684 research outputs found
The Effects of Vocabulary Instruction Paired with Read Aloud Literature on First Grade Students
To increase vocabulary knowledge, 25 first grade African American students were engaged in systematic vocabulary instruction connected to five storybooks. The storybooks were read orally, followed by activities to expand the meanings of the words. Data was collected at the beginning of the study assessing the students\u27 prior knowledge of all 30 words. A final posttest of all the words was administered following the conclusion of the intervention. Each week, the students completed a pretest and posttest to measure the effectiveness of the six words taught in the weekly lessons. All assessments were examiner created and included multiple choice definition options on the pretest and posttest of all 30 words and a weekly six question pretest and posttest. The results indicated that overall, there was significant effect on the vocabulary acquisition from the intervention
Language Variation and Change in Hawai’i English: KIT, DRESS, and TRAP
Using an apparent time approach and acoustic phonetic analysis, this study provides the first description of sociolinguistic variation in the realizations of the short-front vowels in Hawaiʻi English. We demonstrate that the realizations of the short-front vowels in Hawaiʻi are conditioned by speaker sex and age, and whether an individual self-identifies as a speaker of Pidgin. We argue that the differences between the vowel realizations of Pidgin and non-Pidgin speakers are likely to be at least partially socially-motivated
ESR of MnO embedded in silica nanoporous matrices with different topologies
Electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments were performed with
antiferromagnetic MnO confined within a porous vycor-type glass and within
MCM-type channel matrices. A signal from confined MnO shows two components from
crystallized and amorphous MnO and depends on the pore topology. Crystallized
MnO within a porous glass shows a behavior having many similarities to the
bulk. In contrast with the bulk the strong ESR signal due to disordered
"surface" spins is observed below the magnetic transition. With the decrease of
channel diameter the fraction of amorphous MnO increases while the amount of
crystallized MnO decreases. The mutual influence of amorphous and crystalline
MnO is observed in the matrices with a larger channel diameter. In the matrices
with a smaller channel diameter the ESR signal mainly originates from amorphous
MnO and its behavior is typical for the highly disordered magnetic system.Comment: 7 pages pdf file, 5 figure
Instanton approach to the Langevin motion of a particle in a random potential
We develop an instanton approach to the non-equilibrium dynamics in
one-dimensional random environments. The long time behavior is controlled by
rare fluctuations of the disorder potential and, accordingly, by the tail of
the distribution function for the time a particle needs to propagate along the
system (the delay time). The proposed method allows us to find the tail of the
delay time distribution function and delay time moments, providing thus an
exact description of the long-time dynamics. We analyze arbitrary environments
covering different types of glassy dynamics: dynamics in a short-range random
field, creep, and Sinai's motion.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Simulating Dynamical Features of Escape Panic
One of the most disastrous forms of collective human behaviour is the kind of
crowd stampede induced by panic, often leading to fatalities as people are
crushed or trampled. Sometimes this behaviour is triggered in life-threatening
situations such as fires in crowded buildings; at other times, stampedes can
arise from the rush for seats or seemingly without causes. Tragic examples
within recent months include the panics in Harare, Zimbabwe, and at the
Roskilde rock concert in Denmark. Although engineers are finding ways to
alleviate the scale of such disasters, their frequency seems to be increasing
with the number and size of mass events. Yet, systematic studies of panic
behaviour, and quantitative theories capable of predicting such crowd dynamics,
are rare. Here we show that simulations based on a model of pedestrian
behaviour can provide valuable insights into the mechanisms of and
preconditions for panic and jamming by incoordination. Our results suggest
practical ways of minimising the harmful consequences of such events and the
existence of an optimal escape strategy, corresponding to a suitable mixture of
individualistic and collective behaviour.Comment: For related information see http://angel.elte.hu/~panic,
http://www.helbing.org, http://angel.elte.hu/~fij, and
http://angel.elte.hu/~vicse
SBML2LaTEX: Conversion of SBML files into human-readable reports
Summary: The XML-based Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) has emerged as a standard for storage, communication and interchange of models in systems biology. As a machine-readable format XML is difficult for humans to read and understand. Many tools are available that visualize the reaction pathways stored in SBML files, but many components, e.g. unit declarations, complex kinetic equations or links to MIRIAM resources, are often not made visible in these diagrams. For a broader understanding of the models, support in scientific writing and error detection, a human-readable report of the complete model is needed. We present SBML2LaTEX, a Java-based stand-alone program to fill this gap. A convenient web service allows users to directly convert SBML to various formats, including DVI, LaTEX and PDF, and provides many settings for customization
The impact of metabolic syndrome on metabolic, pro-inflammatory and prothrombotic markers according to the presence of high blood pressure criterion
OBJECTIVES: We explored whether high blood pressure is associated with metabolic, inflammatory and prothrombotic dysregulation in patients with metabolic syndrome. METHODS: We evaluated 135 consecutive overweight/obese patients. From this group, we selected 75 patients who were not under the regular use of medications for metabolic syndrome as defined by the current Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults criteria. The patients were divided into metabolic syndrome with and without high blood pressure criteria (≥130/≥85 mmHg). RESULTS: Compared to the 45 metabolic syndrome patients without high blood pressure, the 30 patients with metabolic syndrome and high blood pressure had significantly higher glucose, insulin, homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid and creatinine values; in contrast, these patients had significantly lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol values. Metabolic syndrome patients with high blood pressure also had significantly higher levels of retinol-binding protein 4, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, interleukin 6 and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 and lower levels of adiponectin. Moreover, patients with metabolic syndrome and high blood pressure had increased surrogate markers of sympathetic activity and decreased baroreflex sensitivity. Logistic regression analysis showed that high-density lipoprotein, retinol-binding protein 4 and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels were independently associated with metabolic syndrome patients with high blood pressure. There is a strong trend for an independent association between metabolic syndrome patients with high blood pressure and glucose levels. CONCLUSIONS: High blood pressure, which may be related to the autonomic dysfunction, is associated with metabolic, inflammatory and prothrombotic dysregulation in patients with metabolic syndrome
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