Health education for Somali Bantu refugees via home visits

Background: Somali Bantu refugees, with unique health information needs, created challenges for health and social service providers. Objectives: A service innovation was developed (i) to raise awareness, especially among local health and social service providers, about the Bantu refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and their information needs and (ii) to deliver needed health information, emphasizing child health, to the Bantu mothers in their homes. Methods: The project consisted of: (i) a community conference targeting local health and social service providers, describing the refugees’ presence in the community, their culture, and information needs. (ii) Focus groups conducted with members of the Bantu population elicited additional information needs. (iii) Curriculum was developed based on identified needs, and (iv) the curriculum was delivered to the refugees in their homes. A clinical informationist and MP3 technology enhanced the project. Findings: Conference attendees’ evaluation responses indicated improved understanding of Bantu culture. Focus groups’ identification of health information needs provided a framework for the health education curriculum. A project website made educational materials available to other healthcare providers. Conclusions: The project raised awareness of the Bantus’ presence, culture, and information needs. Identification of other unmet needs demonstrated that additional support for refugees is required.     

Academic Improvement Through Regular Assessment

Media reports are rife with claims that students in the United States are overtested and that they and their education are suffering as result. Here I argue the opposite—that students would benefit in numerous ways from more frequent assessment, especially of diagnostic testing. The regular assessment of students serves critical educational and life-learning functions. It focuses the efforts of educators and students on mastering important material. Testing provides educators with crucial intelligence about the needs and abilities of students and the performance of academic programs. Regular assessment provides students and parents with useful feedback regarding how well the student is building important skills and knowledge. It allows both parents and educators to identify motivational and learning problems with individual students at an early stage, when interventions have the greatest prospects for success. It is especially important in the areas of early reading acquisition and special education, supposedly “sensitive” areas where educators often eschew regular assessment. Finally, standardized testing provides students with an important skill—test-taking experience and facility—that will serve them well throughout their lives. A wealth of evidence confirms that testing alone boosts student achievement.     

Strengthening the Preparation of Early Childhood Teacher Candidates Through Performance-Based Assessments

Performance-based assessments require teacher candidates to demonstrate proficiency on specific teaching tasks and apply knowledge in authentic settings. This article describes the development and use of performance-based assessments (PBAs) for advancing the learning and evaluation of teacher candidates in an early childhood special education teacher preparation program. Teacher candidates completed PBAs under supervision during culminating practica experiences at three age levels (infant/toddler, preschool, and primary practicum). Methods for determining proficiency on national (Council for Exceptional Children) and state (Colorado teacher licensure) standards are described, along with the challenges and opportunities presented by the use of PBAs. Performance-based assessment data over a 5-year period indicate teacher candidate performance meeting and exceeding national standards and state licensure requirements.     

Naming-speed processes, timing, and reading: a conceptual review

This article integrates the findings in the special issue with a comprehensive review of the evidence for seven central questions about the role of naming-speed deficits in developmental reading disabilities. Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cross-linguistic research on naming-speed processes, timing processes, and reading is presented. An evolving model of visual naming illustrates areas of difference and areas of overlap between naming speed and phonology in their underlying requirements. Work in the cognitive neurosciences is used to explore two nonexclusive hypotheses about the putative links between naming speed and reading processes and about the sources of disruption that may cause subtypes of reading disabilities predicted by the double-deficit hypothesis. Finally, the implications of the work in this special issue for diagnosis and intervention are elaborated.     

Eine Methode zur Konstruktion robuster Klassenhierarchien

Zusammenfassung. In diesem Beitrag wird eine Methode zur Konstruktion robuster Klassenhierarchien vorgestellt. Hierzu wird aus den überlegungen bezüglich der polymorphen Verwendung von Klassen [2] eine Vorgehensweise zur Konstruktion von Klassenhierarchien abgeleitet. Die Begriffe Konformit?t und Spezialisierung werden verfeinert, indem nicht mehr s?mtliche Methoden einer Klasse, sondern Teilmengen davon betrachtet werden. Dies führt zum Begriff der partiellen Konformit?t. In Erweiterung von [2] sind partiell konforme Klassen dann polymorph verwendbar, wenn der Anwendungskontext, der sich aus der Benutzung der Klasse ergibt, sich ausschlie?lich auf konforme Methoden erstreckt. Diese Eigenschaft ist statisch zur übersetzungszeit überprüfbar. Damit k?nnen Fehlbenutzungen bereits zur übersetzungszeit ausgeschlossen werden. Eingegangen am 24. Dezember 1996 / Angenommen am 15. Oktober 1997     

Osmotically driven drug delivery through remote-controlled magnetic nanocomposite membranes

Implantable drug delivery systems can provide long-term reliability, controllability, and biocompatibility, and have been used in many applications, including cancer pain and non-malignant pain treatment. However, many of the available systems are limited to zero-order, inconsistent, or single burst event drug release. To address these limitations, we demonstrate prototypes of a remotely operated drug delivery device that offers controllability of drug release profiles, using osmotic pumping as a pressure source and magnetically triggered membranes as switchable on-demand valves. The membranes are made of either ethyl cellulose, or the proposed stronger cellulose acetate polymer, mixed with thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel and superparamagnetic iron oxide particles. The prototype devices'' drug diffusion rates are on the order of 0.5–2 μg/h for higher release rate designs, and 12–40 ng/h for lower release rates, with maximum release ratios of 4.2 and 3.2, respectively. The devices exhibit increased drug delivery rates with higher osmotic pumping rates or with magnetically increased membrane porosity. Furthermore, by vapor deposition of a cyanoacrylate layer, a drastic reduction of the drug delivery rate from micrograms down to tens of nanograms per hour is achieved. By utilizing magnetic membranes as the valve-control mechanism, triggered remotely by means of induction heating, the demonstrated drug delivery devices benefit from having the power source external to the system, eliminating the need for a battery. These designs multiply the potential approaches towards increasing the on-demand controllability and customizability of drug delivery profiles in the expanding field of implantable drug delivery systems, with the future possibility of remotely controlling the pressure source.     

Exploring the experiences and responses of LGBTQ+ adolescents to school-based sexuality education

The purpose of this study is to describe the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, two spirit, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth with school-based sexuality education (SBSE), as well as to document strategies LGBTQ+ youth are using to address their evolving and specific sexual health needs outside of SBSE. Researchers conducted focus groups with 17 adolescents (ages 14–18) from urban and suburban Midwestern cities. Results of this study indicate LGBTQ+ youth find SBSE to be heteronormative, cisgender focused, and primarily focused on pregnancy and disease prevention, which contributes to LGBTQ+ youth experiences of exclusion. In response to SBSE that did not meet student needs, participants reported seeking sexual health information outside of SBSE. Other sources included family and other trusted adults, the Internet, and community resource centers. Students reported variable rates of use and trustworthiness across these resources. Results of this study suggest that school personnel should consider alternatives to traditional SBSE models to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ youth, and that an important part of SBSE should include guidelines for Internet safety.