A newer class o f precise oscillator models

A method has been presented in recent papers for deriving precisely stabilized waveform generators by relating them to second order conservative oscillators. The present paper demonstrates a method for modifying the previous models and in doing so a novel class of applicable oscillator models is established.Conditions that enable the models to sustain oscillations in steady state are described. A precise method for dynamically stabilizing the oscillators waveforms is developed, and practical uses are suggested.     

An Examination of a Small‐Group Decoding Intervention for Struggling Readers: Comparing Accuracy and Automaticity Criteria

In this study, we compared methods to improve the decoding and reading fluency of struggling readers. Second‐grade poor readers were randomly assigned to one of the two practice conditions within a repeated reading intervention. Both interventions were in small groups, were 20–28 min long, took place 2–4 days per week, and consisted of phonemic awareness training, letter sound practice, and practice in word families. Students in the accuracy condition (n= 27) practiced each page until they reached 98 percent accuracy while students in the accuracy + automaticity condition (n= 29) practiced until they reached rate (30–90 cwpm) and accuracy criteria. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed no differences between practice conditions in decoding accuracy, reading comprehension, and grade‐level text reading fluency. Significant differences favoring the accuracy + automaticity group were found in measures of decoding automaticity.     

Perspectives of students with autism on their participation in a peer-mediated intervention

The article describes research into the perspectives of students with autism regarding their participation as the target participants in a peer-mediated social communication intervention. Questionnaires were administered to four elementary-aged students with autism before and after their involvement in the intervention. The students' parents and teachers also completed questionnaires about the students' participation in the intervention. Through the use of these questionnaires, we gained an insight into students' experiences with the intervention, which elements of the intervention they found most enjoyable and most effective, and the perceived impacts of the intervention on their social communication behaviours. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the questionnaire data revealed that all four students with autism enjoyed participating in the peer-mediated intervention sessions, felt that their social communication behaviours had improved as a result of their involvement, and would like to be involved in similar sessions in the future. Implications for parents and educators who support the social communication of children with autism are explored.     

Teaching Students with Moderate Intellectual Disability Who Are Emergent Readers to Comprehend Passages of Text

A modified system of least intrusive prompting was used to teach middle school students with moderate intellectual disability who were emergent readers to comprehend short passages of text. Text passages were summaries of the chapters of age-appropriate novels rewritten for a beginning reading level. Time delay was used to teach the participants to pair WH words to their definition. A modified system of least intrusive prompting was used to teach strategies for answering comprehension questions. All participants improved the number of correct responses for both rules definitions and comprehension responses from baseline to intervention. Additionally, probes collected during the session prior to the introduction of a new book indicated comprehension skills generalized to new untaught books.     

An exploratory study on the relationship between parents�� career interests and the career interests of young adults

In this study, we attempt to investigate the potential effects of parents’ career interests on young adults’ career interests. Using a sample of 113 freshmen in Hong Kong, results indicated that after controlling for personality, gender, general mental abilities and emotional intelligence, some of the parents’ career interests were still related to the young adults’ respective career interests. For some types of interests, the extent of influences is found to be contingent on the gender of the respondents. Implications are discussed.     

Location, location, location: development of spatiotemporal sequence learning in infancy

We investigated infants' sensitivity to spatiotemporal structure. In Experiment 1, circles appeared in a statistically defined spatial pattern. At test 11-month-olds, but not 8-month-olds, looked longer at a novel spatial sequence. Experiment 2 presented different color/shape stimuli, but only the location sequence was violated during test; 8-month-olds preferred the novel spatial structure, but 5-month-olds did not. In Experiment 3, the locations but not color/shape pairings were constant at test; 5-month-olds showed a novelty preference. Experiment 4 examined "online learning": We recorded eye movements of 8-month-olds watching a spatiotemporal sequence. Saccade latencies to predictable locations decreased. We argue that temporal order statistics involving informative spatial relations become available to infants during the first year after birth, assisted by multiple cues.