Word reading and reading comprehension: stability, overlap and independence

Longitudinal twin data were analyzed to investigate the etiology of the stability of genetic and environmental influences on word reading and reading comprehension, as well as the stability of those influences on their relationship. Participating twin pairs were initially tested at a mean age of 10.3 years, and retested approximately five years later. Both word reading and comprehension were found to be highly stable, and genetic influences were primarily responsible for that stability. In contrast to studies with younger participants, no unique genetic influences were observed at follow-up testing in this older sample. High genetic correlations were obtained between word reading and reading comprehension at both ages, indicating common genetic influences. However, significant genetic influence on comprehension was also observed, independent of that on word reading. Although the phenotypic relation between the two measures appeared to decline across time, the genetic etiology of this relation was highly stable.     

Szenario-basierter Systemtest von Software-Produktfamilien

In der Produktfamilienentwicklung werden durch zwei Entwicklungsprozesse, Domain und Application Engineering, zun"achst wiederverwendbare Entwicklungsartefakte produziert, um diese anschlie?end zur Konstruktion von kundenspezifischen Applikationen einzusetzen. Die Wiederverwendbarkeit wird durch die explizite Definition der Variabilit"at der geplanten Applikationen einer Produktfamilie erzielt. Diese proaktive Wiederverwendung ist bisher in den konstruktiven Entwicklungsphasen realisiert, jedoch noch nicht im Test. Mit ScenTED (Scen_ario based TE_st Case D_erivation) wird in diesem Beitrag eine wiederverwendungsorientierte Technik zur Testfallerstellung f"ur den Systemtest, dem Test eines ausf"uhrbaren Systems gegen spezifizierte Use-Cases, von Produktfamilien vorgestellt. ScenTED basiert auf zwei Kernideen: der Erhaltung der Variabilit"at in Testf"allen und der Szenario-basierten Verfeinerung der Testf"alle. Durch die Erhaltung der Variabilit"at wird die Wiederverwendbarkeit von Testf"allen gesichert; die Szenario-basierte Verfeinerung erm"oglicht Nachvollziehbarkeit durch die durchg"angige Nutzung von Szenarien. In diesem Beitrag wird die ScenTED-Technik an einem Beispiel erl"autert und Erfahrungen aus dem industriellen Einsatz diskutiert.     

Semiotic Principles for Metadata Auditing and Evaluation

Metadata auditing is a common practice used to assess quality by drawing on a selection of documents to create a representative sample of the corpus. This article examines common techniques involved in auditing and argues that underlying semiotic principles should be considered before remediation and transformation work are undertaken. This article provides an inquiry into the structural nature of metadata, records, and corpora to analyze the semiotic processes and boundaries that can affect audits. Suggestions for effective auditing practices are offered as well as what can be obfuscated when transformations are undertaken without concern for the sign-functions of metadata.     

Tail,Tusk, and Trunk: What Different Metrics Reveal About Racial Disproportionality in School Discipline

There are substantial racial disparities in school discipline but little agreement on how best to measure them. The choice of metric can influence conclusions about the magnitude of racial discipline disproportionality and intervention effectiveness. This article describes 2 common (risk ratio, risk difference) and 3 relatively novel (standardized effect size, raw differential representation, discipline rate) approaches to evaluating racial disproportionality, with illustrations of their strengths and weaknesses. Its concludes with a discussion of the metrics and a recommendation that researchers and policymakers consider the raw number of students of color differentially disciplined, as among the easiest to understand, the most stable, and capturing the widest range of information. Even so, no metric captures all relevant aspects of disproportionality. Accordingly, researchers and policymakers should be deliberate in their specific aims in measuring discipline disproportionality and select a combination of metrics that provides information most responsive to their goals.     

Preferences for Various Learning Environments: Teachers' and Parents' Perceptions

In the last ten years, a number of innovations, mainly inspired by constructivist notions of learning, have been introduced at various levels of the Dutch educational system. However, constructivist learning environments are rarely implemented. Teachers tend to stick to expository and structured learning environments. This consistent finding requires research in order to gain insight into teachers' preferences for learning environments and to determine the factors that support and impede the realization of these learning environments. Regarding the influence of social backgrounds on student learning, is it also important to take stock of parental views on learning environments.This study is focused on teachers' preferences for learning environments, their reported teaching behavior, and how these match with parents' preferences. Three parallel questionnaires were developed for teachers (n = 285), students (n = 951), and parents (n = 636) to measure preferences and behavior at different levels of education, for three types of learning environments: direct instruction; discovery learning; and authentic pedagogy. The results show that teachers often prefer direct instruction, and seldom promote discovery learning. While teachers sometimes realize authentic pedagogy, constructive learning tasks are seldom used. Teachers' reported practice and parents' preferences for their children appear to correspond reasonably.Results of multiple regression analyses show that the use of the three types of learning environments yield different predictors. For the use of discovery learning and authentic pedagogy, confidence in students' regulative skills is an important predictor. In predicting the use of direct instruction, the teacher's own conception of learning turns out to be an important predictor.     

Lower limb joint angles and ground reaction forces in forefoot strike and rearfoot strike runners during overground downhill and uphill running

This study investigated the normal and parallel ground reaction forces during downhill and uphill running in habitual forefoot strike and habitual rearfoot strike (RFS) runners. Fifteen habitual forefoot strike and 15 habitual RFS recreational male runners ran at 3 m/s ± 5% during level, uphill and downhill overground running on a ramp mounted at 6° and 9°. Results showed that forefoot strike runners had no visible impact peak in all running conditions, while the impact peaks only decreased during the uphill conditions in RFS runners. Active peaks decreased during the downhill conditions in forefoot strike runners while active loading rates increased during downhill conditions in RFS runners. Compared to the level condition, parallel braking peaks were larger during downhill conditions and parallel propulsive peaks were larger during uphill conditions. Combined with previous biomechanics studies, our findings suggest that forefoot strike running may be an effective strategy to reduce impacts, especially during downhill running. These findings may have further implications towards injury management and prevention.     

A novel method to grip a golf club for a quadruple amputee golfer

A device was created to enable a quadruple amputee golfer to securely hold a golf club and play the game. The device also offers a way to easily and independently switch one golf club for another during the round. It comprises a spring-loaded cylindrical fixture to hold the club to the prosthetic arm and a J-slot to twist and release the club to exchange it for a different club on the course. The device has been used to play golf for 5 years. The engineered solution attaches to the golfer’s right arm and he swings using a right-handed stance. It includes a bend in the prosthetic arm to enable a more functional golf swing. A series of club fittings were conducted over a number of years and experiments were conducted on both driving ranges and golf courses with the aim of optimizing performance. The complete set of club specifications is included along with typical shot results for selected clubs.     

A twin study of the etiology of high readingability

The present study examined the etiology of highreading ability in an overall sample of 350twin pairs in which at least one member of 100pairs (54 MZ, 46 DZ) had a reading compositescore one standard deviation above the sample mean. These highreaders also had significantly higher scoresthan the rest of the sample on Full Scale,Verbal and Performance IQ scores, as well as onmeasures of phoneme awareness, orthographiccoding, phonological decoding, and verbalshort-term memory. The MZ proband-wiseconcordance rate for high group membership wassignificantly higher than the DZ proband-wiseconcordance rate and further behavioralgenetic analyses corroborated that high readingability is partly due to genetic influence(h² _g = 0.55 ± 0.22). Bivariatemultiple regression analyses demonstrated thathigh phonological awareness, orthographiccoding, phonological decoding, and short-termverbal memory skills all share significantcommon genetic influence with high readingability. These results suggest that readingability and its cognitive correlates are on acontinuous distribution, with both extremes ofthe distribution being similarly heritable. They also support the hypothesis that the samecognitive processes that are associated withdyslexia are important for the development ofhigh reading ability.