What spelling errors can tell us about the development of processes involved in children’s spelling

Introduction: Spelling is an essential foundation for reading and writing. However, many children leave school with spelling difficulties. By understanding the processes children use when they spell, we can intervene with appropriate instruction tailored to their needs. Methods: Our study aimed to identify key processes (lexical-semantic and phonological) by using a spelling assessment that distinguishes different printed letter strings/word types (regular and irregular words, and pseudowords). Misspellings in the test from 641 pupils in Reception Year to Year 6 were scored using alternatives to binary correct versus incorrect scoring systems. The measures looked at phonological plausibility, phoneme representations and letter distance. These have been used successfully in the past but not with a spelling test that distinguishes irregularly spelled words from regular words and pseudowords. Results: The findings suggest that children in primary school rely on both lexical-semantic and phonological processes to spell all types of letter string, but this varies depending on the level of spelling experience (younger Foundation/Key stage 1 and older Key stage 2). Although children in younger year groups seemed to rely more on phonics, based on the strongest correlation coefficients for all word types, with further spelling experience, lexical processes seemed to be more evident, depending on the type of word examined. Discussion: The findings have implications for the way we teach and assess spelling and could prove to be valuable for educators

"What If" Analyses in Investment Decision Making

In general, each project`s value is estimated using a discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation, and the opportunity with the highest value, as measured by the resultant net present value (NPV) will be selected. The problem with such NPV estimates is that they depend on projected future cash flows. If there are errors in those projections, then estimated net present values can be misleading (a forecasting risk). Basic approach to evaluating cash flow and NPV estimates involves asking “what – if” questions. Accordingly, the paper discusses some organized way s of going about a what – if analysis. Its goal in doing so is to assess the degree of forecasting risk and to identify those elements that are the most critical to the success or failure of an investment. However, as we show in examples, as well as in the practical study, though what – if analysis really allows us to obtain the certain idea of degree of forecasting risk, it does not tell us what to do about the possible errors

Stuck for words

How many of you reading this now have seen children pausing, sitting back, sighing, waving their arms around and generally appearing to be stuck for words? Have you stopped to ask yourself what this means? What are children trying to tell us when they can’t find the words that they need? Children’s gestures are valuable in informing teaching practice and how we go about assessing children’s work in science. The importance of children’s errors, misconceptions and preconceptions in science education has become well established through a wide body of research conducted since the 1970s (for example see Vosniadou, 2008, for a recent review). In the UK, the highly influential Children’s Learning In Science (CLIS, 1987) and Science Processes and Concept Exploration (SPACE, 1989–1998) projects reminded us not only that children’s ideas often differ from those of scientists or what is taught in school, but that these can strongly influence the direction of future learning

Tool Supported Error Detection and Explanations on Feature Models

Automated analysis of feature models (FM) is a field of interest in recent years. Many operations over FMs have been proposed and developed, and many researchers and industrial companies have adopted FMs as a way to express variability. This last makes more necessary having support to detect, explain and fix errors on FMs. The notation of FMs makes very easy to express variability, but makes hard detecting errors and find their cause manually. and these errors may cause the model does not express the variability what we want of it. Therefore, we need support to detect errors and find their causes. The contribution of this paper is a method to detect errors in FMs, based on the concept of observation. We also present implementations of this approach and of an approach to explain errors, in FaMa Framework [1] tool. To detect FM errors, firstly we have to identify the different error types and what it means each of them. Void FM error means that the FM does not represent any product, dead feature error means that a feature of the FM does not appear in any product, false optional error means that an optional feature appears in every product that its parent feature also appears, and wrong cardinality error means that one or more values of a set relationship cardinality are not reachable. We can check for these errors in a intuitive way. For instance, to detect if a FM has dead features, we can calculate every product and check if each feature appears in, at least, one product. But further, we propose a method based on observations, it means, FM configurations associated with a specific element (feature or cardinality). Each type of error has its type of observation associated too. With an algorithm, we calculate the set of observations of a FM. Then, for each observation, we check if FM has at least one product. If not, we have found an error. For instance, dead feature observation sets its feature as selected. If the FM with a dead feature observation is not valid, it means the feature we are checking is dead. When we have found the errors, explanations tell us what is the cause of each error. An explanation is a set of relationships that originates one or more errors. Changing or removing these relationships we can fix a error. However, explanations by themselves do not provide information about how to change the relationship. For instance, if an explanation about a dead feature is a mandatory relationship, we can turn it into a optional relationship, but the explanation does not tell us directly. We have implemented observations and explanations approaches in FaMa Framework, a tool for the automated analysis of FMs. The observations approach implemented is the previously mentioned, while the explanations approach implemented is the one described by Trinidad et al. [3] [4]. With these approaches, we have detected errors in SPLOT FM repository [2], and we have obtained explanations for them also

Line-of-Sight Reddening Predictions: Zero Points, Accuracies, the Interstellar Medium, and the Stellar Populations of Elliptical Galaxies

Revised (B-V)_0-Mg_2 data for 402 elliptical galaxies are given to test reddening predictions which can also tell us both what the intrinsic errors are in this relationship among gE galaxy stellar populations, as well as details of nearby structure in the interstellar medium (ISM) of our Galaxy and of the intrinsic errors in reddening predictions. Using least-squares fits, the explicit 1-sigma errors in the Burstein-Heiles (BH) and the Schlegel et al. (IR) predicted reddenings are calculated, as well as the 1-sigma observational error in the (B-V)_0-Mg_2 for gE galaxies. It is found that, in directions with E(B-V)<0.100 mag (where most of these galaxies lie), 1-sigma errors in the IR reddening predictions are 0.006 to 0.009 in E(B-V) mag, those for BH reddening prediction are 0.011 mag, and the 1-sigma agreement between the two reddening predictions is 0.007 mag. IR predictions have an accuracy of 0.010-0.011 mag in directions with E(B-V)>= 0.100 mag, significantly better than those of the BH predictions (0.024-0.025). Gas-to-dust variations that vary by a factor of 3, both high and low, exist along many lines-of-sight in our Galaxy. The approx 0.02 higher reddening zero point in E(B-V) previously determined by Schlegel et al. is confirmed, primarily at the Galactic poles. Despite this, both methods also predict many directions with E(B-V)<0.015 mag. Independent evidence of reddening at the North Galactic pole is reviewed, with the conclusion that there still exists directions at the NGP that have E(B-V)<<0.01. Two lines of evidence suggest that IR reddenings are overpredicted in directions with high gas-to-dust ratios. As high gas-to-dust directions in the ISM also include the Galactic poles, this overprediction is the likely cause of the E(B-V) = 0.02 mag larger IR reddening zero point.Comment: 5 figure

Compact binary coalescence parameter estimations for 2.5 post-Newtonian aligned spinning waveforms

We examine the parameter accuracy that can be achieved by advanced ground-based detectors for binary inspiralling black holes and neutron stars. We use the 2.5 PN spinning waveforms of Arun et al. (2009). Our main result is that the errors are noticeably different from existing 2PN studies for aligned spins. While the masses can be determined more accurately, the individual spins are measured less accurately compared to previous work at lower PN order. We also examine several regions of parameter space relevant to expected sources and the impact of simple priors. A combination of the spins is measurable to higher accuracy and we examine what this can tell us about spinning systems

What spelling errors can tell us about the development of processes involved in children's spelling

Spelling is an essential foundation for reading and writing. However, many children leave school with spelling difficulties. By understanding the processes children use when they spell, we can intervene with appropriate instruction tailored to their needs. Our study aimed to identify key processes (lexical-semantic and phonological) by using a spelling assessment that distinguishes different printed letter strings/word types (regular and irregular words, and pseudowords). Misspellings in the test from 641 pupils in Reception Year to Year 6 were scored using alternatives to binary correct versus incorrect scoring systems. The measures looked at phonological plausibility, phoneme representations and letter distance. These have been used successfully in the past but not with a spelling test that distinguishes irregularly spelled words from regular words and pseudowords. The findings suggest that children in primary school rely on both lexical-semantic and phonological processes to spell all types of letter string, but this varies depending on the level of spelling experience (younger Foundation/Key stage 1 and older Key stage 2). Although children in younger year groups seemed to rely more on phonics, based on the strongest correlation coefficients for all word types, with further spelling experience, lexical processes seemed to be more evident, depending on the type of word examined. The findings have implications for the way we teach and assess spelling and could prove to be valuable for educators

The Role of Moral Philosophers in the Competition Between Deontological and Empirical Desert

Desert appears to be in ascendence as a distributive principle for criminal liability and punishment but there is confusion as to whether it is a deontological or an empirical conception of desert that is or should be promoted. Each offers a distinct advantage over the other. Deontological desert can transcend community, situation, and time to give a conception of justice that can be relied upon to reveal errors in popular notions of justice. On the other hand, empirical desert can be more easily operationalized than can deontological desert because, contrary to common wisdom, there is a good deal of agreement as to its meaning. But empirical desert fails to provide the transcendent foundation that deontological desert can provide; empirical desert can tell only us what people believe is just not what actually is just. What role do moral philosophers play in the competition between deontological and empirical desert? One might assume them to be on the deontological side, facing the research social psychologists who are mapping shared intuitions of justice for empirical desert. But the situation is more complex. Moral philosophy has come to rely heavily upon intuitions of justice in its analytic methods, which both helps and hurts its usefulness. The moral philosophy literature today is the richest available source of intuitions of justice, which any serious research scientist ought to use as a starting point in mapping intuitions. But moral philosophers\u27 reliance on intuitions can undermine their ability to produce a deontological conception of desert that transcends the popular view and that can be relied upon to tell us when shared intuitions of justice are wrong. Available for download at http://ssrn.com/abstract=93369

What spelling errors can tell us about the development of processes involved in children’s spelling

Introduction: Spelling is an essential foundation for reading and writing. However, many children leave school with spelling difficulties. By understanding the processes children use when they spell, we can intervene with appropriate instruction tailored to their needs. Methods: Our study aimed to identify key processes (lexical-semantic and phonological) by using a spelling assessment that distinguishes different printed letter strings/word types (regular and irregular words, and pseudowords). Misspellings in the test from 641 pupils in Reception Year to Year 6 were scored using alternatives to binary correct versus incorrect scoring systems. The measures looked at phonological plausibility, phoneme representations and letter distance. These have been used successfully in the past but not with a spelling test that distinguishes irregularly spelled words from regular words and pseudowords. Results: The findings suggest that children in primary school rely on both lexical-semantic and phonological processes to spell all types of letter string, but this varies depending on the level of spelling experience (younger Foundation/Key stage 1 and older Key stage 2). Although children in younger year groups seemed to rely more on phonics, based on the strongest correlation coefficients for all word types, with further spelling experience, lexical processes seemed to be more evident, depending on the type of word examined. Discussion: The findings have implications for the way we teach and assess spelling and could prove to be valuable for educators

Probing Multilingual Cognate Prediction Models

International audienceCharacter-based neural machine translation models have become the reference models for cognate prediction, a historical linguistics task. So far, all linguistic interpretations about latent information captured by such models have been based on external analysis (accuracy, raw results, errors). In this paper, we investigate what probing can tell us about both models and previous interpretations, and learn that though our models store linguistic and diachronic information, they do not achieve it in previously assumed ways