Programming Generality into a Performance Feedback Writing Intervention

Substantial numbers of students in the United States are performing below grade-level expectations in core academic areas, including mathematics, reading, and writing (Aud et al., 2012; National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). National estimates suggest that these deficits are greatest in the area of writing (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012; Persky, Daane, & Jin, 2003), presenting a clear need for research efforts that focus on the development of effective writing interventions. Although performance feedback procedures have been shown to produce promising short-term improvements in elementary-aged students\u27 writing fluency skills (Eckert, Lovett, Rosenthal, Jiao, Ricci, & Truckenmiller, 2006), evidence of maintenance and generalization of these treatment effects is limited (Hier & Eckert, 2014). The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which programming generality into performance feedback procedures enhanced generality of writing fluency gains. A sample of 118 third-grade students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) a performance feedback intervention, (b) a performance feedback intervention that incorporated generality programming procedures, or (c) weekly writing practice without performance feedback or generality programming. Intervention effectiveness was assessed in terms of immediate treatment effects, generalization, and maintenance. Results indicated that although the addition of multiple exemplar training to performance feedback procedures did not improve students\u27 writing fluency on measures of stimulus and response generalization, it did result in greater maintenance of intervention effects in comparison to students who received performance feedback without generality programming and students who engaged in weekly writing practice alone

Generality of Treatment Effects: Evaluating Elementary-Aged Students\u27 Abilities to Generalize and Maintain Fluency Gains of a Performance Feedback Writing Intervention

Although writing ability is a skill that has been argued to be equally important as reading skills in the development of early literacy and is necessary for academic success (Berninger et al., 2006; Graham, MacArthur, & Fitzgerald, 2007), national estimates of students\u27 writing ability in the United States indicate that in 2002, 72% of elementary-aged students were unable to write with grade-level proficiency (Persky, Daane, & Jin, 2003). This finding presents a clear need for empirical, evidence-based interventions that aim to improve students\u27 writing skills, and performance feedback is one type of intervention that has been shown to do so (Eckert et al., 2006). However, no study to date has examined the generalization and maintenance of writing fluency gains that have been developed as a result of performance feedback interventions. The primary goal of this study was to determine whether 51 third-grade students assigned to a performance feedback intervention condition demonstrated evidence of greater (a) writing fluency gains, (b) generalization of writing fluency, and (c) maintenance of writing fluency in comparison to 52 students assigned to a practice-only control condition. Results revealed that although students assigned to the performance feedback condition demonstrated significantly greater writing fluency growth during the course of the intervention than students assigned to the practice-only condition, evidence for maintenance and generalization of intervention effects was limited. These findings suggest that, in isolation, performance feedback may produce short-term desired effects on students\u27 writing fluency growth, but that explicit programming of generality may be required to produce long-term achievement gains

Shielding in Wales: National Identity and Everyday Experiences

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, people were advised to ‘shield’ by the UK and Welsh Governments if they had compromised immune systems and were thus at higher risk of a severe reaction to the virus. Some people did not leave their homes for several months, the effects of which have been well documented by news stories and medical research. Social research has begun to document the effects of the pandemic, but less attention has been paid to the effects of shielding specifically. This research therefore focuses on people’s experiences of shielding in Wales during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and aims to shed light on how this isolation affected people’s daily lives and their relationship with the nation. It analyses responses from a questionnaire that Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales ran between May and October 2020 and semi-structured interviews with people who shielded who are living in South Wales. The themes discussed in this thesis are politics and national identity, everyday experiences and vulnerability, and through these themes, it explores the political and social dimensions of shielding. This thesis argues that, alongside the common biological conceptions of it, shielding is a political and social endeavour, and it affected people’s relationship with various aspects of their identity, including their national identity and sense of vulnerability, and the effects of it can be seen in people’s everyday lives and have lasted beyond the timeframe of the first lockdown and shielding period. People who shielded encountered borders at various scales including personal and national borders. It is important to hear these personal narratives that are often overlooked in official discussions of coronavirus policy

Transportation Time in Utah Two-Parent/Two-Child Families

Travel time used by the homemaker and spouse in 210 Utah families was analyzed according to the purpose of the travel, day of the week, geographic location, season of the year, age of children, educational level of homemaker and spouse, family income, and number of motor vehicles owned by the family for transportation purposes. A time diary was used to collect the data for a 2 day period. Two-parent/two-child families from Washington, Iron, and Salt Lake Counties in Utah comprised the sample. Homemakers used apprOximately 49.39 minutes per day for travel and spouses used 63.38 minutes. Spouses used the largest amount of travel time, 30.54 minutes per day, for travel related to paid employment. Homemakers used their largest amounts of travel time for travel related to household duties and leisure time activities, 16.5 and 16.2 minutes per day, respectively. Significant results for spouses were obtained when travel time was analyzed according to day of the week, geographic location and season of the year. Homemakers\u27 travel time related to day of the week, geographic location, and age of children was significant. There were no significant results in relation to education of homemaker and spouse, family income, and number of motor vehicles owned by the famil

Interactions between Phospholipids and Polymers with Time Resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Interactions between macromolecule species and fluorescently labeled phospholipids were explored in supported lipid bilayers (SLBs). The concentration and the lateral mobility of the labeled phospholipids within the confocal volume were determined via fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Low molecular weight polystyrene was used for the neutral charged macromolecule. Three separate concentrations of polystyrene were used and a significant change in lateral mobility of phospholipids was found for the SLB doped with all three concentration of styrene from polystyrene (molecular weight = 1000). Polyester with mimic lysine pendant groups was used for the cationic polymer at physiological pH. A large decrease in the mobility of head labeled lipids was found when the polyester was introduced to the bilayer. The same polyester was used on an experiment with SLBs doped with negatively charged, tail labeled phospholipids. However, a faster diffusion coefficient was found for the SLB when introduced to the polycationic molecule. This is contradicting to previous reports but this is just a preliminary observation. More experiments need to be completed to further determine these relationships. Overall, important groundwork has been completed to help describe the dynamics of the lipid-macromolecule interface

Pervasive upper mantle melting beneath the western US

We report from converted seismic waves, a pervasive seismically anomalous layer above the transition zone beneath the western US. The layer, characterized by an average shear wave speed reduction of 1.6%, spans over an area of similar to 1.8 x10(6) km(2) with thicknesses varying between 25 and 70 km. The location of the layer correlates with the present location of a segment of the Farallon plate. This spatial correlation and the sharp seismic signal atop of the layer indicate that the layer is caused by compositional heterogeneity. Analysis of the seismic signature reveals that the compositional heterogeneity can be ascribed to a small volume of partial melt (0.5 +/- 0.2 vol% on average). This article presents the first high resolution map of the melt present within the layer. Despite spatial variations in temperature, the calculated melt volume fraction correlates strongly with the amplitude of P-S conversion throughout the region. Comparing the values of temperature calculated from the seismic signal with available petrological constraints, we infer that melting in the layer is caused by release of volatiles from the subducted Farallon slab. This partially molten zone beneath the western US can sequester at least 1.2 x 10(17) kg of volatiles, and can act as a large regional reservoir of volatile species such as H or C. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Two Algorithms for the Reorganisation of the Problem List by Organ System

Objective Long Problem Lists Can Be Challenging to Use. Reorganization of the Problem List by Organ System is a Strategy for Making Long Problem Lists More Manageable. Methods in a Small-Town Primary Care Setting, We Examined 4950 Unique Problem Lists over 5 Years (24 033 Total Problems and 2170 Unique Problems) from Our Electronic Health Record. All Problems Were Mapped to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) and SNOMED CT Codes. We Developed Two Different Algorithms for Reorganizing the Problem List by Organ System based on Either the ICD-10-CM or the SNOMED CT Code. Results the Mean Problem List Length Was 4.9±4.6 Problems. the Two Reorganization Algorithms Allocated Problems to One of 15 Different Categories (12 Aligning with Organ Systems). 26.2% of Problems Were Assigned to a More General Category of  € Signs and Symptoms\u27 that Did Not Correspond to a Single Organ System. the Two Algorithms Were Concordant in Allocation by Organ System for 90% of the Unique Problems. Since ICD-10-CM is a Monohierarchic Classification System, Problems Coded by ICD-10-CM Were Assigned to a Single Category. Since SNOMED CT is a Polyhierarchical Ontology, 19.4% of Problems Coded by SNOMED CT Were Assigned to Multiple Categories. Conclusion Reorganization of the Problem List by Organ System is Feasible using Algorithms based on Either ICD-10-CM or SNOMED CT Codes, and the Two Algorithms Are Highly Concordant