Fitting in and feeling good: the relationships among peer alignment,instructor connectedness,and self-efficacy in undergraduate satisfaction with engineering

This study examined the relationships among peer alignment (the feeling that one is similar in important ways to one's engineering peers), instructor connectedness (the sense that one knows and looks up to academic staff/faculty members in the department), self-efficacy for engineering class work (confidence in one's ability to successfully complete engineering class work), and engineering students' satisfaction with the major. A total of 135 sophomore (second-year university students) and junior (third-year students) engineering students were surveyed to measure these three variables. A multiple regression analysis showed that self-efficacy, peer alignment, and instructor connectedness predicted student satisfaction with the major, and that self-efficacy acted as a mediator between both peer alignment and instructor connectedness on the one hand, and satisfaction on the other. The authors offer suggestions for practice based on the results.     

Deaf children's use of phonological coding: evidence from reading, spelling, and working memory

Two groups of deaf children, aged 8 and 14 years, were presented with a number of tasks designed to assess their reliance on phonological coding. Their performance was compared with that of hearing children of the same chronological age (CA) and reading age (RA). Performance on the first task, short-term recall of pictures, showed that the deaf children's spans were comparable to those of RA controls but lower than CA controls. For the older deaf children, short-term memory span predicted reading ability. There was no clear evidence that the deaf children were using phonological coding in short-term memory when recall of dissimilar items was compared with recall of items with similarly sounding names. In the second task, which assessed orthographic awareness, performance of the deaf children was similar to that of RA controls although scores predicted reading level for the deaf children but not the hearing. The final task was a picture spelling test in which there were marked differences between the deaf and hearing children, most notably in the number of spelling refusals (which was higher for the deaf children in the older group than their RA controls) and the percentage of phonetic errors (which was considerably lower for both groups of deaf children than for any of the hearing controls). Overall these results provide support for the view that deaf children place little reliance on phonological coding.     

“Orientation” in Spanish universities

In the present period of change, the Spanish systems of secondary and higher education, too, are confronted with new challenges. People have realized that factors within and outside universities demand the development of effective helping services for students, particularly on the level of orientation. Two different models are described, one that relies on tutors, mainly; the other one employs orientation professionals. The article also describes the skills and the training experiences that are necessary for professionals in orientation services.Facultat de Psicologia i Pedagogia, Universitat Roman Llull     

The conceptual evolution of actual mathematical infinity

The different stages in the conceptual evolution of actual infinity are analyzed. We show how this concept occurs in high-school students at a prior, or at best, at the same level, as in Bernard Bolzano's conceptualization (as defined in his work The Paradoxes of Infinity). Furthermore, in terms of the historical development of the concept, the students' conceptualization has intra-objectal stage characteristics. Within the same framework, we show how Cantor's work fits into the inter-objectal stage, as well as presenting the difficulties encountered by students in order to reach this stage, given the current curricular structure. We conclude that such evidence should bring about a reconsideration of Piagetian ideas in education.     

Bringing local voices into community revitalization: engaged communication research in Urban planning

The need to better engage low-income communities affected by revitalization of the built environment has been well documented in urban planning. Guided by communication infrastructure theory (CIT), this study presents a research project that made concerted efforts at engaging neighborhoods of Northeast Los Angeles that are experiencing rapid gentrification. The project was a partnership with a multi-sector collaborative working on the revitalization of the L.A. River and its surrounding communities. This paper specifically demonstrates how CIT's social ecological orientation was applied to seek input on L.A. River and community revitalization from storytelling networks made up of residents, small businesses, and local media. We also examine the impact of this engaged research on the organizational partners of the collaborative, and their views on community engagement in revitalization. Lastly, we discuss how the lessons learned broadly speak to future opportunities and challenges that aim for communicative planning approaches to urban revitalization.     

Acquisition of schedule-induced polydipsia by rats in proximity to upcoming food delivery

Food-deprived rats that receive intermittent delivery of small amounts of food develop excessive drinking--specifically, schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP). A main characteristic of SIP is its occurrence at the beginning of interfood intervals. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that SIP can be developed toward the end of interfood intervals, in closer proximity to upcoming than to preceding food delivery. In Experiment 1, two groups were exposed to a fixed-time (FT) 30-sec food schedule with water available during the first or the last 15 sec of each interfood interval. Two additional groups, which had access to water throughout, were exposed to FT 30-sec or FT 15-sec schedules of food presentation. The FT 30-sec group with free access to water developed the highest level of intake; similar and intermediate levels were induced in all the remaining groups. In Experiment 2, three groups of rats were exposed to an FT 90-sec food schedule with water available during the first, the second, or the last 30 sec of each interfood interval. One additional group with access to water throughout was exposed to the FT 90-sec schedule of food presentation. The group with free access to water developed a higher level of consumption than did the other groups, but by the end of training none of the four groups showed statistical differences in polydipsic drinking. Results show that adjunctive drinking can be developed in proximity to upcoming food delivery even with long interfood intervals.     

Investigating the double-deficit hypothesis of developmental dyslexia in an orthography of intermediate depth

The present study aimed to investigate the double-deficit hypothesis (DDH) in an orthography of intermediate depth. Eighty-five European Portuguese-speaking children with developmental dyslexia, aged 7 to 12, were tested on measures of phonological awareness (PA), naming speed (NS), reading, and spelling. The results indicated that PA and NS were not significantly correlated, and that NS predicts reading fluency (but not reading accuracy and spelling) beyond what is accounted for by PA. Although the majority of the children with developmental dyslexia have double deficit (62.4%), some children have a single phonological deficit (24.7%) or a single NS deficit (8.2%). Children with a double deficit were not more impaired in reading fluency, reading accuracy, and spelling than both single-deficit subtypes. In conclusion, the findings of the present study are partially consistent with the DDH and provide evidence for the multifactorial model of developmental dyslexia. Implications of the DDH for an orthography of intermediate depth are emphasized.

     

Immunization to learned helplessness in appetitive noncontingent contexts

We examined immunization against learned helplessness in 36 dogs. The experiment consisted of five phases: (1) appetitive contingent training, (2) immunization training, (3) inescapable noise training, (4) recovery, and (5) an appetitive noncontingent test. There were six groups: (1) a group immunized by controllable and predictable noise, (2) a group immunized by controllable but unpredictable noise, (3) a group immunized by uncontrollable but predictable noise, (4) a group given uncontrollable and unpredictable noise during immunization training, (5) a group not submitted to any treatment during the immunization phase, followed by uncontrollable noise, and (6) a group not submitted to any treatment. The immunization effect was assessed by measuring the acquisition of an appetitive response when food was not contingent upon responding. Our results demonstrate that the immunization effect can be observed in a noncontingent appetitive context. The effects of escapable noises that ensure immunization against the motivational deficit and predictable noises that immunize against the associative deficit seem to be additive.     

V + H: Hybrid architecture for DSS and OLTP

Previous research has been done to identify the best pragmatic approach that DBMSs must follow to manage different workloads. Some approaches have followed the “One size fits all” approach, trying to incorporate all features in a row-oriented DBMS (also called horizontal) to manage both OLTP and DSS workloads. Additionally, there have been specialized DBMS, following a columnar approach (also called vertical), that focuses on the growing demand to efficiently manage DSS workloads. This paper proposes a combination of both vertical and horizontal DBMS to best manage OLTP and DSS workloads. We have used mature, commercially available products from a single vendor and developed a custom middleware Decision Query Module that identifies the best option for most efficient execution of a query. This V + H architecture also offers the functionality of a mirrored DB without paying twice for storage.     

Characteristics of Successful Collaborations to Produce Educated Software Engineering Professionals

Currently, a large gap exists between the number of open software engineering positions and the number of qualified software engineers to fill those positions. The Industry/University (I/U) subgroup of the Working Group on Software Engineering Education and Training (WGSEET) is investigating active collaborations between companies and universities in which non-software professionals and practitioners without formal software education are reeducated to become software engineers. This paper describes the current status of work performed by the I/U subgroup in the investigation of reeducation collaborations. It is our goal to identify the common characteristics of successful collaborations in order to provide guidance to universities and companies when constructing a collaborative program, as well as to promote future collaborations. In this paper, we report on the current activity of the I/U subgroup, describe the features of successful collaborations identified so far in our research, and provide some conclusions as to the usefulness of such collaborations.