Computer-Mediated Intersensory Learning Model for Students with Learning Disabilities

This article proposes a computer-mediated intersensory learning model as an alternative to traditional instructional approaches for students with learning disabilities (LDs) in the inclusive classroom. Predominant practices of classroom inclusion today reflect the six principles of zero reject, nondiscriminatory evaluation, appropriate education, least restrictive environment, procedural due process, and parental and student participation. These practices guide the amended Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004. For nearly 35 years the act has championed for the rights of children with disabilities. The act mandates that students with LDs are educated in the general education classroom (Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker, 1999).     

SUPPORT NEEDS OF CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES: AGE‐RELATED IMPLICATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT

The Supports Intensity Scale–Children's Version (SIS‐C) was developed to assess the support needs of children and youth aged 5 to 16 years with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Data from the standardization sample of the SIS‐C were analyzed to evaluate the impact of the age cohorts (5–6, 7–8, 9–10, 11–12, 13–14, and 15–16 years) used to stratify the sample on the measurement model, as well as the latent means, standard deviations, and correlations. The findings confirmed measurement invariance across age cohorts, but suggested that at the latent level, younger children, generally, have more intensive support needs and that as students with intellectual disability age, their support needs decrease. In addition, the 15‐ to 16‐year‐old cohort displayed differences in terms of the strength of correlations between support need domains, with stronger correlations than the other age groups. Implications for future research and practice are described.     

Online community search using conversational structures

Online communities are valuable information sources where knowledge is accumulated by interactions between people. Search services provided by online community sites such as forums are often, however, quite poor. To address this, we investigate retrieval techniques that exploit the hierarchical thread structures in community sites. Since these structures are sometimes not explicit or accurately annotated, we introduce structure discovery techniques that use a variety of features to model relations between posts. We then make use of thread structures in retrieval experiments with two online forums and one email archive. Our results show that using thread structures that have been accurately annotated can lead to significant improvements in retrieval performance compared to strong baselines.     

Microfluidic devices for studying heterotypic cell-cell interactions and tissue specimen cultures under controlled microenvironments

Microfluidic devices allow for precise control of the cellular and noncellular microenvironment at physiologically relevant length- and time-scales. These devices have been shown to mimic the complex in vivo microenvironment better than conventional in vitro assays, and allow real-time monitoring of homotypic or heterotypic cellular interactions. Microfluidic culture platforms enable new assay designs for culturing multiple different cell populations and∕or tissue specimens under controlled user-defined conditions. Applications include fundamental studies of cell population behaviors, high-throughput drug screening, and tissue engineering. In this review, we summarize recent developments in this field along with studies of heterotypic cell-cell interactions and tissue specimen culture in microfluidic devices from our own laboratory.     

When Social Media Become Hostile Media: An Experimental Examination of News Sharing,Partisanship, and Follower Count

This study examines whether the characteristics of those who share news articles on social media influence the hostile media effect. In an experiment, participants read a news article shared by 1 of 4 Twitter users, 2 (Republican vs. Democrat) × 2 (21 vs. 503,000 followers). Consistent with the hostile media effect, both Republicans and Democrats believed that a news article shared by a Twitter user from an opposing political party was more biased than one shared by a Twitter user from the same political party. As the Twitter account had more followers, however, this effect was more prominent among Republicans and less prominent among Democrats.     

Utilizing Peer Moderating in Online Discussions: Addressing the Controversy between Teacher Moderation and Nonmoderation

This study focused on the effects of peer moderation on meaningful interactions in online discussions. A meaningful interaction was defined as a message relating to a discussion topic, responding to a previous message, and adding substance to the discussion. A randomized-subject, posttest-only control group design was used to test the first hypothesis, that a peer-moderated online discussion forum would contain more posts responding to previous comments than a nonmoderated forum, and the second hypothesis, that a peer-moderated online discussion forum would contain more substantive responses enriching the conversation than a nonmoderated forum. Both hypotheses were supported. Results showed that students responded to messages more actively and engaged in more in-depth discussions when discussions were moderated by a peer.     

Audio Engagement and Learning

ABSTRACT

Sound effects and music can be used to complement instructional narrations in recorded media presentations. College students (n = 143) participated in a study examining the effects of music and sound effects on learning outcomes when compared to voice-only narration. Four groups of participants listened to a recorded short story and answered questions about the story. The control group’s story was a voice-only narration. The three treatment groups’ story was enhanced with one of the following: sound effects, music, or a combination of sound effects and music. Means for each group were not significantly different, and the difference of means between and within each of the groups was also found not to be significant. The results indicated that the presence of sound effects and music in an audio-only presentation did not significantly increase or decrease learning.     

Cultural influences on consumers' processing of advertising: A structural equation approach

This study reports a structural equation approach to the cultural differences in consumers' processing of advertising. The study hypothesized a path model for advertising processing and tested it for three different groups: Koreans, Korean‐Americans, and Caucasian‐Americans. The findings revealed that the final path patterns were different according to consumers' cultural background. Even though the influences of ad content were significant across the three different groups, prior attitudes to the brand played a more important role in Koreans' advertising processing than in Caucasian‐Americans' processing. The impact of each demographic variable also varied according to culture. The results were discussed through Hofstede's four cultural dimensions and Hall's dichotomy of high‐context versus low‐context culture.     

Multi-optimisation of the screw kick in rugby by using a genetic algorithm

This paper describes the use of Pareto-optimal solutions for the screw kick in rugby. We attempted to optimise the initial conditions for a screw kick. The optimisation was carried out using an elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm. Distance achieved in flight is considered as an objective function, as well as the lateral deviation between the ball and the touchline, or the flight time. Six initial conditions were defined as control parameters: the magnitude of the velocity vector, the flight path angle, the azimuth angle, the spin rate, the pitch angle and the yaw angle. The results are summarised as follows: it is impossible for both objective functions to be satisfied simultaneously, although the greatest distance achieved in flight and the smallest value of the lateral deviation between the ball and the touchline, or the least flight time, is the ideal situation. This kind of conflicting solution is called a ‘Pareto-optimal solution’. The optimal kick in Pareto-optimal solutions made by the leg nearest the touchline produces a greater flight distance than the optimal kick in Pareto-optimal solutions made using the leg furthest from the touchline. The initial pitch angle, which is the angle between the longitudinal axis of the ball and the horizontal plane, should be comparable to or slightly greater than the initial flight path angle in order to satisfy the Pareto-optimal solutions.     

Fundamental aerodynamics of the soccer ball

When the boundary layer of a sports ball undergoes the transition from laminar to turbulent flow, a drag crisis occurs whereby the drag coefficient (C _d) rapidly decreases. However, the aerodynamic properties and boundary-layer dynamics of a soccer ball are not yet well understood. In this study we showed that the critical Reynolds number (Re _crit) of soccer balls ranged from 2.2 × 10⁵ to 3.0 × 10⁵. Wind-tunnel testing, along with visualisation of the dynamics of the boundary layer and the trailing vortex of a ball in flight, demonstrated that both non-spinning and spinning (curved) balls had lowC _d values in the super-critical region. In addition, theRe _crit values of the soccer balls were lower than those of smooth spheres, ranging from ∼ 3.5 × 10⁵ to 4.0 × 10⁵, due to the effects of their panels. This indicated that the aerodynamic properties of a soccer ball were intermediate between those of a smooth ball and a golf ball. In a flow visualisation experiment, the separation point retreated and theC _d decreased in a super-critical regime compared with those in a sub-critical regime, suggesting a phenomenon similar to that observed in other sports balls. With some non-spinning and spinning soccer balls, the wake varied over time. In general, the high-frequency component of an eddy dissipated, while the low-frequency component increased as the downstream vortex increased. The causes of the large-scale fluctuations in the vortex observed in the present study were unclear; however, it is possible that a ‘knuckle-ball effect’ of the non-rotating ball played a role in this phenomenon.