Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Academic Achievement for Exceptional Student Education Inclusion Students

Students with disabilities are less likely to graduate from high school and tend to score lower on standardized tests than their general education peers. Although use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can improve these outcomes for traditional students, it has been unclear whether its use positively affects learning gains for the inclusion student. The purpose of this study was to determine if the academic test performance of 5th grade ESE inclusion students was enhanced by implementing ICT as a curriculum resource in their classrooms. Two frameworks provided structure for this study: the theory of social constructivism and the capability approach. The study population consisted of all 5th grade ESE inclusion students in 74 school districts in one southern state. Data sources were the state\u27s annual assessment scores for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. Data were analyzed using 2 Mann Whitney U tests to compare ESE inclusion students\u27 assessment scores in the 2nd year of testing as compared to the 1st year of testing (2015-2016 as compared to 2014-2015). The findings of the study revealed no significant difference between the ESE inclusion students\u27 scores in the 1st and 2nd years for ELA and math scores even with ICT used as a resource. This outcome impacts social change by answering a question about whether ICT made a difference as used, and indicates that other studies must be done to better understand why ICT was not successful or how it can be used to significantly improve inclusion student outcomes

Studying the integrated functional cognitive basis of sustained attention with a Primed Subjective-Illusory-Contour Attention Task

Sustained attention plays an important role in everyday life, for work, learning, or when affected by attention disorders. Studies of the neural correlates of attention commonly treat sustained attention as an isolated construct, measured with computerized continuous performance tests. However, in any ecological context, sustained attention interacts with other executive functions and depends on lower level perceptual processing. Such interactions occur, for example, in inhibition of interference, and processing of complex hierarchical stimuli; both of which are important for successful ecological attention. Motivated by the need for more studies on neural correlates of higher cognition, I present an experiment to investigate these interactions of attention in 17 healthy participants measured with high-resolution electroencephalography. Participants perform a novel 2-alternative forced-choice computerised performance test, the Primed Subjective Illusory Contour Attention Task (PSICAT), which presents gestalt-stimuli targets with distractor primes to induce interference inhibition during complex-percept processing. Using behavioural and brain-imaging analyses, I demonstrate the novel result that task-irrelevant incongruency can evoke stronger behavioural and neural responses than the task-relevant stimulus condition; a potentially important finding in attention disorder research. PSICAT is available as an open-source code repository at the following url, allowing researchers to reuse and adapt it to their requirements.Peer reviewe

Arbitrary-order mixed methods for heterogeneous anisotropic diffusion on general meshes

International audienceWe devise mixed methods for heterogeneous anisotropic diffusion problems supporting general polyhedral meshes. For a polynomial degree $k\ge 0$, we use as potential degrees of freedom the polynomials of degree at most $k$ inside each mesh cell, whereas for the flux we use both polynomials of degree at most $k$ for the normal component on each face and fluxes of polynomials of degree at most $k$ inside each cell. The method relies on three ideas: a flux reconstruction obtained by solving independent local problems inside each mesh cell, a discrete divergence operator with a suitable commuting property, and a stabilization enjoying the same approximation properties as the flux reconstruction. Two static condensation strategies are proposed to reduce the size of the global problem, and links to existing methods are discussed. We carry out a full convergence analysis yielding flux-error estimates of order $(k+1)$ and $L^2$-potential estimates of order $(k+2)$ if elliptic regularity holds. Numerical examples confirm the theoretical results

Numerical and experimental modelling of microwave applicators

This thesis presents a time domain finite element method for the solution of microwave heating problems. This is the first time that this particular technique has been applied to microwave heating. It is found that the standard frequency domain finite element method is unsuitable for analysing multimode applicators containing food-like materials due to a severe ill-conditioning of the matrix equations. The field distribution in multimode applicators loaded with low loss materials is found to be very sensitive to small frequency changes. Several solutions at different frequencies are therefore required to characterise the behaviour of the loaded applicator. The time domain finite element method is capable of producing multiple solutions at different frequencies when used with Gaussian pulse excitation; it is therefore ideally suited to the analysis of multimode applicators. A brief survey of the methods available for the solution of the linear equations is provided. The performance of these techniques with both the frequency domain and time domain finite element methods is then studied. Single mode applicators are also analysed and it is found that the frequency domain method is superior in these cases. Comparisons are given between the calculated results and experimental data for both single mode and multimode systems. The importance of experimental verification being stressed. The choice of element type is an important consideration for the finite element method. Three basic types of element are considered; nodal, Whitney edge elements and linear edge elements. Comparisons of the errors with these elements show that Whitney elements produce a consistently lower error when post-processing is used to smooth the solution. The coupled thermal-electromagnetic problem is investigated with many difficulties being identified for the application to multimode cavity problems

Understanding the resistance to carbon taxes: Drivers and barriers among the general public and fuel-tax protesters

Carbon taxes are generally well accepted in countries with significant experience thereof but there is still public resistance to raising them. We study attitudes toward carbon taxation and other environmental policy instruments in Sweden. We survey a national sample of the population as well as members of a large political movement that protests fuel taxes. Our results show that the motivations in both groups are alike: educational level, rural versus urban domicile, political orientation, and especially trust in government correlate with opinions on carbon taxes; household income does not appear to matter. Lack of trust in government and lack of belief in the Pigouvian mechanism appear as especially important motivations for protesters\u27 opposition. We find support for revenue refunding, but greater support, in both groups, for earmarking for climate use. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

A randomised control trial comparing occupational therapy interventions that aim to improve developmental outcomes for HIV9positive children (aged 6 months - 5 years) on ART

Background: Antiretroviral treatment (ART) has reduced the mortality rate of HIV-positive children significantly, and is known to prevent the development and progression of HIV encephalopathy. However, even with ART, perinatal HIV infection places HIV-infected children at increased risk for encephalopathy and associated developmental delays. Research is lacking in the extent of developmental delay on children established on ART, along with evidence-based occupational therapy interventions to treat these developmental delays. A play-informed, caregiver-implemented, home-based group occupational therapy intervention (PICIHBI) presents one possible service delivery option to be explored. Aim: To determine whether children attending an experimental group (PICIHBI) versus children attending a control group (conventional, individual occupational therapy intervention) would present similar results in their total developmental quotient – on the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales (GMDS) and Paediatric Functional Independence Measure (WeeFIM). Methods: A randomised control trial, which was pragmatic in nature and single-blinded, was used. The research population was all HIV-positive children, pre-formal school-going aged (6 months – 5 years), on ART attending the Groote Schuur Hospital paediatric HIV clinic at the time of the study. Caregiver and child dyads were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group, and attended a monthly occupational therapy session. Differences in the GMDS and WeeFIM scores of each child after 5 and 10 months' intervention were compared. Results: Inter-rater reliability was established among the five researchers performing the GMDS before baseline assessments. Forty-two participants were recruited from a possible population of 72 participants and 39 participated in the baseline assessment. Twenty-eight participants completed mid and post assessments, 15 in the experimental PICIHBI group and 13 in the control group (90% power). Baseline averages on the GMDS showed the participants scoring at a borderline mental retardation level, with better performance in the locomotor and personal-social subscales, before interventions. Both groups had an average attendance of 5 sessions. Post-interventions, average total GMDS and WeeFIM scores between the two groups revealed similar scores within the predetermined non-inferiority margin and no significant differences at any time point. Conclusion: In conclusion, the low baseline scores confirm the need for occupational therapy intervention in pre-formal school-going HIV-positive children on ART. The PICIHBI intervention demonstrates a non-inferior impact in child development in this group compared to conventional, individual occupational therapy intervention. PICIHBI thus has potential for impacting occupational therapy practice in this field by providing an alternative equivalent treatment with increased reach

Emotions as an Intervening Variable in the Creative Process

This thesis explored the impact that emotionally laden stimuli had on individuals’ creative process and creative products as assessed by independent domain experts. Sixtyfive undergraduate students were randomly separated into three treatment conditions and instructed to create an artistic collage composition on the theme of New Year’s Eve. Two of the treatment groups received, in addition to the general instructions set, a text based priming stimulus that was either an emotionally laden narrative or factual narrative about New Year’s Eve. All participants were asked to complete a task reflection questionnaire and the FourSight cognitive style measure. Using the Consensual Assessment Technique framework, six independent domain experts rated each collage in 18 distinct dimensions including Creativity. Although there was no significant difference in the Creativity Scale score between the three treatments groups (the group that received the emotional narrative was hypothesized to outperform the other two groups), an interaction effect emerged between the presence of the emotionally laden narrative and two of FourSight’s cognitive style preferences, which modulated creative performance. Implications of these findings are discussed as well as limitations and recommendations for future research efforts in the topic of emotion and creative cognition