Developmental Impact of Inclusion Classrooms on Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

This systematic review examines the developmental impact inclusion classrooms have on children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). An extensive review of current literature resulted in nine articles included in this study. The common themes identified in the literature include: social interaction; teacher preparedness; impact of age on education; and individuality of education. Results indicated that the educational setting alone does not impact the development of children with ASD. Further research needs to be completed in order to fill the gap in literature regarding the cognitive developmental impact educational settings produce and determinants of the best educational setting for children with ASD

Developmental Impact of Inclusion Classrooms on Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

This systematic review examines the developmental impact inclusion classrooms have on children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). An extensive review of current literature resulted in nine articles included in this study. The common themes identified in the literature include: social interaction; teacher preparedness; impact of age on education; and individuality of education. Results indicated that the educational setting alone does not impact the development of children with ASD. Further research needs to be completed in order to fill the gap in literature regarding the cognitive developmental impact educational settings produce and determinants of the best educational setting for children with ASD

Statistical analyses of long-term variability of AGN at high radio frequencies

We present a study of variability time scales in a large sample of Active Galactic Nuclei at several frequencies between 4.8 and 230 GHz. We investigate the differences of various AGN types and frequencies and correlate the measured time scales with physical parameters such as the luminosity and the Lorentz factor. Our sample consists of both high and low polarization quasars, BL Lacertae objects and radio galaxies. The basis of this work is the 22 GHz, 37 GHz and 87 GHz monitoring data from the Metsahovi Radio Observatory spanning over 25 years. In addition,we used higher 90 GHz and 230 GHz frequency data obtained with the SEST-telescope between 1987 and 2003. Further lower frequency data at 4.8 GHz, 8 GHz and 14.5 GHz from the University of Michigan monitoring programme have been used. We have applied three different statistical methods to study the time scales: The structure function, the discrete correlation function and the Lomb-Scargle periodogram. We discuss also the differences and relative merits of these three methods. Our study reveals that smaller flux density variations occur in these sources on short time scales of 1-2 years, but larger outbursts happen quite rarely, on the average only once in every 6 years. We do not find any significant differences in the time scales between the source classes. The time scales are also only weakly related to the luminosity suggesting that the shock formation is caused by jet instabilities rather than the central black hole.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in A&

Spectrometric study of condensed phase species of thorium and palladium-based modifiers in a complex matrix for electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

The chemical and morphological transformations of condensed phase species of a thorium-based modifier were studied over the temperature range 200–2500 °C, without and with the presence of aluminium and silicon as matrix components, and in some instances, arsenic as an analyte element. A similar study was also conducted with palladium as the modifier, for comparison. Results were derived using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive (ED) X-ray spectrometry, Raman microanalysis and attenuated total reflectance (ATR) Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry. Comparable results were found using pyrolytic and non-pyrolytic graphite platforms, with processes occurring at slightly higher temperatures on the pyrolytic graphite platform. With thorium as the modifier, metal oxides were the predominant species on the platform surface at relatively low temperatures (<1500 °C), whereas metal phases became prevalent at high temperatures, when thorium and aluminium tended to behave independently from one other. Some spatial variations in the composition of the salt residues on different regions of the platform were observed (from the region closest to the slot in the tube, to the region furthest from the slot). Nonetheless, thorium metal remained on the graphite platform to higher temperatures than did aluminium metal. In the presence of arsenic, the existence of mixtures of thorium and arsenic oxides, just before the appearance temperature of gas phase arsenic atoms, was confirmed by SEM studies, ED X-ray spectra and Raman microanalysis. This suggests that any modifying effect of thorium on arsenic occurs while the modifier is in the oxide phase rather than in the metal phase. The presence of silicon added as silica, did not influence significantly the thermochemical behaviour of mixtures of thorium and aluminium. However, coexistence of silicon and arsenic oxides at the appearance temperature of the atomic absorption signal of arsenic was obtained, confirming that silicon can act as an internal modifier for arsenic. In the presence of palladium, aluminium exhibited greater interaction with the modifier; consequently, aluminium metal was retained on the platform surface to higher temperatures than thorium, which could explain how interference effects of aluminium on e.g. arsenic are avoided or reduced. Similarly, there was evidence for interaction of palladium and arsenic in the reduced state. However, when aluminium and silicon were present, the transformation of the palladium oxide to the metallic state was affected, which could diminish the modifying benefits of palladium for arsenic in the presence of aluminium