Training practicum students in child-directed interaction (CDI) and incidental teaching (IT): Efficacy of immediate bug-in-the-ear feedback

With the rate of Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder rising, the demand for applied behavior analytic services has also increased. This has caused considerable concern in the area of training for direct care professionals. Intervention fidelity relies heavily on the adequacy of the training procedures implemented with the direct care staff. In the present study, two undergraduate practicum students were recruited through a public four-year university in Virginia and received training in Child-Directed Interaction (CDI) and Incidental Teaching (IT). The training program was multi-faceted and included performance-based immediate feedback via a Bug-in-the-ear (BIE) device. The study took place in two different rooms of an Inter- Professional Autism Clinic. The study was a multiple baseline design across participants, behaviors, and settings. The purpose was to evaluate the efficacy of BIE feedback in a training program. Bug-in-the-Ear Feedback was effective in training both CDI and IT behaviors

A point is normal for almost all maps βx+α mod 1 or generalized β-transformations

We consider the map Tα,β(x):=βx+αmod1, which admits a unique probability measure μα,β of maximal entropy. For x[0,1], we show that the orbit of x is μα,β-normal for almost all (α,β)[0,1)×(1,∞) (with respect to Lebesgue measure). Nevertheless, we construct analytic curves in [0,1)×(1,∞) along which the orbit of x=0 is μα,β-normal at no more than one point. These curves are disjoint and fill the set [0,1)×(1,∞). We also study the generalized β-transformations (in particular, the tent map). We show that the critical orbit x=1 is normal with respect to the measure of maximal entropy for almost all

COMPLIANCE TESTING OF IOWA’S SKID-MOUNTED SIGN DEVICE

A wide variety of traffic control devices are used in work zones, some of which are nont ormally found on the roadside or in the traveled way outsideofthe work zones. These devices are used to enhance the safety of the work zones by controlling the traffic through these areas. Due to the placement of the traffic control devices, the devices themselves may be potentially hazardous to both workers and errant vehicles. The impact performance of many work zone traffic control devices is mainly unknown and to date limited crash testing has been conducted under the criteria of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report No. 350, Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway Features. The objective of the study was to evaluatethe safety performance of existing skid-mounted sign supports through full- scale crash testing. Two full-scale crash tests were conducted on skid-mounted sign supports to determine their safety performance according to the Test Level 3 (TL-3) criteria set forth in the NCHRP Report No. 350. The safety performancevaluations indicate that these skid-mounted sign supports did not perform satisfactorily in the full-scale crash tests. The results of the crash tests were documented, and conclusions and recommendations pertaining tothe safety performance of the existing work zone traffic control devices were made

Social rules govern vocal competition in the barn owl

To resolve the share of limited resources, animals often compete through exchange of signals about their relative motivation to compete. When two competitors are similarly motivated, the resolution of conflicts may be achieved in the course of an interactive process. In barn owls, Tyto alba, in which siblings vocally compete during the prolonged absence of parents over access to the next delivered food item, we investigated what governs the decision to leave or enter a contest, and at which level. Siblings alternated periods during which one of the two individuals vocalized more than the other. Individuals followed turn-taking rules to interrupt each other and momentarily dominate the vocal competition. These social rules were weakly sensitive to hunger level and age hierarchy. Hence, the investment in a conflict is determined not only by need and resource-holding potential, but also by social interactions. The use of turn-taking rules governing individual vocal investment has rarely been shown in a competitive context. We hypothesized that these rules would allow individuals to remain alert to one another's motivation while maintaining the cost of vocalizing at the lowest level

A Primer on Vehicle-to-Barrier Communications: Effects of Roadside Barriers, Encroachment, and Vehicle Braking

Today, more than half of the traffic fatalities are a result of run-off-road (RoR) crashes, which usually involve a single vehicle. Roadside barriers are often the last means to mitigate the severity of a RoR crash into hazardous objects or features. While the recent research on vehicular communications primarily focus on safety related wireless communications for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) scenarios, the interactions between vehicles and barriers in next generation vehicular systems have not been well-studied. In this paper, vehicle-to-barrier (V2B) wireless communication paradigm is introduced as a potential missing link in preventing single-vehicle RoR fatalities1. V2B communications, which take place between vehicles and radios embedded in roadside barriers can contribute to keeping cars on the road and help mitigate RoR crashes. The realization of V2B communication services necessitates an in-depth understanding of the underlying physical characteristics of the environment and channel. To this end, in this paper, some of the first real world field test measurement results of V2B communications are presented. More specifically, the effects of two types of commonly-utilized barriers (rigid concrete barrier and corrugated-beam guardrail) on the V2B channel communications are illustrated. The results show that guardrail barriers exhibit a waveguiding effect on signal transmission, while higher signal attenuation is observed with rigid barriers. Moreover, experiments illustrate the characteristics of V2B orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) communication during vehicle encroachment and braking in terms of received signal strength, error vector magnitude, and phase error statistics. The results highlight that barrier-height antenna deployments result in high channel quality for long distances and are not influenced by mobility and vehicle brake during encroachment scenarios, making them a strong candidate for V2B communications

Beliefs and Recommendations Regarding Child Custody and Visitation in Cases Involving Domestic Violence A Comparison of Professionals in Different Roles

Research is lacking on differing perspectives regarding custody cases involving domestic violence (DV). In a survey of judges, legal aid attorneys, private attorneys, DV program workers, and child custody evaluators (n = 1,187), judges, private attorneys, and evaluators were more likely to believe that mothers make false DV allegations and alienate their children. In response to a vignette, evaluators and private attorneys were most likely to recommend joint custody and least likely to recommend sole custody to the survivor. Legal aid attorneys and DV workers were similar on many variables. Gender, DV knowledge, and knowing victims explained many group differences.This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Justice, 2007-WG-BX-0013.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116619/1/Saunders-Faller-Tolman 2015 Comparison of Professionals re Beliefs about DV & Cutsody - Violence Against Women.pdfDescription of Saunders-Faller-Tolman 2015 Comparison of Professionals re Beliefs about DV & Cutsody - Violence Against Women.pdf : Articl

Pair distribution function and structure factor of spherical particles

The availability of neutron spallation-source instruments that provide total scattering powder diffraction has led to an increased application of real-space structure analysis using the pair distribution function. Currently, the analytical treatment of finite size effects within pair distribution refinement procedures is limited. To that end, an envelope function is derived which transforms the pair distribution function of an infinite solid into that of a spherical particle with the same crystal structure. Distributions of particle sizes are then considered, and the associated envelope function is used to predict the particle size distribution of an experimental sample of gold nanoparticles from its pair distribution function alone. Finally, complementing the wealth of existing diffraction analysis, the peak broadening for the structure factor of spherical particles, expressed as a convolution derived from the envelope functions, is calculated exactly for all particle size distributions considered, and peak maxima, offsets, and asymmetries are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

SAFETY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF MICHIGAN’S 4X5 PORTABLE SIGN SUPPORT

A wide variety of traffic controlling devices are used in work zones, some of which are not normally found on the roadside or in the traveled way outside of the work zones. These devices are used to enhance the safety of the work zones by controlling the traffic through these areas. Due to the placement of the traffic control devices, the devices themselves may be potentially hazardous to both workers and errant vehicles. The impact performance of many work-zone traffic control devices is mainly unknown and to date limited crash testing has been conducted, under the criteria of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report No. 350, Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway Features. The objective of the study was to evaluate the safety performance of Michigan’s existing work-zone traffic control device through full-scale crash testing. A total of two full-scale crash tests were conducted on one 4-ft by 5-ft portable tall-mounted, rigid rectangular-shaped plywood panel sign support to determine its safety performance according to the Test Level 3 (TL-3) criteria set forth in the NCHRP Report No. 350. Neither of impacts on the tall-mounted, rigid panel sign supports resulted in acceptable safety performances. Following the analysis of these crash tests as well as the test results from other testing programs, it has been found that slight variations in design features of the work-zone traffic control devices can lead to very different performance results. Therefore, extreme care should be taken in applying crash test results from one work-zone traffic control device to similar work- zone traffic control devices with slight variations. The results of the crash tests were documented, and conclusions and recommendations pertaining to the safety performance of the existing work-zone traffic control devices were made

SAFETY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION ON THE NEBRASKA TURNED-DOWN APPROACH TERMlNAL SECTION

One full-scale vehicle crash test was conducted on the Nebraska Turned-Down Approach Terminal Section. Test NETD-1 was conducted with a 1984 Dodge Colt weighing 1,887-lbs (test inertial). Impact conditions were 59.0 mph and 0 degrees with a 1.25-ft offset toward the roadway. The test was conducted and reported in accordance with the requirements specified in the Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway Appurtenances, National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report No. 230. The safety performance of the Nebraska Turned-Down Approach Terminal Section was determined to be unacceptable according to the NCHRP 230 criteria

SAFETY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF THE STEEL-BACKED LOG RAIL

The Coordinated Federal Lands Highways Technology Improvement Program (CTIP) was developed with the purpose of serving the immediate needs of those who design and construct Federal Lands Highways, including Indian Reservation roads, National Park roads and parkways, and forest highways. A wide assortment of guardrails, bridge rails and transitions are being used on roads under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and other Federal agencies. These guardrails, bridge rails and transitions are intended to blend in with the roadside in order to preserve the visual integrity of the parks and parkways. However, many of them have never been crash tested (1,2). A testing program was developed in order to ensure that the safety hardware used in these areas are safe for the traveling public. The Steel Backed Log Rail was included in the second Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) testing program - Guardrail Testing Program II