A further contribution to the modelling of multi-waveform generators

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 suggests a method for considerably generalizing the previous class ofgenerator models. This should enable the development of a larger variety of waveform generators with ease and flexibility. The new method is analyzed and is shown to possess implications to theoretical biology and other fields.     

Droits Linguistiques Et Droits A l'Education Dans Les Societes Plurilingues

Résumé L'auteur passe en revue plusieurs documents et instruments internationaux (Nations Unies, Unesco) pour examiner la place qu'ils accordent aux droits linguistiques et au rôle des langues dans l'éducation ou les activités culturelles. Il souligne le lien entre la démocratisation de l'éducation, le maintien de l'identité culturelle et l'emploi de la langue maternelle ainsi que certains facteurs qui assurent l'exercise des droits linguistiques et la réalisation de l'égalité de droit dans le domaine de l'éducation. L'auteur cherche à recenser les facteurs de la réussite d'une politique linguistique, ainsi que les principes fondamentaux qui devraient présider à son adoption, selon les documents ou instruments adoptés à l'échelle internationale. Ces principes insistent sur le rôle fondamental de la langue maternelle, sur la nécessité de considérer la planification linguistique en tant que partie intégrante de la planification sociale et économique d'un pays.

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The author surveys a number of documents and international institutions (United Nations, Unesco) to ascertain how they rate the importance of language rights and the role of languages in education and cultural activities. He emphasizes the close connection between the democratization of education, the maintaining of a cultural identity and the use of the mother tongue, and also certain factors which ensure the use of linguistic rights and the achievement of equal rights in the sphere of education. On the basis of information gained from documents and international institutions the author attempts to enumerate the factors which make for the success of a language policy as well as the fundamental principles which should govern its implementation. These principles include the fundamental importance of the mother tongue and the need to consider linguistic planning as an integral part of social and economic planning at the national level.

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Zusammenfassung Der Verfasser untersucht mehrere Schriften und bestimmte internationale Einrichtungen (UN, Unesco), um festzustellen, welche Bedeutung den sprachlichen Rechten und der Rolle der Sprachen im Bildungswesen und im kulturellen Leben beigemessen wird. Er unterstreicht die enge Beziehung zwischen der Demokratisierung des Bildungswesens, der Aufrechterhaltung einer eigenständigen Kultur und dem Gebrauch der Muttersprache; ausserdem betont er gewisse Faktoren, die die Ausübung sprachlicher Rechte und die Verwirklichung der Gleichberechtigung im Bereich der Bildung gewährleisten. Ausgehend von dem Material, das er in Dokumenten und bei internationalen Einrichtungen vorgefunden hat, untersucht der Verfasser im einzelnen die für eine erfolgreiche Sprachpolitik wichtigen Faktoren ebenso wie die bei der Durchführung einer solchen Politik vorrangigen Grundprinzipien. Betont werden in diesen Grundprinzipien die wesentliche Rolle der Muttersprache und die Notwendigkeit, die sprachliche Planung als wesentlichen Bestandteil der sozialen und ökonomischen Planung eines Staates anzusehen.

     

An afterschool intervention program for educationally disadvantaged young children

The research investigated the premise that if educationally disadvantaged children experience increased instructional time combined with an educational setting that is sensitive to their culture and that provides perceptions of control, enhanced achievement and interest in learning will result. The research setting was the Hilltop Emergent Literacy Project (HELP), an afterschool educational program serving poor, mostly African American five- to nine-year-olds (kindergarten to third grade) who reside in a subsidized apartment complex. A treatment group of 12 kindergartners was compared to a control group of 12 kindergartners. In the spring of kindergarten, the treatment group was outperforming the control group on standardized test scores, but both groups were below national norms. In the spring of first grade, the treatment group was still outperforming the control group and was above national norms in some areas. Report card data and qualitative indicators also provide evidence of the effectiveness of the program.We thank the Hilltop Emergent Literacy Project (HELP) head teachers Teresa Bunge and Diana Reamsnyder, the HELP students, and the many graduate and undergraduate students who have served at HELP. This program was partially funded through grants from the University of Toledo, Ohio Board of Regents, General Mills Foundation, and Toledo Public Schools.     

‘It’s a hard line to walk’: black non-binary trans* collegians’ perspectives on passing,realness, and trans*-normativity

Being labeled as ‘abnormal, or deviant, or not being one of the rest of us’ has real effects for one’s life chances. Trans* people are one such group who have continually been codified as abnormal, abject, weird, deceptive, and social pariahs. The purpose of the following study was to explore how the concepts of passing, realness, and trans*-normativity influence the experiences of two black non-binary trans* collegians. Using queer and intersectional theoretical approaches to analysis, findings from this study highlight the various ways black non-binary trans* collegians view these concepts as both limiting and emancipatory.     

The effect of manipulating maternal behavior during an interaction on three- and six-month-olds' affect and attention

3 studies were designed to examine the "still-face" paradigm, in which mothers stared at their 3- or 6-month-olds for a brief, still-face period interposed between 2 periods of normal face-to-face interaction. 6-month-olds decreased smiling and gazing at their mothers and grimaced more during the still-face period relative to the other periods; no period effects occurred in a no-change control group (Studies 1 and 2). Similar results were obtained when mothers and their infants observed and interacted with each other over closed-circuit color television monitors (Study 3). Moreover, the same relative decline in the infants' visual attention and positive affect during the still-face period occurred to a change in mothers' facial display (a televised, prerecorded, still face vs. a televised, live, interacting face) regardless of the presence or absence of their interactive voices (sound on the infants' monitor turned on or off). 3-month-olds exhibited a significant still-face effect, but only when maternal touch was a part of the manipulation (Study 1 vs. 2); therefore, the televised procedure was not conducted. The still-face effect is a robust phenomenon, produced with either "live" or "televised" procedures, both of which offer promising techniques for examining models of socioemotional perception/understanding of infants.     

Mentoring preservice teachers: identifying tensions and possible resolutions

Tensions can occur in the mentor–mentee relationship during school-based professional experiences that require problem solving. What are the tensions for mentor teachers in preservice teacher education and how might these tensions be resolved? This qualitative study collected data from 31 high school mentor teachers about tensions experienced with preservice teachers during professional experience programmes. Three themes emerged around the causes of tensions (low- to high-level conflicts) within the mentor–mentee relationship, namely: (1) personal issues (i.e. incompatibility, personality differences, language); (2) pedagogical issues (i.e. lack of pedagogical and content knowledge, differences in teaching styles); and (3) professional issues. Strategies to resolve these tensions include: maintaining a positive professional relationship, regular feedback as a way to address issues, sharing responsibility and empowerment, and using empathy for specific situations. As a theoretical contribution, this study provides a model around low- and high-level conflict associated with personal, pedagogical and professional (3Ps) issues. The study focused on mentors only and further research is required about the tensions preservice teachers experience with their mentors and ways in which these tensions can be resolved.     

Correlation between performance in physics and prior mathematics knowledge

The final grade of 1403 students enrolled in the first semester of the introductory, pre-professional physics course has been correlated with performance on a precourse diagnostic test of mathematical skills. The students were from a total of eight different sections taught by six separate instructors over a three year time span. The student population has been separated into two groups, those who completed the course (913 students) and those who dropped (490 students). The drops were assigned a “projected final grade”based on performance up to date of withdrawal. The Pearson product-moment correlation for students who completed the course is 0.418 and correlation for the drops is 0.232. Both correlations are significant at the p < 0.001 level. This study suggests that prior mathematical ability is a primary influence on performance in the course, and has a secondary influence on the tendency to drop out of the course.     

Piloting a peer literacy program: Implications for teacher education

To pilot a peer literacy program, a pretest-posttest study was conducted involving seventy (70) students from Arellano High School as tutees and 12 De La Salle University-Manila College of Education students as reading tutors. Though the results suggest the lack of impact of the Program on the Reading Grades of the tutees, the tutors’ journals reveal that the tutors benefited more from the program. The problems in using the National Service Training Program or NSTP as the vehicle in piloting the program were identified and based on this, the study suggests ways to improve the content and delivery of future NSTP Peer Literacy Programs.