Multivariate predictive model for dyslexia diagnosis

Dyslexia is a specific disorder of language development that mainly affects reading. Etiological researches have led to multiple hypotheses which induced various diagnosis methods and rehabilitation treatments so that many different tests are used by practitioners to identify dyslexia symptoms. Our purpose is to determine a subset of the most efficient ones by integrating them into a multivariate predictive model. A set of screening tasks that are the most commonly used and representative of the different cognitive aspects of dyslexia was proposed to 78 children from elementary school (mean age = 9 years ± 7 months) exempt from identified reading difficulties and to 35 dyslexic children attending a specialized consultation for dyslexia. We proposed a multi-step procedure: within each category, we first selected the most representative tasks using principal component analysis and then we implemented logistic regression models on the preselected variables. Spelling and reading tasks were considered separately. The model with the best predictive performance includes eight variables from four categories of tasks and classifies correctly 94% of the children. The sensitivity (91%) and the specificity (95%) are both high. Forty minutes are necessary to complete the test.     

Longitudinal Associations of Childhood Parenting and Adolescent Health: The Mediating Influence of Social Competence

The current study examined a process through which parenting during the primary school transition contributes to cardiovascular health in adolescence, a foundational period for adult health trajectories. Using path analyses, social competence was tested as a mediator between parental sensitivity and adolescent health among 884 families. Results indicated that mothers’ and fathers’ sensitivity was associated with increasing social competence from first grade (age 7) to sixth grade (age 12), which was associated with higher awakening cortisol in ninth grade (age 15) and decreasing blood pressure from sixth to ninth grade. Results suggest that social competence mediates associations between childhood parenting and adolescent cardiovascular risk, and may be protective to children's health over time.     

La Mesure des Effets Pédagogiques des TIC : Pièges et Illusions du Découpage du Réel et de L'administration de la Preuve

La forte incitation actuelle de la part des autorités scolaires À recourir aux médias numériques en classe pose une nouvelle fois la question des arguments mis en avant. Et comme À l'occasion d'incitations antérieures (télévision scolaire, audiovisuel, informatique éducative), partisans et détracteurs s'appuient sur différents travaux qui attestent ou non de telle ou telle amélioration ou dégradation. Cette contribution se propose de montrer que les concepts et les modèles convoqués dans certains travaux, y compris les nÔtres et notamment le programme IN-TELE (Internet-Based Teaching and Learning), établissent entre les situations d'enseignement-apprentissage considérés comme classiques et celles qui sont supposées innovantes des distinctions parfois non pertinentes, qui se traduisent par des résultats outrageusement significatifs ou non significatifs. C'est donc le schéma modèle-observation-interprétation que nous interrogeons en suggérant que les outils de pensée disponibles et les procédés d'observation mis en m uvre aujourd'hui dans les différentes disciplines académiques qui s'intéressent aux usages pédagogiques des TIC contraignent, voire altèrent, notre compréhension des phénomènes éducatifs induits par les 'nouveaux' médias. Measuring the pedagogic effects of CIT: traps and illusions of cutting out actuality, and the

administration of proof. The strong current encouragement of school authorities to have recourse to digital media in the classroom poses once again the question of the arguments that have been advanced. And, as at the tine of earlier encouragement, (for school television, audiovisual, educational informatics), partisans and detractors rely on different works which support, or not, such-and-such a praise or detraction. This contribution attempts to show that the concepts and the models brought together in certain works, including our own and notably the IN-TEL (Internet-Based Teaching and Learning) programme, which establish between the teaching-training situations considered as classic and those which are supposed to be innovative, distinctions which sometimes are not pertinent, which are translated into results which are outrageously significant – or non-significant. It is, then, the schema of model-observation-interpretation that we question in suggesting that the mental tools available and the observational procedures used today in the different academic disciplines which are interested in the pedagogic use of CIT constrain us to see, may even, alter our understanding of the educational phenomenon introduced by the 'new' media. Analyse der pädagogischen Auswirkungen von ICT (Information and Communcation Technologies) : Fallen und Illusionen aus der Wirklichkeit, sowie die Beweisführung. Die gegenwärtig stark geförderte Umstellung des Unterrichtsmaterials auf digitale Medien durch die Schulbehörden, stellt erneut die bereits vorgebrachten Argumente in Frage. Und wie schon bei vorangegangenen Einführungen (von Schulfernsehen, Audiovision, pädagogische Informatik) beziehen sich Befürworter und Gegner auf verschiedene Studien, die den Nutzen oder Unnutzen attestieren. Dieser Beitrag versucht aufzuzeigen, dass herangezogene Konzepte und Modelle in verschiedenen Arbeiten - einschliesslich der unseren und insbesondere des Programms IN-TELE (Internet-Based Teaching and Learning) - sich zwischen klassischen Bildungssituationen und denen als innovativ angenommenen wiederfinden - auch wenn diese Unterscheidung nicht immer treffend ist. Wir stellen also das Schema Modell-Observation-Interpretation in Frage, indem wir suggerieren, dass die heute applizierten Denkmodelle und Observationsverfahren - der verschiedenen akademischen Disziplinen, die sich für den pädagogischen Gebrauch von ICT interessieren - für unser Verständnis des pädagogischen Einflusses durch Multimedia hinderlich sind, ja wenn nicht sogar deren Gebrauch nachteilig beeinflussen.     

Comparison of ActiGraph GT3X+ and Actical accelerometer data in 9–11-year-old Canadian children

Accelerometry is the gold standard for field-based physical activity assessment in children; however, the plethora of devices, data reduction procedures, and cut-points available limits comparability between studies. This study aimed to compare physical activity variables from the ActiGraph GT3X+ and Actical accelerometers in children under free-living conditions. A cross-sectional study of 379 children aged 9–11 years from Ottawa (Canada) was conducted. Children wore the ActiGraph GT3X+ and Actical accelerometers on the hip simultaneously for 7 consecutive days (24-h protocol). Moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA), vigorous (VPA), moderate (MPA), and light (LPA) physical activity, as well as sedentary time, (SED) were derived using established data reduction protocols. Excellent agreement between devices was observed for MVPA (ICC = 0.73–0.80), with fair to good agreement for MPA, LPA and SED, and poor agreement for VPA. Bland-Altman plots showed excellent agreement for MVPA, LPA, and SED, adequate agreement for MPA, and poor agreement for VPA. MVPA derived from the Actical was 11.7% lower than the ActiGraph GT3X+. The ActiGraph GT3X+ and Actical are comparable for measuring children’s MVPA. However, comparison between devices for VPA, MPA, LPA, and SED are highly dependent on data reduction procedures and cut-points, and should be interpreted with caution.     

Review of several optical non-destructive analyses of an easel painting. Complementarity and crosschecking of the results

Five optical analyses of a given work of art are presented, using multispectral imaging, optical coherence tomography, goniophometry, UV-fluorescence emission spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. All these methods are non-destructive, contactless, and implementable in situ. They all lead to results in quasi-real time. The multispectral camera allows imaging of the whole painting with very high definition and recording of 240 millions of spectra. Optical coherence tomography allows local 2D and 3D imaging with in-face and in depth stratigraphies inside the painting with a micrometric accuracy. It allows the evaluation of the pigment volume concentration inside a layer, the measurement of the thickness of one or two varnish layers, the detection and measurements of gaps inside the paint layer, the depth of varnish micro-cracks. Goniophotometry allows the measurement of the upper surface state of the painting in different locations, by quantifying the mean slope of the facets making up the surface. UV-fluorescence emission spectroscopy allows the identification of the resin, the binder and the ageing state of varnishes by use of databases of reference varnishes. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy leads to pigment, pigment mixture and dye identifications again by use of databases. The three last methods are implemented with the same portable multi-function instrument. It allows time saving, locations on request in front of the artwork and easy use by non-scientists. Each instrument is described with its protocol and accuracy. The studied painting is a portrait of a lady painted by the Austrian artist Franz Strotszberg, chosen for its several restorations. The five kinds of results are successively detailed, analysed and compared between themselves. It is shown that the different results are complementary and their crosschecking brings thorough information. For example, the shape of the network of varnish micro-cracks detected on the surface with the multispectral camera is added to the measurement of their depth with optical coherence tomography. Another example allows connecting two different surface states of the upper varnished surface measured by goniophotometry with the identification of these varnish with UV-fluorescence and with their thicknesses measured with optical coherence tomography.     

How French counsellors treat school violence: An adult-centered approach

This article explores characteristics of school violence inFrance and the privileged means by which school counsellors can address this increasinglywidespread problem. In the first section, the status of counsellors in theFrench schools is outlined, and it is shown that counselling activities are reallyonly undertaken for students in junior high or high school. Two importantcharacteristics of the French view of school violence are: The experts in psychology takelittle interest in problems of school violence; and adults, rather than students,are seen as the primary victims. In this context, counsellors try to reduceschool violence primarily through training and reflecting with school staff. Severalempirical arguments suggest, in effect, that the adults' perceptions of the students is adetermining factor in the social regulation of school violence. This violence consistsmostly of incivilities that are only slightly reprehensible but oftenunbearable for certain teachers. Depending on whether the school staff try to understandthe incivilities or can only see them as pure savagery, they either try to controlthem through education or they lose confidence in their professional mission.The goal of counsellors is both to help the personnel develop theircapacities and motivate them to analyze the students' behavior, and to engender a senseof team spirit.