.; Ahs, Fredrik; Hariri, Ahmad R.

    2014-01-01

    Emotion regulation refers to strategies through which individuals influence their experience and expression of emotions. Two typical strategies are reappraisal, a cognitive strategy for reframing the context of an emotional experience, and suppression, a behavioral strategy for inhibiting emotional responses. Functional neuroimaging studies have revealed that regions of the prefrontal cortex modulate amygdala reactivity during both strategies, but relatively greater down-regulation of the amygdala occurs during reappraisal. Moreover, these studies demonstrated that engagement of this modulatory circuitry varies as a function of gender. The uncinate fasciculus is a major structural pathway connecting regions of the anterior temporal lobe, including the amygdala, to inferior frontal regions, especially the orbitofrontal cortex. The objective of the current study was to map variability in the structural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus onto individual differences in self-reported typical use of reappraisal and suppression. Diffusion tensor imaging was used in 194 young adults to derive regional fractional anisotropy values for the right and left uncinate fasciculus. All participants also completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. In women but not men, self-reported typical reappraisal use was positively correlated with fractional anisotropy values in a region of the left uncinate fasciculus within the orbitofrontal cortex. In contrast, typical use of suppression was not significantly correlated with fractional anisotropy in any region of the uncinate fasciculus in either men or women. Our data suggest that in women typical reappraisal use is specifically related to the integrity of white matter pathways linking the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. PMID:23398586

  1. Behaviours and influence factors of radon progeny in three typical dwellings.

    PubMed

    Li, Hongzhao; Zhang, Lei; Guo, Qiuju

    2011-03-01

    To investigate the behaviours and influence factors of radon progeny in rural dwellings in China, site measurements of radon equilibrium factor, unattached fraction and some important indoor environmental factors, such as aerosol concentration, aerosol size distribution and ventilation rate, were carried out in three typical types of dwellings, and a theoretical study was also performed synchronously. Good consistency between the results of site measurements and the theoretical calculation on equilibrium factor F and unattached fraction f(p) was achieved. Lower equilibrium factor and higher unattached fraction in mud or cave houses were found compared to those in brick houses, and it was suggested by the theoretical study that the smaller aerosol size distribution in mud or cave houses might be the main reason for what was observed. The dose conversion factor in the mud houses and the cave houses may be higher than that in brick houses.

  2. Stereotype threat's effect on women's achievement in chemistry: The interaction of achievement goal orientation for women in science majors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Conway-Klaassen, Janice Marjorie

    "Stereotype threat is being at risk of confirming, as a self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group" (C. M. Steele & Aronson, 1995, p. 797). A stereotype threat effect then is described as the detrimental impact on a person's performance or achievement measurements when they are placed in a stereotype threat environment. For women, the negative stereotype that exists in our culture states that women are typically not as capable as men in mathematics or science subjects. This study specifically explored the potential impact of stereotype threat on women who have chosen a science-based college major. They were tested in the domain of chemistry, which is related to mathematics and often involves high level of mathematics skills. I attempted to generate a stereotype threat in the participants through describing a chemistry challenge exam as either one that had consistently shown a gender bias against women and to create a nullification effect by describing the exam as one that had shown no gender bias in the past. In the third experimental condition acting as a control, participants received only generic instructions related to taking the test itself. The second part of this study investigated whether stereotype threat effects could impact women's achievement goal orientations. In previous studies performance avoidance goal orientations have been associated with individuals placed in a stereotype threat environment. The findings on the stereotype threat effect were not significant for the chemistry challenge test achievement scores. This may be due to several factors. One factor may be the design of the chemistry challenge test and the instructions for the test. The other factor may be the women in this study. As individuals who have chosen a science based major, they may have developed coping skills and strategies that reduced the impact of a stereotype threat. It is also possible that the testing environment itself generated an implicit stereotype

  3. Idaho Region IV Fourth-Grade Teachers' Perceptions about the Educational Influence of Idaho State Achievement Standards and the Idaho State Achievement Tests

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wiggins, Annette Marie

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore Idaho Region IV fourth-grade teachers' perceptions regarding the educational influence of Idaho State Achievement Standards and the Idaho Standards Achievement Tests (ISAT) in language usage, reading, and math. Differences between subgroups based on teacher/school demographics, specifically, teachers'…

  4. The Neurocognitive Architecture of Individual Differences in Math Anxiety in Typical Children.

    PubMed

    Hartwright, Charlotte E; Looi, Chung Yen; Sella, Francesco; Inuggi, Alberto; Santos, Flávia Heloísa; González-Salinas, Carmen; Santos, Jose M García; Kadosh, Roi Cohen; Fuentes, Luis J

    2018-05-31

    Math Anxiety (MA) is characterized by a negative emotional response when facing math-related situations. MA is distinct from general anxiety and can emerge during primary education. Prior studies typically comprise adults and comparisons between high- versus low-MA, where neuroimaging work has focused on differences in network activation between groups when completing numerical tasks. The present study used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to identify the structural brain correlates of MA in a sample of 79 healthy children aged 7-12 years. Given that MA is thought to develop in later primary education, the study focused on the level of MA, rather than categorically defining its presence. Using a battery of cognitive- and numerical-function tasks, we identified that increased MA was associated with reduced attention, working memory and math achievement. VBM highlighted that increased MA was associated with reduced grey matter in the left anterior intraparietal sulcus. This region was also associated with attention, suggesting that baseline differences in morphology may underpin attentional differences. Future studies should clarify whether poorer attentional capacity due to reduced grey matter density results in the later emergence of MA. Further, our data highlight the role of working memory in propagating reduced math achievement in children with higher MA.

  5. What Teacher Characteristics Affect Student Achievement? Findings from Los Angeles Public Schools. Research Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Giglio, Kate

    2010-01-01

    Teacher effectiveness is typically measured by traditional teacher qualification standards, such as experience, education, and scores on licensure examinations. RAND researchers found no evidence that these standards have a substantial effect on student achievement in Los Angeles public elementary, middle, and high schools. Alternative measures of…

  6. 12 CFR 408.6 - Typical classes of action.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Typical classes of action. 408.6 Section 408.6 Banks and Banking EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES PROCEDURES FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT Eximbank Implementing Procedures § 408.6 Typical classes of action. (a) Section 1507.3...

  7. Face Recognition Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders Are Both Domain Specific and Process Specific

    PubMed Central

    Weigelt, Sarah; Koldewyn, Kami; Kanwisher, Nancy

    2013-01-01

    Although many studies have reported face identity recognition deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), two fundamental question remains: 1) Is this deficit “process specific” for face memory in particular, or does it extend to perceptual discrimination of faces as well? And 2) Is the deficit “domain specific” for faces, or is it found more generally for other social or even nonsocial stimuli? The answers to these questions are important both for understanding the nature of autism and its developmental etiology, and for understanding the functional architecture of face processing in the typical brain. Here we show that children with ASD are impaired (compared to age and IQ-matched typical children) in face memory, but not face perception, demonstrating process specificity. Further, we find no deficit for either memory or perception of places or cars, indicating domain specificity. Importantly, we further showed deficits in both the perception and memory of bodies, suggesting that the relevant domain of deficit may be social rather than specifically facial. These results provide a more precise characterization of the cognitive phenotype of autism and further indicate a functional dissociation between face memory and face perception. PMID:24040276

  8. Transcriptome Analysis in Tardigrade Species Reveals Specific Molecular Pathways for Stress Adaptations

    PubMed Central

    Förster, Frank; Beisser, Daniela; Grohme, Markus A.; Liang, Chunguang; Mali, Brahim; Siegl, Alexander Matthias; Engelmann, Julia C.; Shkumatov, Alexander V.; Schokraie, Elham; Müller, Tobias; Schnölzer, Martina; Schill, Ralph O.; Frohme, Marcus; Dandekar, Thomas

    2012-01-01

    Tardigrades have unique stress-adaptations that allow them to survive extremes of cold, heat, radiation and vacuum. To study this, encoded protein clusters and pathways from an ongoing transcriptome study on the tardigrade Milnesium tardigradum were analyzed using bioinformatics tools and compared to expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from Hypsibius dujardini, revealing major pathways involved in resistance against extreme environmental conditions. ESTs are available on the Tardigrade Workbench along with software and databank updates. Our analysis reveals that RNA stability motifs for M. tardigradum are different from typical motifs known from higher animals. M. tardigradum and H. dujardini protein clusters and conserved domains imply metabolic storage pathways for glycogen, glycolipids and specific secondary metabolism as well as stress response pathways (including heat shock proteins, bmh2, and specific repair pathways). Redox-, DNA-, stress- and protein protection pathways complement specific repair capabilities to achieve the strong robustness of M. tardigradum. These pathways are partly conserved in other animals and their manipulation could boost stress adaptation even in human cells. However, the unique combination of resistance and repair pathways make tardigrades and M. tardigradum in particular so highly stress resistant. PMID:22563243

  9. Transcriptome analysis in tardigrade species reveals specific molecular pathways for stress adaptations.

    PubMed

    Förster, Frank; Beisser, Daniela; Grohme, Markus A; Liang, Chunguang; Mali, Brahim; Siegl, Alexander Matthias; Engelmann, Julia C; Shkumatov, Alexander V; Schokraie, Elham; Müller, Tobias; Schnölzer, Martina; Schill, Ralph O; Frohme, Marcus; Dandekar, Thomas

    2012-01-01

    Tardigrades have unique stress-adaptations that allow them to survive extremes of cold, heat, radiation and vacuum. To study this, encoded protein clusters and pathways from an ongoing transcriptome study on the tardigrade Milnesium tardigradum were analyzed using bioinformatics tools and compared to expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from Hypsibius dujardini, revealing major pathways involved in resistance against extreme environmental conditions. ESTs are available on the Tardigrade Workbench along with software and databank updates. Our analysis reveals that RNA stability motifs for M. tardigradum are different from typical motifs known from higher animals. M. tardigradum and H. dujardini protein clusters and conserved domains imply metabolic storage pathways for glycogen, glycolipids and specific secondary metabolism as well as stress response pathways (including heat shock proteins, bmh2, and specific repair pathways). Redox-, DNA-, stress- and protein protection pathways complement specific repair capabilities to achieve the strong robustness of M. tardigradum. These pathways are partly conserved in other animals and their manipulation could boost stress adaptation even in human cells. However, the unique combination of resistance and repair pathways make tardigrades and M. tardigradum in particular so highly stress resistant.

  10. Typical and atypical metastatic sites of recurrent endometrial carcinoma

    PubMed Central

    Krajewski, Katherine M.; Jagannathan, Jyothi; Giardino, Angela; Berlin, Suzanne; Ramaiya, Nikhil

    2013-01-01

    Abstract The purpose of this article is to illustrate the imaging findings of typical and atypical metastatic sites of recurrent endometrial carcinoma. Typical sites include local pelvic recurrence, pelvic and para-aortic nodes, peritoneum, and lungs. Atypical sites include extra-abdominal lymph nodes, liver, adrenals, brain, bones and soft tissue. It is important for radiologists to recognize the typical and atypical sites of metastases in patients with recurrent endometrial carcinoma to facilitate earlier diagnosis and treatment. PMID:23545091

  11. The Effects of Concealing Academic Achievement Information on Adolescents' Self-Concept

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Baoshan; Wang, Mo; Li, Juan; Yu, Guoliang; Bi, Yan-Ling

    2011-01-01

    Using an experimental design, the effect of concealing academic achievement information on adolescents' self-concept was examined in the current study. Specifically, adolescents with low academic achievement and adolescents with average to high academic achievement (N = 129) were randomly assigned to different interview contexts wherein…

  12. Sequence-specific procedural learning deficits in children with specific language impairment.

    PubMed

    Hsu, Hsinjen Julie; Bishop, Dorothy V M

    2014-05-01

    This study tested the procedural deficit hypothesis of specific language impairment (SLI) by comparing children's performance in two motor procedural learning tasks and an implicit verbal sequence learning task. Participants were 7- to 11-year-old children with SLI (n = 48), typically developing age-matched children (n = 20) and younger typically developing children matched for receptive grammar (n = 28). In a serial reaction time task, the children with SLI performed at the same level as the grammar-matched children, but poorer than age-matched controls in learning motor sequences. When tested with a motor procedural learning task that did not involve learning sequential relationships between discrete elements (i.e. pursuit rotor), the children with SLI performed comparably with age-matched children and better than younger grammar-matched controls. In addition, poor implicit learning of word sequences in a verbal memory task (the Hebb effect) was found in the children with SLI. Together, these findings suggest that SLI might be characterized by deficits in learning sequence-specific information, rather than generally weak procedural learning. © 2014 The Authors. Developmental Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. Optimizing regional collaborative efforts to achieve long-term discipline-specific objectives

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Current funding programs focused on multi-disciplinary, multi-agency approaches to regional issues can provide opportunities to address discipline-specific advancements in scientific knowledge. Projects funded through the Agricultural Research Service, Joint Fire Science Program, and the Natural Re...

  14. ABCC6 mutations and early onset stroke: Two cases of a typical Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum.

    PubMed

    Bertamino, Marta; Severino, Mariasavina; Grossi, Alice; Rusmini, Marta; Tortora, Domenico; Gandolfo, Carlo; Pederzoli, Silvia; Malattia, Clara; Picco, Paolo; Striano, Pasquale; Ceccherini, Isabella; Di Rocco, Maja

    2018-04-12

    Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by fragmented and mineralized elastic fibers in the mid-dermis of the skin, eye, digestive tract and cardiovascular system. Clinical presentation includes typical skin lesions, ocular angioid streaks, and multisystem vasculopathy. The age of onset varies considerably from infancy to old age, but the diagnosis is usually made in young adults due to frequent absence of pathognomonic skin and ocular manifestations in early childhood. We report two children with PXE presenting with isolated multisystem vasculopathy and early-onset stroke. In the first patient, diagnosis was delayed until typical dermatologic alterations appeared; in the second patient, next-generation sequencing (NGS) study led to early diagnosis and specific follow-up, underlying the crucial role in idiopathic pediatric stroke of early genetic testing using NGS-based panels. Copyright © 2018 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. The Development of Complex Sentence Interpretation in Typically Developing Children Compared with Children with Specific Language Impairments or Early Unilateral Focal Lesions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dick, Frederic; Wulfeck, Beverly; Krupa-Kwiatkowski, Magda; Bates, Elizabeth

    2004-01-01

    This study compared sentence comprehension skills in typically developing children 5-17 years of age, children with language impairment (LI) and children with focal brain injuries (FL) acquired in the pre/perinatal period. Participants were asked to process sentences "on-line", choosing the agent in sentences that varied in syntactic complexity…

  16. Identity status and academic achievement in female adolescents.

    PubMed

    Hummel, R; Roselli, L L

    1983-01-01

    Theories of Erikson and Marcia were applied to assess the relation between identity status and academic achievement in female adolescents. The differences in identity status between bright high achieving vs. underachieving students were ascertained separately for occupational planning, attitudes toward religion, and peer relations. It was hypothesized that the component of identity most closely linked to high achievement in school is having made commitments to certain goals and values. It was found instead that experiencing and working through crises in beliefs and values are more closely associated with successful academic achievement and formation of identity among adolescent girls than having made specific commitments to career or ideology.

  17. Functional MRI registration with tissue-specific patch-based functional correlation tensors.

    PubMed

    Zhou, Yujia; Zhang, Han; Zhang, Lichi; Cao, Xiaohuan; Yang, Ru; Feng, Qianjin; Yap, Pew-Thian; Shen, Dinggang

    2018-06-01

    Population studies of brain function with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) rely on accurate intersubject registration of functional areas. This is typically achieved through registration using high-resolution structural images with more spatial details and better tissue contrast. However, accumulating evidence has suggested that such strategy cannot align functional regions well because functional areas are not necessarily consistent with anatomical structures. To alleviate this problem, a number of registration algorithms based directly on rs-fMRI data have been developed, most of which utilize functional connectivity (FC) features for registration. However, most of these methods usually extract functional features only from the thin and highly curved cortical grey matter (GM), posing great challenges to accurate estimation of whole-brain deformation fields. In this article, we demonstrate that additional useful functional features can also be extracted from the whole brain, not restricted to the GM, particularly the white-matter (WM), for improving the overall functional registration. Specifically, we quantify local anisotropic correlation patterns of the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals using tissue-specific patch-based functional correlation tensors (ts-PFCTs) in both GM and WM. Functional registration is then performed by integrating the features from different tissues using the multi-channel large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (mLDDMM) algorithm. Experimental results show that our method achieves superior functional registration performance, compared with conventional registration methods. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  18. Self-Regulatory Speech during Planning and Problem-Solving in Children with SLI and Their Typically Developing Peers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abdul Aziz, Safiyyah; Fletcher, Janet; Bayliss, Donna M.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Past research with children with specific language impairment (SLI) has shown them to have poorer planning and problem-solving ability, and delayed self-regulatory speech (SRS) relative to their typically developing (TD) peers. However, the studies are few in number and are restricted in terms of the number and age range of…

  19. Achievement emotions in elementary, middle, and high school: how do students feel about specific contexts in terms of settings and subject-domains?

    PubMed

    Raccanello, Daniela; Brondino, Margherita; De Bernardi, Bianca

    2013-12-01

    The present work investigates students' representation of achievement emotions, focusing in context-specific situations in terms of settings and subject-domains, as a function of grade level. We involved 527 fourth-, seventh-, and eleventh-graders, who evaluated ten discrete emotions through questionnaires, with reference to verbal language and mathematics, and different settings (class, homework, tests). Confirmatory multitrait-multimethod analyses indicated higher salience of subject-domains rather than settings for all the emotions; however, complexity of reality was best explained when also settings were accounted for. Analyses of variance revealed higher intensity of positive emotions for younger students, and the opposite pattern for older students; significant differences for most of the emotions based on the evaluative nature of settings, moderated by class levels; more intense positive emotions for mathematics and more intense negative emotions for Italian. Results are discussed considering their theoretical and applied relevance, corroborating previous literature on domain-specificity. © 2013 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

  20. [Comparison of efficacy of tests for differentiation of typical and atypical strains of Yersinia pestis and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis].

    PubMed

    Arsen'eva, T E; Lebedeva, S A; Trukhachev, A L; Vasil'eva, E A; Ivanova, V S; Bozhko, N V

    2010-01-01

    To characterize species specificity of officially recommended tests for differentiation of Yersiniapestis and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and propose additional tests allowing for more accurate identification. Natural, laboratory and typical strains oftwo Yersinia species were studied using microbiological, molecular and biochemical methods. For PCR species-specific primers complementary to certain fragments of chromosomal DNA of each species as well as to several plasmid genes of Y. pestis were used. It was shown that such attributes of Y. pestis as form of colonies, fermentation ofrhamnose, melibiose and urea, susceptibility to diagnostic phages, nutritional requirements could be lost in pestis bacterial species or detected in pseudotuberculosis species. Such attribute as mobility as well as positive result of CoA-reaction on fraction V antigen are more reliable. Guaranteed differentiation of typical and changed according to differential tests strains is provided only by PCR-analysis with primers vlml2for/ISrev216 and JS respectively, which are homologous to certain chromosome fragments of one of two Yersinia species.

  1. The Empathizing-Systemizing Theory, Social Abilities, and Mathematical Achievement in Children

    PubMed Central

    Escovar, Emily; Rosenberg-Lee, Miriam; Uddin, Lucina Q.; Menon, Vinod

    2016-01-01

    The Empathizing-Systemizing (E-S) theory describes a profile of traits that have been linked to autism spectrum disorders, and are thought to encompass a continuum that includes typically developing (TD) individuals. Although systemizing is hypothesized to be related to mathematical abilities, empirical support for this relationship is lacking. We examine the link between empathizing and systemizing tendencies and mathematical achievement in 112 TD children (57 girls) to elucidate how socio-cognitive constructs influence early development of mathematical skills. Assessment of mathematical achievement included standardized tests designed to examine calculation skills and conceptual mathematical reasoning. Empathizing and systemizing were assessed using the Combined Empathy Quotient-Child (EQ-C) and Systemizing Quotient-Child (SQ-C). Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that mathematical achievement was not related to systemizing or the discrepancy between systemizing and empathizing. Surprisingly, children with higher empathy demonstrated lower calculation skills. Further analysis using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) revealed that the relationship between EQ-C and mathematical achievement was mediated by social ability rather than autistic behaviors. Finally, social awareness was found to play a differential role in mediating the relationship between EQ-C and mathematical achievement in girls. These results identify empathy, and social skills more generally, as previously unknown predictors of mathematical achievement. PMID:26972835

  2. The Empathizing-Systemizing Theory, Social Abilities, and Mathematical Achievement in Children.

    PubMed

    Escovar, Emily; Rosenberg-Lee, Miriam; Uddin, Lucina Q; Menon, Vinod

    2016-03-14

    The Empathizing-Systemizing (E-S) theory describes a profile of traits that have been linked to autism spectrum disorders, and are thought to encompass a continuum that includes typically developing (TD) individuals. Although systemizing is hypothesized to be related to mathematical abilities, empirical support for this relationship is lacking. We examine the link between empathizing and systemizing tendencies and mathematical achievement in 112 TD children (57 girls) to elucidate how socio-cognitive constructs influence early development of mathematical skills. Assessment of mathematical achievement included standardized tests designed to examine calculation skills and conceptual mathematical reasoning. Empathizing and systemizing were assessed using the Combined Empathy Quotient-Child (EQ-C) and Systemizing Quotient-Child (SQ-C). Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that mathematical achievement was not related to systemizing or the discrepancy between systemizing and empathizing. Surprisingly, children with higher empathy demonstrated lower calculation skills. Further analysis using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) revealed that the relationship between EQ-C and mathematical achievement was mediated by social ability rather than autistic behaviors. Finally, social awareness was found to play a differential role in mediating the relationship between EQ-C and mathematical achievement in girls. These results identify empathy, and social skills more generally, as previously unknown predictors of mathematical achievement.

  3. What's in a Name? Typicality and Relatedness Effects in Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jerger, Susan; Damian, Markus F.

    2005-01-01

    We studied how category typicality and out-of-category relatedness affect speeded category verification (vote ''yes'' if pictured object is clothing) in typically developing 4- to 14-year-olds and adults. Stimuli were typical and atypical category objects (e.g., pants, glove) and related and unrelated out-of-category objects (e.g., necklace,…

  4. Bronchoscopic cryotherapy treatment of isolated endoluminal typical carcinoid tumor.

    PubMed

    Bertoletti, Laurent; Elleuch, Rami; Kaczmarek, David; Jean-François, Rita; Vergnon, Jean Michel

    2006-11-01

    Bronchial typical carcinoid tumors are rare. The "gold standard" treatment is surgery, but there is literature to support bronchoscopic therapy with curative intent. Based on the efficacy of cryotherapy for in situ lung cancer, we studied the safety and efficacy of rigid bronchoscopic treatment with cryotherapy on isolated endoluminal typical carcinoid tumors. All the patients from the Department of Pulmonary Diseases and Thoracic Oncology of St. Etienne University Hospital (France), and of Hôpital Notre Dame, University Hospital of Montreal referred with typical carcinoid were screened. Inclusion criteria included the following: proven typical carcinoid, strictly endoluminal disease amenable to bronchoscopic therapy, and no evidence of lymph node invasion. All patients had a complete removal of the tumor, and all patients received cryotherapy to the implantation base. Twenty-nine patients were screened, and 18 were included. Mean age was 47 years, and study population included 11 women. Median follow-up was 55 months. There was a single recurrence 7 years after the initial bronchoscopic treatment. Cryotherapy is a safe and effective adjunct to endobronchial mechanical resection of typical carcinoids. Unlike other adjuncts that have been proposed, cryotherapy is not associated with long-term complications including bronchial stenosis.

  5. Student Perceptions of High-Achieving Classmates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Händel, Marion; Vialle, Wilma; Ziegler, Albert

    2013-01-01

    The reported study investigated students' perceptions of their high-performing classmates in terms of intelligence, social skills, and conscientiousness in different school subjects. The school subjects for study were examined with regard to cognitive, physical, and gender-specific issues. The results show that high academic achievements in…

  6. Stable same-sex friendships with higher achieving partners promote mathematical reasoning in lower achieving primary school children.

    PubMed

    DeLay, Dawn; Laursen, Brett; Kiuru, Noona; Poikkeus, Anna-Maija; Aunola, Kaisa; Nurmi, Jari-Erik

    2015-11-01

    This study was designed to investigate friend influence over mathematical reasoning in a sample of 374 children in 187 same-sex friend dyads (184 girls in 92 friendships; 190 boys in 95 friendships). Participants completed surveys that measured mathematical reasoning in the 3rd grade (approximately 9 years old) and 1 year later in the 4th grade (approximately 10 years old). Analyses designed for dyadic data (i.e., longitudinal actor-partner interdependence model) indicated that higher achieving friends influenced the mathematical reasoning of lower achieving friends, but not the reverse. Specifically, greater initial levels of mathematical reasoning among higher achieving partners in the 3rd grade predicted greater increases in mathematical reasoning from 3rd grade to 4th grade among lower achieving partners. These effects held after controlling for peer acceptance and rejection, task avoidance, interest in mathematics, maternal support for homework, parental education, length of the friendship, and friendship group norms on mathematical reasoning. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

  7. Stable Same-Sex Friendships with Higher Achieving Partners Promote Mathematical Reasoning in Lower Achieving Primary School Children

    PubMed Central

    DeLay, Dawn; Laursen, Brett; Kiuru, Noona; Poikkeus, Anna-Maija; Aunola, Kaisa; Nurmi, Jari-Erik

    2015-01-01

    This study is designed to investigate friend influence over mathematical reasoning in a sample of 374 children in 187 same-sex friend dyads (184 girls in 92 friendships; 190 boys in 95 friendships). Participants completed surveys that measured mathematical reasoning in the 3rd grade (approximately 9 years old) and one year later in the 4th grade (approximately 10 years old). Analyses designed for dyadic data (i.e., longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Models) indicated that higher achieving friends influenced the mathematical reasoning of lower achieving friends, but not the reverse. Specifically, greater initial levels of mathematical reasoning among higher achieving partners in the 3rd grade predicted greater increases in mathematical reasoning from 3rd grade to 4th grade among lower achieving partners. These effects held after controlling for peer acceptance and rejection, task avoidance, interest in mathematics, maternal support for homework, parental education, length of the friendship, and friendship group norms on mathematical reasoning. PMID:26402901

  8. Surrogate in vitro fertilization outcome in typical and atypical forms of Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome.

    PubMed

    Raziel, A; Friedler, S; Gidoni, Y; Ben Ami, I; Strassburger, D; Ron-El, R

    2012-01-01

    The genital malformations in Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (MRKH) are frequently accompanied by associated malformations whose forms were recently classified as typical (isolated uterovaginal aplasia/hypoplasia) and atypical (the addition of malformations in the ovary or renal system). The aim of this study was to compare the surrogate IVF performance of women with typical and atypical forms including their chances of achieving pregnancy. The follow-up data on a total of 102 cycles of surrogate IVF in 27 MRKH patients treated in our department between 2000 and 2010 were analysed. Twenty patients with the typical form who underwent 72 IVF cycles were compared with seven patients with the atypical form who underwent 30 IVF cycles. The various examined parameters of these intended mothers were age, hormonal profile during controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and laboratory outcome. The mean number of gonadotrophin ampoules needed for stimulation and treatment duration was significantly higher in the atypical form (3600 ± 1297IU for 13 ± 2.3 days versus 2975 ± 967 IU for 11.6 ± 1.6 days, P≤ 0.01). Serum estradiol and progesterone levels measured on the hCG administration day were similar. A significantly higher mean number of follicles 12.6 ± 6 versus 8.9 ± 5.4, P≤ 0.03, metaphase II (MII) oocytes 8.7 ± 5.1 versus 6.7 ± 4.8, P≤ 0.05, fertilizations 6 ± 3.6 versus 4.4 ± 3.3, P≤ 0.03 and cleaving embryos 5.7 ± 3.8 versus 4.1 ± 3.3, P≤ 0.01 were available in patients with the typical form compared with those with the atypical form, respectively. There was no significant difference in fertilization rate, cleavage rate or the mean number of transferred embryos. Embryo quality of the transferred ones and pregnancy rate per cycle were also similar between the two groups. Women with the typical form of MRKH needed fewer gonadotrophins and for a shorter duration for ovarian hyperstimulation. The mean number of follicles, oocytes, MII oocytes

  9. Wildfire risk assessment in a typical Mediterranean wildland-urban interface of Greece.

    PubMed

    Mitsopoulos, Ioannis; Mallinis, Giorgos; Arianoutsou, Margarita

    2015-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to assess spatial wildfire risk in a typical Mediterranean wildland-urban interface (WUI) in Greece and the potential effect of three different burning condition scenarios on the following four major wildfire risk components: burn probability, conditional flame length, fire size, and source-sink ratio. We applied the Minimum Travel Time fire simulation algorithm using the FlamMap and ArcFuels tools to characterize the potential response of the wildfire risk to a range of different burning scenarios. We created site-specific fuel models of the study area by measuring the field fuel parameters in representative natural fuel complexes, and we determined the spatial extent of the different fuel types and residential structures in the study area using photointerpretation procedures of large scale natural color orthophotographs. The results included simulated spatially explicit fire risk components along with wildfire risk exposure analysis and the expected net value change. Statistical significance differences in simulation outputs between the scenarios were obtained using Tukey's significance test. The results of this study provide valuable information for decision support systems for short-term predictions of wildfire risk potential and inform wildland fire management of typical WUI areas in Greece.

  10. Wildfire Risk Assessment in a Typical Mediterranean Wildland-Urban Interface of Greece

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mitsopoulos, Ioannis; Mallinis, Giorgos; Arianoutsou, Margarita

    2015-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to assess spatial wildfire risk in a typical Mediterranean wildland-urban interface (WUI) in Greece and the potential effect of three different burning condition scenarios on the following four major wildfire risk components: burn probability, conditional flame length, fire size, and source-sink ratio. We applied the Minimum Travel Time fire simulation algorithm using the FlamMap and ArcFuels tools to characterize the potential response of the wildfire risk to a range of different burning scenarios. We created site-specific fuel models of the study area by measuring the field fuel parameters in representative natural fuel complexes, and we determined the spatial extent of the different fuel types and residential structures in the study area using photointerpretation procedures of large scale natural color orthophotographs. The results included simulated spatially explicit fire risk components along with wildfire risk exposure analysis and the expected net value change. Statistical significance differences in simulation outputs between the scenarios were obtained using Tukey's significance test. The results of this study provide valuable information for decision support systems for short-term predictions of wildfire risk potential and inform wildland fire management of typical WUI areas in Greece.

  11. Corporate Culture and University Goal Achievement in South-West Zone, Nigeria

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abdulkareem, Rasaq L.; Sheu, Adaramaja A.; Kayode, David J.

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated the relationship between culture and university goal achievement in South west geo-political zone, Nigeria. Specifically, the purpose was to find out the nature of the corporate culture and university goal achievement as well as to determine the relationship between corporate culture and university goal achievement in South…

  12. Extrinsic feedback and upper limb motor skill learning in typically-developing children and children with cerebral palsy: Review.

    PubMed

    Robert, Maxime T; Sambasivan, Krithika; Levin, Mindy F

    2017-01-01

    Improvment of upper limb motor skills occurs through motor learning that can be enhanced by providing extrinsic feedback. Different types and frequencies of feedback are discussed but specific guidelines for use of feedback for motor learning in typically-developing (TD) children and children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) are not available. Identify the most effective modalities and frequencies of feedback for improving upper limb motor skills in TD children and children with CP. Ovid MEDLINE, Cochrane, PEDro and PubMed-NCBI were searched from 1950 to December 2015 to identify English-language articles addressing the role of extrinsic feedback on upper limb motor learning in TD children and children with CP. Nine studies were selected with a total of 243 TD children and 102 children with CP. Study quality was evaluated using the Downs and Black scale and levels of evidence were determined with Sackett's quality ratings. There was a lack of consistency in the modalities and frequencies of feedback delivery used to improve motor learning in TD children and in children with CP. Moreover, the complexity of the task to be learned influenced the degree of motor learning achieved. A better understanding of the influence of feedback on motor learning is needed to optimize motor skill acquisition in children with CP.

  13. Achievement Goals, Reasons for Goal Pursuit, and Achievement Goal Complexes as Predictors of Beneficial Outcomes: Is the Influence of Goals Reducible to Reasons?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sommet, Nicolas; Elliot, Andrew J.

    2017-01-01

    In the present research, we proposed a systematic approach to disentangling the shared and unique variance explained by achievement goals, reasons for goal pursuit, and specific goal-reason combinations (i.e., achievement goal complexes). Four studies using this approach (involving nearly 1,800 participants) led to 3 basic sets of findings. First,…

  14. Achieving global perfect homeostasis through transporter regulation

    PubMed Central

    Springer, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Nutrient homeostasis—the maintenance of relatively constant internal nutrient concentrations in fluctuating external environments—is essential to the survival of most organisms. Transcriptional regulation of plasma membrane transporters by internal nutrient concentrations is typically assumed to be the main mechanism by which homeostasis is achieved. While this mechanism is homeostatic we show that it does not achieve global perfect homeostasis—a condition where internal nutrient concentrations are completely independent of external nutrient concentrations for all external nutrient concentrations. We show that the criterion for global perfect homeostasis is that transporter levels must be inversely proportional to net nutrient flux into the cell and that downregulation of active transporters (activity-dependent regulation) is a simple and biologically plausible mechanism that meets this criterion. Activity-dependent transporter regulation creates a trade-off between robustness and efficiency, i.e., the system's ability to withstand perturbation in external nutrients and the transporter production rate needed to maintain homeostasis. Additionally, we show that a system that utilizes both activity-dependent transporter downregulation and regulation of transporter synthesis by internal nutrient levels can create a system that mitigates the shortcomings of each of the individual mechanisms. This analysis highlights the utility of activity-dependent regulation in achieving homeostasis and calls for a re-examination of the mechanisms of regulation of other homeostatic systems. PMID:28414718

  15. Racial and Social Class Differences in How Parents Respond to Inadequate Achievement: Consequences for Children’s Future Achievement

    PubMed Central

    Robinson, Keith; Harris, Angel L.

    2013-01-01

    Objective Despite numerous studies on parental involvement in children’s academic schooling, there is a dearth of knowledge on how parents respond specifically to inadequate academic performance. This study examines whether 1) racial differences exist in parenting philosophy for addressing inadequate achievement, 2) social class has implications for parenting philosophy, and 3) parents’ philosophies are consequential for children’s academic achievement. Methods Using data from the Child Development Supplement (N=1041) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we sort parents into two categories—those whose parenting repertoires for addressing poor achievement include punitive responses and those whose repertoires do not. We then determine whether racial differences exist between these categories and how various responses within the aforementioned categories are related to students’ academic achievement. Results The findings show that white and black parents have markedly different philosophies on how to respond to inadequate performance, and these differences appear to impact children’s achievement in dramatically different ways. Conclusion Educators and policy makers should pay particular attention to how parents respond to inadequate achievement as imploring parents of inadequately performing students to be more involved without providing them with some guidance might exacerbate the problem. PMID:24563554

  16. Reduced specificity in emotion judgment in people with autism spectrum disorder

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Shuo; Adolphs, Ralph

    2017-01-01

    There is a conflicting literature on facial emotion processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD): both typical and atypical performance have been reported, and inconsistencies in the literature may stem from different processes examined (emotion judgment, face perception, fixations) as well as differences in participant populations. Here we conducted a detailed investigation of the ability to discriminate graded emotions shown in morphs of fear-happy faces, in a well-characterized high-functioning sample of participants with ASD and matched controls. Signal detection approaches were used in the analyses, and concurrent high-resolution eye-tracking was collected. Although people with ASD had typical thresholds for categorical fear and confidence judgments, their psychometric specificity to detect emotions across the entire range of intensities was reduced. However, fixation patterns onto the stimuli were typical and could not account for the reduced specificity of emotion judgment. Together, our results argue for a subtle and specific deficit in emotion perception in ASD that, from a signal detection perspective, is best understood as a reduced specificity due to increased noise in central processing of the face stimuli. PMID:28343960

  17. Effects of Reciprocal Teaching on Reading Comprehension of Low-Achieving Adolescents. The Importance of Specific Teacher Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Okkinga, Mariska; van Steensel, Roel; van Gelderen, Amos J. S.; Sleegers, Peter J. C.

    2018-01-01

    Low-achieving adolescents are known to have difficulties with reading comprehension. This article discusses how reciprocal teaching can improve low-achieving adolescents' reading comprehension in whole-classroom settings (as opposed to small-group settings) and to what extent intervention effects are dependent on teacher behaviour. Over the course…

  18. Preschool predictors of school-age academic achievement in autism spectrum disorder.

    PubMed

    Miller, Lauren E; Burke, Jeffrey D; Troyb, Eva; Knoch, Kelley; Herlihy, Lauren E; Fein, Deborah A

    2017-02-01

    Characterization of academic functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), particularly predictors of achievement, may have important implications for intervention. The current study aimed to characterize achievement profiles, confirm associations between academic ability and concurrent intellectual and social skills, and explore preschool predictors of school-age academic achievement in a sample of children with ASD. Children with ASD (n = 26) were evaluated at the approximate ages of two, four, and ten. Multiple regression was used to predict school-age academic achievement in reading and mathematics from both concurrent (i.e. school-age) and preschool variables. Children with ASD demonstrated a weakness in reading comprehension relative to word reading. There was a smaller difference between mathematics skills; math reasoning was lower than numerical operations, but this did not quite reach trend level significance. Concurrent IQ and social skills were associated with school-age academic achievement across domains. Preschool verbal abilities significantly predicted school-age reading comprehension, above and beyond concurrent IQ, and early motor functioning predicted later math skills. Specific developmental features of early ASD predict specific aspects of school-age achievement. Early intervention targeting language and motor skills may improve later achievement in this population.

  19. Seizure outcomes of temporal lobe epilepsy surgery in patients with normal MRI and without specific histopathology.

    PubMed

    Ivanovic, Jugoslav; Larsson, Pål G; Østby, Ylva; Hald, John; Krossnes, Bård K; Fjeld, Jan G; Pripp, Are H; Alfstad, Kristin Å; Egge, Arild; Stanisic, Milo

    2017-05-01

    Seizure outcome following surgery in pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy patients with normal magnetic resonance imaging and normal or non-specific histopathology is not sufficiently presented in the literature. In a retrospective design, we reviewed data of 263 patients who had undergone temporal lobe epilepsy surgery and identified 26 (9.9%) who met the inclusion criteria. Seizure outcomes were determined at 2-year follow-up. Potential predictors of Engel class I (satisfactory outcome) were identified by logistic regression analyses. Engel class I outcome was achieved in 61.5% of patients, 50% being completely seizure free (Engel class IA outcome). The strongest predictors of satisfactory outcome were typical ictal seizure semiology (p = 0.048) and localised ictal discharges on scalp EEG (p = 0.036). Surgery might be an effective treatment choice for the majority of these patients, although outcomes are less favourable than in patients with magnetic resonance imaging-defined lesional temporal lobe epilepsy. Typical ictal seizure semiology and localised ictal discharges on scalp EEG were predictors of Engel class I outcome.

  20. Measurement of functional capacity requirements of police officers to aid in development of an occupation-specific cardiac rehabilitation training program.

    PubMed

    Adams, Jenny; Schneider, Jonna; Hubbard, Matthew; McCullough-Shock, Tiffany; Cheng, Dunlei; Simms, Kay; Hartman, Julie; Hinton, Paul; Strauss, Danielle

    2010-01-01

    This study was designed to measure the functional capacity of healthy subjects during strenuous simulated police tasks, with the goal of developing occupation-specific training for cardiac rehabilitation of police officers. A calibrated metabolic instrument and an oxygen consumption data collection mask were used to measure the oxygen consumption and heart rates of 30 Dallas Police Academy officers and cadets as they completed an 8-event obstacle course that simulated chasing, subduing, and handcuffing a suspect. Standard target heart rates (85% of age-predicted maximum heart rate, or 0.85 x [220 - age]) and metabolic equivalents (METs) were calculated; a matched-sample t test based on differences between target and achieved heart rate and MET level was used for statistical analysis. Peak heart rates during the obstacle course simulation were significantly higher than the standard target heart rates (those at which treadmill stress tests in physicians' offices are typically stopped) (t(29) = 12.81, P < 0.001) and significantly higher than the suggested maximum of 150 beats/min during cardiac rehabilitation training (t(29) = 17.84, P < 0.001). Peak MET levels during the obstacle course simulation were also significantly higher than the goal level (8 METs) that patients typically achieve in a cardiac rehabilitation program (t(29) = 14.73, P < 0.001). We conclude that police work requires a functional capacity greater than that typically attained in traditional cardiac rehabilitation programs. Rehabilitation professionals should consider performing maximal stress tests and increasing the intensity of cardiac rehabilitation workouts to effectively train police officers who have had a cardiac event.

  1. Mother-child play: children with Down syndrome and typical development.

    PubMed

    Venuti, P; de Falco, S; Esposito, G; Bornstein, Marc H

    2009-07-01

    Child solitary and collaborative mother-child play with 21 children with Down syndrome and 33 mental-age-matched typically developing children were compared. In solitary play, children with Down syndrome showed less exploratory but similar symbolic play compared to typically developing children. From solitary to collaborative play, children with Down syndrome increased their exploratory play, attaining the same level as typically developing children. Pretense significantly increased from solitary to collaborative play only in typically developing children. Differences between mothers' play in the two groups mirrored those between their children. Both groups showed similar attunement and synchrony. Mothers contribute to the play development of children with Down syndrome through their own adaptation to their children's limitations and potentialities.

  2. Can three-dimensional patient-specific cutting guides be used to achieve optimal correction for high tibial osteotomy? Pilot study.

    PubMed

    Munier, M; Donnez, M; Ollivier, M; Flecher, X; Chabrand, P; Argenson, J-N; Parratte, S

    2017-04-01

    Treatment of medial tibiofemoral osteoarthritis with a high-tibial osteotomy (HTO) is most effective when the optimal angular correction is achieved. However, conventional instrumentation is limited when multiplanar correction is needed. Use of patient-specific cutting guides (PSCGs) for HTO provides an accurate correction (difference<2°) relative to the preoperative planning. Between February 2014 and February 2015, 10 patients (mean age: 46 years [range: 31-59]; grade 1 or 2 osteoarthritis in Ahlbäck's classification) were included prospectively in this reliability and safety study. All patients were operated using the same medial opening-wedge osteotomy technique. Preoperative planning was based on long-leg radiographs and CT scans with 3D reconstruction. The PSGCs were used to align the osteotomy cut and position the screw holes for the plate. The desired correction was achieved in the three planes when the holes on the plate were aligned with the holes drilled based on the PSCG. Preoperatively, the mean HKA angle was 171.9° (range: 166-179°), the mean proximal tibial angle was 87° (86-88°) and the mean tibial slope was 7.8° (1-22°). The postoperative correction was compared to the planned correction using 3D CT scan transformations. Intraoperative and postoperative complications were assessed at a minimum follow-up of 1 year. The procedure was successfully carried out in all patients with the PSCGs. On postoperative long-leg radiographs, the mean HKA was 182.3° (180-185°); on the CT scan, the mean tibial mechanical angle was 94° (90-98°) and the mean tibial slope was 7.1° (4-11°). In 19 out of 20 postoperative HKA and slope measurements, the difference between the planned and achieved correction was <2° based on the 3D analysis of the three planes in space; in the other case, the slope was 13° instead of the planned 10°. The intra-class correlation coefficients between the postoperative and planned parameters were 0.98 [0.92-0.99] for

  3. Cognitive and emotional empathy in typical and impaired readers and its relationship to reading competence.

    PubMed

    Gabay, Yafit; Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G; Goldfarb, Liat

    2016-12-01

    Studies indicate a strong relationship between empathy and language skills, but the relationship between reading and empathy remains elusive, although a shared neural substrate (the temporoparietal junction; TPJ) has been implicated in both reading and empathy. Motivated by these observations, the purpose of the current study was to examine empathic skills in a large spectrum of reading abilities, including typical readers and individuals with dyslexia, and their relationship to reading competence. We administered the Intrapersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) test, which differentiates between two subscales of empathy (cognitive and emotional empathy), to a group of participants with dyslexia and typical readers. Results indicate that the general reading score (average z scores of all reading tests) was significantly positively correlated with empathic scores. In addition, tests of specific reading abilities-decoding, reading fluency, and reading-related measures of phonological awareness-were significantly positively correlated with empathic scores. Finally, participants with dyslexia who showed low reading abilities had significantly lower scores in total empathy and cognitive empathy, as measured by the IRI test, than did typical participants with high reading abilities. Taken together, these results indicate a strong association between reading-related skills and empathic abilities and may point to involvement of the TPJ in both empathy and reading.

  4. Extreme Task-Specificity in Writer’s Cramp

    PubMed Central

    Shamim, Ejaz A.; Chu, Jason; Scheider, Linda H.; Savitt, Joseph; Jinnah, H. A.; Hallett, Mark

    2011-01-01

    Background Focal hand dystonia may be task-specific as is the case with writer’s cramp (WC). In early stages, the task-specificity can be so specific that it may be mistaken for a psychogenic movement disorder. Methods We describe four patients who showed extreme task specificity in WC. They initially only had problems writing either a single letter or number. Although they were largely thought to be psychogenic, they progressed to typical WC. Conclusions Early recognition of this condition may provide an opportunity for early initiation of treatment. PMID:21714006

  5. How Much Does Student Engagement with Videos and Forums in a MOOC Affect Their Achievement?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonafini, Fernanda Cesar; Chae, Chungil; Park, Eunsung; Jablokow, Kathryn Weed

    2017-01-01

    Engagement in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is based on students who self-organize their participation according to their own goals and interests. Visual materials such as videos and discussion forums are basic ways of engaging students in MOOCs. Student achievement in MOOCs is typically measured using assessments distributed throughout the…

  6. Cylinder Test Specification

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Richard Catanach; Larry Hill; Herbert Harry

    1999-10-01

    The purpose of the cylinder testis two-fold: (1) to characterize the metal-pushing ability of an explosive relative to that of other explosives as evaluated by the E{sub 19} cylinder energy and the G{sub 19} Gurney energy and (2) to help establish the explosive product equation-of-state (historically, the Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equation). This specification details the material requirements and procedures necessary to assemble and fire a typical Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) cylinder test. Strict adherence to the cylinder. material properties, machining tolerances, material heat-treatment and etching processes, and high explosive machining tolerances is essential for test-to-test consistency and to maximize radialmore » wall expansions. Assembly and setup of the cylinder test require precise attention to detail, especially when placing intricate pin wires on the cylinder wall. The cylinder test is typically fired outdoors and at ambient temperature.« less

  7. Collaborative Problem Solving in Young Typical Development and HFASD

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kimhi, Yael; Bauminger-Zviely, Nirit

    2012-01-01

    Collaborative problem solving (CPS) requires sharing goals/attention and coordinating actions--all deficient in HFASD. Group differences were examined in CPS (HFASD/typical), with a friend versus with a non-friend. Participants included 28 HFASD and 30 typical children aged 3-6 years and their 58 friends and 58 non-friends. Groups were matched on…

  8. Herpes zoster - typical and atypical presentations.

    PubMed

    Dayan, Roy Rafael; Peleg, Roni

    2017-08-01

    Varicella- zoster virus infection is an intriguing medical entity that involves many medical specialties including infectious diseases, immunology, dermatology, and neurology. It can affect patients from early childhood to old age. Its treatment requires expertise in pain management and psychological support. While varicella is caused by acute viremia, herpes zoster occurs after the dormant viral infection, involving the cranial nerve or sensory root ganglia, is re-activated and spreads orthodromically from the ganglion, via the sensory nerve root, to the innervated target tissue (skin, cornea, auditory canal, etc.). Typically, a single dermatome is involved, although two or three adjacent dermatomes may be affected. The lesions usually do not cross the midline. Herpes zoster can also present with unique or atypical clinical manifestations, such as glioma, zoster sine herpete and bilateral herpes zoster, which can be a challenging diagnosis even for experienced physicians. We discuss the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of Herpes Zoster, typical and atypical presentations.

  9. Five Social Disadvantages That Depress Student Performance: Why Schools Alone Can't Close Achievement Gaps. Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morsy, Leila; Rothstein, Richard

    2015-01-01

    That students' social and economic characteristics shape their cognitive and behavioral outcomes is well established, yet policymakers typically resist accepting that non-school disadvantages necessarily depress outcomes. Rather, they look to better schools and teachers to close achievement gaps, and consistently come up short. This report…

  10. Substantial Integration of Typical Educational Games into Extended Curricula

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clark, Douglas B.; Tanner-Smith, Emily; Hostetler, Andrew; Fradkin, Aryah; Polikov, Vadim

    2018-01-01

    Much research focuses on what might be possible with digital games in the classroom. This study focuses on what is currently probable and typical. It uses a controlled quasi-experimental design to compare outcomes for students of 13 teachers in 10 diverse urban, suburban, and rural schools. The teachers integrated a set of 55 typical educational…

  11. Achieving across-laboratory replicability in psychophysical scaling

    PubMed Central

    Ward, Lawrence M.; Baumann, Michael; Moffat, Graeme; Roberts, Larry E.; Mori, Shuji; Rutledge-Taylor, Matthew; West, Robert L.

    2015-01-01

    It is well known that, although psychophysical scaling produces good qualitative agreement between experiments, precise quantitative agreement between experimental results, such as that routinely achieved in physics or biology, is rarely or never attained. A particularly galling example of this is the fact that power function exponents for the same psychological continuum, measured in different laboratories but ostensibly using the same scaling method, magnitude estimation, can vary by a factor of three. Constrained scaling (CS), in which observers first learn a standardized meaning for a set of numerical responses relative to a standard sensory continuum and then make magnitude judgments of other sensations using the learned response scale, has produced excellent quantitative agreement between individual observers’ psychophysical functions. Theoretically it could do the same for across-laboratory comparisons, although this needs to be tested directly. We compared nine different experiments from four different laboratories as an example of the level of across experiment and across-laboratory agreement achievable using CS. In general, we found across experiment and across-laboratory agreement using CS to be significantly superior to that typically obtained with conventional magnitude estimation techniques, although some of its potential remains to be realized. PMID:26191019

  12. Mixotrophic Chlorella sp. UJ-3 cultivation in the typical anaerobic fermentation effluents.

    PubMed

    Huo, Shuhao; Kong, Miao; Zhu, Feifei; Zou, Bin; Wang, Feng; Xu, Ling; Zhang, Cunsheng; Huang, Daming

    2018-02-01

    The growth of mixotrophic Chlorella sp. UJ-3 cultivated in the three typical anaerobic fermentation effluents was investigated in this paper. The results showed that the microalgae grew best under intermediate light intensity for all the types of fermentation effluents. The butyrate type fermentation effluents induced the fastest growth rate for Chlorella sp. UJ-3, with a maximal cell concentration of 3.8×10 7  cells/mL. Under intermediate light intensity, the volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were almost depleted on the fifth day of the cultivation for all the three types of fermentation systems. The ratios of chlorophyll a/b were all increased for the three systems, indicating enhanced energy-capturing capability of the microalgae for photosynthesis after the VFAs were depleted. The highest lipid content was 25.4%dwt achieved in the butyrate type fermentation, and the fatty acid compositions were found to be considerably different for these three types of fermentation systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Methodological Consequences of Situation Specificity: Biases in Assessments

    PubMed Central

    Patry, Jean-Luc

    2011-01-01

    Social research is plagued by many biases. Most of them are due to situation specificity of social behavior and can be explained using a theory of situation specificity. The historical background of situation specificity in personality social psychology research is briefly sketched, then a theory of situation specificity is presented in detail, with as centerpiece the relationship between the behavior and its outcome which can be described as either “the more, the better” or “not too much and not too little.” This theory is applied to reliability and validity of assessments in social research. The distinction between “maximum performance” and “typical performance” is shown to correspond to the two behavior-outcome relations. For maximum performance, issues of reliability and validity are much easier to be solved, whereas typical performance is sensitive to biases, as predicted by the theory. Finally, it is suggested that biases in social research are not just systematic error, but represent relevant features to be explained just as other behavior, and that the respective theories should be integrated into a theory system. PMID:21713072

  14. Achievement Goal Orientations and Identity Formation Styles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaplan, Avi; Flum, Hanoch

    2010-01-01

    The present article points to shared underlying theoretical assumptions and central processes of a prominent academic motivation perspective--achievement goal theory--and recent process perspectives in the identity formation literature, and more specifically, identity formation styles. The review highlights the shared definition of achievement…

  15. Experiencing More Mathematics Anxiety than Expected? Contrasting Trait and State Anxiety in High Achieving Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roos, A.-L.; Bieg, M.; Goetz, T.; Frenzel, A. C.; Taxer, J.; Zeidner, M.

    2015-01-01

    This study examined mathematics anxiety among high and low achieving students (N = 237, grades 9 and 10) by contrasting trait (habitual) and state (momentary) assessments of anxiety. Previous studies have found that trait anxiety measures are typically rated higher than state measures. Furthermore, the academic self-concept has been identified to…

  16. BLOND, a building-level office environment dataset of typical electrical appliances.

    PubMed

    Kriechbaumer, Thomas; Jacobsen, Hans-Arno

    2018-03-27

    Energy metering has gained popularity as conventional meters are replaced by electronic smart meters that promise energy savings and higher comfort levels for occupants. Achieving these goals requires a deeper understanding of consumption patterns to reduce the energy footprint: load profile forecasting, power disaggregation, appliance identification, startup event detection, etc. Publicly available datasets are used to test, verify, and benchmark possible solutions to these problems. For this purpose, we present the BLOND dataset: continuous energy measurements of a typical office environment at high sampling rates with common appliances and load profiles. We provide voltage and current readings for aggregated circuits and matching fully-labeled ground truth data (individual appliance measurements). The dataset contains 53 appliances (16 classes) in a 3-phase power grid. BLOND-50 contains 213 days of measurements sampled at 50kSps (aggregate) and 6.4kSps (individual appliances). BLOND-250 consists of the same setup: 50 days, 250kSps (aggregate), 50kSps (individual appliances). These are the longest continuous measurements at such high sampling rates and fully-labeled ground truth we are aware of.

  17. BLOND, a building-level office environment dataset of typical electrical appliances

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kriechbaumer, Thomas; Jacobsen, Hans-Arno

    2018-03-01

    Energy metering has gained popularity as conventional meters are replaced by electronic smart meters that promise energy savings and higher comfort levels for occupants. Achieving these goals requires a deeper understanding of consumption patterns to reduce the energy footprint: load profile forecasting, power disaggregation, appliance identification, startup event detection, etc. Publicly available datasets are used to test, verify, and benchmark possible solutions to these problems. For this purpose, we present the BLOND dataset: continuous energy measurements of a typical office environment at high sampling rates with common appliances and load profiles. We provide voltage and current readings for aggregated circuits and matching fully-labeled ground truth data (individual appliance measurements). The dataset contains 53 appliances (16 classes) in a 3-phase power grid. BLOND-50 contains 213 days of measurements sampled at 50kSps (aggregate) and 6.4kSps (individual appliances). BLOND-250 consists of the same setup: 50 days, 250kSps (aggregate), 50kSps (individual appliances). These are the longest continuous measurements at such high sampling rates and fully-labeled ground truth we are aware of.

  18. BLOND, a building-level office environment dataset of typical electrical appliances

    PubMed Central

    Kriechbaumer, Thomas; Jacobsen, Hans-Arno

    2018-01-01

    Energy metering has gained popularity as conventional meters are replaced by electronic smart meters that promise energy savings and higher comfort levels for occupants. Achieving these goals requires a deeper understanding of consumption patterns to reduce the energy footprint: load profile forecasting, power disaggregation, appliance identification, startup event detection, etc. Publicly available datasets are used to test, verify, and benchmark possible solutions to these problems. For this purpose, we present the BLOND dataset: continuous energy measurements of a typical office environment at high sampling rates with common appliances and load profiles. We provide voltage and current readings for aggregated circuits and matching fully-labeled ground truth data (individual appliance measurements). The dataset contains 53 appliances (16 classes) in a 3-phase power grid. BLOND-50 contains 213 days of measurements sampled at 50kSps (aggregate) and 6.4kSps (individual appliances). BLOND-250 consists of the same setup: 50 days, 250kSps (aggregate), 50kSps (individual appliances). These are the longest continuous measurements at such high sampling rates and fully-labeled ground truth we are aware of. PMID:29583141

  19. Preschool Predictors of School-Age Academic Achievement in Autism Spectrum Disorder

    PubMed Central

    Miller, Lauren E.; Burke, Jeffrey D.; Troyb, Eva; Knoch, Kelley; Herlihy, Lauren E.; Fein, Deborah A.

    2017-01-01

    Objective Characterization of academic functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), particularly predictors of achievement, may have important implications for intervention. The current study aimed to characterize achievement profiles, confirm associations between academic ability and concurrent intellectual and social skills, and explore preschool predictors of school-age academic achievement in a sample of children with ASD. Method Children with ASD (N = 26) were evaluated at the approximate ages of two, four, and ten years. Multiple regression was used to predict school-age academic achievement in reading and mathematics from both concurrent (i.e., school-age) and preschool variables. Results Children with ASD demonstrated a weakness in reading comprehension relative to word reading. There was a smaller difference between mathematics skills; math reasoning was lower than numerical operations, but this did not quite reach trend level significance. Concurrent IQ and social skills were associated with school-age academic achievement across domains. Preschool verbal abilities significantly predicted school-age reading comprehension, above and beyond concurrent IQ, and early motor functioning predicted later math skills. Conclusions Specific developmental features of early ASD predict specific aspects of school-age achievement. Early intervention targeting language and motor skills may improve later achievement in this population. PMID:27705180

  20. Longitudinal changes in cortical thickness in autism and typical development.

    PubMed

    Zielinski, Brandon A; Prigge, Molly B D; Nielsen, Jared A; Froehlich, Alyson L; Abildskov, Tracy J; Anderson, Jeffrey S; Fletcher, P Thomas; Zygmunt, Kristen M; Travers, Brittany G; Lange, Nicholas; Alexander, Andrew L; Bigler, Erin D; Lainhart, Janet E

    2014-06-01

    The natural history of brain growth in autism spectrum disorders remains unclear. Cross-sectional studies have identified regional abnormalities in brain volume and cortical thickness in autism, although substantial discrepancies have been reported. Preliminary longitudinal studies using two time points and small samples have identified specific regional differences in cortical thickness in the disorder. To clarify age-related trajectories of cortical development, we examined longitudinal changes in cortical thickness within a large mixed cross-sectional and longitudinal sample of autistic subjects and age- and gender-matched typically developing controls. Three hundred and forty-five magnetic resonance imaging scans were examined from 97 males with autism (mean age = 16.8 years; range 3-36 years) and 60 males with typical development (mean age = 18 years; range 4-39 years), with an average interscan interval of 2.6 years. FreeSurfer image analysis software was used to parcellate the cortex into 34 regions of interest per hemisphere and to calculate mean cortical thickness for each region. Longitudinal linear mixed effects models were used to further characterize these findings and identify regions with between-group differences in longitudinal age-related trajectories. Using mean age at time of first scan as a reference (15 years), differences were observed in bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, pars opercularis and pars triangularis, right caudal middle frontal and left rostral middle frontal regions, and left frontal pole. However, group differences in cortical thickness varied by developmental stage, and were influenced by IQ. Differences in age-related trajectories emerged in bilateral parietal and occipital regions (postcentral gyrus, cuneus, lingual gyrus, pericalcarine cortex), left frontal regions (pars opercularis, rostral middle frontal and frontal pole), left supramarginal gyrus, and right transverse temporal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and

  1. Longitudinal changes in cortical thickness in autism and typical development

    PubMed Central

    Prigge, Molly B. D.; Nielsen, Jared A.; Froehlich, Alyson L.; Abildskov, Tracy J.; Anderson, Jeffrey S.; Fletcher, P. Thomas; Zygmunt, Kristen M.; Travers, Brittany G.; Lange, Nicholas; Alexander, Andrew L.; Bigler, Erin D.; Lainhart, Janet E.

    2014-01-01

    The natural history of brain growth in autism spectrum disorders remains unclear. Cross-sectional studies have identified regional abnormalities in brain volume and cortical thickness in autism, although substantial discrepancies have been reported. Preliminary longitudinal studies using two time points and small samples have identified specific regional differences in cortical thickness in the disorder. To clarify age-related trajectories of cortical development, we examined longitudinal changes in cortical thickness within a large mixed cross-sectional and longitudinal sample of autistic subjects and age- and gender-matched typically developing controls. Three hundred and forty-five magnetic resonance imaging scans were examined from 97 males with autism (mean age = 16.8 years; range 3–36 years) and 60 males with typical development (mean age = 18 years; range 4–39 years), with an average interscan interval of 2.6 years. FreeSurfer image analysis software was used to parcellate the cortex into 34 regions of interest per hemisphere and to calculate mean cortical thickness for each region. Longitudinal linear mixed effects models were used to further characterize these findings and identify regions with between-group differences in longitudinal age-related trajectories. Using mean age at time of first scan as a reference (15 years), differences were observed in bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, pars opercularis and pars triangularis, right caudal middle frontal and left rostral middle frontal regions, and left frontal pole. However, group differences in cortical thickness varied by developmental stage, and were influenced by IQ. Differences in age-related trajectories emerged in bilateral parietal and occipital regions (postcentral gyrus, cuneus, lingual gyrus, pericalcarine cortex), left frontal regions (pars opercularis, rostral middle frontal and frontal pole), left supramarginal gyrus, and right transverse temporal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and

  2. Visual Factors Which Affect Reading Achievement.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Flax, Nathan

    The relationship between vision and reading achievement is complex. In this paper, a number of terms relating to vision are defined and some of the limitations of specific measures of vision are discussed. In order to relate vision to reading, it is necessary to segment arbitrarily the continuous process of vision into a series of subsystems, or…

  3. Ensemble perception of emotions in autistic and typical children and adolescents.

    PubMed

    Karaminis, Themelis; Neil, Louise; Manning, Catherine; Turi, Marco; Fiorentini, Chiara; Burr, David; Pellicano, Elizabeth

    2017-04-01

    Ensemble perception, the ability to assess automatically the summary of large amounts of information presented in visual scenes, is available early in typical development. This ability might be compromised in autistic children, who are thought to present limitations in maintaining summary statistics representations for the recent history of sensory input. Here we examined ensemble perception of facial emotional expressions in 35 autistic children, 30 age- and ability-matched typical children and 25 typical adults. Participants received three tasks: a) an 'ensemble' emotion discrimination task; b) a baseline (single-face) emotion discrimination task; and c) a facial expression identification task. Children performed worse than adults on all three tasks. Unexpectedly, autistic and typical children were, on average, indistinguishable in their precision and accuracy on all three tasks. Computational modelling suggested that, on average, autistic and typical children used ensemble-encoding strategies to a similar extent; but ensemble perception was related to non-verbal reasoning abilities in autistic but not in typical children. Eye-movement data also showed no group differences in the way children attended to the stimuli. Our combined findings suggest that the abilities of autistic and typical children for ensemble perception of emotions are comparable on average. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  4. Transcoding abilities in typical and atypical mathematics achievers: the role of working memory and procedural and lexical competencies.

    PubMed

    Moura, Ricardo; Wood, Guilherme; Pinheiro-Chagas, Pedro; Lonnemann, Jan; Krinzinger, Helga; Willmes, Klaus; Haase, Vitor Geraldi

    2013-11-01

    Transcoding between numerical systems is one of the most basic abilities acquired by children during their early school years. One important topic that requires further exploration is how mathematics proficiency can affect number transcoding. The aim of the current study was to investigate transcoding abilities (i.e., reading Arabic numerals and writing dictation) in Brazilian children with and without mathematics difficulties, focusing on different school grades. We observed that children with learning difficulties in mathematics demonstrated lower achievement in number transcoding in both early and middle elementary school. In early elementary school, difficulties were observed in both the basic numerical lexicon and the management of numerical syntax. In middle elementary school, difficulties appeared mainly in the transcoding of more complex numbers. An error analysis revealed that the children with mathematics difficulties struggled mainly with the acquisition of transcoding rules. Although we confirmed the previous evidence on the impact of working memory capacity on number transcoding, we found that it did not fully account for the observed group differences. The results are discussed in the context of a maturational lag in number transcoding ability in children with mathematics difficulties. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Real-time dynamics of typical and untypical states in nonintegrable systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Richter, Jonas; Jin, Fengping; De Raedt, Hans; Michielsen, Kristel; Gemmer, Jochen; Steinigeweg, Robin

    2018-05-01

    Understanding (i) the emergence of diffusion from truly microscopic principles continues to be a major challenge in experimental and theoretical physics. At the same time, isolated quantum many-body systems have experienced an upsurge of interest in recent years. Since in such systems the realization of a proper initial state is the only possibility to induce a nonequilibrium process, understanding (ii) the largely unexplored role of the specific realization is vitally important. Our work reports a substantial step forward and tackles the two issues (i) and (ii) in the context of typicality, entanglement as well as integrability and nonintegrability. Specifically, we consider the spin-1/2 XXZ chain, where integrability can be broken due to an additional next-nearest neighbor interaction, and study the real-time and real-space dynamics of nonequilibrium magnetization profiles for a class of pure states. Summarizing our main results, we show that signatures of diffusion for strong interactions are equally pronounced for the integrable and nonintegrable case. In both cases, we further find a clear difference between the dynamics of states with and without internal randomness. We provide an explanation of this difference by a detailed analysis of the local density of states.

  6. Insight into the Effects of Reinforcement Shape on Achieving Continuous Martensite Transformation in Phase Transforming Matrix Composites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Xudong; Ren, Junqiang; Wang, Xiaofei; Zong, Hongxiang; Cui, Lishan; Ding, Xiangdong

    2017-12-01

    A continuous martensite transformation is indispensable for achieving large linear superelasticity and low modulus in phase transforming metal-based composites. However, determining how to accurately condition the residual martensite in a shape memory alloy matrix though the reinforcement shape to achieve continuous martensite transformation has been a challenge. Here, we take the finite element method to perform a comparative study of the effects of nanoinclusion shape on the interaction and martensite phase transformation in this new composite. Two typical samples are compared: one reinforced by metallic nanowires and the other by nanoparticles. We find that the residual martensite within the shape memory alloy matrix after a pretreatment can be tailored by the reinforcement shape. In particular, our results show that the shape memory alloy matrix can retain enough residual martensite phases to achieve continuous martensite transformation in the subsequent loading when the aspect ratio of nanoreinforcement is larger than 20. In contrast, the composites reinforced with spherical or low aspect ratio reinforcement show a typical nonlinear superelasticity as a result of a low stress transfer-induced discontinuous martensite transformation within the shape memory alloy matrix.

  7. Acquisition of Motor and Cognitive Skills through Repetition in Typically Developing Children

    PubMed Central

    Magallón, Sara; Narbona, Juan; Crespo-Eguílaz, Nerea

    2016-01-01

    Background Procedural memory allows acquisition, consolidation and use of motor skills and cognitive routines. Automation of procedures is achieved through repeated practice. In children, improvement in procedural skills is a consequence of natural neurobiological development and experience. Methods The aim of the present research was to make a preliminary evaluation and description of repetition-based improvement of procedures in typically developing children (TDC). Ninety TDC children aged 6–12 years were asked to perform two procedural learning tasks. In an assembly learning task, which requires predominantly motor skills, we measured the number of assembled pieces in 60 seconds. In a mirror drawing learning task, which requires more cognitive functions, we measured time spent and efficiency. Participants were tested four times for each task: three trials were consecutive and the fourth trial was performed after a 10-minute nonverbal interference task. The influence of repeated practice on performance was evaluated by means of the analysis of variance with repeated measures and the paired-sample test. Correlation coefficients and simple linear regression test were used to examine the relationship between age and performance. Results TDC achieved higher scores in both tasks through repetition. Older children fitted more pieces than younger ones in assembling learning and they were faster and more efficient at the mirror drawing learning task. Conclusions These findings indicate that three consecutive trials at a procedural task increased speed and efficiency, and that age affected basal performance in motor-cognitive procedures. PMID:27384671

  8. Acquisition of Motor and Cognitive Skills through Repetition in Typically Developing Children.

    PubMed

    Magallón, Sara; Narbona, Juan; Crespo-Eguílaz, Nerea

    2016-01-01

    Procedural memory allows acquisition, consolidation and use of motor skills and cognitive routines. Automation of procedures is achieved through repeated practice. In children, improvement in procedural skills is a consequence of natural neurobiological development and experience. The aim of the present research was to make a preliminary evaluation and description of repetition-based improvement of procedures in typically developing children (TDC). Ninety TDC children aged 6-12 years were asked to perform two procedural learning tasks. In an assembly learning task, which requires predominantly motor skills, we measured the number of assembled pieces in 60 seconds. In a mirror drawing learning task, which requires more cognitive functions, we measured time spent and efficiency. Participants were tested four times for each task: three trials were consecutive and the fourth trial was performed after a 10-minute nonverbal interference task. The influence of repeated practice on performance was evaluated by means of the analysis of variance with repeated measures and the paired-sample test. Correlation coefficients and simple linear regression test were used to examine the relationship between age and performance. TDC achieved higher scores in both tasks through repetition. Older children fitted more pieces than younger ones in assembling learning and they were faster and more efficient at the mirror drawing learning task. These findings indicate that three consecutive trials at a procedural task increased speed and efficiency, and that age affected basal performance in motor-cognitive procedures.

  9. Academic achievement in children with epilepsy: a review.

    PubMed

    Reilly, Colin; Neville, Brian G R

    2011-11-01

    To examine published studies which have focussed on academic achievement in children with epilepsy with respect to prevalence rates of academic difficulties and possible correlates of academic achievement. This review examines studies which have focussed on prevalence rates of academic difficulties and correlates of academic achievement in children with epilepsy from 1990 to 2010. Prevalence rates of low academic achievement and academic underachievement are reported and correlates of academic achievement including seizure/epilepsy variables, demographic variables, and child/family variables are examined with respect to published studies. Published studies suggest that low academic achievement is more common than academic underachievement (achievement below that expected on basis of IQ scores) and it is not clear from published studies if rates of academic underachievement are significantly higher than in the general population. Clear patterns with regard to the identification of correlates of academic underachievement have not emerged although low achievement may be influenced in many cases by lower than average levels of cognitive functioning. Most studies have not focussed on the IQ-achievement discrepancy definitions of (specific) learning disability. Children with epilepsy who are experiencing academic difficulties may not qualify for formal educational supports to address these difficulties if eligibility criteria for such supports stress an IQ-achievement discrepancy. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Perception and Processing of Faces in the Human Brain Is Tuned to Typical Feature Locations

    PubMed Central

    Schwarzkopf, D. Samuel; Alvarez, Ivan; Lawson, Rebecca P.; Henriksson, Linda; Kriegeskorte, Nikolaus; Rees, Geraint

    2016-01-01

    Faces are salient social stimuli whose features attract a stereotypical pattern of fixations. The implications of this gaze behavior for perception and brain activity are largely unknown. Here, we characterize and quantify a retinotopic bias implied by typical gaze behavior toward faces, which leads to eyes and mouth appearing most often in the upper and lower visual field, respectively. We found that the adult human visual system is tuned to these contingencies. In two recognition experiments, recognition performance for isolated face parts was better when they were presented at typical, rather than reversed, visual field locations. The recognition cost of reversed locations was equal to ∼60% of that for whole face inversion in the same sample. Similarly, an fMRI experiment showed that patterns of activity evoked by eye and mouth stimuli in the right inferior occipital gyrus could be separated with significantly higher accuracy when these features were presented at typical, rather than reversed, visual field locations. Our findings demonstrate that human face perception is determined not only by the local position of features within a face context, but by whether features appear at the typical retinotopic location given normal gaze behavior. Such location sensitivity may reflect fine-tuning of category-specific visual processing to retinal input statistics. Our findings further suggest that retinotopic heterogeneity might play a role for face inversion effects and for the understanding of conditions affecting gaze behavior toward faces, such as autism spectrum disorders and congenital prosopagnosia. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Faces attract our attention and trigger stereotypical patterns of visual fixations, concentrating on inner features, like eyes and mouth. Here we show that the visual system represents face features better when they are shown at retinal positions where they typically fall during natural vision. When facial features were shown at typical (rather

  11. Optimism versus Pessimism and Academic Achievement Evaluation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harpaz-Itay, Yifat; Kaniel, Shlomo

    2012-01-01

    This article integrates three central theories of optimism-pessimism (OP). The combination of the shared components of these theories--outcome expectancies, emotions, and behavioral intention--may produce an integrative academic achievement evaluation. Little has been written regarding the differentiation between general and domain-specific OP, a…

  12. Development of upper body coordination during sitting in typically developing infants

    PubMed Central

    KYVELIDOU, ANASTASIA; STUBERG, WAYNE A.; HARBOURNE, REGINA T.; DEFFEYES, JOAN E.; BLANKE, DANIEL; STERGIOU, NICHOLAS

    2009-01-01

    Pediatric Research Articles Ahead of Print contains articles in unedited manuscript form that have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication. As a service to our readers, we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final definitive form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered, which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Our goal was to determine how the actions of the thorax and the pelvis are organized and coordinated to achieve independent sitting posture in typically developing infants. The participants were ten typically developing infants that were evaluated longitudinally from first onset of sitting until sitting independence. Each infant underwent nine testing sessions. The first session included motor evaluation with the Peabody test. The other eight sessions occurred over a period of four months where sitting behavior was evaluated by angular kinematics of the thorax and the pelvis. A physical therapist evaluated sitting behavior in each session and categorized it according to five stages. The phasing relationship of the thorax and the pelvis was calculated and evaluated longitudinally using a one-way ANOVA. With development, the infants progressed from an in-phase (moving in the same direction) to an out-of-phase (moving in an opposite direction) coordinative relationship between the thorax and the pelvis segments. This change was significant for both the sagittal and frontal planes of motion. Clinically, this relationship is important because it provides a method to quantify infant sitting postural development, and can be used to assess efficacy of early interventions for pediatric populations with developmental motor delays. PMID:19190546

  13. Achievement Goals and Achievement Emotions: A Meta-Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Chiungjung

    2011-01-01

    This meta-analysis synthesized 93 independent samples (N = 30,003) in 77 studies that reported in 78 articles examining correlations between achievement goals and achievement emotions. Achievement goals were meaningfully associated with different achievement emotions. The correlations of mastery and mastery approach goals with positive achievement…

  14. TAL effector-DNA specificity.

    PubMed

    Scholze, Heidi; Boch, Jens

    2010-01-01

    TAL effectors are important virulence factors of bacterial plant pathogenic Xanthomonas, which infect a wide variety of plants including valuable crops like pepper, rice, and citrus. TAL proteins are translocated via the bacterial type III secretion system into host cells and induce transcription of plant genes by binding to target gene promoters. Members of the TAL effector family differ mainly in their central domain of tandemly arranged repeats of typically 34 amino acids each with hypervariable di-amino acids at positions 12 and 13. We recently showed that target DNA-recognition specificity of TAL effectors is encoded in a modular and clearly predictable mode. The repeats of TAL effectors feature a surprising one repeat-to-one-bp correlation with different repeat types exhibiting a different DNA base pair specificity. Accordingly, we predicted DNA specificities of TAL effectors and generated artificial TAL proteins with novel DNA recognition specificities. We describe here novel artificial TALs and discuss implications for the DNA recognition specificity. The unique TAL-DNA binding domain allows design of proteins with potentially any given DNA recognition specificity enabling many uses for biotechnology.

  15. The relationship between gross motor skills and academic achievement in children with learning disabilities.

    PubMed

    Westendorp, Marieke; Hartman, Esther; Houwen, Suzanne; Smith, Joanne; Visscher, Chris

    2011-01-01

    The present study compared the gross motor skills of 7- to 12-year-old children with learning disabilities (n = 104) with those of age-matched typically developing children (n = 104) using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2. Additionally, the specific relationships between subsets of gross motor skills and academic performance in reading, spelling, and mathematics were examined in children with learning disabilities. As expected, the children with learning disabilities scored poorer on both the locomotor and object-control subtests than their typically developing peers. Furthermore, in children with learning disabilities a specific relationship was observed between reading and locomotor skills and a trend was found for a relationship between mathematics and object-control skills: the larger children's learning lag, the poorer their motor skill scores. This study stresses the importance of specific interventions facilitating both motor and academic abilities. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. The Impact of DNA Topology and Guide Length on Target Selection by a Cytosine-Specific Cas9.

    PubMed

    Tsui, Tsz Kin Martin; Hand, Travis H; Duboy, Emily C; Li, Hong

    2017-06-16

    Cas9 is an RNA-guided DNA cleavage enzyme being actively developed for genome editing and gene regulation. To be cleaved by Cas9, a double stranded DNA, or the protospacer, must be complementary to the guide region, typically 20-nucleotides in length, of the Cas9-bound guide RNA, and adjacent to a short Cas9-specific element called Protospacer Adjacent Motif (PAM). Understanding the correct juxtaposition of the protospacer- and PAM-interaction with Cas9 will enable development of versatile and safe Cas9-based technology. We report identification and biochemical characterization of Cas9 from Acidothermus cellulolyticus (AceCas9). AceCas9 depends on a 5'-NNNCC-3' PAM and is more efficient in cleaving negative supercoils than relaxed DNA. Kinetic as well as in vivo activity assays reveal that AceCas9 achieves optimal activity when combined with a guide RNA containing a 24-nucleotide complementarity region. The cytosine-specific, DNA topology-sensitive, and extended guide-dependent properties of AceCas9 may be explored for specific genome editing applications.

  17. Hebrew Language Assessment Measure for Preschool Children: A Comparison between Typically Developing Children and Children with Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Katzenberger, Irit; Meilijson, Sara

    2014-01-01

    The Katzenberger Hebrew Language Assessment for Preschool Children (henceforth: the KHLA) is the first comprehensive, standardized language assessment tool developed in Hebrew specifically for older preschoolers (4;0-5;11 years). The KHLA is a norm-referenced, Hebrew specific assessment, based on well-established psycholinguistic principles, as…

  18. The specificity triad: notions of disease and therapeutic specificity in biomedical reasoning

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Biomedicine is typically defined as the branch of medicine that is based on the principles of biology and biochemistry. A central tenet for biomedicine is the notion of disease and therapeutic specificity, i.e. the idea of tailored treatments for discrete disorders underpinned by specific pathologies. The present paper is concerned with how notions of disease and therapeutic specificity guide biomedical reasoning. To that end, the author proposes a model – the specificity triad – that draws on late philosopher and physician Ludwik Fleck’s concept of “style of thought” to offer a frame for investigating the intricate process through which links between disorders, mechanisms, and therapeutics are established by biomedicine. Next by applying the specificity triad model to scrutinize research efforts in two discrete areas of medicine—psychiatry and regenerative medicine—this paper seeks to stimulate pertinent discussions in and about biomedicine. These include discussions on the ambiguous epistemic status of psychiatry within contemporary biomedicine, as well as the relationship between developmental biology — historically relatively disjointed from biomedical enterprise — and the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine. PMID:25326797

  19. The effect of differentiated curriculum enhancements on the achievement of at-risk and normally achieving students in 5th grade science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Simpkins, Pamela Mccrea

    2007-12-01

    At-risk students show consistent patterns of under achievement and social maladjustment in school which leads to their demise in high school (McMillian & Reed, 1994). Similarly, special education students are at increased risk of not completing high school and do not perform as well on national achievement tests than their nondisabled peers (Land & Legters, 2002). It is possible that students at-risk for academic failure will not meet graduation requirements unless interventions are put in place to alleviate this problem. It has been documented that science textbooks contain difficult vocabulary and high reading levels that are challenging for struggling students. Using approaches such as activities oriented instruction, which supports the cooperative learning/peer tutoring model is one approach that has been successful with normally achieving and special education students. This research examined the effect of differentiated curriculum enhancements with peer tutoring on the achievement of at-risk and normally achieving students in science. A crossover design was implemented in three fifth grade inclusive classes, consisting of typically achieving students, students at-risk, and students with learning disabilities. The participants included 16 at-risk students, three special education students and 44 normally achieving students. The science review activities were implemented during two consecutive science units. One unit covered Earth and Space science. The other unit covered Light and Sound. Each curriculum enhancement had identification and production level activities. The identification level provided prompts; the production level did not provide prompts. Pretest and posttest were administered. Overall findings of the study revealed a significant interaction between experimental condition and treatment order, suggesting an advantage for students using differentiated curriculum enhancements. Main effects analysis suggested that students performed better on one

  20. Modelling Typical Online Language Learning Activity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montoro, Carlos; Hampel, Regine; Stickler, Ursula

    2014-01-01

    This article presents the methods and results of a four-year-long research project focusing on the language learning activity of individual learners using online tasks conducted at the University of Guanajuato (Mexico) in 2009-2013. An activity-theoretical model (Blin, 2010; Engeström, 1987) of the typical language learning activity was used to…

  1. Exam High Schools and Academic Achievement: Evidence from New York City. NBER Working Paper No. 17286

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobbie, Will; Fryer, Roland G., Jr.

    2011-01-01

    Publicly funded exam schools educate many of the world's most talented students. These schools typically contain higher achieving peers, more rigorous instruction, and additional resources compared to regular public schools. This paper uses a sharp discontinuity in the admissions process at three prominent exam schools in New York City to provide…

  2. Designing optimal food intake patterns to achieve nutritional goals for Japanese adults through the use of linear programming optimization models.

    PubMed

    Okubo, Hitomi; Sasaki, Satoshi; Murakami, Kentaro; Yokoyama, Tetsuji; Hirota, Naoko; Notsu, Akiko; Fukui, Mitsuru; Date, Chigusa

    2015-06-06

    Simultaneous dietary achievement of a full set of nutritional recommendations is difficult. Diet optimization model using linear programming is a useful mathematical means of translating nutrient-based recommendations into realistic nutritionally-optimal food combinations incorporating local and culture-specific foods. We used this approach to explore optimal food intake patterns that meet the nutrient recommendations of the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) while incorporating typical Japanese food selections. As observed intake values, we used the food and nutrient intake data of 92 women aged 31-69 years and 82 men aged 32-69 years living in three regions of Japan. Dietary data were collected with semi-weighed dietary record on four non-consecutive days in each season of the year (16 days total). The linear programming models were constructed to minimize the differences between observed and optimized food intake patterns while also meeting the DRIs for a set of 28 nutrients, setting energy equal to estimated requirements, and not exceeding typical quantities of each food consumed by each age (30-49 or 50-69 years) and gender group. We successfully developed mathematically optimized food intake patterns that met the DRIs for all 28 nutrients studied in each sex and age group. Achieving nutritional goals required minor modifications of existing diets in older groups, particularly women, while major modifications were required to increase intake of fruit and vegetables in younger groups of both sexes. Across all sex and age groups, optimized food intake patterns demanded greatly increased intake of whole grains and reduced-fat dairy products in place of intake of refined grains and full-fat dairy products. Salt intake goals were the most difficult to achieve, requiring marked reduction of salt-containing seasoning (65-80%) in all sex and age groups. Using a linear programming model, we identified optimal food intake patterns providing practical food choices and

  3. Understanding the Specificity and Random Collision of Enzyme-Substrate Interaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kin, Ng Hong; Ling, Tan Aik

    2016-01-01

    The concept of specificity of enzyme action can potentially be abstract for some students as they fail to appreciate how the three-dimensional configuration of enzymes and the active sites confer perfect fit for specific substrates. In science text books, the specificity of enzyme-substrate binding is typically likened to the action of a lock and…

  4. Spectra of conditionalization and typicality in the multiverse

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Azhar, Feraz

    2016-02-01

    An approach to testing theories describing a multiverse, that has gained interest of late, involves comparing theory-generated probability distributions over observables with their experimentally measured values. It is likely that such distributions, were we indeed able to calculate them unambiguously, will assign low probabilities to any such experimental measurements. An alternative to thereby rejecting these theories, is to conditionalize the distributions involved by restricting attention to domains of the multiverse in which we might arise. In order to elicit a crisp prediction, however, one needs to make a further assumption about how typical we are of the chosen domains. In this paper, we investigate interactions between the spectra of available assumptions regarding both conditionalization and typicality, and draw out the effects of these interactions in a concrete setting; namely, on predictions of the total number of species that contribute significantly to dark matter. In particular, for each conditionalization scheme studied, we analyze how correlations between densities of different dark matter species affect the prediction, and explicate the effects of assumptions regarding typicality. We find that the effects of correlations can depend on the conditionalization scheme, and that in each case atypicality can significantly change the prediction. In doing so, we demonstrate the existence of overlaps in the predictions of different "frameworks" consisting of conjunctions of theory, conditionalization scheme and typicality assumption. This conclusion highlights the acute challenges involved in using such tests to identify a preferred framework that aims to describe our observational situation in a multiverse.

  5. The effects of chronic achievement motivation and achievement primes on the activation of achievement and fun goals.

    PubMed

    Hart, William; Albarracín, Dolores

    2009-12-01

    This research examined the hypothesis that situational achievement cues can elicit achievement or fun goals depending on chronic differences in achievement motivation. In 4 studies, chronic differences in achievement motivation were measured, and achievement-denoting words were used to influence behavior. The effects of these variables were assessed on self-report inventories, task performance, task resumption following an interruption, and the pursuit of means relevant to achieving or having fun. Findings indicated that achievement priming (vs. control priming) activated a goal to achieve and inhibited a goal to have fun in individuals with chronically high-achievement motivation but activated a goal to have fun and inhibited a goal to achieve in individuals with chronically low-achievement motivation.

  6. The Effects of Chronic Achievement Motivation and Achievement Primes on the Activation of Achievement and Fun Goals

    PubMed Central

    Hart, William; Albarracín, Dolores

    2013-01-01

    This research examined the hypothesis that situational achievement cues can elicit achievement or fun goals depending on chronic differences in achievement motivation. In 4 studies, chronic differences in achievement motivation were measured, and achievement-denoting words were used to influence behavior. The effects of these variables were assessed on self-report inventories, task performance, task resumption following an interruption, and the pursuit of means relevant to achieving or having fun. Findings indicated that achievement priming (vs. control priming) activated a goal to achieve and inhibited a goal to have fun in individuals with chronically high-achievement motivation but activated a goal to have fun and inhibited a goal to achieve in individuals with chronically low-achievement motivation. PMID:19968423

  7. Cognitive predictors of children's development in mathematics achievement: A latent growth modeling approach.

    PubMed

    Xenidou-Dervou, Iro; Van Luit, Johannes E H; Kroesbergen, Evelyn H; Friso-van den Bos, Ilona; Jonkman, Lisa M; van der Schoot, Menno; van Lieshout, Ernest C D M

    2018-04-24

    Research has identified various domain-general and domain-specific cognitive abilities as predictors of children's individual differences in mathematics achievement. However, research into the predictors of children's individual growth rates, namely between-person differences in within-person change in mathematics achievement is scarce. We assessed 334 children's domain-general and mathematics-specific early cognitive abilities and their general mathematics achievement longitudinally across four time-points within the first and second grades of primary school. As expected, a constellation of multiple cognitive abilities contributed to the children's starting level of mathematical success. Specifically, latent growth modeling revealed that WM abilities, IQ, counting skills, nonsymbolic and symbolic approximate arithmetic and comparison skills explained individual differences in the children's initial status on a curriculum-based general mathematics achievement test. Surprisingly, however, only one out of all the assessed cognitive abilities was a unique predictor of the children's individual growth rates in mathematics achievement: their performance in the symbolic approximate addition task. In this task, children were asked to estimate the sum of two large numbers and decide if this estimated sum was smaller or larger compared to a third number. Our findings demonstrate the importance of multiple domain-general and mathematics-specific cognitive skills for identifying children at risk of struggling with mathematics and highlight the significance of early approximate arithmetic skills for the development of one's mathematical success. We argue the need for more research focus on explaining children's individual growth rates in mathematics achievement. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. Students’ Achievement Goals, Learning-Related Emotions and Academic Achievement

    PubMed Central

    Lüftenegger, Marko; Klug, Julia; Harrer, Katharina; Langer, Marie; Spiel, Christiane; Schober, Barbara

    2016-01-01

    In the present research, the recently proposed 3 × 2 model of achievement goals is tested and associations with achievement emotions and their joint influence on academic achievement are investigated. The study was conducted with 388 students using the 3 × 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire including the six proposed goal constructs (task-approach, task-avoidance, self-approach, self-avoidance, other-approach, other-avoidance) and the enjoyment and boredom scales from the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire. Exam grades were used as an indicator of academic achievement. Findings from CFAs provided strong support for the proposed structure of the 3 × 2 achievement goal model. Self-based goals, other-based goals and task-approach goals predicted enjoyment. Task-approach goals negatively predicted boredom. Task-approach and other-approach predicted achievement. The indirect effects of achievement goals through emotion variables on achievement were assessed using bias-corrected bootstrapping. No mediation effects were found. Implications for educational practice are discussed. PMID:27199836

  9. Have We Achieved a Unified Model of Photoreceptor Cell Fate Specification in Vertebrates?

    PubMed Central

    Raymond, Pamela A.

    2008-01-01

    How does a retinal progenitor choose to differentiate as a rod or a cone and, if it becomes a cone, which one of their different subtypes? The mechanisms of photoreceptor cell fate specification and differentiation have been extensively investigated in a variety of animal model systems, including human and non-human primates, rodents (mice and rats), chickens, frogs (Xenopus) and fish. It appears timely to discuss whether it is possible to synthesize the resulting information into a unified model applicable to all vertebrates. In this review we focus on several widely used experimental animal model systems to highlight differences in photoreceptor properties among species, the diversity of developmental strategies and solutions that vertebrates use to create retinas with photoreceptors that are adapted to the visual needs of their species, and the limitations of the methods currently available for the investigation of photoreceptor cell fate specification. Based on these considerations, we conclude that we are not yet ready to construct a unified model of photoreceptor cell fate specification in the developing vertebrate retina. PMID:17466954

  10. EFL Teachers' Perception of University Students' Motivation and ESP Learning Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dja'far, Veri Hardinansyah; Cahyono, Bambang Yudi; Bashtomi, Yazid

    2016-01-01

    This research aimed at examining Indonesian EFL Teachers' perception of students' motivation and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) learning achievement. It also explored the strategies applied by teachers based on their perception of students' motivation and ESP learning achievement. This research involved 204 students who took English for…

  11. Predicting Children's Reading and Mathematics Achievement from Early Quantitative Knowledge and Domain-General Cognitive Abilities

    PubMed Central

    Chu, Felicia W.; vanMarle, Kristy; Geary, David C.

    2016-01-01

    One hundred children (44 boys) participated in a 3-year longitudinal study of the development of basic quantitative competencies and the relation between these competencies and later mathematics and reading achievement. The children's preliteracy knowledge, intelligence, executive functions, and parental educational background were also assessed. The quantitative tasks assessed a broad range of symbolic and nonsymbolic knowledge and were administered four times across 2 years of preschool. Mathematics achievement was assessed at the end of each of 2 years of preschool, and mathematics and word reading achievement were assessed at the end of kindergarten. Our goals were to determine how domain-general abilities contribute to growth in children's quantitative knowledge and to determine how domain-general and domain-specific abilities contribute to children's preschool mathematics achievement and kindergarten mathematics and reading achievement. We first identified four core quantitative competencies (e.g., knowledge of the cardinal value of number words) that predict later mathematics achievement. The domain-general abilities were then used to predict growth in these competencies across 2 years of preschool, and the combination of domain-general abilities, preliteracy skills, and core quantitative competencies were used to predict mathematics achievement across preschool and mathematics and word reading achievement at the end of kindergarten. Both intelligence and executive functions predicted growth in the four quantitative competencies, especially across the first year of preschool. A combination of domain-general and domain-specific competencies predicted preschoolers' mathematics achievement, with a trend for domain-specific skills to be more strongly related to achievement at the beginning of preschool than at the end of preschool. Preschool preliteracy skills, sensitivity to the relative quantities of collections of objects, and cardinal knowledge predicted

  12. Predicting Children's Reading and Mathematics Achievement from Early Quantitative Knowledge and Domain-General Cognitive Abilities.

    PubMed

    Chu, Felicia W; vanMarle, Kristy; Geary, David C

    2016-01-01

    One hundred children (44 boys) participated in a 3-year longitudinal study of the development of basic quantitative competencies and the relation between these competencies and later mathematics and reading achievement. The children's preliteracy knowledge, intelligence, executive functions, and parental educational background were also assessed. The quantitative tasks assessed a broad range of symbolic and nonsymbolic knowledge and were administered four times across 2 years of preschool. Mathematics achievement was assessed at the end of each of 2 years of preschool, and mathematics and word reading achievement were assessed at the end of kindergarten. Our goals were to determine how domain-general abilities contribute to growth in children's quantitative knowledge and to determine how domain-general and domain-specific abilities contribute to children's preschool mathematics achievement and kindergarten mathematics and reading achievement. We first identified four core quantitative competencies (e.g., knowledge of the cardinal value of number words) that predict later mathematics achievement. The domain-general abilities were then used to predict growth in these competencies across 2 years of preschool, and the combination of domain-general abilities, preliteracy skills, and core quantitative competencies were used to predict mathematics achievement across preschool and mathematics and word reading achievement at the end of kindergarten. Both intelligence and executive functions predicted growth in the four quantitative competencies, especially across the first year of preschool. A combination of domain-general and domain-specific competencies predicted preschoolers' mathematics achievement, with a trend for domain-specific skills to be more strongly related to achievement at the beginning of preschool than at the end of preschool. Preschool preliteracy skills, sensitivity to the relative quantities of collections of objects, and cardinal knowledge predicted

  13. Hyper-Achievement, Perfection, and College Student Resilience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eells, Gregory T.

    2017-01-01

    Over the past decade, there has been considerable attention given to college students' experience of pressure to pursue perfection through hyper-achievement and the psychological and emotional toll this process takes on them. The popular press has highlighted this phenomenon and raised specific questions about some of the related consequences like…

  14. Behavioral Performance and Neural Areas Associated with Memory Processes Contribute to Math and Reading Achievement in 6-year-old Children.

    PubMed

    Blankenship, Tashauna L; Keith, Kayla; Calkins, Susan D; Bell, Martha Ann

    2018-01-01

    Associations between working memory and academic achievement (math and reading) are well documented. Surprisingly, little is known of the contributions of episodic memory, segmented into temporal memory (recollection proxy) and item recognition (familiarity proxy), to academic achievement. This is the first study to observe these associations in typically developing 6-year old children. Overlap in neural correlates exists between working memory, episodic memory, and math and reading achievement. We attempted to tease apart the neural contributions of working memory, temporal memory, and item recognition to math and reading achievement. Results suggest that working memory and temporal memory, but not item recognition, are important contributors to both math and reading achievement, and that EEG power during a working memory task contributes to performance on tests of academic achievement.

  15. Longitudinal study of low and high achievers in early mathematics.

    PubMed

    Navarro, Jose I; Aguilar, Manuel; Marchena, Esperanza; Ruiz, Gonzalo; Menacho, Inmaculada; Van Luit, Johannes E H

    2012-03-01

    Longitudinal studies allow us to identify, which specific maths skills are weak in young children, and whether there is a continuing weakness in these areas throughout their school years. This 2-year study investigated whether certain socio-demographic variables affect early mathematical competency in children aged 5-7 years. A randomly selected sample of 127 students (64 female; 63 male) participated. At the start of the study, the students were approximately 5 years old (M= 5.2; SD= 0.28; range = 4.5-5.8). The students were assessed using the Early Numeracy Test and then allocated to a high (n= 26), middle (n= 76), or low (n= 25) achievers group. The same children were assessed again with the Early Numeracy Test at 6 and 7 years old, respectively. Eight socio-demographic characteristics were also evaluated: family model, education of the parent(s), job of the parent(s), number of family members, birth order, number of computers at home, frequency of teacher visits, and hours watching television. Early Numeracy Test scores were more consistent for the high-achievers group than for the low-achievers group. Approximately 5.5% of low achievers obtained low scores throughout the study. A link between specific socio-demographic characteristics and early achievement in mathematics was only found for number of computers at home. The level of mathematical ability among students aged 5-7 years remains relatively stable regardless of the initial level of achievement. However, early screening for mathematics learning disabilities could be useful in helping low-achieving students overcome learning obstacles. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

  16. Habitat-specific foraging strategies in Australasian gannets

    PubMed Central

    Wells, Melanie R.; Arnould, John P. Y.

    2016-01-01

    ABSTRACT Knowledge of top predator foraging adaptability is imperative for predicting their biological response to environmental variability. While seabirds have developed highly specialised techniques to locate prey, little is known about intraspecific variation in foraging strategies with many studies deriving information from uniform oceanic environments. Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) typically forage in continental shelf regions on small schooling prey. The present study used GPS and video data loggers to compare habitat-specific foraging strategies at two sites of contrasting oceanographic regimes (deep water near the continental shelf edge, n=23; shallow inshore embayment, n=26), in south-eastern Australia. Individuals from the continental shelf site exhibited pelagic foraging behaviours typical of gannet species, using local enhancement to locate and feed on small schooling fish; in contrast only 50% of the individuals from the inshore site foraged offshore, displaying the typical pelagic foraging strategy. The remainder adopted a strategy of searching sand banks in shallow inshore waters in the absence of conspecifics and other predators for large, single prey items. Furthermore, of the individuals foraging inshore, 93% were male, indicating that the inshore strategy may be sex-specific. Large inter-colony differences in Australasian gannets suggest strong plasticity in foraging behaviours, essential for adapting to environmental change. PMID:27305927

  17. Paradoxical Personality and Academic Achievement in College Students From Buenos Aires

    PubMed Central

    Freiberg Hoffmann, Agustín; Fernández Liporace, María Mercedes

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents a study on paradoxical personality, defined as a distinctive feature in creative persons, developed with 350 college students from Buenos Aires. Goals aimed at describing and analysing possible significant differences of paradoxical traits in students from diverse majors representing seven different fields of study, and examining the relationship between each bipolar trait and academic achievement. The sample was composed of 7 groups (n = 50 by group) representing fields of study typically offered in public universities, Biology, Computer Science, Engineering, Law, Nutrition, Psychology, and History of Art. Analyses by career provided descriptive information about students of these majors, concerning their paradoxical personality profiles. Correlational studies verified significant associations between academic achievement and most paradoxical traits in majors such as Computer Science, Nutrition and Psychology. Results are discussed regarding practical outcomes and teaching programs. PMID:27247680

  18. The Effect of School-Specific Parenting Processes on Academic Achievement in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gordon, Mellissa S.; Cui, Ming

    2012-01-01

    There is inconsistency in the current literature regarding the association between dimensions of parenting processes and academic achievement for adolescents. Further, few studies have extended such an association into young adulthood. In this study, we examined the effect of three dimensions of parenting processes, including school-specific…

  19. Mother-Child Play: Children with Down Syndrome and Typical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Venuti, P.; de Falco, S.; Esposito, G.; Bornstein, Marc H.

    2009-01-01

    Child solitary and collaborative mother-child play with 21 children with Down syndrome and 33 mental-age-matched typically developing children were compared. In solitary play, children with Down syndrome showed less exploratory but similar symbolic play compared to typically developing children. From solitary to collaborative play, children with…

  20. Theory of Mind Experience Sampling in Typical Adults

    PubMed Central

    Coffey, Anna; Povinelli, Daniel J.; Pruett, John R.

    2013-01-01

    We explored the frequency with which typical adults make Theory of Mind (ToM) attributions, and under what circumstances these attributions occur. We used an experience sampling method to query 30 typical adults about their everyday thoughts. Participants carried a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) that prompted them to categorize their thoughts as Action, Mental State, or Miscellaneous at approximately 30 pseudo-random times during a continuous 10-hr period. Additionally, participants noted the direction of their thought (self vs. other) and degree of socializing (with people vs. alone) at the time of inquiry. We were interested in the relative frequency of ToM (mental state attributions) and how prominent they were in immediate social exchanges. Analyses of multiple choice answers suggest that typical adults: 1) spend more time thinking about actions than mental states and miscellaneous things, 2) exhibit a higher degree of own- versus other-directed thought when alone, and 3) make mental state attributions more frequently when not interacting (offline) than while interacting with others (online). A significant 3-way interaction between thought type, direction of thought, and socializing emerged because action but not mental state thoughts about others occurred more frequently when participants were interacting with people versus when alone; whereas there was an increase in the frequency of both action and mental state attributions about the self when participants were alone as opposed to socializing. A secondary analysis of coded free text responses supports findings 1–3. The results of this study help to create a more naturalistic picture of ToM use in everyday life and the method shows promise for future study of typical and atypical thought processes. PMID:23685620

  1. Achieving Developmental Synchrony in Young Children With Hearing Loss

    PubMed Central

    Mellon, Nancy K.; Ouellette, Meredith; Greer, Tracy; Gates-Ulanet, Patricia

    2009-01-01

    Children with hearing loss, with early and appropriate amplification and intervention, demonstrate gains in speech, language, and literacy skills. Despite these improvements many children continue to exhibit disturbances in cognitive, behavioral, and emotional control, self-regulation, and aspects of executive function. Given the complexity of developmental learning, educational settings should provide services that foster the growth of skills across multiple dimensions. Transdisciplinary intervention services that target the domains of language, communication, psychosocial functioning, motor, and cognitive development can promote academic and social success. Educational programs must provide children with access to the full range of basic skills necessary for academic and social achievement. In addition to an integrated curriculum that nurtures speech, language, and literacy development, innovations in the areas of auditory perception, social emotional learning, motor development, and vestibular function can enhance student outcomes. Through ongoing evaluation and modification, clearly articulated curricular approaches can serve as a model for early intervention and special education programs. The purpose of this article is to propose an intervention model that combines best practices from a variety of disciplines that affect developmental outcomes for young children with hearing loss, along with specific strategies and approaches that may help to promote optimal development across domains. Access to typically developing peers who model age-appropriate skills in language and behavior, small class sizes, a co-teaching model, and a social constructivist perspective of teaching and learning, are among the key elements of the model. PMID:20150187

  2. The Achievement Ideology and Whiteness: "Achieving Whiteness" or "Achieving Middle Class?"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allen, Ricky Lee

    Over the past few decades, social reproduction theorists have criticized achievement ideology as a dominant and dominating myth that hides the true nature of class immobility. Social reproductionists' primary criticism of achievement ideology is that it blinds the working class, regardless of race or gender, to the possibilities of collective…

  3. The Pivotal Role of Effort Beliefs in Mediating Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Achievement Goals and Academic Motivations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tempelaar, Dirk T.; Rienties, Bart; Giesbers, Bas; Gijselaers, Wim H.

    2015-01-01

    Empirical studies into meaning systems surrounding implicit theories of intelligence typically entail two stringent assumptions: that different implicit theories and different effort beliefs represent opposite poles on a single scale, and that implicit theories directly impact the constructs as achievement goals and academic motivations. Through…

  4. Preschool Executive Functioning Abilities Predict Early Mathematics Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clark, Caron A. C.; Pritchard, Verena E.; Woodward, Lianne J.

    2010-01-01

    Impairments in executive function have been documented in school-age children with mathematical learning difficulties. However, the utility and specificity of preschool executive function abilities in predicting later mathematical achievement are poorly understood. This study examined linkages between children's developing executive function…

  5. Investigating the probability of detection of typical cavity shapes through modelling and comparison of geophysical techniques

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    James, P.

    2011-12-01

    With a growing need for housing in the U.K., the government has proposed increased development of brownfield sites. However, old mine workings and natural cavities represent a potential hazard before, during and after construction on such sites, and add further complication to subsurface parameters. Cavities are hence a limitation to certain redevelopment and their detection is an ever important consideration. The current standard technique for cavity detection is a borehole grid, which is intrusive, non-continuous, slow and expensive. A new robust investigation standard in the detection of cavities is sought and geophysical techniques offer an attractive alternative. Geophysical techniques have previously been utilised successfully in the detection of cavities in various geologies, but still has an uncertain reputation in the engineering industry. Engineers are unsure of the techniques and are inclined to rely on well known techniques than utilise new technologies. Bad experiences with geophysics are commonly due to the indiscriminate choice of particular techniques. It is imperative that a geophysical survey is designed with the specific site and target in mind at all times, and the ability and judgement to rule out some, or all, techniques. To this author's knowledge no comparative software exists to aid technique choice. Also, previous modelling software limit the shapes of bodies and hence typical cavity shapes are not represented. Here, we introduce 3D modelling software (Matlab) which computes and compares the response to various cavity targets from a range of techniques (gravity, gravity gradient, magnetic, magnetic gradient and GPR). Typical near surface cavity shapes are modelled including shafts, bellpits, various lining and capping materials, and migrating voids. The probability of cavity detection is assessed in typical subsurface and noise conditions across a range of survey parameters. Techniques can be compared and the limits of detection distance

  6. Shared temporoparietal dysfunction in dyslexia and typical readers with discrepantly high IQ.

    PubMed

    Hancock, Roeland; Gabrieli, John D E; Hoeft, Fumiko

    2016-12-01

    It is currently believed that reading disability (RD) should be defined by reading level without regard to broader aptitude (IQ). There is debate, however, about how to classify individuals who read in the typical range but less well than would be expected by their higher IQ. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 49 children to examine whether those with typical, but discrepantly low reading ability relative to IQ, show dyslexia-like activation patterns during reading. Children who were typical readers with high-IQ discrepancy showed reduced activation in left temporoparietal neocortex relative to two control groups of typical readers without IQ discrepancy. This pattern was consistent and spatially overlapping with results in children with RD compared to typically reading children. The results suggest a shared neurological atypicality in regions associated with phonological processing between children with dyslexia and children with typical reading ability that is substantially below their IQ.

  7. Guided Learning at Workstations about Drug Prevention with Low Achievers in Science Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Heyne; Bogner, Franz X.

    2012-01-01

    Our study focussed on the cognitive achievement potential of low achieving eighth graders, dealing with drug prevention (cannabis). The learning process was guided by a teacher, leading this target group towards a modified learning at workstations which is seen as an appropriate approach for low achievers. We compared this specific open teaching…

  8. Everyday social and conversation applications of theory-of-mind understanding by children with autism-spectrum disorders or typical development.

    PubMed

    Peterson, Candida C; Garnett, Michelle; Kelly, Adrian; Attwood, Tony

    2009-02-01

    Children with autism-spectrum disorders (ASD) often fail laboratory false-belief tests of theory of mind (ToM). Yet how this impacts on their everyday social behavior is less clear, partly owing to uncertainty over which specific everyday conversational and social skills require ToM understanding. A new caregiver-report scale of these everyday applications of ToM was developed and validated in two studies. Study 1 obtained parent ratings of 339 children (85 with autism; 230 with Asperger's; 24 typically-developing) on the new scale and results revealed (a) that the scale had good psychometric properties and (b) that children with ASD had significantly more everyday mindreading difficulties than typical developers. In Study 2, we directly tested links between laboratory ToM and everyday mindreading using teacher ratings on the new scale. The sample of 25 children included 15 with autism and 10 typical developers aged 5-12 years. Children in both groups who passed laboratory ToM tests had fewer everyday mindreading difficulties than those of the same diagnosis who failed. Yet, intriguingly, autistic ToM-passers still had more problems with everyday mindreading than younger typically-developing ToM-failers. The possible roles of family conversation and peer interaction, along with ToM, in everyday social functioning were considered.

  9. Flight Guidance System Requirements Specification

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Miller, Steven P.; Tribble, Alan C.; Carlson, Timothy M.; Danielson, Eric J.

    2003-01-01

    This report describes a requirements specification written in the RSML-e language for the mode logic of a Flight Guidance System of a typical regional jet aircraft. This model was created as one of the first steps in a five-year project sponsored by the NASA Langley Research Center, Rockwell Collins Inc., and the Critical Systems Research Group of the University of Minnesota to develop new methods and tools to improve the safety of avionics designs. This model will be used to demonstrate the application of a variety of methods and techniques, including safety analysis of system and subsystem requirements, verification of key properties using theorem provers and model checkers, identification of potential sources mode confusion in system designs, partitioning of applications based on the criticality of system hazards, and autogeneration of avionics quality code. While this model is representative of the mode logic of a typical regional jet aircraft, it does not describe an actual or planned product. Several aspects of a full Flight Guidance System, such as recovery from failed sensors, have been omitted, and no claims are made regarding the accuracy or completeness of this specification.

  10. Safety improvement and preservation of typical sensory qualities of traditional dry fermented sausages using autochthonous starter cultures.

    PubMed

    Talon, Régine; Leroy, Sabine; Lebert, Isabelle; Giammarinaro, Philippe; Chacornac, Jean-Paul; Latorre-Moratalla, Mariluz; Vidal-Carou, Carmen; Zanardi, Emanuela; Conter, Mauro; Lebecque, Annick

    2008-08-15

    Traditional dry fermented sausages are manufactured without addition of starter cultures in small-scale processing units, their fermentation relying on indigenous microflora. Characterisation and control of these specific bacteria are essential for the sensory quality and the safety of the sausages. The aim of this study was to develop an autochthonous starter culture that improves safety while preserving the typical sensory characteristics of traditional sausages. An autochthonous starter composed of Lactobacillus sakei, Staphylococcus equorum and Staphylococcus succinus isolated from a traditional fermented sausage was developed. These strains were tested for their susceptibility to antibiotics and their production of biogenic amines. This starter was evaluated in situ at the French traditional processing unit where the strains had been isolated. Effects of the autochthonous starter were assessed by analysing the microbial, physico-chemical, biochemical and sensory characteristics of the sausages. Inoculation with the chosen species was confirmed using known species-specific PCR assays for L. sakei and S. equorum and a species-specific PCR assay developed in this study for S. succinus. Strains were monitored by pulse-field gel electrophoresis typing. Addition of autochthonous microbial starter cultures improved safety compared with the traditional natural fermentation of sausages, by inhibiting the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, decreasing the level of biogenic amines and by limiting fatty acid and cholesterol oxidation. Moreover, autochthonous starter did not affect the typical sensory quality of the traditional sausages. This is the first time to our knowledge that selection, development and validation in situ of autochthonous starter cultures have been carried out, and also the first time that S. equorum together with S. succinus have been used as starter cultures for meat fermentation. Use of autochthonous starter cultures is an effective tool for limiting

  11. Typical performance of approximation algorithms for NP-hard problems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Takabe, Satoshi; Hukushima, Koji

    2016-11-01

    Typical performance of approximation algorithms is studied for randomized minimum vertex cover problems. A wide class of random graph ensembles characterized by an arbitrary degree distribution is discussed with the presentation of a theoretical framework. Herein, three approximation algorithms are examined: linear-programming relaxation, loopy-belief propagation, and the leaf-removal algorithm. The former two algorithms are analyzed using a statistical-mechanical technique, whereas the average-case analysis of the last one is conducted using the generating function method. These algorithms have a threshold in the typical performance with increasing average degree of the random graph, below which they find true optimal solutions with high probability. Our study reveals that there exist only three cases, determined by the order of the typical performance thresholds. In addition, we provide some conditions for classification of the graph ensembles and demonstrate explicitly some examples for the difference in thresholds.

  12. Involvement in Learning for Low-Achieving Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richman, Barbara Smey

    This resource document is one of a series of nine resource documents, each of which addresses a separate factor in the "Assessment of School Needs for Low-Achieving Students" survey that can help determine a student's academic success and each of which contains information that responds to specific survey items. This document addresses the factor…

  13. Achieving Deeper Energy Savings in Federal Energy Performance Contracts

    DOE PAGES

    Shonder, John A.; Nasseri, Cyrus

    2015-01-01

    Legislation requires each agency of the US federal government to reduce the aggregate energy use index of its buildings by 30% by 2015, with respect to a 2003 baseline. The declining availability of appropriated funding means that energy performance contracting will be key to achieving this goal. Historically however, energy performance contracts have been able to reduce energy use by only about 20% over baseline. Achieving 30% energy reductions using performance contracting will require new approaches and a specific focus on achieving higher energy savings, both by ESCOs and by agencies. This paper describes some of the ways federal agenciesmore » are meeting this challenge, and presents results from the efforts of one agency the US General Services Administration -- to achieve deeper energy savings in conventional energy savings performance contracts.« less

  14. Achievement as Resistance: The Development of a Critical Race Achievement Ideology among Black Achievers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carter, Dorinda J.

    2008-01-01

    In this article, Dorinda Carter examines the embodiment of a critical race achievement ideology in high-achieving black students. She conducted a yearlong qualitative investigation of the adaptive behaviors that nine high-achieving black students developed and employed to navigate the process of schooling at an upper-class, predominantly white,…

  15. Breaking the Glass Ceiling of Achievement for Low-Income Students and Students of Color. Shattering Expectations Series

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bromberg, Marni; Theokas, Christina

    2013-01-01

    Typically, achievement gaps between groups of students are measured as either differences in average scores or differences in proficiency rates. But, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers have long recognized that these approaches don't tell the whole story. Average scores, for example, are good at summarizing trends but can mask real…

  16. Linguistic pattern analysis of misspellings of typically developing writers in grades 1-9.

    PubMed

    Bahr, Ruth Huntley; Sillian, Elaine R; Berninger, Virginia W; Dow, Michael

    2012-12-01

    A mixed-methods approach, evaluating triple word-form theory, was used to describe linguistic patterns of misspellings. Spelling errors were taken from narrative and expository writing samples provided by 888 typically developing students in Grades 1-9. Errors were coded by category (phonological, orthographic, and morphological) and specific linguistic feature affected. Grade-level effects were analyzed with trend analysis. Qualitative analyses determined frequent error types and how use of specific linguistic features varied across grades. Phonological, orthographic, and morphological errors were noted across all grades, but orthographic errors predominated. Linear trends revealed developmental shifts in error proportions for the orthographic and morphological categories between Grades 4 and 5. Similar error types were noted across age groups, but the nature of linguistic feature error changed with age. Triple word-form theory was supported. By Grade 1, orthographic errors predominated, and phonological and morphological error patterns were evident. Morphological errors increased in relative frequency in older students, probably due to a combination of word-formation issues and vocabulary growth. These patterns suggest that normal spelling development reflects nonlinear growth and that it takes a long time to develop a robust orthographic lexicon that coordinates phonology, orthography, and morphology and supports word-specific, conventional spelling.

  17. Sensitivity to Audiovisual Temporal Asynchrony in Children With a History of Specific Language Impairment and Their Peers With Typical Development: A Replication and Follow-Up Study

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    Purpose Earlier, my colleagues and I showed that children with a history of specific language impairment (H-SLI) are significantly less able to detect audiovisual asynchrony compared with children with typical development (TD; Kaganovich & Schumaker, 2014). Here, I first replicate this finding in a new group of children with H-SLI and TD and then examine a relationship among audiovisual function, attention skills, and language in a combined pool of children. Method The stimuli were a pure tone and an explosion-shaped figure. Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) varied from 0–500 ms. Children pressed 1 button for perceived synchrony and another for asynchrony. I measured the number of synchronous perceptions at each SOA and calculated children's temporal binding windows. I, then, conducted multiple regressions to determine if audiovisual processing and attention can predict language skills. Results As in the earlier study, children with H-SLI perceived asynchrony significantly less frequently than children with TD at SOAs of 400–500 ms. Their temporal binding windows were also larger. Temporal precision and attention predicted 23%–37% of children's language ability. Conclusions Audiovisual temporal processing is impaired in children with H-SLI. The degree of this impairment is a predictor of language skills. Once understood, the mechanisms underlying this deficit may become a new focus for language remediation. PMID:28715546

  18. Advanced typical and atypical carcinoid tumours of the lung: management recommendations

    PubMed Central

    Melosky, B.

    2018-01-01

    Background Neuroendocrine tumours (nets) are classified by site of origin, with lung being the second most common primary site after the gastrointestinal tract. Lung nets are rare and heterogeneous, with varied pathologic and clinical features. Typical and atypical carcinoid tumours are low-grade lung nets which, compared with the more common high-grade nets, are associated with a more favourable prognosis. Still, optimal treatment strategies are lacking. Methods This review concentrates on classification and treatment strategies for metastatic low-grade lung nets, considering both typical and atypical carcinoids. The terminology can be confusing, and an attempt is made to simplify it. Promising results from recent trials that included lung nets are presented and discussed. Finally, guidelines from Europe and North America are discussed, and differences are noted. Results Even within the group of patients with low-grade nets, the presentation, the locations of metastasis, and the speed of progression can be very different. The initial work-up and an understanding of the tumour’s biology are key in making management decisions. Various treatment options—including somatostatin analogs, peptide receptor radioligand therapy, and biologic systemic therapy, specifically with the mtor (mechanistic target of rapamycin) inhibitor everolimus—are now available and are presented in a treatment algorithm. Summary Although lung nets are rare and evidence supporting optimal treatment strategies is lacking, the recent publication of trials that have included patients with lung nets advances evidence-based therapy for these tumours. Many variables have to be considered in managing these tumours that have received little attention. Education for treating physicians is needed.

  19. Maternal regulation of child affect in externalizing and typically-developing children.

    PubMed

    Lougheed, Jessica P; Hollenstein, Tom; Lichtwarck-Aschoff, Anna; Granic, Isabela

    2015-02-01

    Temporal contingencies between children's affect and maternal behavior play a role in the development of children's externalizing problems. The goal of the current study was to use a microsocial approach to compare dyads with externalizing dysregulation (N =191) to healthy controls (N = 54) on maternal supportive regulation of children's negative and positive affect. Children were between the ages of 8 and 12 years. Mother-child dyads participated in conflict and positive discussions, and child affect and maternal supportive affect regulation were coded in real time. First, no group differences on overall levels of mother supportive regulation or child affect were found. Second, three event history analyses in a 2-level Cox hazard regression framework were used to predict the hazard rate of (a) maternal supportiveness, and of children's transitions (b) out of negative affect and (c) into positive affect. The hazard rate of maternal supportiveness, regardless of child affect, was not different between groups. However, as expected, the likelihood of mothers' supportive responses to children's negative affect was lower in externalizing than comparison dyads. In addition, children with externalizing problems were significantly less likely than typically developing children to transition out of negative affect in response to maternal supportiveness. The likelihood of both typically developing children and children with externalizing problems transitioning into positive affect were not related to specific occurrences of maternal supportiveness. Results of the current study show the importance of temporal dynamics in mother-child interactions in the emergence of children's externalizing problems. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  20. Exploring the relations among physical fitness, executive functioning, and low academic achievement.

    PubMed

    de Bruijn, A G M; Hartman, E; Kostons, D; Visscher, C; Bosker, R J

    2018-03-01

    Physical fitness seems to be related to academic performance, at least when taking the role of executive functioning into account. This assumption is highly relevant for the vulnerable population of low academic achievers because their academic performance might benefit from enhanced physical fitness. The current study examined whether physical fitness and executive functioning are independent predictors of low mathematics and spelling achievement or whether the relation between physical fitness and low achievement is mediated by specific executive functions. In total, 477 students from second- and third-grade classes of 12 primary schools were classified as either low or average-to-high achievers in mathematics and spelling based on their scores on standardized achievement tests. Multilevel structural equation models were built with direct paths between physical fitness and academic achievement and added indirect paths via components of executive functioning: inhibition, verbal working memory, visuospatial working memory, and shifting. Physical fitness was only indirectly related to low achievement via specific executive functions, depending on the academic domain involved. Verbal working memory was a mediator between physical fitness and low achievement in both domains, whereas visuospatial working memory had a mediating role only in mathematics. Physical fitness interventions aiming to improve low academic achievement, thus, could potentially be successful. The mediating effect of executive functioning suggests that these improvements in academic achievement will be preceded by enhanced executive functions, either verbal working memory (in spelling) or both verbal and visuospatial working memory (in mathematics). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. The Achievement Gap in Reading: Complex Causes, Persistent Issues, Possible Solutions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horowitz, Rosalind, Ed.; Samuels, S. Jay, Ed.

    2017-01-01

    In this volume prominent scholars, experts in their respective fields and highly skilled in the research they conduct, address educational and reading research from varied perspectives and address what it will take to close the achievement gap--with specific attention to reading. The achievement gap is redefined as a level at which all groups can…

  2. Task-specific Dystonias

    PubMed Central

    Torres-Russotto, Diego; Perlmutter, Joel S.

    2009-01-01

    Task-specific dystonias are primary focal dystonias characterized by excessive muscle contractions producing abnormal postures during selective motor activities that often involve highly skilled, repetitive movements. Historically these peculiar postures were considered psychogenic but have now been classified as forms of dystonia. Writer’s cramp is the most commonly identified task-specific dystonia and has features typical of this group of disorders. Symptoms may begin with lack of dexterity during performance of a specific motor task with increasingly abnormal posturing of the involved body part as motor activity continues. Initially, the dystonia may manifest only during the performance of the inciting task, but as the condition progresses it may also occur during other activities or even at rest. Neurological exam is usually unremarkable except for the dystonia-related abnormalities. Although the precise pathophysiology remains unclear, increasing evidence suggests reduced inhibition at different levels of the sensorimotor system. Symptomatic treatment options include oral medications, botulinum toxin injections, neurosurgical procedures, and adaptive strategies. Prognosis may vary depending upon body part involved and specific type of task affected. Further research may reveal new insights into the etiology, pathophysiology, natural history, and improved treatment of these conditions. PMID:18990127

  3. How Many Pathways Underlie Socioeconomic Differences in the Development of Cognition and Achievement?

    PubMed

    Tucker-Drob, Elliot M

    2013-06-01

    Children whose parents have higher education enjoy greater age-linked gains in cognitive abilities and academic achievement. Different researchers have typically focused on different outcomes, and the extent to which parental education relates to multiple child outcomes via a single developmental pathway has received little empirical attention. This issue was examined by applying common factor structural equation models to a large (N = 4,810) nationally representative sample of kindergarten through 12 th grade children, who were measured on 6 distinct cognitive abilities and 5 distinct forms of knowledge and academic achievement. Results indicated that a single pathway accounted for the relations between parental education and age differences in children's cognitive abilities. However, additional unique pathways were necessary to account for the relations between parental education and age differences in academic knowledge and mathematics. These results suggest that while socioeconomic differences are largely manifest in global aspects of cognitive development, they have incremental relations with some forms of academic achievement.

  4. Theory of Mind experience sampling in typical adults.

    PubMed

    Bryant, Lauren; Coffey, Anna; Povinelli, Daniel J; Pruett, John R

    2013-09-01

    We explored the frequency with which typical adults make Theory of Mind (ToM) attributions, and under what circumstances these attributions occur. We used an experience sampling method to query 30 typical adults about their everyday thoughts. Participants carried a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) that prompted them to categorize their thoughts as Action, Mental State, or Miscellaneous at approximately 30 pseudo-random times during a continuous 10-h period. Additionally, participants noted the direction of their thought (self versus other) and degree of socializing (with people versus alone) at the time of inquiry. We were interested in the relative frequency of ToM (mental state attributions) and how prominent they were in immediate social exchanges. Analyses of multiple choice answers suggest that typical adults: (1) spend more time thinking about actions than mental states and miscellaneous things, (2) exhibit a higher degree of own- versus other-directed thought when alone, and (3) make mental state attributions more frequently when not interacting (offline) than while interacting with others (online). A significant 3-way interaction between thought type, direction of thought, and socializing emerged because action but not mental state thoughts about others occurred more frequently when participants were interacting with people versus when alone; whereas there was an increase in the frequency of both action and mental state attributions about the self when participants were alone as opposed to socializing. A secondary analysis of coded free text responses supports findings 1-3. The results of this study help to create a more naturalistic picture of ToM use in everyday life and the method shows promise for future study of typical and atypical thought processes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL STUDY OF ATTENTION REGULATION DURING ILLUSORY FIGURE CATEGORIZATION TASK IN ADHD, AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER, AND TYPICAL CHILDREN.

    PubMed

    Sokhadze, Estate M; Baruth, Joshua M; Sears, Lonnie; Sokhadze, Guela E; El-Baz, Ayman S; Williams, Emily; Klapheke, Robert; Casanova, Manuel F

    2012-01-01

    Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are very common developmental disorders which share some similar symptoms of social, emotional, and attentional deficits. This study is aimed to help understand the differences and similarities of these deficits using analysis of dense-array event-related potentials (ERP) during an illusory figure recognition task. Although ADHD and ASD seem very distinct, they have been shown to share some similarities in their symptoms. Our hypothesis was that children with ASD will show less pronounced differences in ERP responses to target and non-target stimuli as compared to typical children, and to a lesser extent, ADHD. Participants were children with ASD (N=16), ADHD (N=16), and controls (N=16). EEG was collected using a 128 channel EEG system. The task involved the recognition of a specific illusory shape, in this case a square or triangle, created by three or four inducer disks. There were no between group differences in reaction time (RT) to target stimuli, but both ASD and ADHD committed more errors, specifically the ASD group had statistically higher commission error rate than controls. Post-error RT in ASD group was exhibited in a post-error speeding rather than corrective RT slowing typical for the controls. The ASD group also demonstrated an attenuated error-related negativity (ERN) as compared to ADHD and controls. The fronto-central P200, N200, and P300 were enhanced and less differentiated in response to target and non-target figures in the ASD group. The same ERP components were marked by more prolonged latencies in the ADHD group as compared to both ASD and typical controls. The findings are interpreted according to the "minicolumnar" hypothesis proposing existence of neuropathological differences in ASD and ADHD, specifically minicolumnar number/width morphometry spectrum differences. In autism, a model of local hyperconnectivity and long-range hypoconnectivity explains many

  6. Maximizing Student Achievement: Using Student-Centered Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, William L.; Johnson, Annabel M.; Johnson, Jared W.

    2017-01-01

    The document is from a featured presentation at the 2017 annual conference of the Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT) in Houston, Texas, November 9-11, 2017. When educators discuss student achievement, it is rare not to hear names like Robert Marzano and John Hattie. Both have clear, specific, and concrete strategies teachers can use to…

  7. [The morphology, typical combinations of polymorphic genes of hemostasis, and specific features of the pathogenesis of retrochorial hematoma in missed abortion].

    PubMed

    Milovanov, A P; Kuznetsova, N B; Bushtyreva, I O

    to identify mutations and hemostatic gene polymorphisms typical for retrochorial hematoma (RCH) and to study its pathogenesis in missed abortion. A PCR assay was used to detect the genetic forms of thrombophilia in 270 patients with ultrasonographically verified RCH. Logistic regression analysis revealed that with the F7 (proconvertin, coagulation factor (CF) VII G10976A polymorphism or with the F13 (fibrinase, CF XIII) G>T, or FGB (fibrinogen β-chain) G455A polymorphism, the risk of RCH was 2.72, 2.16, and 1.92 times higher, respectively. First trimester missed abortion was found in 42 (15.5%) cases; among them there were 24 (8.8%) women with different polymorphism combinations: F7 (G10976A), F13 (fibrinase, G>T), FGB (G455A). A total of 18 cases of missed abortion due to morphologically verified endometritis, endocrinopathies, and antiphospholipid syndrome were excluded from the sample. Compared to the morphology of medical abortions of the same period (16 women), patients with polymorphic genes of hemostasis were found to have statistically significant incomplete endometrial decidualization, thinning or absence of a Rohr's fibrinoid layer, a smaller number and shortening of syncytiotrophoblast microvilli, and the maximum amount of dissecting hemorrhage and RCH in the utero-chorionic region. The stages of RCH pathogenesis were determined; these included penetration of maternal erythrocytes deep into the decidua ~ dissociation of a layer of decidual cells with impairment of a «hemostatic envelope» ~ formation of RCH with a dense network of fibrin threads ~ final necrosis of surrounding cells and tissues. The investigators identified for the first time the typical combinations of polymorphic genes of predisposition to a high risk for RCH; its complete formation requires additional changes in maternal and placental components that provide local hemostasis.

  8. Adults with Specific Language Impairment fail to consolidate speech sounds during sleep.

    PubMed

    Earle, F Sayako; Landi, Nicole; Myers, Emily B

    2018-02-14

    Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is a common learning disability that is associated with poor speech sound representations. These differences in representational quality are thought to impose a burden on spoken language processing. The underlying mechanism to account for impoverished speech sound representations remains in debate. Previous findings that implicate sleep as important for building speech representations, combined with reports of atypical sleep in SLI, motivate the current investigation into a potential consolidation mechanism as a source of impoverished representations in SLI. In the current study, we trained individuals with SLI on a new (nonnative) set of speech sounds, and tracked their perceptual accuracy and neural responses to these sounds over two days. Adults with SLI achieved comparable performance to typical controls during training, however demonstrated a distinct lack of overnight gains on the next day. We propose that those with SLI may be impaired in the consolidation of acoustic-phonetic information. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  9. Executive Function as a Mediator between SES and Academic Achievement throughout Childhood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lawson, Gwendolyn M.; Farah, Martha J.

    2017-01-01

    Childhood socioeconomic status (SES), as measured by parental education and family income, is highly predictive of academic achievement, but little is known about how specific cognitive systems shape SES disparities in achievement outcomes. This study investigated the extent to which executive function (EF) mediated associations between parental…

  10. On Subject Variations in Achievement Motivations: A Study in Business Subjects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tempelaar, Dirk T.; van der Loeff, Sybrand Schim; Gijselaers, Wim H.; Nijhuis, Jan F. H.

    2011-01-01

    Student achievement motivations are crucial in learning in two ways: as a determinant and an aim of learning. In this study, we focus on two related questions with regard to achievement motivations: to what extent are they subject-specific, and to what extent are they malleable? Answers to both questions are especially important when aiming to…

  11. Finnish Students' Reasons for Their Achievement in Classroom Activities: Focus on Features That Support Self-Regulated Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mykkänen, Arttu; Perry, Nancy; Järvelä, Sanna

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate how finnish students explain factors that contribute to their achievement in classroom learning activities and whether these factors are related to support of self-regulated learning (SRL) in classroom. Over seven weeks, 24 primary school students were videotaped during their typical classroom activities in…

  12. Science learning and literacy performance of typically developing, at-risk, and disabled, non-English language background students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Larrinaga McGee, Patria Maria

    Current education reform calls for excellence, access, and equity in all areas of instruction, including science and literacy. Historically, persons of diverse backgrounds or with disabilities have been underrepresented in science. Gaps are evident between the science and literacy achievement of diverse students and their mainstream peers. The purpose of this study was to document, describe, and examine patterns of development and change in the science learning and literacy performance of Hispanic students. The two major questions of this study were: (1) How is science content knowledge, as evident in oral and written formats, manifested in the performance of typically developing, at-risk, and disabled non-English language background (NELB) students? and (2) What are the patterns of literacy performance in science, and as evident in oral and written formats, among typically developing, at-risk, and disabled NELB students? This case study was part of a larger research project, the Promise Project, undertaken at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation. The study involved 24 fourth-grade students in seven classrooms located in Promise Project schools where teachers were provided with training and materials for instruction on two units of science content: Matter and Weather. Four students were selected from among the fourth-graders for a closer analysis of their performance. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods were used to document, describe, and examine specific events or phenomena in the processes of science learning and literacy development. Important findings were related to (a) gains in science learning and literacy development, (b) students' science learning and literacy development needs, and (c) general and idiosyncratic attitudes toward science and literacy. Five patterns of science "explanations" identified indicated a developmental cognitive/linguistic trajectory in science

  13. Event-Specific Cannabis Use and Use-Related Impairment: The Relationship to Campus Traditions

    PubMed Central

    Buckner, Julia D.; Henslee, Amber M.; Jeffries, Emily R.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: Despite high rates of college cannabis use, little work has identified high-risk cannabis use events. For instance, Mardi Gras (MG) and St. Patrick’s Day (SPD) are characterized by more college drinking, yet it is unknown whether they are also related to greater cannabis use. Further, some campuses may have traditions that emphasize substance use during these events, whereas other campuses may not. Such campus differences may affect whether students use cannabis during specific events. The present study tested whether MG and SPD were related to more cannabis use at two campuses with different traditions regarding MG and SPD. Further, given that Campus A has specific traditions regarding MG whereas Campus B has specific traditions regarding SPD, cross-campus differences in event-specific use were examined. Method: Current cannabis-using undergraduates (N = 154) at two campuses completed an online survey of event-specific cannabis use and event-specific cannabis-related problems. Results: Participants used more cannabis during MG and SPD than during a typical weekday, typical day on which the holiday fell, and a holiday unrelated to cannabis use (Presidents’ Day). Among those who engaged in event-specific use, MG and SPD cannabis use was greater than typical weekend use. Campus differences were observed. For example, Campus A reported more cannabis-related problems during MG than SPD, whereas Campus B reported more problems during SPD than MG. Conclusions: Specific holidays were associated with more cannabis use and use-related problems. Observed between-campus differences indicate that campus traditions may affect event-specific cannabis use and use-related problems. PMID:25785793

  14. Item Calibration Samples and the Stability of Achievement Estimates and System Rankings: Another Look at the PISA Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rutkowski, Leslie; Rutkowski, David; Zhou, Yan

    2016-01-01

    Using an empirically-based simulation study, we show that typically used methods of choosing an item calibration sample have significant impacts on achievement bias and system rankings. We examine whether recent PISA accommodations, especially for lower performing participants, can mitigate some of this bias. Our findings indicate that standard…

  15. The Impact of Teacher Classroom Practices on Student Achievement during the Implementation of a Reform-Based Chemistry Curriculum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roehrig, Gillian; Garrow, Shauna

    2007-01-01

    Evidence of a gap in student understanding has been well documented in chemistry: the typical student holds an abundance of misconceptions. The current expectation is that educational reform will foster greater student achievement via inquiry teaching within classrooms. Using assessments involving both conceptual and algorithmic knowledge of gas…

  16. Language laterality in autism spectrum disorder and typical controls: a functional, volumetric, and diffusion tensor MRI study.

    PubMed

    Knaus, Tracey A; Silver, Andrew M; Kennedy, Meaghan; Lindgren, Kristen A; Dominick, Kelli C; Siegel, Jeremy; Tager-Flusberg, Helen

    2010-02-01

    Language and communication deficits are among the core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reduced or reversed asymmetry of language has been found in a number of disorders, including ASD. Studies of healthy adults have found an association between language laterality and anatomical measures but this has not been systematically investigated in ASD. The goal of this study was to examine differences in gray matter volume of perisylvian language regions, connections between language regions, and language abilities in individuals with typical left lateralized language compared to those with atypical (bilateral or right) asymmetry of language functions. Fourteen adolescent boys with ASD and 20 typically developing adolescent boys participated, including equal numbers of left- and right-handed individuals in each group. Participants with typical left lateralized language activation had smaller frontal language region volume and higher fractional anisotropy of the arcuate fasciculus compared to the group with atypical language laterality, across both ASD and control participants. The group with typical language asymmetry included the most right-handed controls and fewest left-handers with ASD. Atypical language laterality was more prevalent in the ASD than control group. These findings support an association between laterality of language function and language region anatomy. They also suggest anatomical differences may be more associated with variation in language laterality than specifically with ASD. Language laterality therefore may provide a novel way of subdividing samples, resulting in more homogenous groups for research into genetic and neurocognitive foundations of developmental disorders. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. The Relationship between Rural Texas Superintendent Leadership Practices and Student Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gearheart, Vickie May

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to survey rural superintendents regarding their perceptions of specific educational leadership practices identified by Waters and Marzano (2006) and to correlate their endorsement of specific practices with student achievement. Methodology: All superintendents invited to participate in the study did so. The…

  18. Approximate number sense, symbolic number processing, or number-space mappings: what underlies mathematics achievement?

    PubMed

    Sasanguie, Delphine; Göbel, Silke M; Moll, Kristina; Smets, Karolien; Reynvoet, Bert

    2013-03-01

    In this study, the performance of typically developing 6- to 8-year-old children on an approximate number discrimination task, a symbolic comparison task, and a symbolic and nonsymbolic number line estimation task was examined. For the first time, children's performances on these basic cognitive number processing tasks were explicitly contrasted to investigate which of them is the best predictor of their future mathematical abilities. Math achievement was measured with a timed arithmetic test and with a general curriculum-based math test to address the additional question of whether the predictive association between the basic numerical abilities and mathematics achievement is dependent on which math test is used. Results revealed that performance on both mathematics achievement tests was best predicted by how well childrencompared digits. In addition, an association between performance on the symbolic number line estimation task and math achievement scores for the general curriculum-based math test measuring a broader spectrum of skills was found. Together, these results emphasize the importance of learning experiences with symbols for later math abilities. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Specificity of cognitive structure in depression and social phobia: a comparison of interpersonal and achievement content.

    PubMed

    Dozois, David J A; Frewen, Paul A

    2006-02-01

    The comorbidity between the mood and anxiety is extensive and it is probable that individuals with these disorders share a number of cognitive characteristics. However, comorbidity rates with depression are not uniform among the various anxiety disorders. This study examined the common and distinguishing features of self-schematic structure in major depressive disorder and social anxiety compared to other anxiety disorders in general and to no psychiatric disturbance. Participants completed the Psychological Distance Scaling Task, which provided an index of the cognitive organization of positively and negatively valenced interpersonal and achievement self-referent content. The depression and social phobia groups were statistically equivalent on all indices of cognitive organization, and showed greater interconnectedness among interpersonal negative content than both control groups, and less interconnectedness among both positive interpersonal and achievement content than did nonpsychiatric controls. Psychiatric groups were equivalent on negative achievement content but showed greater interconnectedness than controls. This study had a modest sample size and the findings are constrained to females. Negative interpersonal content is more densely interconnected in individuals with social phobia and depression compared with both other anxiety disorder and nonpsychiatric controls. In addition, both social phobia and depression were associated with less interconnected positive content. These findings are indicative of similarities in the way self-schematic content may be organized in individuals with depression and social phobia. Theoretical explanations of these results and future research directions are discussed.

  20. Atypical and Typical Antipsychotics in the Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noggle, Chad A.; Dean, Raymond S.

    2009-01-01

    The use of antipsychotic medications within the school-age population is rapidly increasing. Although typical antipsychotics may be used in rare cases, this influx is largely secondary to the availability of the atypical antipsychotics. Reduction of possible adverse effects and increased efficacy represent the primary basis for the atypical…

  1. MOTIVES INFLUENCING NEEDS TO ACHIEVE IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    HELTZEL, FRANCES B.

    THIS RESEARCH SOUGHT TO MEASURE M TIVATION UNDERLYING ACHIEVEMENT-ORIENTED BEHAVIOR AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL, SPECIFICALLY OF STUDENTS IN VOCATIONAL PROGRAMS. PARALLEL INSTRUMENTS OF 42 ITEMS WERE CONSTRUCTED TO MEASURE MOTIVE FOR STRIVING, BASED ON MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEED FOR SECURITY, BELONGINGNESS, ESTEEM, AND SELF-ACTUALIZATION. STRENGTH OF…

  2. Nonintellective Variables and Nontraditional College Students: A Domain-Based Investigation of Academic Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Warden, David N; Myers, Charlsie A.

    2017-01-01

    The relationship between domain-specific nonintellective variables and academic achievement among nontraditional students was explored to address uninvestigated factors and clarify distinctions between nontraditional and traditional student achievement. College students (nontraditional n = 72, traditional n = 67) completed an online survey…

  3. Kinetic insulation as an effective mechanism for achieving pathway specificity in intracellular signaling networks

    PubMed Central

    Behar, Marcelo; Dohlman, Henrik G.; Elston, Timothy C.

    2007-01-01

    Intracellular signaling pathways that share common components often elicit distinct physiological responses. In most cases, the biochemical mechanisms responsible for this signal specificity remain poorly understood. Protein scaffolds and cross-inhibition have been proposed as strategies to prevent unwanted cross-talk. Here, we report a mechanism for signal specificity termed “kinetic insulation.” In this approach signals are selectively transmitted through the appropriate pathway based on their temporal profile. In particular, we demonstrate how pathway architectures downstream of a common component can be designed to efficiently separate transient signals from signals that increase slowly over time. Furthermore, we demonstrate that upstream signaling proteins can generate the appropriate input to the common pathway component regardless of the temporal profile of the external stimulus. Our results suggest that multilevel signaling cascades may have evolved to modulate the temporal profile of pathway activity so that stimulus information can be efficiently encoded and transmitted while ensuring signal specificity. PMID:17913886

  4. Effects of Gender Color-Coding on Toddlers' Gender-Typical Toy Play.

    PubMed

    Wong, Wang I; Hines, Melissa

    2015-07-01

    Gender color-coding of children's toys may make certain toys more appealing or less appealing to a given gender. We observed toddlers playing with two gender-typical toys (a train, a doll), once in gender-typical colors and once in gender-atypical colors. Assessments occurred twice, at 20-40 months of age and at 26-47 months of age. A Sex × Time × Toy × Color ANOVA showed expected interactions between Sex and Toy and Sex and Color. Boys played more with the train than girls did and girls played more with the doll and with pink toys than boys did. The Sex × Toy × Color interaction was not significant, but, at both time points, boys and girls combined played more with the gender-atypical toy when its color was typical for their sex than when it was not. This effect appeared to be caused largely by boys' preference for, or avoidance of, the doll and by the use of pink. Also, at both time points, gender differences in toy preferences were larger in the gender-typical than in the gender-atypical color condition. At Time 2, these gender differences were present only in the gender-typical color condition. Overall, the results suggest that, once acquired, gender-typical color preferences begin to influence toy preferences, especially those for gender-atypical toys and particularly in boys. They thus could enlarge differences between boys' and girls' toy preferences. Because boys' and girls' toys elicit different activities, removing the gender color-coding of toys could encourage more equal learning opportunities.

  5. Learning new faces in typical and atypical populations of children.

    PubMed

    Jones, Rebecca R; Blades, Mark; Coleman, Mike; Pascalis, Olivier

    2013-02-01

    Recognizing an individual as familiar is an important aspect of our social cognition, which requires both learning a face and recalling it. It has been suggested that children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) have deficits and abnormalities in face processing. We investigated whether the process by which unfamiliar faces become familiar differs in typically developing (TD) children, children with ASD, and children with developmental delay. Children were familiarized with a set of moving novel faces presented over a three-day period. Recognition of the learned faces was assessed at five time points during the three-day period. Both immediate and delayed recall of faces was tested. All groups showed improvements in face recognition at immediate recall, which indicated that learning had occurred. The TD population showed slightly better performance than the two other groups, however no difference was specific to the ASD group. All groups showed similar levels of improvements with time. Our results are discussed in terms of learning in ASD. © 2013 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2013 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

  6. Cattell-Horn-Carroll Cognitive Abilities and Reading Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benson, Nicholas

    2008-01-01

    Structural equation modeling procedures are applied to the standardization sample of the Woodcock-Johnson III to simultaneously estimate the effects of a psychometric general factor (g), specific cognitive abilities, and reading skills on reading achievement. The results of this study indicate that g has a strong direct relationship with basic…

  7. Comprehensive School Reform and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borman, Geoffrey D.; Hewes, Gina M.; Overman, Laura T.; Brown, Shelly

    2003-01-01

    This meta-analysis reviews research on the achievement effects of comprehensive school reform (CSR) and summarizes the specific effects of 29 widely implemented models. There are limitations on the overall quantity and quality of the research base, but the overall effects of CSR appear promising. The combined quantity, quality, and statistical…

  8. Comparison of typical mega cities in China using emergy synthesis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, L. X.; Chen, B.; Yang, Z. F.; Chen, G. Q.; Jiang, M. M.; Liu, G. Y.

    2009-06-01

    An emergy-based comparison analysis is conducted for three typical mega cities in China, i.e., Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, from 1990 to 2005 in four perspectives including emergy intensity, resource structure, environmental pressure and resource use efficiency. A new index of non-renewable emergy/money ratio is established to indicate the utilization efficiency of the non-renewable resources. The results show that for the three mega urban systems, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the total emergy inputs were 3.76E+23, 3.54E+23, 2.52E+23 sej in 2005, of which 64.88%, 91.45% and 72.28% were imported from the outsides, respectively. As to the indicators of emergy intensity involving the total emergy use, emergy density and emergy use per cap, three cities exhibited similar overall increase trends with annual fluctuations from 1990 to 2005. Shanghai achieved the highest level of economic development and non-renewable resource use efficiency, and meanwhile, lower proportion of renewable resource use and higher environmental pressure compared to those of Beijing and Guangzhou. Guangzhou has long term sustainability considering an amount of local renewable resources used, per capita emergy used, energy consumption per unit GDP and the ratio of waste to renewable emergy. It can be concluded that different emergy-based evaluation results arise from different geographical locations, resources endowments, industrial structures and urban orientations of the concerned mega cities.

  9. Correlates of midlife career achievement among women physicians.

    PubMed

    Graves, P L; Thomas, C B

    1985-08-09

    In the context of a longitudinal study, we explored factors contributing to midlife career achievement among 108 women physicians. Three groups were formed, based on medical specialty, specialty board certification, and professorial appointment. Using analysis of variance procedures, the career groups were compared on measures obtained during medical school and on marital status, family size, and three health measures in midlife. Of the youthful measures, academic standing, father's socioeconomic status, and early family (specifically father-daughter) relationships were found to be associated with midlife achievement. Furthermore, a clear association was observed between success and good health in midlife. Married women formed the majority in all groups; no differences in family size were found. We conclude that career achievement among women physicians is influenced less by marriage and family size than by motivational and personality factors shaped in early life.

  10. Extended Article: Typicality, Graded Membership, and Vagueness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hampton, James A.

    2007-01-01

    This paper addresses theoretical problems arising from the vagueness of language terms, and intuitions of the vagueness of the concepts to which they refer. It is argued that the central intuitions of prototype theory are sufficient to account for both typicality phenomena and psychological intuitions about degrees of membership in vaguely defined…

  11. Face-to-face interference in typical and atypical development

    PubMed Central

    Riby, Deborah M; Doherty-Sneddon, Gwyneth; Whittle, Lisa

    2012-01-01

    Visual communication cues facilitate interpersonal communication. It is important that we look at faces to retrieve and subsequently process such cues. It is also important that we sometimes look away from faces as they increase cognitive load that may interfere with online processing. Indeed, when typically developing individuals hold face gaze it interferes with task completion. In this novel study we quantify face interference for the first time in Williams syndrome (WS) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). These disorders of development impact on cognition and social attention, but how do faces interfere with cognitive processing? Individuals developing typically as well as those with ASD (n = 19) and WS (n = 16) were recorded during a question and answer session that involved mathematics questions. In phase 1 gaze behaviour was not manipulated, but in phase 2 participants were required to maintain eye contact with the experimenter at all times. Looking at faces decreased task accuracy for individuals who were developing typically. Critically, the same pattern was seen in WS and ASD, whereby task performance decreased when participants were required to hold face gaze. The results show that looking at faces interferes with task performance in all groups. This finding requires the caveat that individuals with WS and ASD found it harder than individuals who were developing typically to maintain eye contact throughout the interaction. Individuals with ASD struggled to hold eye contact at all points of the interaction while those with WS found it especially difficult when thinking. PMID:22356183

  12. Influence of Teacher Characteristics on African American Student Math Achievement in Texas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    West, Dorthery Barron

    2012-01-01

    The achievement gap between African American and White students continues to be an issue of great concern for educators. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of teacher characteristics on African American student math achievement: More specifically, the study examined years of teaching experience, campus teacher turnover, and the…

  13. Speech Disruptions in the Narratives of English-Speaking Children with Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guo, Ling-yu; Tomblin, J. Bruce; Samelson, Vicki

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: This study examined the types, frequencies, and distribution of speech disruptions in the spoken narratives of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their age-matched (CA) and language-matched (LA) peers. Method: Twenty 4th-grade children with SLI, 20 typically developing CA children, and 20 younger typically developing LA…

  14. Greenhouse Gas Inventory of a Typical High-End Industrial Park in China

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Bin; He, Guoxuan; Qi, Jing; Zhou, Shiyi; Jiang, Meiming

    2013-01-01

    Global climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which severely limits the development of human society and threatens the survival of humanity, has drawn the international community's long-term attention. Gathering the most important production factors in the region, an industrial park usually represents the development level of specific industries in the region. Therefore, the industrial park should be regarded as the base unit for developing a low-carbon economy and reducing GHG emissions. Focusing on a typical high-end industrial park in Beijing, we analyze the carbon sources within the system boundary and probe into the emission structure in view of life-cycle analysis. A GHG inventory is thereby set up to calculate all GHG emissions from the concerned park. Based on the results, suggestions are presented to guide the low-carbon development of the high-end industrial park. PMID:23431258

  15. Greenhouse gas inventory of a typical high-end industrial park in China.

    PubMed

    Chen, Bin; He, Guoxuan; Qi, Jing; Su, Meirong; Zhou, Shiyi; Jiang, Meiming

    2013-01-01

    Global climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which severely limits the development of human society and threatens the survival of humanity, has drawn the international community's long-term attention. Gathering the most important production factors in the region, an industrial park usually represents the development level of specific industries in the region. Therefore, the industrial park should be regarded as the base unit for developing a low-carbon economy and reducing GHG emissions. Focusing on a typical high-end industrial park in Beijing, we analyze the carbon sources within the system boundary and probe into the emission structure in view of life-cycle analysis. A GHG inventory is thereby set up to calculate all GHG emissions from the concerned park. Based on the results, suggestions are presented to guide the low-carbon development of the high-end industrial park.

  16. Processing Binding Relations in Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwartz, Richard G.; Hestvik, Arild; Seiger-Gardner, Liat; Almodovar, Diana

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This sentence processing experiment examined the abilities of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children with typical language development (TD) to establish relations between pronouns or reflexives and their antecedents in real time. Method: Twenty-two children with SLI and 24 age-matched children with TD (7;3-10;11…

  17. Poverty, Academic Achievement, and Giftedness: A Literature Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olszewski-Kubilius, Paula; Corwith, Susan

    2018-01-01

    In this article, we review research on poverty, both poverty rates and the effects of poverty on academic achievement more generally and on the identification and services for low-income gifted children specifically. This review sets the stage for further discussion of the research findings on identification practices including the efficacy of…

  18. Spatial coding of object typical size: evidence for a SNARC-like effect.

    PubMed

    Sellaro, Roberta; Treccani, Barbara; Job, Remo; Cubelli, Roberto

    2015-11-01

    The present study aimed to assess whether the representation of the typical size of objects can interact with response position codes in two-choice bimanual tasks, and give rise to a SNARC-like effect (faster responses when the representation of the typical size of the object to which the target stimulus refers corresponds to response side). Participants performed either a magnitude comparison task (in which they were required to judge whether the target was smaller or larger than a reference stimulus; Experiment 1) or a semantic decision task (in which they had to classify the target as belonging to either the category of living or non-living entities; Experiment 2). Target stimuli were pictures or written words referring to either typically large and small animals or inanimate objects. In both tasks, participants responded by pressing a left- or right-side button. Results showed that, regardless of the to-be-performed task (magnitude comparison or semantic decision) and stimulus format (picture or word), left responses were faster when the target represented typically small-sized entities, whereas right responses were faster for typically large-sized entities. These results provide evidence that the information about the typical size of objects is activated even if it is not requested by the task, and are consistent with the idea that objects' typical size is automatically spatially coded, as has been proposed to occur for number magnitudes. In this representation, small objects would be on the left and large objects would be on the right. Alternative interpretations of these results are also discussed.

  19. Computer navigation for total knee arthroplasty achieves better postoperative alignment compared to conventional and patient-specific instrumentation in a low-volume setting.

    PubMed

    Suero, Eduardo M; Lueke, Ulrich; Stuebig, Timo; Hawi, Nael; Krettek, Christian; Liodakis, Emmanouil

    2018-04-25

    Procedure volume is an important determinant of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) outcomes. We aimed to determine whether computer navigation or patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) would improve postoperative alignment in a low-volume setting. PSI for TKA achieves better limb and implant alignment compared to conventional TKA and to computer navigated TKA. This is a retrospective cohort study of 385 primary TKAs (Women=59%. Mean age=67years. Mean BMI=30.1kg/m 2 ), which were performed using conventional instrumentation (n=117; 30%), computer navigation (n=209; 54%), or patient-specific instrumentation (n=59; 15%) in a low-volume center (<50 TKAs/year). The risk of postoperative leg and implant mechanical alignment outliers in the coronal plane (>3° from neutral), average alignment and operation time were assessed. The risk of postoperative mechanical alignment outliers (>3°) was reduced by 89% in the navigated group (4% outliers) compared to the conventional group (35%) (RR=0.11; p<0.0001). No significant improvement was observed in the PSI group (27%) (RR=0.91; p=0.772). The risk of postoperative femoral component coronal alignment outliers was reduced by 63% in the navigated group (11%) compared to the conventional group (31%) (RR=0.37; p=0.018). No significant reduction in outliers was observed in the PSI group (32%) (RR=1.08; p=0.816). There was a reduction in the risk of tibial component coronal malalignment of 66% in the navigated group (5%) compared to the conventional group (13%) (RR=0.33; p=0.070). There was a two-fold increase in the risk of tibial component alignment outliers in the PSI group (29%) (RR=1.94; p=0.110). Computer navigation improved postoperative alignment in TKA. No evidence of improved alignment was seen with patient-specific instrumentation. The routine use of patient-specific instrumentation in low-volume centers is not supported by the currently available data. Retrospective cohort study. Level IV. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson

  20. Non-verbal reasoning ability and academic achievement as moderators of the relation between adverse life events and emotional and behavioural problems in early adolescence: the importance of moderator and outcome specificity.

    PubMed

    Flouri, Eirini; Tzavidis, Nikos

    2011-02-01

    This study was carried out to model the functional form of the effect of contextual risk (number of adverse life events) on emotional and behavioural problems in early adolescence, and to test how intelligence and academic achievement compare as moderators of this effect. The effect of number of adverse life events on emotional and behavioural problems was non-quadratic. Intelligence rather than academic achievement moderated the association between contextual risk and children's emotional and behavioural problems. However, the interaction effect was significant only on peer problems. These findings suggest that both moderator and outcome specificity should be considered when evaluating the role of intellectual competence in the association between contextual risk and children's emotional and behavioural problems.

  1. Treatment with olanzapine, risperidone or typical antipsychotic drugs in Asian patients with schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Lee, Chul; Wu, Kuang-Hsien; Habil, Hussain; Dyachkova, Yulia; Lee, Phil

    2006-05-01

    To examine clinical outcomes in Asian patients with schizophrenia receiving monotherapy with olanzapine, risperidone or typical antipsychotics in naturalistic settings. In this report, data from the first 12 months of the prospective, observational, 3-year Intercontinental Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes study are presented for patients from participating Asian countries (Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia) who were started on, or switched to, monotherapy with olanzapine (n = 484), risperidone (n = 287) or a typical antipsychotic drug (n = 127) at baseline. At 12 months, overall reduction in the score of Clinical Global Impressions-Severity of Illness rating scale was greatest with olanzapine (p < 0.001 vs typical agents), followed by risperidone (p = 0.007 vs typical agents) treatment. Olanzapine treatment was found to have significantly better effects than typical agents on negative and depressive symptom scores, and significantly greater improvements than risperidone on negative and cognitive symptoms. The occurrence of extrapyramidal symptoms was least likely with olanzapine (p < 0.001 vs typical agents, and p = 0.012 vs risperidone), while the estimated odds of tardive dyskinesia were greatest in the typical treatment group (p = 0.046 vs olanzapine, and p = 0.082 vs risperidone). Mean weight increase was greater for olanzapine-treated patients compared with the other agents (p = 0.030 vs typical agents and p < 0.001 vs risperidone). The risk of menstrual disturbance was relatively high with risperidone when compared with olanzapine treatment (p < 0.001). The results of this observational study indicate that, in Asian patients with schizophrenia, olanzapine may offer benefits when compared with typical agents or risperidone. However, the significantly greater odds of weight gain should be considered in the clinical management of olanzapine-treated patients.

  2. Typical and Atypical Development of Basic Numerical Skills in Elementary School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Landerl, Karin; Kolle, Christina

    2009-01-01

    Deficits in basic numerical processing have been identified as a central and potentially causal problem in developmental dyscalculia; however, so far not much is known about the typical and atypical development of such skills. This study assessed basic number skills cross-sectionally in 262 typically developing and 51 dyscalculic children in…

  3. 47 CFR Figure 2 to Subpart N of... - Typical Audio Wave

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Typical Audio Wave 2 Figure 2 to Subpart N of Part 2 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL FREQUENCY ALLOCATIONS AND RADIO... Position Indicating Radiobeacons (EPIRBs) Pt. 2, Subpt. N, Fig. 2 Figure 2 to Subpart N of Part 2—Typical...

  4. Linguistic Pattern Analysis of Misspellings of Typically Developing Writers in Grades 1 to 9

    PubMed Central

    Bahr, Ruth Huntley; Silliman, Elaine R.; Berninger, Virginia W.; Dow, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Purpose A mixed methods approach, evaluating triple word form theory, was used to describe linguistic patterns of misspellings. Method Spelling errors were taken from narrative and expository writing samples provided by 888 typically developing students in grades 1–9. Errors were coded by category (phonological, orthographic, and morphological) and specific linguistic feature affected. Grade level effects were analyzed with trend analysis. Qualitative analyses determined frequent error types and how use of specific linguistic features varied across grades. Results Phonological, orthographic, and morphological errors were noted across all grades, but orthographic errors predominated. Linear trends revealed developmental shifts in error proportions for the orthographic and morphological categories between grades 4–5. Similar error types were noted across age groups but the nature of linguistic feature error changed with age. Conclusions Triple word-form theory was supported. By grade 1, orthographic errors predominated and phonological and morphological error patterns were evident. Morphological errors increased in relative frequency in older students, probably due to a combination of word-formation issues and vocabulary growth. These patterns suggest that normal spelling development reflects non-linear growth and that it takes a long time to develop a robust orthographic lexicon that coordinates phonology, orthography, and morphology and supports word-specific, conventional spelling. PMID:22473834

  5. Typical and Optimal Aging in Women and Men: Is There a Double Standard?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Canetto, Silvia Sara; And Others

    1995-01-01

    Examined gender stereotypes of typical and optimal mentally healthy aging. Respondents--young adults (n=232) and their older adult relatives/acquaintances (n=233)--reported more gender stereotypes than age stereotypes. Perceptions of typical aging varied with certain factors. Findings suggest a double standard of aging for typical but not for…

  6. Driving Comparisons Between Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development.

    PubMed

    Patrick, Kristina E; Hurewitz, Felicia; McCurdy, Mark D; Agate, Frederic Taylor; Daly, Brian P; Tarazi, Reem A; Chute, Douglas L; Schultheis, Maria T

    2018-05-18

    Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are reluctant to pursue driving because of concerns about their ability to drive safely. This study aimed to assess differences in simulated driving performance in young adults with ASD and typical development, examining relationships between driving performance and the level of experience (none, driver's permit, licensed) across increasingly difficult driving environments. Participants included 50 English-speaking young adults (16-26 years old) with ASD matched for sex, age, and licensure with 50 typically-developing (TD) peers. Participants completed a structured driving assessment using a virtual-reality simulator that included increasingly complex environmental demands. Differences in mean speed and speed and lane variability by diagnostic group and driving experience were analyzed using multilevel linear modeling. Young adults with ASD demonstrated increased variability in speed and lane positioning compared with controls, even during low demand tasks. When driving demands became more complex, group differences were moderated by driving experience such that licensed drivers with ASD drove similarly to TD licensed drivers for most tasks, whereas unlicensed drivers with ASD had more difficulty with speed and lane management than TD drivers. Findings suggest that young adults with ASD may have more difficulty with basic driving skills than peers, particularly in the early stages of driver training. Increased difficulty compared with peers increases as driving demands become more complex, suggesting that individuals with ASD may benefit from a slow and gradual approach to driver training. Future studies should evaluate predictors of driving performance, on-road driving, and ASD-specific driving interventions.

  7. Online High School Achievement versus Traditional High School Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blohm, Katherine E.

    2017-01-01

    The following study examined the question of student achievement in online charter schools and how the achievement scores of students at online charter schools compare to achievement scores of students at traditional schools. Arizona has seen explosive growth in charter schools and online charter schools. A study comparing how these two types of…

  8. Why I Believe I Achieve Determines Whether I Achieve

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Siegle, Del; McCoach, D. Betsy; Roberts, Anne

    2017-01-01

    The beliefs and values students hold toward themselves, given tasks, and achievement itself can influence what tasks students seek, and whether they are able to obtain them. On the basis of previous research on underachievement and motivation, we developed the Achievement Orientation Model (AOM) to explore the issue of student achievement. The…

  9. Media and attention, cognition, and school achievement.

    PubMed

    Schmidt, Marie Evans; Vandewater, Elizabeth A

    2008-01-01

    Marie Evans Schmidt and Elizabeth Vandewater review research on links between various types of electronic media and the cognitive skills of school-aged children and adolescents. One central finding of studies to date, they say, is that the content delivered by electronic media is far more influential than the media themselves. Most studies, they point out, find a small negative link between the total hours a child spends viewing TV and that child's academic achievement. But when researchers take into account characteristics of the child, such as IQ or socioeconomic status, this link typically disappears. Content appears to be crucial. Viewing educational TV is linked positively with academic achievement; viewing entertainment TV is linked negatively with achievement. When it comes to particular cognitive skills, say the authors, researchers have found that electronic media, particularly video games, can enhance visual spatial skills, such as visual tracking, mental rotation, and target localization. Gaming may also improve problem-solving skills. Researchers have yet to understand fully the issue of transfer of learning from electronic media. Studies suggest that, under some circumstances, young people are able to transfer what they learn from electronic media to other applications, but analysts are uncertain how such transfer occurs. In response to growing public concern about possible links between electronic media use and attention problems in children and adolescents, say the authors, researchers have found evidence for small positive links between heavy electronic media use and mild attention problems among young people but have found only inconsistent evidence so far for a link between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and media use. The authors point out that although video games, interactive websites, and multimedia software programs appear to offer a variety of possible benefits for learning, there is as yet little empirical evidence to suggest that

  10. Relating children's attentional capabilities to intelligence, memory, and academic achievement: a test of construct specificity in children with asthma.

    PubMed

    Annett, Robert D; Bender, Bruce G; Gordon, Michael

    2007-01-01

    The relationship between attention, intelligence, memory, achievement, and behavior in a large population (N = 939) of children without neuropsychologic problems was investigated in children with mild and moderate asthma. It was hypothesized that different levels of children's attentional capabilities would be associated with different levels of intellectual, memory, and academic abilities. Children ages 6-12 at the eight clinical centers of the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) were enrolled in this study. Standardized measures of child neuropsychological and behavioral performance were administered to all participants, with analyses examining both the developmental trajectory of child attentional capabilities and the associations between Continuous Performance Test (CPT) scores and intellectual functioning, and measures of memory, academic achievement, and behavioral functioning. Findings demonstrated that correct responses on the CPT increase significantly with age, while commission errors decrease significantly with age. Performance levels on the CPT were associated with differences in child intellectual function, memory, and academic achievement. Overall these findings reveal how impairments in child attention skills were associated with normal levels of performance on measures of children's intelligence, memory, academic achievement, and behavioral functioning, suggesting that CPT performance is a salient marker of brain function.

  11. 14 CFR Appendix C to Part 1215 - Typical User Activity Timeline

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Typical User Activity Timeline C Appendix C... RELAY SATELLITE SYSTEM (TDRSS) Pt. 1215, App. C Appendix C to Part 1215—Typical User Activity Timeline... mission model. 3 years before launch (Ref. § 1215.109(c). Submit general user requirements to permit...

  12. Probing Protein Structure by Amino Acid-Specific Covalent Labeling and Mass Spectrometry

    PubMed Central

    Mendoza, Vanessa Leah; Vachet, Richard W.

    2009-01-01

    For many years, amino acid-specific covalent labeling has been a valuable tool to study protein structure and protein interactions, especially for systems that are difficult to study by other means. These covalent labeling methods typically map protein structure and interactions by measuring the differential reactivity of amino acid side chains. The reactivity of amino acids in proteins generally depends on the accessibility of the side chain to the reagent, the inherent reactivity of the label and the reactivity of the amino acid side chain. Peptide mass mapping with ESI- or MALDI-MS and peptide sequencing with tandem MS are typically employed to identify modification sites to provide site-specific structural information. In this review, we describe the reagents that are most commonly used in these residue-specific modification reactions, details about the proper use of these covalent labeling reagents, and information about the specific biochemical problems that have been addressed with covalent labeling strategies. PMID:19016300

  13. A Psychometric Evaluation of Two Achievement Goal Inventories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donnellan, M. Brent

    2008-01-01

    The properties of the achievement goal inventories developed by Grant and Dweck (2003) and Elliot and McGregor (2001) were evaluated in two studies with a total of 780 participants. A four-factor specification for the Grant and Dweck inventory did not closely replicate results published in their original report. In contrast, the structure of the…

  14. The influence of habitus in the relationship between cultural capital and academic achievement.

    PubMed

    Gaddis, S Michael

    2013-01-01

    Scholars routinely use cultural capital theory in an effort to explain class differences in academic success but often overlook the key concept of habitus. Rich, longstanding debates within the literature suggest the need for a closer examination of the individual effects of cultural capital and habitus. Drawing upon the writings of Pierre Bourdieu, I use a longitudinal dataset to examine the effects of multiple operationalizations of cultural capital on academic achievement and the mediating effects of habitus. Using first difference models to control for time-invariant unobserved characteristics, I find that typical operationalizations of cultural capital (i.e. high-arts participation and reading habits) have positive effects on GPA that are completely mediated through habitus. These results stress the importance of habitus in the relationship between cultural capital and academic achievement for disadvantaged youth. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Achieving interoperability for metadata registries using comparative object modeling.

    PubMed

    Park, Yu Rang; Kim, Ju Han

    2010-01-01

    Achieving data interoperability between organizations relies upon agreed meaning and representation (metadata) of data. For managing and registering metadata, many organizations have built metadata registries (MDRs) in various domains based on international standard for MDR framework, ISO/IEC 11179. Following this trend, two pubic MDRs in biomedical domain have been created, United States Health Information Knowledgebase (USHIK) and cancer Data Standards Registry and Repository (caDSR), from U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and National Cancer Institute (NCI), respectively. Most MDRs are implemented with indiscriminate extending for satisfying organization-specific needs and solving semantic and structural limitation of ISO/IEC 11179. As a result it is difficult to address interoperability among multiple MDRs. In this paper, we propose an integrated metadata object model for achieving interoperability among multiple MDRs. To evaluate this model, we developed an XML Schema Definition (XSD)-based metadata exchange format. We created an XSD-based metadata exporter, supporting both the integrated metadata object model and organization-specific MDR formats.

  16. Conferring specificity in redox pathways by enzymatic thiol/disulfide exchange reactions.

    PubMed

    Netto, Luis Eduardo S; de Oliveira, Marcos Antonio; Tairum, Carlos A; da Silva Neto, José Freire

    2016-01-01

    Thiol-disulfide exchange reactions are highly reversible, displaying nucleophilic substitutions mechanism (S(N)2 type). For aliphatic, low molecular thiols, these reactions are slow, but can attain million times faster rates in enzymatic processes. Thioredoxin (Trx) proteins were the first enzymes described to accelerate thiol-disulfide exchange reactions and their high reactivity is related to the high nucleophilicity of the attacking thiol. Substrate specificity in Trx is achieved by several factors, including polar, hydrophobic, and topological interactions through a groove in the active site. Glutaredoxin (Grx) enzymes also contain the Trx fold, but they do not share amino acid sequence similarity with Trx. A conserved glutathione binding site is a typical feature of Grx that can reduce substrates by two mechanisms (mono and dithiol). The high reactivity of Grx enzymes is related to the very acid pK(a) values of reactive Cys that plays roles as good leaving groups. Therefore, although distinct oxidoreductases catalyze similar thiol–disulfide exchange reactions, their enzymatic mechanisms vary. PDI and DsbA are two other oxidoreductases, but they are involved in disulfide bond formation, instead of disulfide reduction, which is related to the oxidative environment where they are found. PDI enzymes and DsbC are endowed with disulfide isomerase activity, which is related with their tetra-domain architecture. As illustrative description of specificity in thiol-disulfide exchange, redox aspects of transcription activation in bacteria, yeast, and mammals are presented in an evolutionary perspective. Therefore, thiol-disulfide exchange reactions play important roles in conferring specificity to pathways, a required feature for signaling.

  17. Grammaticality Sensitivity in Children with Early Focal Brain Injury and Children with Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wulfeck, Beverly; Bates, Elizabeth; Krupa-Kwiatkowski, Magda; Saltzman, Danna

    2004-01-01

    Grammaticality judgments and processing times associated with violation detection were examined in typically developing children, children with focal brain lesions (FL) acquired early in life, and children with specific language impairment (SLI). Grammatical sensitivity in the FL group, while below typically developing children, was above levels…

  18. Specific language impairment in language-minority children from low-income families.

    PubMed

    Engel de Abreu, Pascale M J; Cruz-Santos, Anabela; Puglisi, Marina L

    2014-11-01

    Recent evidence suggests that specific language impairment (SLI) might be secondary to general cognitive processing limitations in the domain of executive functioning. Previous research has focused almost exclusively on monolingual children with SLI and offers little evidence-based guidance on executive functioning in bilingual children with SLI. Studying bilinguals with SLI is important, especially in the light of increasing evidence that bilingualism can bring advantages in certain domains of executive functioning. To determine whether executive functioning represents an area of difficulty for bilingual language-minority children with SLI and, if so, which specific executive processes are affected. This cross-cultural research was conducted with bilingual children from Luxembourg and monolingual children from Portugal who all had Portuguese as their first language. The data from 81 eight-year-olds from the following three groups were analysed: (1) 15 Portuguese-Luxembourgish bilinguals from Luxembourg with an SLI diagnosis; (2) 33 typically developing Portuguese-Luxembourgish bilinguals from Luxembourg; and (3) 33 typically developing Portuguese-speaking monolinguals from Portugal. Groups were matched on first language, ethnicity, chronological age and socioeconomic status, and they did not differ in nonverbal intelligence. Children completed a battery of tests tapping: expressive and receptive vocabulary, syntactic comprehension, verbal and visuospatial working memory, selective attention and interference suppression. The bilingual SLI group performed equally well compared with their typically developing peers on measures of visuospatial working memory, but had lower scores than both control groups on tasks of verbal working memory. On measures of selective attention and interference suppression, typically developing children who were bilingual outperformed their monolingual counterparts. For selective attention, performance of the bilingual SLI group did not

  19. Beyond Measurement-Driven Instruction: Achieving Deep Learning Based on Constructivist Learning Theory, Integrated Assessment, and a Flipped Classroom Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bernauer, James A.; Fuller, Richard G.

    2017-01-01

    The authors focus on the critical role of assessment within a flipped classroom environment where instruction is based on constructivist learning theory and where desired student outcomes are at the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. While assessment is typically thought of in terms of providing summative measures of performance or achievement, it…

  20. Typicality effects in artificial categories: is there a hemisphere difference?

    PubMed

    Richards, L G; Chiarello, C

    1990-07-01

    In category classification tasks, typicality effects are usually found: accuracy and reaction time depend upon distance from a prototype. In this study, subjects learned either verbal or nonverbal dot pattern categories, followed by a lateralized classification task. Comparable typicality effects were found in both reaction time and accuracy across visual fields for both verbal and nonverbal categories. Both hemispheres appeared to use a similarity-to-prototype matching strategy in classification. This indicates that merely having a verbal label does not differentiate classification in the two hemispheres.

  1. Gluten-specific antibodies of celiac disease gut plasma cells recognize long proteolytic fragments that typically harbor T-cell epitopes.

    PubMed

    Dørum, Siri; Steinsbø, Øyvind; Bergseng, Elin; Arntzen, Magnus Ø; de Souza, Gustavo A; Sollid, Ludvig M

    2016-05-05

    This study aimed to identify proteolytic fragments of gluten proteins recognized by recombinant IgG1 monoclonal antibodies generated from single IgA plasma cells of celiac disease lesions. Peptides bound by monoclonal antibodies in complex gut-enzyme digests of gluten treated with the deamidating enzyme transglutaminase 2, were identified by mass spectrometry after antibody pull-down with protein G beads. The antibody bound peptides were long deamidated peptide fragments that contained the substrate recognition sequence of transglutaminase 2. Characteristically, the fragments contained epitopes with the sequence QPEQPFP and variants thereof in multiple copies, and they typically also harbored many different gluten T-cell epitopes. In the pull-down setting where antibodies were immobilized on a solid phase, peptide fragments with multivalent display of epitopes were targeted. This scenario resembles the situation of the B-cell receptor on the surface of B cells. Conceivably, B cells of celiac disease patients select gluten epitopes that are repeated multiple times in long peptide fragments generated by gut digestive enzymes. As the fragments also contain many different T-cell epitopes, this will lead to generation of strong antibody responses by effective presentation of several distinct T-cell epitopes and establishment of T-cell help to B cells.

  2. Gluten-specific antibodies of celiac disease gut plasma cells recognize long proteolytic fragments that typically harbor T-cell epitopes

    PubMed Central

    Dørum, Siri; Steinsbø, Øyvind; Bergseng, Elin; Arntzen, Magnus Ø.; de Souza, Gustavo A.; Sollid, Ludvig M.

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed to identify proteolytic fragments of gluten proteins recognized by recombinant IgG1 monoclonal antibodies generated from single IgA plasma cells of celiac disease lesions. Peptides bound by monoclonal antibodies in complex gut-enzyme digests of gluten treated with the deamidating enzyme transglutaminase 2, were identified by mass spectrometry after antibody pull-down with protein G beads. The antibody bound peptides were long deamidated peptide fragments that contained the substrate recognition sequence of transglutaminase 2. Characteristically, the fragments contained epitopes with the sequence QPEQPFP and variants thereof in multiple copies, and they typically also harbored many different gluten T-cell epitopes. In the pull-down setting where antibodies were immobilized on a solid phase, peptide fragments with multivalent display of epitopes were targeted. This scenario resembles the situation of the B-cell receptor on the surface of B cells. Conceivably, B cells of celiac disease patients select gluten epitopes that are repeated multiple times in long peptide fragments generated by gut digestive enzymes. As the fragments also contain many different T-cell epitopes, this will lead to generation of strong antibody responses by effective presentation of several distinct T-cell epitopes and establishment of T-cell help to B cells. PMID:27146306

  3. Cell-Type-Specific Optogenetics in Monkeys.

    PubMed

    Namboodiri, Vijay Mohan K; Stuber, Garret D

    2016-09-08

    The recent advent of technologies enabling cell-type-specific recording and manipulation of neuronal activity spurred tremendous progress in neuroscience. However, they have been largely limited to mice, which lack the richness in behavior of primates. Stauffer et al. now present a generalizable method for achieving cell-type specificity in monkeys. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Exploring the Relationship between Social Capitals and English Language Achievement within a Specific Grade and Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khodadady, Ebrahim; Pishghadam, Reza; Alaee, Farnaz Farokh

    2012-01-01

    An achievement test based on schema theory (S-Test) was developed on the passages comprising the English textbook taught at grade three in state high schools in Iran and administered concurrently with a validated and reliable Social Capital Scale (SCS) to four hundred seventy seven male and female participants. The Z-scores obtained on the S-Test…

  5. At the forefront of thought: the effect of media exposure on airplane typicality.

    PubMed

    Novick, Laura R

    2003-12-01

    The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 provided a unique opportunity to investigate the causal status of frequency on typicality for one exemplar of a common conceptual category--namely, the typicality of airplane as a member of the category of vehicles. The extensive media coverage following the attacks included numerous references to the hijacked airplanes and to the consequences of suspending air travel to and from the United States for several days. The present study, involving 152 undergraduates, assessed airplane typicality at three time points ranging from 5 h to 1 month after the attacks and then again at 4.5 months after the attacks. Airplane was judged to be a more typical vehicle for 1 month following the attacks, relative to a baseline calculated from data collected yearly for 5 years preceding the attacks. By 4.5 months, however, typicality was back to baseline.

  6. Kill: boosting HIV-specific immune responses.

    PubMed

    Trautmann, Lydie

    2016-07-01

    Increasing evidence suggests that purging the latent HIV reservoir in virally suppressed individuals will require both the induction of viral replication from its latent state and the elimination of these reactivated HIV-infected cells ('Shock and Kill' strategy). Boosting potent HIV-specific CD8 T cells is a promising way to achieve an HIV cure. Recent studies provided the rationale for developing immune interventions to increase the numbers, function and location of HIV-specific CD8 T cells to purge HIV reservoirs. Multiple approaches are being evaluated including very early suppression of HIV replication in acute infection, adoptive cell transfer, therapeutic vaccination or use of immunomodulatory molecules. New assays to measure the killing and antiviral function of induced HIV-specific CD8 T cells have been developed to assess the efficacy of these new approaches. The strategies combining HIV reactivation and immunobased therapies to boost HIV-specific CD8 T cells can be tested in in-vivo and in-silico models to accelerate the design of new clinical trials. New immunobased strategies are explored to boost HIV-specific CD8 T cells able to purge the HIV-infected cells with the ultimate goal of achieving spontaneous control of viral replication without antiretroviral treatment.

  7. Kill: Boosting HIV-specific immune responses

    PubMed Central

    Trautmann, Lydie

    2016-01-01

    Purpose of review Increasing evidences suggest that purging the latent HIV reservoir in virally-suppressed individuals will require both the induction of viral replication from its latent state and the elimination of these reactivated HIV infected cells (“Shock and Kill” strategy). Boosting potent HIV-specific CD8 T cells is a promising way to achieve an HIV cure. Recent findings Recent studies provided the rationale for developing immune interventions to increase the numbers, function and location of HIV-specific CD8 T cells to purge HIV reservoirs. Multiple approaches are being evaluated including very early suppression of HIV replication in acute infection, adoptive cell transfer, therapeutic vaccination or use of immunomodulatory molecules. New assays to measure the killing and antiviral function of induced HIV-specific CD8 T cells have been developed to assess the efficacy of these new approaches. The strategies combining HIV reactivation and immunobased therapies to boost HIV-specific CD8 T cells can be tested in in vivo and in silico models to accelerate the design of new clinical trials. Summary New immunobased strategies are explored to boost HIV-specific CD8 T cells able to purge the HIV-infected cells with the ultimate goal of achieving spontaneous control of viral replication without antiretroviral treatment. PMID:27054280

  8. Leading in the Middle: Leadership Behaviors of Middle Level Principals that Promote Student Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Minus, Eric L.

    2010-01-01

    This study sought to investigate the relationship between middle school principals' instructional leadership behaviors and student achievement. In particular, this study investigated the specific principal leadership behaviors of middle level principals that promote student achievement in school. A secondary variable for consideration was student…

  9. Distinct cortical correlates of autistic versus antisocial traits in a longitudinal sample of typically developing youth

    PubMed Central

    Wallace, Gregory L.; Shaw, Philip; Lee, Nancy Raitano; Clasen, Liv S.; Raznahan, Armin; Lenroot, Rhoshel K.; Martin, Alex; Giedd, Jay N.

    2012-01-01

    In humans, behaviors associated with autism and antisociality, disorders characterized by distinct social impairments, can be viewed as quantitative traits that range from frank impairment to normal variation, as found in the general population. Neuroimaging investigations of autism and antisociality demonstrate diagnostically specific aberrant cortical brain structure. However, little is known about structural brain correlates of social behavior in non-clinical populations. Therefore, we sought to determine if autistic and antisocial traits exhibit dissociable cortical correlates and whether these associations are stable across development among typically developing youth. 323 typically developing youth (age at first scan: mean=10.63, SD=3.71 years) underwent anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (1–6 scans each; total=742 scans), and provided ratings of autistic and antisocial traits. Higher autistic trait ratings were associated with thinner cortex most prominently in right superior temporal sulcus while higher antisocial trait ratings were associated with thinner cortex in primarily bilateral anterior prefrontal cortices. There was no interaction with age, indicating that these brain-behavior associations were stable across development. Using assessments of both subclinical autistic and subclinical antisocial traits within a large longitudinal sample of typically developing youth, we demonstrate dissociable neuroanatomic correlations that parallel those found in the frank clinical disorders of autism (e.g., superior temporal cortex) and antisociality (e.g., anterior prefrontal cortex). Moreover, these correlations appear to be established in early childhood and remain fixed into early adulthood. These results support the dimensional view of psychopathology and provide neural signatures that can serve as informative endophenotypes for future genetic studies. PMID:22492041

  10. Distinct cortical correlates of autistic versus antisocial traits in a longitudinal sample of typically developing youth.

    PubMed

    Wallace, Gregory L; Shaw, Philip; Lee, Nancy Raitano; Clasen, Liv S; Raznahan, Armin; Lenroot, Rhoshel K; Martin, Alex; Giedd, Jay N

    2012-04-04

    In humans, behaviors associated with autism and antisociality, disorders characterized by distinct social impairments, can be viewed as quantitative traits that range from frank impairment to normal variation, as found in the general population. Neuroimaging investigations of autism and antisociality demonstrate diagnostically specific aberrant cortical brain structure. However, little is known about structural brain correlates of social behavior in nonclinical populations. Therefore, we sought to determine whether autistic and antisocial traits exhibit dissociable cortical correlates and whether these associations are stable across development among typically developing youth. Three hundred twenty-three typically developing youth (age at first scan: mean = 10.63, SD = 3.71 years) underwent anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (1-6 scans each; total = 742 scans), and provided ratings of autistic and antisocial traits. Higher autistic trait ratings were associated with thinner cortex most prominently in right superior temporal sulcus while higher antisocial trait ratings were associated with thinner cortex in primarily bilateral anterior prefrontal cortices. There was no interaction with age, indicating that these brain-behavior associations were stable across development. Using assessments of both subclinical autistic and subclinical antisocial traits within a large longitudinal sample of typically developing youth, we demonstrate dissociable neuroanatomic correlations that parallel those found in the frank clinical disorders of autism (e.g., superior temporal cortex) and antisociality (e.g., anterior prefrontal cortex). Moreover, these correlations appear to be established in early childhood and remain fixed into early adulthood. These results support the dimensional view of psychopathology and provide neural signatures that can serve as informative endophenotypes for future genetic studies.

  11. 10. View south of Arctic Observation Room (typical). Natick ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    10. View south of Arctic Observation Room (typical). - Natick Research & Development Laboratories, Climatic Chambers Building, U.S. Army Natick Research, Development & Engineering Center (NRDEC), Natick, Middlesex County, MA

  12. Academic Self-Concept, Achievement Goals, and Achievement: Is Their Relation the Same for Academic Achievers and Underachievers?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Preckel, Franzis; Brunner, Martin

    2015-01-01

    This longitudinal study investigated the contribution of achievement goals and academic self-concept for the prediction of unexpected academic achievement (i.e., achievement that is higher or lower than expected with respect to students' cognitive ability) in general and when comparing groups of extreme over- and underachievers. Our sample…

  13. Shared and Disorder-Specific Neurocomputational Mechanisms of Decision-Making in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

    PubMed

    Carlisi, Christina O; Norman, Luke; Murphy, Clodagh M; Christakou, Anastasia; Chantiluke, Kaylita; Giampietro, Vincent; Simmons, Andrew; Brammer, Michael; Murphy, Declan G; Mataix-Cols, David; Rubia, Katya

    2017-12-01

    Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often share phenotypes of repetitive behaviors, possibly underpinned by abnormal decision-making. To compare neural correlates underlying decision-making between these disorders, brain activation of boys with ASD (N = 24), OCD (N = 20) and typically developing controls (N = 20) during gambling was compared, and computational modeling compared performance. Patients were unimpaired on number of risky decisions, but modeling showed that both patient groups had lower choice consistency and relied less on reinforcement learning compared to controls. ASD individuals had disorder-specific choice perseverance abnormalities compared to OCD individuals. Neurofunctionally, ASD and OCD boys shared dorsolateral/inferior frontal underactivation compared to controls during decision-making. During outcome anticipation, patients shared underactivation compared to controls in lateral inferior/orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum. During reward receipt, ASD boys had disorder-specific enhanced activation in inferior frontal/insular regions relative to OCD boys and controls. Results showed that ASD and OCD individuals shared decision-making strategies that differed from controls to achieve comparable performance to controls. Patients showed shared abnormalities in lateral-(orbito)fronto-striatal reward circuitry, but ASD boys had disorder-specific lateral inferior frontal/insular overactivation, suggesting that shared and disorder-specific mechanisms underpin decision-making in these disorders. Findings provide evidence for shared neurobiological substrates that could serve as possible future biomarkers. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  14. A mediation analysis of achievement motives, goals, learning strategies, and academic achievement.

    PubMed

    Diseth, Age; Kobbeltvedt, Therese

    2010-12-01

    Previous research is inconclusive regarding antecedents and consequences of achievement goals, and there is a need for more research in order to examine the joint effects of different types of motives and learning strategies as predictors of academic achievement. To investigate the relationship between achievement motives, achievement goals, learning strategies (deep, surface, and strategic), and academic achievement in a hierarchical model. Participants were 229 undergraduate students (mean age: 21.2 years) of psychology and economics at the University of Bergen, Norway. Variables were measured by means of items from the Achievement Motives Scale (AMS), the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students, and an achievement goal scale. Correlation analysis showed that academic achievement (examination grade) was positively correlated with performance-approach goal, mastery goal, and strategic learning strategies, and negatively correlated with performance-avoidance goal and surface learning strategy. A path analysis (structural equation model) showed that achievement goals were mediators between achievement motives and learning strategies, and that strategic learning strategies mediated the relationship between achievement goals and academic achievement. This study integrated previous findings from several studies and provided new evidence on the direct and indirect effects of different types of motives and learning strategies as predictors of academic achievement.

  15. Ethnic Identity and Academic Achievement among Latino/a Adolescents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Estela Zarate, Maria; Bhimji, Fazila; Reese, Leslie

    2005-01-01

    This study examines Latino/a adolescents' ethnic identities and academic achievement. In open-ended interviews, the high school aged youth employed cultural and nationality explanations for their ethnic label choices. In many cases, they did not commit to a specific label, employing instead language that indexed their fluid, border identities.…

  16. 9. View to west of Tropic Dressing Room (typical). ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    9. View to west of Tropic Dressing Room (typical). - Natick Research & Development Laboratories, Climatic Chambers Building, U.S. Army Natick Research, Development & Engineering Center (NRDEC), Natick, Middlesex County, MA

  17. Peer social skills and theory of mind in children with autism, deafness, or typical development.

    PubMed

    Peterson, Candida; Slaughter, Virginia; Moore, Chris; Wellman, Henry M

    2016-01-01

    Consequences of theory of mind (ToM) development for daily social lives of children are uncertain. Five to 13-year-olds (N = 195) with typical development, autism, or deafness (both native and late signers) took ToM tests and their teachers reported on their social skills for peer interaction (e.g., leadership, group entry). Groups differed in both ToM understanding (with late-signing deaf children especially delayed even relative to autistic children) and peer social skills (with autistic children especially delayed even relative to deaf late signers). Crucially, for the typically developing hearing children and deaf children alike, ToM understanding independently predicted peer social skills over and above age, gender, language ability, and, for deaf children, status as native- or late-signer. These novel findings offer some of the best evidence to date of the relevance of ToM cognitions to real-world social behavior for both these groups. However, for those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) the pattern was different. The apparent link of ToM to peer competence was not a direct one but instead was significantly mediated by language ability. Several possible explanations for this intriguing autism-specific result were also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Reliability and Validity of the "Achievement Emotions Questionnaire": A Study of Argentinean University Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Paoloni, Paola Verónica; Vaja, Arabela Beatriz; Muñoz, Verónica Lilian

    2014-01-01

    Introduction: This paper aims at describing the psychometric features of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ), focusing specifically on the section that measures class emotions. From a theoretical perspective, this instrument was designed based on the control-value theory of achievement emotions. Therefore, a description of the…

  19. Attitude Towards Physics and Additional Mathematics Achievement Towards Physics Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Veloo, Arsaythamby; Nor, Rahimah; Khalid, Rozalina

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this research is to identify the difference in students' attitude towards Physics and Additional Mathematics achievement based on gender and relationship between attitudinal variables towards Physics and Additional Mathematics achievement with achievement in Physics. This research focused on six variables, which is attitude towards…

  20. Delivery methods for site-specific nucleases: Achieving the full potential of therapeutic gene editing.

    PubMed

    Liu, Jia; Shui, Sai-Lan

    2016-12-28

    The advent of site-specific nucleases, particularly CRISPR/Cas9, provides researchers with the unprecedented ability to manipulate genomic sequences. These nucleases are used to create model cell lines, engineer metabolic pathways, produce transgenic animals and plants, perform genome-wide functional screen and, most importantly, treat human diseases that are difficult to tackle by traditional medications. Considerable efforts have been devoted to improving the efficiency and specificity of nucleases for clinical applications. However, safe and efficient delivery methods remain the major obstacle for therapeutic gene editing. In this review, we summarize the recent progress on nuclease delivery methods, highlight their impact on the outcomes of gene editing and discuss the potential of different delivery approaches for therapeutic gene editing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Typical event horizons in AdS/CFT

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Avery, Steven G.; Lowe, David A.

    2016-01-01

    We consider the construction of local bulk operators in a black hole background dual to a pure state in conformal field theory. The properties of these operators in a microcanonical ensemble are studied. It has been argued in the literature that typical states in such an ensemble contain firewalls, or otherwise singular horizons. We argue this conclusion can be avoided with a proper definition of the interior operators.

  2. Typical event horizons in AdS/CFT

    DOE PAGES

    Avery, Steven G.; Lowe, David A.

    2016-01-14

    We consider the construction of local bulk operators in a black hole background dual to a pure state in conformal field theory. The properties of these operators in a microcanonical ensemble are studied. It has been argued in the literature that typical states in such an ensemble contain firewalls, or otherwise singular horizons. Here, we argue this conclusion can be avoided with a proper definition of the interior operators.

  3. Using Typical Infant Development to Inform Music Therapy with Children with Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wheeler, Barbara L.; Stultz, Sylvia

    2008-01-01

    This article illustrates some ways in which observations of typically-developing infants can inform music therapy and other work with children with disabilities. The research project that is described examines typical infant development with special attention to musical relatedness and communication. Videotapes of sessions centering on musical…

  4. Sample diversity and premise typicality in inductive reasoning: evidence for developmental change.

    PubMed

    Rhodes, Marjorie; Brickman, Daniel; Gelman, Susan A

    2008-08-01

    Evaluating whether a limited sample of evidence provides a good basis for induction is a critical cognitive task. We hypothesized that whereas adults evaluate the inductive strength of samples containing multiple pieces of evidence by attending to the relations among the exemplars (e.g., sample diversity), six-year-olds would attend to the degree to which each individual exemplar in a sample independently appears informative (e.g., premise typicality). To test these hypotheses, participants were asked to select between diverse and non-diverse samples to help them learn about basic-level animal categories. Across various between-subject conditions (N=133), we varied the typicality present in the diverse and non-diverse samples. We found that adults reliably selected to examine diverse over non-diverse samples, regardless of exemplar typicality, six-year-olds preferred to examine samples containing typical exemplars, regardless of sample diversity, and nine-year-olds were somewhat in the midst of this developmental transition.

  5. Prospective memory deficits in illicit polydrug users are associated with the average long-term typical dose of ecstasy typically consumed in a single session.

    PubMed

    Gallagher, Denis T; Hadjiefthyvoulou, Florentia; Fisk, John E; Montgomery, Catharine; Robinson, Sarita J; Judge, Jeannie

    2014-01-01

    Neuroimaging evidence suggests that ecstasy-related reductions in SERT densities relate more closely to the number of tablets typically consumed per session rather than estimated total lifetime use. To better understand the basis of drug related deficits in prospective memory (p.m.) we explored the association between p.m. and average long-term typical dose and long-term frequency of use. Study 1: Sixty-five ecstasy/polydrug users and 85 nonecstasy users completed an event-based, a short-term and a long-term time-based p.m. task. Study 2: Study 1 data were merged with outcomes on the same p.m. measures from a previous study creating a combined sample of 103 ecstasy/polydrug users, 38 cannabis-only users, and 65 nonusers of illicit drugs. Study 1: Ecstasy/polydrug users had significant impairments on all p.m. outcomes compared with nonecstasy users. Study 2: Ecstasy/polydrug users were impaired in event-based p.m. compared with both other groups and in long-term time-based p.m. compared with nonillicit drug users. Both drug using groups did worse on the short-term time-based p.m. task compared with nonusers. Higher long-term average typical dose of ecstasy was associated with poorer performance on the event and short-term time-based p.m. tasks and accounted for unique variance in the two p.m. measures over and above the variance associated with cannabis and cocaine use. The typical ecstasy dose consumed in a single session is an important predictor of p.m. impairments with higher doses reflecting increasing tolerance giving rise to greater p.m. impairment.

  6. 2. TYPICAL OVERHEAD WIRE CONSTRUCTION CURVE GUY WIRE ARRANGEMENT ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    2. TYPICAL OVERHEAD WIRE CONSTRUCTION - CURVE GUY WIRE ARRANGEMENT (ABANDONED WEST LEG OF WYE AT SIXTH AVENUE AND PINE STREET) - Yakima Valley Transportation Company Interurban Railroad, Trackage, Yakima, Yakima County, WA

  7. 21. WILEY CITY LINE TYPICAL RIGHTOFWAY THROUGH CONGDON ORCHARD ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    21. WILEY CITY LINE - TYPICAL RIGHT-OF-WAY THROUGH CONGDON ORCHARD PROPERTY, LOOKING WEST - Yakima Valley Transportation Company Interurban Railroad, Connecting towns of Yakima, Selah & Wiley City, Yakima, Yakima County, WA

  8. The Impact of Physical Activity and Obesity on Academic Achievement among Elementary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Byrd, Jimmy

    2007-01-01

    This study compared the effect of physical activity and obesity on academic achievement and was based on the premise that the health of a child has an effect on his or her ability to learn and to achieve academically. Specifically, health-related topics of inactivity and obesity were considered. The participants included 12,607 third grade…

  9. The Effect of Primary School Size on Academic Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gershenson, Seth; Langbein, Laura

    2015-01-01

    Evidence on optimal school size is mixed. We estimate the effect of transitory changes in school size on the academic achievement of fourth-and fifth-grade students in North Carolina using student-level longitudinal administrative data. Estimates of value-added models that condition on school-specific linear time trends and a variety of…

  10. Instruction, Development, and Achievement of Struggling Primary Grade Readers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rightmyer, Elizabeth Campbell; McIntyre, Ellen; Petrosko, Joseph M.

    2006-01-01

    This study examined the phonics and reading achievement of 117 primary grade students in 14 schools and 42 classrooms. Students received instruction in one of six different reading programs or models based upon the school they attended. Through qualitative data collection and analysis of specific instructional practices, it was determined that no…

  11. Homeopathic pathogenetic trials produce specific symptoms different from placebo.

    PubMed

    Möllinger, Heribert; Schneider, Rainer; Walach, Harald

    2009-04-01

    Homeopathy uses information gathered from healthy volunteers taking homeopathic substances (pathogenetic trials) for clinical treatment. It is controversial whether such studies produce symptoms different from those produced by placebo. To test whether homeopathic preparations produce different symptoms than placebo in healthy volunteers. Three armed, double-blind, placebo controlled randomised experimental pathogenetic study in 25 healthy volunteers who took either one of two homeopathic remedies, Natrum muriaticum and Arsenicum album in 30CH or identical placebo. Main outcome parameter was the number of remedy-specific symptoms per group. On average, 6 symptoms typical for Arsenicum album were experienced by participants taking arsenicum album, 5 symptoms typical for Natrum muriaticum by those taking natrum muriaticum, and 11 non-specific symptoms by those in the placebo group. Differences were significant overall (Kruskall Wallis test, p = 0.0002,) and significantly different from placebo (Mann-Whitney test, p = 0.001). Homeopathic remedies produce different symptoms than placebo. Copyright (c) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  12. Comparing the Effects of Instructional and Transformational Leadership on Student Achievement: Implications for Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shatzer, Ryan H.; Caldarella, Paul; Hallam, Pamela R.; Brown, Bruce L.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare transformational and instructional leadership theories, examine the unique impact that school leaders have on student achievement, and determine which specific leadership practices are associated with increased student achievement. The sample for this study consisted of 590 teachers in 37 elementary schools…

  13. Distinct developmental profiles in typical speech acquisition

    PubMed Central

    Campbell, Thomas F.; Shriberg, Lawrence D.; Green, Jordan R.; Abdi, Hervé; Rusiewicz, Heather Leavy; Venkatesh, Lakshmi; Moore, Christopher A.

    2012-01-01

    Three- to five-year-old children produce speech that is characterized by a high level of variability within and across individuals. This variability, which is manifest in speech movements, acoustics, and overt behaviors, can be input to subgroup discovery methods to identify cohesive subgroups of speakers or to reveal distinct developmental pathways or profiles. This investigation characterized three distinct groups of typically developing children and provided normative benchmarks for speech development. These speech development profiles, identified among 63 typically developing preschool-aged speakers (ages 36–59 mo), were derived from the children's performance on multiple measures. These profiles were obtained by submitting to a k-means cluster analysis of 72 measures that composed three levels of speech analysis: behavioral (e.g., task accuracy, percentage of consonants correct), acoustic (e.g., syllable duration, syllable stress), and kinematic (e.g., variability of movements of the upper lip, lower lip, and jaw). Two of the discovered group profiles were distinguished by measures of variability but not by phonemic accuracy; the third group of children was characterized by their relatively low phonemic accuracy but not by an increase in measures of variability. Analyses revealed that of the original 72 measures, 8 key measures were sufficient to best distinguish the 3 profile groups. PMID:22357794

  14. Typicality Mediates Performance during Category Verification in Both Ad-Hoc and Well-Defined Categories

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sandberg, Chaleece; Sebastian, Rajani; Kiran, Swathi

    2012-01-01

    Background: The typicality effect is present in neurologically intact populations for natural, ad-hoc, and well-defined categories. Although sparse, there is evidence of typicality effects in persons with chronic stroke aphasia for natural and ad-hoc categories. However, it is unknown exactly what influences the typicality effect in this…

  15. Likelihood of achieving air quality targets under model uncertainties.

    PubMed

    Digar, Antara; Cohan, Daniel S; Cox, Dennis D; Kim, Byeong-Uk; Boylan, James W

    2011-01-01

    Regulatory attainment demonstrations in the United States typically apply a bright-line test to predict whether a control strategy is sufficient to attain an air quality standard. Photochemical models are the best tools available to project future pollutant levels and are a critical part of regulatory attainment demonstrations. However, because photochemical models are uncertain and future meteorology is unknowable, future pollutant levels cannot be predicted perfectly and attainment cannot be guaranteed. This paper introduces a computationally efficient methodology for estimating the likelihood that an emission control strategy will achieve an air quality objective in light of uncertainties in photochemical model input parameters (e.g., uncertain emission and reaction rates, deposition velocities, and boundary conditions). The method incorporates Monte Carlo simulations of a reduced form model representing pollutant-precursor response under parametric uncertainty to probabilistically predict the improvement in air quality due to emission control. The method is applied to recent 8-h ozone attainment modeling for Atlanta, Georgia, to assess the likelihood that additional controls would achieve fixed (well-defined) or flexible (due to meteorological variability and uncertain emission trends) targets of air pollution reduction. The results show that in certain instances ranking of the predicted effectiveness of control strategies may differ between probabilistic and deterministic analyses.

  16. SOCIAL AND NON-SOCIAL CUEING OF VISUOSPATIAL ATTENTION IN AUTISM AND TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT

    PubMed Central

    Pruett, John R.; LaMacchia, Angela; Hoertel, Sarah; Squire, Emma; McVey, Kelly; Todd, Richard D.; Constantino, John N.; Petersen, Steven E.

    2013-01-01

    Three experiments explored attention to eye gaze, which is incompletely understood in typical development and is hypothesized to be disrupted in autism. Experiment 1 (n=26 typical adults) involved covert orienting to box, arrow, and gaze cues at two probabilities and cue-target times to test whether reorienting for gaze is endogenous, exogenous, or unique; experiment 2 (total n=80: male and female children and adults) studied age and sex effects on gaze cueing. Gaze cueing appears endogenous and may strengthen in typical development. Experiment 3 tested exogenous, endogenous, and/or gaze-based orienting in 25 typical and 27 Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children. ASD children made more saccades, slowing their reaction times; however, exogenous and endogenous orienting, including gaze cueing, appear intact in ASD. PMID:20809377

  17. Predictors of Full Enteral Feeding Achievement in Very Low Birth Weight Infants

    PubMed Central

    Corvaglia, Luigi; Fantini, Maria Pia; Aceti, Arianna; Gibertoni, Dino; Rucci, Paola; Baronciani, Dante; Faldella, Giacomo

    2014-01-01

    Background To elucidate the role of prenatal, neonatal and early postnatal variables in influencing the achievement of full enteral feeding (FEF) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants and to determine whether neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) differ in this outcome. Methods Population-based retrospective cohort study using data on 1,864 VLBW infants drawn from the “Emilia-Romagna Perinatal Network” Registry from 2004 to 2009. The outcome of interest was time to FEF achievement. Eleven prenatal, neonatal and early postnatal variables and the study NICUs were selected as potential predictors of time to FEF. Parametric survival analysis was used to model time to FEF as a function of the predictors. Marginal effects were used to obtain adjusted estimates of median time to FEF for specific subgroups of infants. Results Lower gestational age, exclusive formula feeding, higher CRIB II score, maternal hypertension, cesarean delivery, SGA and PDA predicted delayed FEF. NICUs proved to be heterogeneous in terms of FEF achievement. Newborns with PDA had a 4.2 days longer predicted median time to FEF compared to those without PDA; newborns exclusively formula-fed had a 1.4 days longer time to FEF compared to those fed human milk. Conclusions The results of our study suggest that time to FEF is influenced by clinical variables and NICU-specific practices. Knowledge of the variables associated with delayed/earlier FEF achievement could help in improving specific aspects of routine clinical management of VLBW infants and to reduce practice variability. PMID:24647523

  18. mREST Interface Specification

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    McCartney, Patrick; MacLean, John

    2012-01-01

    mREST is an implementation of the REST architecture specific to the management and sharing of data in a system of logical elements. The purpose of this document is to clearly define the mREST interface protocol. The interface protocol covers all of the interaction between mREST clients and mREST servers. System-level requirements are not specifically addressed. In an mREST system, there are typically some backend interfaces between a Logical System Element (LSE) and the associated hardware/software system. For example, a network camera LSE would have a backend interface to the camera itself. These interfaces are specific to each type of LSE and are not covered in this document. There are also frontend interfaces that may exist in certain mREST manager applications. For example, an electronic procedure execution application may have a specialized interface for configuring the procedures. This interface would be application specific and outside of this document scope. mREST is intended to be a generic protocol which can be used in a wide variety of applications. A few scenarios are discussed to provide additional clarity but, in general, application-specific implementations of mREST are not specifically addressed. In short, this document is intended to provide all of the information necessary for an application developer to create mREST interface agents. This includes both mREST clients (mREST manager applications) and mREST servers (logical system elements, or LSEs).

  19. QuASAR: quantitative allele-specific analysis of reads.

    PubMed

    Harvey, Chris T; Moyerbrailean, Gregory A; Davis, Gordon O; Wen, Xiaoquan; Luca, Francesca; Pique-Regi, Roger

    2015-04-15

    Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) studies have discovered thousands of genetic variants that regulate gene expression, enabling a better understanding of the functional role of non-coding sequences. However, eQTL studies are costly, requiring large sample sizes and genome-wide genotyping of each sample. In contrast, analysis of allele-specific expression (ASE) is becoming a popular approach to detect the effect of genetic variation on gene expression, even within a single individual. This is typically achieved by counting the number of RNA-seq reads matching each allele at heterozygous sites and testing the null hypothesis of a 1:1 allelic ratio. In principle, when genotype information is not readily available, it could be inferred from the RNA-seq reads directly. However, there are currently no existing methods that jointly infer genotypes and conduct ASE inference, while considering uncertainty in the genotype calls. We present QuASAR, quantitative allele-specific analysis of reads, a novel statistical learning method for jointly detecting heterozygous genotypes and inferring ASE. The proposed ASE inference step takes into consideration the uncertainty in the genotype calls, while including parameters that model base-call errors in sequencing and allelic over-dispersion. We validated our method with experimental data for which high-quality genotypes are available. Results for an additional dataset with multiple replicates at different sequencing depths demonstrate that QuASAR is a powerful tool for ASE analysis when genotypes are not available. http://github.com/piquelab/QuASAR. fluca@wayne.edu or rpique@wayne.edu Supplementary Material is available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  20. QuASAR: quantitative allele-specific analysis of reads

    PubMed Central

    Harvey, Chris T.; Moyerbrailean, Gregory A.; Davis, Gordon O.; Wen, Xiaoquan; Luca, Francesca; Pique-Regi, Roger

    2015-01-01

    Motivation: Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) studies have discovered thousands of genetic variants that regulate gene expression, enabling a better understanding of the functional role of non-coding sequences. However, eQTL studies are costly, requiring large sample sizes and genome-wide genotyping of each sample. In contrast, analysis of allele-specific expression (ASE) is becoming a popular approach to detect the effect of genetic variation on gene expression, even within a single individual. This is typically achieved by counting the number of RNA-seq reads matching each allele at heterozygous sites and testing the null hypothesis of a 1:1 allelic ratio. In principle, when genotype information is not readily available, it could be inferred from the RNA-seq reads directly. However, there are currently no existing methods that jointly infer genotypes and conduct ASE inference, while considering uncertainty in the genotype calls. Results: We present QuASAR, quantitative allele-specific analysis of reads, a novel statistical learning method for jointly detecting heterozygous genotypes and inferring ASE. The proposed ASE inference step takes into consideration the uncertainty in the genotype calls, while including parameters that model base-call errors in sequencing and allelic over-dispersion. We validated our method with experimental data for which high-quality genotypes are available. Results for an additional dataset with multiple replicates at different sequencing depths demonstrate that QuASAR is a powerful tool for ASE analysis when genotypes are not available. Availability and implementation: http://github.com/piquelab/QuASAR. Contact: fluca@wayne.edu or rpique@wayne.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary Material is available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:25480375

  1. Satisfaction and Achievement: Antagonists in ATI Research on Classroom Structure.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strom, Bruce; And Others

    To date, the constructive motivation hypothesis has generally been limited to educational achievement as an outcome variable, and few studies have been specifically designed to investigate student satisfaction outcomes. To measure student preferences for course structure and difficulty level and student perceptions of instructors' orientation…

  2. Reprint of "Investigating ensemble perception of emotions in autistic and typical children and adolescents".

    PubMed

    Karaminis, Themelis; Neil, Louise; Manning, Catherine; Turi, Marco; Fiorentini, Chiara; Burr, David; Pellicano, Elizabeth

    2018-01-01

    Ensemble perception, the ability to assess automatically the summary of large amounts of information presented in visual scenes, is available early in typical development. This ability might be compromised in autistic children, who are thought to present limitations in maintaining summary statistics representations for the recent history of sensory input. Here we examined ensemble perception of facial emotional expressions in 35 autistic children, 30 age- and ability-matched typical children and 25 typical adults. Participants received three tasks: a) an 'ensemble' emotion discrimination task; b) a baseline (single-face) emotion discrimination task; and c) a facial expression identification task. Children performed worse than adults on all three tasks. Unexpectedly, autistic and typical children were, on average, indistinguishable in their precision and accuracy on all three tasks. Computational modelling suggested that, on average, autistic and typical children used ensemble-encoding strategies to a similar extent; but ensemble perception was related to non-verbal reasoning abilities in autistic but not in typical children. Eye-movement data also showed no group differences in the way children attended to the stimuli. Our combined findings suggest that the abilities of autistic and typical children for ensemble perception of emotions are comparable on average. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  3. Analysis and comparison of wrist splint designs using the finite element method: Multi-material three-dimensional printing compared to typical existing practice with thermoplastics.

    PubMed

    Cazon, Aitor; Kelly, Sarah; Paterson, Abby M; Bibb, Richard J; Campbell, R Ian

    2017-09-01

    Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease affecting the joints. Treatment can include immobilisation of the affected joint with a custom-fitting splint, which is typically fabricated by hand from low temperature thermoplastic, but the approach poses several limitations. This study focused on the evaluation, by finite element analysis, of additive manufacturing techniques for wrist splints in order to improve upon the typical splinting approach. An additive manufactured/3D printed splint, specifically designed to be built using Objet Connex multi-material technology and a virtual model of a typical splint, digitised from a real patient-specific splint using three-dimensional scanning, were modelled in computer-aided design software. Forty finite element analysis simulations were performed in flexion-extension and radial-ulnar wrist movements to compare the displacements and the stresses. Simulations have shown that for low severity loads, the additive manufacturing splint has 25%, 76% and 27% less displacement in the main loading direction than the typical splint in flexion, extension and radial, respectively, while ulnar values were 75% lower in the traditional splint. For higher severity loads, the flexion and extension movements resulted in deflections that were 24% and 60%, respectively, lower in the additive manufacturing splint. However, for higher severity loading, the radial defection values were very similar in both splints and ulnar movement deflection was higher in the additive manufacturing splint. A physical prototype of the additive manufacturing splint was also manufactured and was tested under normal conditions to validate the finite element analysis data. Results from static tests showed maximum displacements of 3.46, 0.97, 3.53 and 2.51 mm flexion, extension, radial and ulnar directions, respectively. According to these results, the present research argues that from a technical point of view, the additive manufacturing splint design stands at the

  4. Social Stress in Young People with Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wadman, Ruth; Durkin, Kevin; Conti-Ramsden, Gina

    2011-01-01

    Social interactions can be a source of social stress for adolescents. Little is known about how adolescents with developmental difficulties, such as specific language impairment (SLI), feel when interacting socially. Participants included 28 adolescents with SLI and 28 adolescents with typical language abilities (TL). Self-report measures of…

  5. An Analysis of Factors Contributing to Achievement in Physics of Secondary Students in Mississippi Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harpole, Sandra H.; And Others

    Designed to examine the factors that contribute to student achievement, this study focused specifically on the relationship between physics achievement and selected teacher characteristics, student characteristics, and school and district characteristics. Questionnaires and attitude surveys were completed by 39 randomly selected Mississippi…

  6. Children's Typically-Perceived-Situations of Floating and Sinking

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Joung, Yong Jae

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to explore children's typically-perceived-situations (TPS) of "floating" and "sinking". TPS refers to the situation rising spontaneously in an individual's mind when they first think of a phenomenon or concept. Data were collected from 148 Year 5 Korean children. As a result of analysing the data…

  7. Sex-Typical Play: Masculinization/Defeminization in Girls with an Autism Spectrum Condition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knickmeyer, Rebecca C.; Wheelwright, Sally; Baron-Cohen, Simon B.

    2008-01-01

    We tested the hypothesis that prenatal masculinization of the brain by androgens increases risk of developing an autism spectrum condition (ASC). Sex-typical play was measured in n = 66 children diagnosed with an ASC and n = 55 typically developing age-matched controls. Consistent with the hypothesis, girls with autism did not show the…

  8. Strategies of blind children to achieve cognitive development. A qualitative study.

    PubMed

    Bei, Elsa I; Oiberman, Alicia; Teisseire, Daniela; Barres, Jorgelina

    2018-06-01

    Studying the cogni t ive development of blind children is particularly interesting in itself and because it provides intervention guidelines. The etiology of blindness is heterogeneous but this does not hinder the possibility of establishing the characteristics typical of its development. If these children acquire language at approximately 2 years, it means the last stage of sensorimotor intelligence has been achieved. To determine the strategies that blind infants and toddlers adopt during the sensorimotor period to achieve an adequate level of development. Population and method. The study was carried out in students from a public Special Education School of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. This was a qualitative study for the identification of coincidences to define strategies. Blind children aged 3 months to 3 years were observed. The analysis unit was each significant segment of the "directed play" sessions conducted in a Gesell chamber and guided by the stimulation therapist. Thirty-four children were included and 55 observations were made. Children's "modes of action" were categorized as significant features of a strategy. Four thematic focuses and four stages were identified and chronologically supported with acquisitions that were considered "organizers." The assessment showed that 71% of children achieved an adequate cognitive development for their age. Systematizing strategies will help to develop an instrument to detect delays and define intervention guidelines. Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría.

  9. Intergenerational Effects of Parents' Math Anxiety on Children's Math Achievement and Anxiety.

    PubMed

    Maloney, Erin A; Ramirez, Gerardo; Gunderson, Elizabeth A; Levine, Susan C; Beilock, Sian L

    2015-09-01

    A large field study of children in first and second grade explored how parents' anxiety about math relates to their children's math achievement. The goal of the study was to better understand why some students perform worse in math than others. We tested whether parents' math anxiety predicts their children's math achievement across the school year. We found that when parents are more math anxious, their children learn significantly less math over the school year and have more math anxiety by the school year's end-but only if math-anxious parents report providing frequent help with math homework. Notably, when parents reported helping with math homework less often, children's math achievement and attitudes were not related to parents' math anxiety. Parents' math anxiety did not predict children's reading achievement, which suggests that the effects of parents' math anxiety are specific to children's math achievement. These findings provide evidence of a mechanism for intergenerational transmission of low math achievement and high math anxiety. © The Author(s) 2015.

  10. Mathematical thinking styles of undergraduate students and their achievement in mathematics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Risnanosanti

    2017-08-01

    The main purpose of this study is to analyze the role of mathematical thinking styles in students' achievement in mathematics. On the basis of this study, it is also to generate recommendation for classroom instruction. The two specific aims are; first to observe students' mathematical thinking styles during problem solving, the second to asses students' achievement in mathematics. The data were collected by using Mathematical Thinking Styles questionnaires and test of students' achievement in mathematics. The subject in this study was 35 students from third year at mathematics study program of Muhammadiyah University of Bengkulu in academic year 2016/2017. The result of this study was that the students have three mathematical thinking styles (analytic, visual, and integrated), and the students who have analytic styles have better achievement than those who have visual styles in mathematics.

  11. Neuroscience Perspectives on Disparities in School Readiness and Cognitive Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Noble, Kimberly G.; Tottenham, Nim; Casey, B. J.

    2005-01-01

    This article allows readers to look at racial and ethnic disparities in school readiness from a neuroscience perspective. Although researchers have traditionally measured gaps in school readiness using broad achievement tests, they can now assess readiness in terms of more specific brain-based cognitive functions. Three neurocognitive…

  12. Using Differentiated Instruction to Increase Mathematics Achievement in Elementary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Faulkner, Jennifer H.

    2013-01-01

    As evidenced by the poor mathematics performance in American schools, specifically in the school district in the current study, providing identical educational opportunities for diverse students does not necessarily increase academic achievement for everyone. Differentiation is an instructional method that has been found to be successful in…

  13. Short-term cognitive improvement in schizophrenics treated with typical and atypical neuroleptics.

    PubMed

    Rollnik, Jens D; Borsutzky, Marthias; Huber, Thomas J; Mogk, Hannu; Seifert, Jürgen; Emrich, Hinderk M; Schneider, Udo

    2002-01-01

    Atypical neuroleptics seem to be more beneficial than typical ones with respect to long-term neuropsychological functioning. Thus, most studies focus on the long-term effects of neuroleptics. We were interested in whether atypical neuroleptic treatment is also superior to typical drugs over relatively short periods of time. We studied 20 schizophrenic patients [10 males, mean age 35.5 years, mean Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) score at entry 58.9] admitted to our hospital with acute psychotic exacerbation. Nine of them were treated with typical and 11 with atypical neuroleptics. In addition, 14 healthy drug-free subjects (6 males, mean age 31.2 years) were enrolled in the study and compared to the patients. As neuropsychological tools, a divided attention test, the Vienna reaction time test, the Benton visual retention test, digit span and a Multiple Choice Word Fluency Test (MWT-B) were used during the first week after admission, within the third week and before discharge (approximately 3 months). Patients scored significantly worse than healthy controls on nearly all tests (except Vienna reaction time). Clinical ratings [BPRS and Positive and Negative Symptom Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS)] improved markedly (p < 0.01), without a significant difference between typical and atypical medication. Clinical improvement (PANSS total score) correlated with less mistakes on the Benton test (r = 0.762, p = 0.017) and an improvement on the divided attention task (r = 0.705, p = 0.034). Neuropsychological functioning (explicit memory, p < 0.01; divided attention, p < 0.05) moderately improved for both groups under treatment but without a significant difference between atypical and typical antipsychotic drugs. Over short periods of time (3 months), neuropsychological disturbances in schizophrenia seem to be moderately responsive to both typical and atypical neuroleptics. Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

  14. Dysfunctional metacognition and drive for thinness in typical and atypical anorexia nervosa.

    PubMed

    Davenport, Emily; Rushford, Nola; Soon, Siew; McDermott, Cressida

    2015-01-01

    Anorexia nervosa is complex and difficult to treat. In cognitive therapies the focus has been on cognitive content rather than process. Process-oriented therapies may modify the higher level cognitive processes of metacognition, reported as dysfunctional in adult anorexia nervosa. Their association with clinical features of anorexia nervosa, however, is unclear. With reclassification of anorexia nervosa by DSM-5 into typical and atypical groups, comparability of metacognition and drive for thinness across groups and relationships within groups is also unclear. Main objectives were to determine whether metacognitive factors differ across typical and atypical anorexia nervosa and a non-clinical community sample, and to explore a process model by determining whether drive for thinness is concurrently predicted by metacognitive factors. Women receiving treatment for anorexia nervosa (n = 119) and non-clinical community participants (n = 100), aged between 18 and 46 years, completed the Eating Disorders Inventory (3(rd) Edition) and Metacognitions Questionnaire (Brief Version). Body Mass Index (BMI) of 18.5 kg/m(2) differentiated between typical (n = 75) and atypical (n = 44) anorexia nervosa. Multivariate analyses of variance and regression analyses were conducted. Metacognitive profiles were similar in both typical and atypical anorexia nervosa and confirmed as more dysfunctional than in the non-clinical group. Drive for thinness was concurrently predicted in the typical patients by the metacognitive factors, positive beliefs about worry, and need to control thoughts; in the atypical patients by negative beliefs about worry and, inversely, by cognitive self-consciousness, and in the non-clinical group by cognitive self-consciousness. Despite having a healthier weight, the atypical group was as severely affected by dysfunctional metacognitions and drive for thinness as the typical group. Because metacognition concurrently predicted drive for thinness

  15. Typicality Effect and Category Structure in Spanish-English Bilingual Children and Adults

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shivabasappa, Prarthana; Peña, Elizabeth Z.; Bedore, Lisa M.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The study examines the typicality effect in Spanish-English bilingual children and adults in their 2 languages. Method: Two studies were conducted using a category-generation task to compare the typical items generated by children with those generated by adults. Children in the 1st study differed orthogonally with respect to age (older,…

  16. Benefit and cost curves for typical pollination mutualisms.

    PubMed

    Morris, William F; Vázquez, Diego P; Chacoff, Natacha P

    2010-05-01

    Mutualisms provide benefits to interacting species, but they also involve costs. If costs come to exceed benefits as population density or the frequency of encounters between species increases, the interaction will no longer be mutualistic. Thus curves that represent benefits and costs as functions of interaction frequency are important tools for predicting when a mutualism will tip over into antagonism. Currently, most of what we know about benefit and cost curves in pollination mutualisms comes from highly specialized pollinating seed-consumer mutualisms, such as the yucca moth-yucca interaction. There, benefits to female reproduction saturate as the number of visits to a flower increases (because the amount of pollen needed to fertilize all the flower's ovules is finite), but costs continue to increase (because pollinator offspring consume developing seeds), leading to a peak in seed production at an intermediate number of visits. But for most plant-pollinator mutualisms, costs to the plant are more subtle than consumption of seeds, and how such costs scale with interaction frequency remains largely unknown. Here, we present reasonable benefit and cost curves that are appropriate for typical pollinator-plant interactions, and we show how they can result in a wide diversity of relationships between net benefit (benefit minus cost) and interaction frequency. We then use maximum-likelihood methods to fit net-benefit curves to measures of female reproductive success for three typical pollination mutualisms from two continents, and for each system we chose the most parsimonious model using information-criterion statistics. We discuss the implications of the shape of the net-benefit curve for the ecology and evolution of plant-pollinator mutualisms, as well as the challenges that lie ahead for disentangling the underlying benefit and cost curves for typical pollination mutualisms.

  17. Effect of moisture on typical Virginia surface treatment materials.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1970-01-01

    Several aspects of the stripping and whip off characteristics of typical Virginia surface treatment materials were investigated. Sixty different binder-aggregate combinations were tested with the AASHO Designation T182-57 stripping test, a plate imme...

  18. Temperament Dimensions in Stuttering and Typically Developing Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eggers, Kurt; De Nil, Luc F.; Van den Bergh, Bea R. H.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether children who stutter (CWS) and typically developing children (TDC) differ from each other on composite temperament factors or on individual temperament scales. Methods: Participants consisted of 116 age and gender-matched CWS and TDC (3.04-8.11). Temperament was assessed with a Dutch…

  19. Measuring Students' Emotions in the Early Years: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School (AEQ-ES)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lichtenfeld, Stephanie; Pekrun, Reinhard; Stupnisky, Robert H.; Reiss, Kristina; Murayama, Kou

    2012-01-01

    This article reports about the development and validation of a measurement instrument assessing elementary school students' achievement emotions (Achievement Emotions Questionnaire-Elementary School, AEQ-ES). Specifically, the instrument assesses students' enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom pertaining to three types of academic settings (i.e.,…

  20. Academic Procrastination in Linking Motivation and Achievement-Related Behaviours: A Perspective of Expectancy-Value Theory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wu, Fan; Fan, Weihua

    2017-01-01

    The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationships among college students' achievement motivation (subjective task value and academic self-efficacy), academic procrastination (delay and missing deadlines) and achievement-related behaviours (effort and persistence). More specifically, the study investigated the mediating role…

  1. The Impact on Achievement from Student and Parent Attitudes towards Using Smartphones in School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gordesky, Joshua Todd

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this research was to determine what type of correlations existed between student and parent attitudes towards using smartphones in school and the resulting impact on achievement, specifically for low-achieving students. Participants in the study were third-grade students and their parents from a primary school in Singapore. The…

  2. Web Image Search Re-ranking with Click-based Similarity and Typicality.

    PubMed

    Yang, Xiaopeng; Mei, Tao; Zhang, Yong Dong; Liu, Jie; Satoh, Shin'ichi

    2016-07-20

    In image search re-ranking, besides the well known semantic gap, intent gap, which is the gap between the representation of users' query/demand and the real intent of the users, is becoming a major problem restricting the development of image retrieval. To reduce human effects, in this paper, we use image click-through data, which can be viewed as the "implicit feedback" from users, to help overcome the intention gap, and further improve the image search performance. Generally, the hypothesis visually similar images should be close in a ranking list and the strategy images with higher relevance should be ranked higher than others are widely accepted. To obtain satisfying search results, thus, image similarity and the level of relevance typicality are determinate factors correspondingly. However, when measuring image similarity and typicality, conventional re-ranking approaches only consider visual information and initial ranks of images, while overlooking the influence of click-through data. This paper presents a novel re-ranking approach, named spectral clustering re-ranking with click-based similarity and typicality (SCCST). First, to learn an appropriate similarity measurement, we propose click-based multi-feature similarity learning algorithm (CMSL), which conducts metric learning based on clickbased triplets selection, and integrates multiple features into a unified similarity space via multiple kernel learning. Then based on the learnt click-based image similarity measure, we conduct spectral clustering to group visually and semantically similar images into same clusters, and get the final re-rank list by calculating click-based clusters typicality and withinclusters click-based image typicality in descending order. Our experiments conducted on two real-world query-image datasets with diverse representative queries show that our proposed reranking approach can significantly improve initial search results, and outperform several existing re-ranking approaches.

  3. Montana American Indian Student Achievement Data Report, Fall 2010

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montana Office of Public Instruction, 2010

    2010-01-01

    The well-being and accomplishment of all Montana students is vital to the future success of the state. More specifically, increasing academic achievement and providing all students with a quality education will result in the opportunity for students to have more choices beyond their K-12 experience. This is what the business of education is all…

  4. Theory of mind and emotion recognition skills in children with specific language impairment, autism spectrum disorder and typical development: group differences and connection to knowledge of grammatical morphology, word-finding abilities and verbal working memory.

    PubMed

    Loukusa, Soile; Mäkinen, Leena; Kuusikko-Gauffin, Sanna; Ebeling, Hanna; Moilanen, Irma

    2014-01-01

    Social perception skills, such as understanding the mind and emotions of others, affect children's communication abilities in real-life situations. In addition to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is increasing knowledge that children with specific language impairment (SLI) also demonstrate difficulties in their social perception abilities. To compare the performance of children with SLI, ASD and typical development (TD) in social perception tasks measuring Theory of Mind (ToM) and emotion recognition. In addition, to evaluate the association between social perception tasks and language tests measuring word-finding abilities, knowledge of grammatical morphology and verbal working memory. Children with SLI (n = 18), ASD (n = 14) and TD (n = 25) completed two NEPSY-II subtests measuring social perception abilities: (1) Affect Recognition and (2) ToM (includes Verbal and non-verbal Contextual tasks). In addition, children's word-finding abilities were measured with the TWF-2, grammatical morphology by using the Grammatical Closure subtest of ITPA, and verbal working memory by using subtests of Sentence Repetition or Word List Interference (chosen according the child's age) of the NEPSY-II. Children with ASD scored significantly lower than children with SLI or TD on the NEPSY-II Affect Recognition subtest. Both SLI and ASD groups scored significantly lower than TD children on Verbal tasks of the ToM subtest of NEPSY-II. However, there were no significant group differences on non-verbal Contextual tasks of the ToM subtest of the NEPSY-II. Verbal tasks of the ToM subtest were correlated with the Grammatical Closure subtest and TWF-2 in children with SLI. In children with ASD correlation between TWF-2 and ToM: Verbal tasks was moderate, almost achieving statistical significance, but no other correlations were found. Both SLI and ASD groups showed difficulties in tasks measuring verbal ToM but differences were not found in tasks measuring non-verbal Contextual ToM. The

  5. Patient-specific dosimetric endpoints based treatment plan quality control in radiotherapy.

    PubMed

    Song, Ting; Staub, David; Chen, Mingli; Lu, Weiguo; Tian, Zhen; Jia, Xun; Li, Yongbao; Zhou, Linghong; Jiang, Steve B; Gu, Xuejun

    2015-11-07

    In intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), the optimal plan for each patient is specific due to unique patient anatomy. To achieve such a plan, patient-specific dosimetric goals reflecting each patient's unique anatomy should be defined and adopted in the treatment planning procedure for plan quality control. This study is to develop such a personalized treatment plan quality control tool by predicting patient-specific dosimetric endpoints (DEs). The incorporation of patient specific DEs is realized by a multi-OAR geometry-dosimetry model, capable of predicting optimal DEs based on the individual patient's geometry. The overall quality of a treatment plan is then judged with a numerical treatment plan quality indicator and characterized as optimal or suboptimal. Taking advantage of clinically available prostate volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatment plans, we built and evaluated our proposed plan quality control tool. Using our developed tool, six of twenty evaluated plans were identified as sub-optimal plans. After plan re-optimization, these suboptimal plans achieved better OAR dose sparing without sacrificing the PTV coverage, and the dosimetric endpoints of the re-optimized plans agreed well with the model predicted values, which validate the predictability of the proposed tool. In conclusion, the developed tool is able to accurately predict optimally achievable DEs of multiple OARs, identify suboptimal plans, and guide plan optimization. It is a useful tool for achieving patient-specific treatment plan quality control.

  6. Do Adolescents with Specific Language Impairment Understand Driving Terminology?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pandolfe, Jessica M.; Wittke, Kacie; Spaulding, Tammie J.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This study examined if adolescents with specific language impairment (SLI) understand driving vocabulary as well as their typically developing (TD) peers. Method: A total of 16 adolescents with SLI and 16 TD comparison adolescents completed a receptive vocabulary task focused on driving terminology derived from statewide driver's manuals.…

  7. Self-Regulation Mediates the Relationship between Learner Typology and Achievement in At - Risk Children

    PubMed Central

    Weed, Keri; Keogh, Deborah; Borkowski, John G.; Whitman, Thomas; Noria, Christine W.

    2010-01-01

    A person-centered approach was used to explore the mediating role of self-regulation between learner typology at age 8 and academic achievement at age 14while controlling for domain-specific achievement in a longitudinal sample of 113 children born to adolescent mothers. Children were classified into one of 5 learner typologies at age 8based on interactive patterns of intellectual, achievement, and adaptive abilities. Typology classification explained significant variance in both reading and mathematics achievement at age 14. A bootstrapping approach confirmed that self-regulation mediated the relationship between typology and reading and mathematical achievement for children from all typologies except those classified as Cognitively and Adaptively Challenged. Implications of person-centered approaches for understanding processes involved with achievement are discussed. PMID:21278904

  8. The Relationship between Gross Motor Skills and Academic Achievement in Children with Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Westendorp, Marieke; Hartman, Esther; Houwen, Suzanne; Smith, Joanne; Visscher, Chris

    2011-01-01

    The present study compared the gross motor skills of 7- to 12-year-old children with learning disabilities (n = 104) with those of age-matched typically developing children (n = 104) using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2. Additionally, the specific relationships between subsets of gross motor skills and academic performance in reading,…

  9. Conceptual achievement of 1GBq activity in a Plasma Focus driven system.

    PubMed

    Tabbakh, Farshid; Sadat Kiai, Seyed Mahmood; Pashaei, Mohammad

    2017-11-01

    This is an approach to evaluate the radioisotope production by means of typical dense plasma focus devices. The production rate of the appropriate positron emitters, F-18, N-13 and O-15 has been studied. The beam-target mechanism was simulated by GEANT4 Monte Carlo tool using QGSP_BIC and QGSP_INCLXX physic models as comparison. The results for positron emitters have been evaluated by reported experimental data and found conformity between simulations and experimental reports that leads to using this code as a reliable tool in optimizing the DPF driven systems for achieving to 1GBq activity of produced radioisotope. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Harmonic Domains and Synchronization in Typically and Atypically Developing Hebrew-Speaking Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bat-El, Outi

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents a comparative study of typical and atypical consonant harmony (onset-onset place harmony), with emphasis on (i) the size of the harmonic domain, (ii) the position of the harmonic domain within the prosodic word, and (iii) the maximal size of the prosodic word that exhibits consonant harmony. The data, drawn from typically and…

  11. The observational case for Jupiter being a typical massive planet.

    PubMed

    Lineweaver, Charles H; Grether, Daniel

    2002-01-01

    We identify a subsample of the recently detected extrasolar planets that is minimally affected by the selection effects of the Doppler detection method. With a simple analysis we quantify trends in the surface density of this subsample in the period-Msin(i) plane. A modest extrapolation of these trends puts Jupiter in the most densely occupied region of this parameter space, thus indicating that Jupiter is a typical massive planet rather than an outlier. Our analysis suggests that Jupiter is more typical than indicated by previous analyses. For example, instead of MJup mass exoplanets being twice as common as 2 MJup exoplanets, we find they are three times as common.

  12. Can typical US home visits affect infant attachment? Preliminary findings from a randomized trial of Healthy Families Durham.

    PubMed

    Berlin, Lisa J; Martoccio, Tiffany L; Appleyard Carmody, Karen; Goodman, W Benjamin; O'Donnell, Karen; Williams, Janis; Murphy, Robert A; Dodge, Kenneth A

    2017-12-01

    US government-funded early home visiting services are expanding significantly. The most widely implemented home visiting models target at-risk new mothers and their infants. Such home visiting programs typically aim to support infant-parent relationships; yet, such programs' effects on infant attachment quality per se are as yet untested. Given these programs' aims, and the crucial role of early attachments in human development, it is important to understand attachment processes in home visited families. The current, preliminary study examined 94 high-risk mother-infant dyads participating in a randomized evaluation of the Healthy Families Durham (HFD) home visiting program. We tested (a) infant attachment security and disorganization as predictors of toddler behavior problems and (b) program effects on attachment security and disorganization. We found that (a) infant attachment disorganization (but not security) predicted toddler behavior problems and (b) participation in HFD did not significantly affect infant attachment security or disorganization. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential for attachment-specific interventions to enhance the typical array of home visiting services.

  13. BIBLIOGRAPHY ON ACHIEVEMENT.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Graduate School of Education.

    THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY LISTS MATERIAL ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF ACHIEVEMENT. APPROXIMATELY 40 UNANNOTATED REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED TO DOCUMENTS DATING FROM 1952 TO 1965. JOURNALS, BOOKS, AND REPORT MATERIALS ARE LISTED. SUBJECT AREAS INCLUDED ARE BEHAVIOR TESTS, ACHIEVEMENT BEHAVIOR, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, AND SOCIAL-CLASS BACKGROUND. A RELATED REPORT IS ED…

  14. Electric Field Simulation of Surge Capacitors with Typical Defects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Chenmeng; Mao, Yuxiang; Xie, Shijun; Zhang, Yu

    2018-03-01

    The electric field of power capacitors with different typical defects in DC working condition and impulse oscillation working condition is studied in this paper. According to the type and location of defects and considering the influence of space charge, two-dimensional models of surge capacitors with different typical defects are simulated based on ANSYS. The distribution of the electric field inside the capacitor is analyzed, and the concentration of electric field and its influence on the insulation performance are obtained. The results show that the type of defects, the location of defects and the space charge all affect the electric field distribution inside the capacitor in varying degrees. Especially the electric field distortion in the local area such as sharp corners and burrs is relatively larger, which increases the probability of partial discharge inside the surge capacitor.

  15. Effects of temperature and mass conservation on the typical chemical sequences of hydrogen oxidation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nicholson, Schuyler B.; Alaghemandi, Mohammad; Green, Jason R.

    2018-01-01

    Macroscopic properties of reacting mixtures are necessary to design synthetic strategies, determine yield, and improve the energy and atom efficiency of many chemical processes. The set of time-ordered sequences of chemical species are one representation of the evolution from reactants to products. However, only a fraction of the possible sequences is typical, having the majority of the joint probability and characterizing the succession of chemical nonequilibrium states. Here, we extend a variational measure of typicality and apply it to atomistic simulations of a model for hydrogen oxidation over a range of temperatures. We demonstrate an information-theoretic methodology to identify typical sequences under the constraints of mass conservation. Including these constraints leads to an improved ability to learn the chemical sequence mechanism from experimentally accessible data. From these typical sequences, we show that two quantities defining the variational typical set of sequences—the joint entropy rate and the topological entropy rate—increase linearly with temperature. These results suggest that, away from explosion limits, data over a narrow range of thermodynamic parameters could be sufficient to extrapolate these typical features of combustion chemistry to other conditions.

  16. Achievement Goals and Discrete Achievement Emotions: A Theoretical Model and Prospective Test

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pekrun, Reinhard; Elliot, Andrew J.; Maier, Markus A.

    2006-01-01

    A theoretical model linking achievement goals to discrete achievement emotions is proposed. The model posits relations between the goals of the trichotomous achievement goal framework and 8 commonly experienced achievement emotions organized in a 2 (activity/outcome focus) x 2 (positive/negative valence) taxonomy. Two prospective studies tested…

  17. Which Achievement Gap?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Sharon; Medrich, Elliott; Fowler, Donna

    2007-01-01

    From the halls of Congress to the local elementary school, conversations on education reform have tossed around the term "achievement gap" as though people all know precisely what that means. As it's commonly used, "achievement gap" refers to the differences in scores on state or national achievement tests between various…

  18. Energy-Performance-Based Design-Build Process: Strategies for Procuring High-Performance Buildings on Typical Construction Budgets: Preprint

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Scheib, J.; Pless, S.; Torcellini, P.

    NREL experienced a significant increase in employees and facilities on our 327-acre main campus in Golden, Colorado over the past five years. To support this growth, researchers developed and demonstrated a new building acquisition method that successfully integrates energy efficiency requirements into the design-build requests for proposals and contracts. We piloted this energy performance based design-build process with our first new construction project in 2008. We have since replicated and evolved the process for large office buildings, a smart grid research laboratory, a supercomputer, a parking structure, and a cafeteria. Each project incorporated aggressive efficiency strategies using contractual energy usemore » requirements in the design-build contracts, all on typical construction budgets. We have found that when energy efficiency is a core project requirement as defined at the beginning of a project, innovative design-build teams can integrate the most cost effective and high performance efficiency strategies on typical construction budgets. When the design-build contract includes measurable energy requirements and is set up to incentivize design-build teams to focus on achieving high performance in actual operations, owners can now expect their facilities to perform. As NREL completed the new construction in 2013, we have documented our best practices in training materials and a how-to guide so that other owners and owner's representatives can replicate our successes and learn from our experiences in attaining market viable, world-class energy performance in the built environment.« less

  19. Specific Impulses Losses in Solid Propellant Rockets

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1974-12-17

    binder -- polyvinyl, polyurethane, or polybutadiene) markedly increases performance. Aluminum is the most widely used metal since its energy properties...temperature is also used. -5- The specific impulse values calculated for a typical propellant with 16.4% aluminum are as follows: (p0 70 atm. p - 1 atm...Direct Measurement of Combuction Efficiency of Aluminum Analysis of the condensed phase enables the proportion of unburnt aluminum to be determined

  20. Response Sensitivity of Typical Aircraft Jet Engine Fan Blade-Like Structures to Bird Impacts.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1982-05-01

    AIRCRAFT ENGINE BU--ETC F/G 21/5 RESPONSE SENSITIVITY OF TYPICAL AIRCRAFT JET ENGINE FAN BLADE -L...SENSITIVITY OF TYPICAL AIRCRAFT JET ENGINE FAN BLADE -LIKE STRUCTURES TO BIRD IMPACTS David P. Bauer Robert S. Bertke University of Dayton Research...COVERED RESPONSE SENSITIVITY OF TYPICAL AIRCRAFT FINAL REPORT JET ENGINE FAN BLADE -LIKE STRUCTURES Oct. 1977 to Jan. 1979 TO BIRD IMPACTS s.

  1. Effects of General and Specific Cognitive Abilities on Reading Achievement in a Referred Sample

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Juarez, Betsy M.

    2012-01-01

    Psychoeducational assessment, and specifically cognitive testing, is important to the role of school psychologists; however, the utility of such testing has been called into question, and its future is unclear. Researchers are divided into two camps. One side grew disenchanted with cognitive testing after the failure of the discrepancy method to…

  2. Benchmarking of Typical Meteorological Year datasets dedicated to Concentrated-PV systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Realpe, Ana Maria; Vernay, Christophe; Pitaval, Sébastien; Blanc, Philippe; Wald, Lucien; Lenoir, Camille

    2016-04-01

    Accurate analysis of meteorological and pyranometric data for long-term analysis is the basis of decision-making for banks and investors, regarding solar energy conversion systems. This has led to the development of methodologies for the generation of Typical Meteorological Years (TMY) datasets. The most used method for solar energy conversion systems was proposed in 1978 by the Sandia Laboratory (Hall et al., 1978) considering a specific weighted combination of different meteorological variables with notably global, diffuse horizontal and direct normal irradiances, air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity. In 2012, a new approach was proposed in the framework of the European project FP7 ENDORSE. It introduced the concept of "driver" that is defined by the user as an explicit function of the pyranometric and meteorological relevant variables to improve the representativeness of the TMY datasets with respect the specific solar energy conversion system of interest. The present study aims at comparing and benchmarking different TMY datasets considering a specific Concentrated-PV (CPV) system as the solar energy conversion system of interest. Using long-term (15+ years) time-series of high quality meteorological and pyranometric ground measurements, three types of TMY datasets generated by the following methods: the Sandia method, a simplified driver with DNI as the only representative variable and a more sophisticated driver. The latter takes into account the sensitivities of the CPV system with respect to the spectral distribution of the solar irradiance and wind speed. Different TMY datasets from the three methods have been generated considering different numbers of years in the historical dataset, ranging from 5 to 15 years. The comparisons and benchmarking of these TMY datasets are conducted considering the long-term time series of simulated CPV electric production as a reference. The results of this benchmarking clearly show that the Sandia method is not

  3. Predictors of competitive achievement among pubescent synchronized swimmers: an analysis of the solo-figure competition.

    PubMed

    Peric, M; Cavar, M; Zenic, N; Sekulic, D; Sajber, D

    2014-02-01

    This study examined the applicability of sport-specific fitness tests (SSTs), anthropometrics, and respiratory parameters in predicting competitive results among pubescent synchronized swimmers. A total of 25 synchronized swimmers (16-17 years; 166.2 ± 5.4 cm; and 58.4 ± 4.3 kg) volunteered for this study. The independent variables were body mass, body height, Body Mass Index (BMI), body fat percentage (BF%), lean body mass percentage, respiratory variables, and four SSTs (two specific power tests plus one aerobic- and one anaerobic-endurance test). The dependent variable was competitive achievement in the solo figure competition. The reliability analyses, Pearson's correlation coefficient and forward stepwise regression were calculated. The SSTs were reliable for testing fitness status among pubescent synchronized swimmers. The forward stepwise regression retained two SSTs, BF% and forced vital capacity (FVC, relative for age and stature) in a set of predictors of competitive achievement. Significant Beta coefficients are found for aerobic-endurance, SST and FVC. The sport-specific measure of aerobic endurance and FVC appropriately predicted competitive achievement with regard to the figures used in the competition when competitive results (the dependent variable) were obtained. Athletes and coaches should be aware of the probable negative influence of very low body fat levels on competitive achievement.

  4. Development of Gender Discrimination: Effect of Sex-Typical and Sex-Atypical Toys.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Etaugh, Claire; Duits, Terri L.

    Toddlers (41 girls and 35 boys) between 18 and 37 months of age were given four gender discrimination tasks each consisting of 6 pairs of color drawings. Three of the tasks employed color drawings of preschool girls and boys holding either a sex-typical toy, a sex-atypical toy, or no toy. The fourth employed pictures of sex-typical masculine and…

  5. The Impact of Goal Achievement Orientation on Student Technology Usage in the Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGloin, Rory; McGillicuddy, Kara T.; Christensen, John L.

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate whether students with differing goal achievement orientations were more likely to engage in on-task or off-task mobile device usage, as well as whether particular devices (specifically, laptops and smartphones) have a positive or negative relationship with specific task usage. The results of this study…

  6. Sex-typical play: masculinization/defeminization in girls with an autism spectrum condition.

    PubMed

    Knickmeyer, Rebecca C; Wheelwright, Sally; Baron-Cohen, Simon B

    2008-07-01

    We tested the hypothesis that prenatal masculinization of the brain by androgens increases risk of developing an autism spectrum condition (ASC). Sex-typical play was measured in n = 66 children diagnosed with an ASC and n = 55 typically developing age-matched controls. Consistent with the hypothesis, girls with autism did not show the female-typical play preferences, though this was only seen on non-pretence items. Boys with autism showed a preference for male play on non-pretence items, in keeping with their sex. Girls with autism engaged in more pretend play than boys with autism, suggesting that pretence is relatively more protected in females with autism. We conclude that play preference studies in ASC provide partial support for the fetal androgen theory.

  7. Collection and analysis of specific ELINT Signal Parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wilson, Lonnie A.

    1985-12-01

    This report was a followup to, Collection and Analysis of Specific ELINT Signal Parameters, DTIC A166507, 23 June 1985. The programs and hardware assembled for the above mentioned report were used to analyze two types of radar, the PPS-6 and the HOOD radars. The typical ELINT parameters of frequency, pulse width, and pulse repetition rate were collected and analyzed.

  8. Collection and analysis of specific ELINT Signal Parameters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilson, Lonnie A.

    1985-01-01

    This report was a followup to, Collection and Analysis of Specific ELINT Signal Parameters, DTIC A166507, 23 June 1985. The programs and hardware assembled for the above mentioned report were used to analyze two types of radar, the PPS-6 and the HOOD radars. The typical ELINT parameters of frequency, pulse width, and pulse repetition rate were collected and analyzed.

  9. How and Why do Teacher Credentials Matter for Student Achievement? NBER Working Paper No. 12828

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clotfelter, Charles T.; Ladd, Helen F.; Vigdor, Jacob L.

    2007-01-01

    Education researchers and policy makers agree that teachers differ in terms of quality and that quality matters for student achievement. Despite prodigious amounts of research, however, debate still persists about the causal relationship between specific teacher credentials and student achievement. In this paper, we use a rich administrative data…

  10. Hydrothermal carbonization of typical components of municipal solid waste for deriving hydrochars and their combustion behavior.

    PubMed

    Lin, Yousheng; Ma, Xiaoqian; Peng, Xiaowei; Yu, Zhaosheng

    2017-11-01

    In this work, five typical components were employed as representative pseudo-components to indirectly complete previous established simulation system during hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of municipal solid waste. The fuel characteristics and combustion behavior of HTC-derived hydrochars were evaluated. Results clearly illustrated that the energy ranks of hydrochars were upgraded after HTC. For paper and wood, superior combustion performances of their hydrochars could achieve under suitable conditions. While for food, none positive enrichments on combustion loss rate were observed for hydrochars due to its high solubilization and decomposition under hot compressed water. It was noteworthy that a new weight loss peak was detected for paper and food, suggesting that new compounds were formed. For rubber, the HTC process made the properties of styrene butadiene rubber more close to natural rubber. Therefore, the first peak of hydrochars became significantly intense. While for plastic, only physical changes of polypropylene and polyethylene were observed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. The Impact of Language Factors on Learner Achievement in Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prinsloo, C. H.; Rogers, S. C.; Harvey, J. C.

    2018-01-01

    South African learner achievement remains poor, despite large investment in schooling over the last two decades. Literature and research findings offer no single explanation or solution. In this article, the authors explored the relative contribution of specific language factors such as the role of home- and school-language equivalence, cultural…

  12. The Impact of Principal Instructional Leadership Practices on Student Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nason, Kristen Kendrick

    2011-01-01

    The problem addressed in this cross-sectional, quantitative study was a continual stagnation in student achievement in one U.S. state, which is critical to stakeholders responsible for increasing student advancement in college and the 21st century workforce. Specifically, the objective was to identify the relationship between principal-perceived…

  13. Different electrophysiological profiles and treatment response in 'typical' and 'atypical' chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.

    PubMed

    Kuwabara, Satoshi; Isose, Sagiri; Mori, Masahiro; Mitsuma, Satsuki; Sawai, Setsu; Beppu, Minako; Sekiguchi, Yukari; Misawa, Sonoko

    2015-10-01

    Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is currently classified into 'typical' CIDP and 'atypical' subtypes such as multifocal acquired demyelinating sensory and motor neuropathy (MADSAM). To assess the frequency of CIDP subtypes, and to elucidate clinical and electrophysiological features, and treatment response in each subtype. We reviewed data from 100 consecutive patients fulfilling criteria for CIDP proposed by the European Federation of Neurological Societies and the Peripheral Nerve Society. The Kaplan-Meier curve was used to estimate long-term outcome. Patients were classified as having typical CIDP (60%), MADSAM (34%), demyelinating acquired distal symmetric neuropathy (8%) or pure sensory CIDP (1%). Compared with patients with MADSAM, patients with typical CIDP showed more rapid progression and severe disability, and demyelination predominant in the distal nerve segments. MADSAM was characterised by multifocal demyelination in the nerve trunks. Abnormal median-normal sural sensory responses were more frequently found for typical CIDP (53% vs 13%). Patients with typical CIDP invariably responded to corticosteroids, immunoglobulin or plasmapheresis, whereas patients with MADSAM were more refractory to these treatments. The Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that 64% of patients with typical CIDP and 41% of patients with MADSAM had a clinical remission 5 years later (p=0.02). Among the CIDP spectrum, typical CIDP and MADSAM are the major subtypes, and their pathophysiology appears to be distinct. In typical CIDP, the distal nerve terminals and possibly the nerve roots, where the blood-nerve barrier is anatomically deficient, are preferentially affected, raising the possibility of antibody-mediated demyelination, whereas cellular immunity with breakdown of the barrier may be important in MADSAM neuropathy. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  14. Specific Stimuli Induce Specific Adaptations: Sensorimotor Training vs. Reactive Balance Training

    PubMed Central

    Freyler, Kathrin; Krause, Anne; Gollhofer, Albert; Ritzmann, Ramona

    2016-01-01

    Typically, balance training has been used as an intervention paradigm either as static or as reactive balance training. Possible differences in functional outcomes between the two modalities have not been profoundly studied. The objective of the study was to investigate the specificity of neuromuscular adaptations in response to two balance intervention modalities within test and intervention paradigms containing characteristics of both profiles: classical sensorimotor training (SMT) referring to a static ledger pivoting around the ankle joint vs. reactive balance training (RBT) using externally applied perturbations to deteriorate body equilibrium. Thirty-eight subjects were assigned to either SMT or RBT. Before and after four weeks of intervention training, postural sway and electromyographic activities of shank and thigh muscles were recorded and co-contraction indices (CCI) were calculated. We argue that specificity of training interventions could be transferred into corresponding test settings containing properties of SMT and RBT, respectively. The results revealed that i) postural sway was reduced in both intervention groups in all test paradigms; magnitude of changes and effect sizes differed dependent on the paradigm: when training and paradigm coincided most, effects were augmented (P<0.05). ii) These specificities were accompanied by segmental modulations in the amount of CCI, with a greater reduction within the CCI of thigh muscles after RBT compared to the shank muscles after SMT (P<0.05). The results clearly indicate the relationship between test and intervention specificity in balance performance. Hence, specific training modalities of postural control cause multi-segmental and context-specific adaptations, depending upon the characteristics of the trained postural strategy. In relation to fall prevention, perturbation training could serve as an extension to SMT to include the proximal segment, and thus the control of structures near to the body

  15. Cognitive ability, academic achievement and academic self-concept: extending the internal/external frame of reference model.

    PubMed

    Chen, Ssu-Kuang; Hwang, Fang-Ming; Yeh, Yu-Chen; Lin, Sunny S J

    2012-06-01

    Marsh's internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model depicts the relationship between achievement and self-concept in specific academic domains. Few efforts have been made to examine concurrent relationships among cognitive ability, achievement, and academic self-concept (ASC) within an I/E model framework. To simultaneously examine the influences of domain-specific cognitive ability and grades on domain self-concept in an extended I/E model, including the indirect effect of domain-specific cognitive ability on domain self-concept via grades. Tenth grade respondents (628 male, 452 female) to a national adolescent survey conducted in Taiwan. Respondents completed surveys designed to measure maths and verbal aptitudes. Data on Maths and Chinese class grades and self-concepts were also collected. Statistically significant and positive path coefficients were found between cognitive ability and self-concept in the same domain (direct effect) and between these two constructs via grades (indirect effect). The cross-domain effects of either ability or grades on ASC were negatively significant. Taiwanese 10th graders tend to evaluate their ASCs based on a mix of ability and achievement, with achievement as a mediator exceeding ability as a predictor. In addition, the cross-domain effects suggest that Taiwanese students are likely to view Maths and verbal abilities and achievements as distinctly different. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

  16. Fine motor skills and executive function both contribute to kindergarten achievement

    PubMed Central

    Cameron, Claire E.; Brock, Laura L.; Murrah, William M.; Bell, Lindsay H.; Worzalla, Samantha L.; Grissmer, David; Morrison, Frederick J.

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the contribution of executive function (EF) and multiple aspects of fine motor skills to achievement on six standardized assessments in a sample of middle-SES kindergarteners. 3- and 4-year-olds’ (N=213) fine and gross motor skills were assessed in a home visit before kindergarten; EF was measured at fall of kindergarten; and Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ III) Tests of Academic Achievement were administered at fall and spring. Correlations indicated that EF and fine motor skills appeared distinct. Further, controlling for background variables, higher levels of both EF and fine motor skills, specifically design copy, predicted higher achievement on multiple subtests at kindergarten entry, as well as improvement from fall to spring. Implications for research on school readiness are discussed. PMID:22537276

  17. Automated benchmark generation based upon a specification language

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rajan, N.; Feteih, S. E.; Saito, J.

    1984-01-01

    The problem of validating and verifying digital flight control system (DFCS) software is addressed in this paper. A new specification language DIVERS is proposed, and is the keystone of the approach. This language consists of keywords where each keyword represents an element in the block diagram of a DFCS. DIVERS has a dictionary which contains all the keywords a DFCS designer might need. Translator programs convert the system specifications into an executable, high-level language program. The features of translators are discussed and are elucidated by examples. This language is used to describe a typical flight software module.

  18. Grade 3 Science Curriculum Specifications.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton. Curriculum Branch.

    The specific content areas and objectives from which the Alberta, Canada, Grade 3 Science Achievement Test questions were derived are outlined in this bulletin. The document contains: (1) curriculum summary (providing a general listing of the process skills, psychomotor skills, attitudes, and subject matter covered at the grade 3 level); (2) a…

  19. Colour as an environmental cue when learning a route in a virtual environment: typical and atypical development.

    PubMed

    Farran, Emily K; Courbois, Yannick; Van Herwegen, Jo; Cruickshank, Alice G; Blades, Mark

    2012-01-01

    Typically developing (TD) 6-year-olds and 9-year-olds, and older children and adults with Williams syndrome (WS) navigated through brick-wall mazes in a virtual environment. Participants were shown a route through three mazes, each with 6 turns. In each maze the floor of each path section was a different colour such that colour acted as an environmental cue. The colours employed were either easy to verbalise (focal colours) or difficult to verbalise (non-focal colours). We investigated whether participants would verbally code the colour information in the focal colour condition only, and whether this facilitated route-learning. All groups could learn the routes; the WS group required more learning trials to learn the route and achieved lower memory scores than both of the TD groups. Despite this, all groups showed the same pattern of results. There was no effect of condition on the ability to learn the maze. However, when asked which colours featured in each route, higher memory scores were achieved for the focal colour (verbalisable) than the non-focal colour (non-verbalisable) condition. This suggests that, in both young children and individuals with WS, once a route has been learnt, the nature of the environmental cues within it can impact an individual's representation of that route. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Longitudinal Predictors of Achievement: Achievement History, Family Environment, and Mental Health.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Petersen, Anne C.; Kellam, Sheppard G.

    In this seven year longitudinal study predictors of achievement for first graders were measured against actual school achievement of the same students in the seventh and eight grades. Three sets of variables were obtained in the first grade. Achievement history, family environment, and mental health were used as measures. Mental health was…