Exploring individual and gender differences in early writing performance

Boys’ relatively poor progress in writing development is of particular concern in education with both cognitive and social factors proposed as possible accounts of this discrepancy. This study examined whether differences in cognitive skills such as handwriting and spelling or phonological processing abilities could explain gender differences in early writing. An opportunity sample of 116 children (52 male) ranging in age from 5:0 to 6:7 years were recruited from six UK schools. Tasks assessing vocabulary and letter knowledge, phonological awareness and phonological short-term memory skills were presented to children who were also asked to complete a number of transcription, spelling and writing tasks. Boys tended to produce shorter written compositions containing fewer correctly spelled words which were judged to be of a lower quality than texts produced by girls. However, no significant advantage for girls was identified in their vocabulary, letter knowledge or phonological processing skills, proposed as cognitive underpinnings of writing. Some relationships between phonological skills and aspects of writing differed between boys and girls and these were explored further in multiple regression analyses with gender and these phonological skills included as interaction terms. Gender predicted significant unique variance, independently of cognitive skills, in alphabet transcription and writing quality, although not dictated spelling skills. No associations between phonological skills and writing were moderated by gender. The possible role for environmental, motivational or attitudinal factors in explaining gender differences in early writing abilities should therefore perhaps be explored

Exploring relationships between working memory and writing: individual differences associated with gender

Gender differences in the relationships between working memory (short-term storage and combined storage and processing) in both the visuo-spatial and verbal domains and children's alphabet transcription and text writing abilities were investigated. Data from 81 children (43 males) aged between 5;2 to 8;5 revealed no significant group differences between boys and girls in working memory or writing performance. However, individual difference analyses demonstrated variation associated with age and gender in the memory skills underpinning writing. Regression analyses revealed that verbal short-term memory abilities predicted the alphabet transcription skills of boys but not girls. Although visuo-spatial short-term memory predicted writing quality in both genders, predictors of writing fluency differed with verbal working memory skills predicting boys' writing fluency and visuo-spatial short-term memory predicting writing fluency in girls. The need to consider gender differences more critically from the perspective of individual differences in cognitive skills underpinning writing development and the strategic application of these skills during writing is discussed. Exploring relationships between working memory and writing: Individual differences associated with gender. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276151649_Exploring_relationships_between_working_memory_and_writing_Individual_differences_associated_with_gender [accessed May 26, 2015]

Response-irrelevant number, duration and extent information triggers the SQARC effect: Evidence from an implicit paradigm

Spatial–Numerical Association Of Response Codes (SNARC) and Spatial–Quantity Association Of Response Codes (SQARC) effects are evident when people produce faster left-sided responses to smaller numbers, sizes and durations and faster right-sided responses to larger numbers, sizes and durations. SQARC effects have typically been demonstrated in paradigms where the explicit processing of quantity information is required for successful task completion. The current study tested whether the implicit presentation of task-irrelevant magnitude information could trigger a SQARC effect as has been demonstrated previously when task-irrelevant information triggers a SNARC effect (Mitchell, Bull & Cleland, 2012). In Experiment 1 participants (n = 20) made orientation judgments for triangles varying in numerosity and physical extent. In Experiment 2 participants (n = 20) made orientation judgments for triangles varying in numerosity and for a triangle preceded by a delay of varying duration. SNARC effects were observed for the numerosity conditions of Experiment 1 and 2 replicating Mitchell et al., (2012). SQARC effects were also demonstrated for physical extent and for duration. These findings demonstrate that SQARC effects can be implicitly triggered by the presentation of the task-irrelevant magnitude

Pre-Schoolers’ Home Numeracy and Home Literacy Experiences and Their Relationships with Early Number Skills: Evidence from a UK Study

Research Findings. It has been proposed that the home literacy environment may influence the development of early number skills. However, the results of studies examining the association between home literacy experiences and early number skills are mixed. This could be due to the way that the home literacy experiences are conceptualized and measured. This study examines the relationship between early number skills and aspects of the home learning environment. Alongside home number experiences and parental mathematical attitudes, two types of home literacy experiences were examined in a sample of 274 pre-schoolers (mean age 4:0, SD 4 months); code-focused home literacy experiences that focus on the phonological and orthographic features of language, and meaning-focused home literacy experiences that focus on sharing the meaning of language and text. Home number experiences and letter-sound interactions (interactive code-focused literacy experiences) were related to the children’s counting, number transcoding, and calculation skills whereas meaning-focused home literacy experiences and parental mathematical attitudes were largely unrelated to these early number skills. Structural equation models indicated that only letter-sound interactions could predict statistically significant unique variance in counting, number transcoding, and calculation. Practice or Policy. These findings suggest that code– rather than meaning-focused home literacy experiences are related to pre-schoolers early number skills. Supporting parents to engage in code-focused home literacy experiences may benefit pre-schoolers number skills as well as their emergent literacy

Identifying the preschool home learning experiences that predict early number skills: Evidence from a longitudinal study

This study examines the longitudinal relationships between home learning experiences and early number skills. The counting, number transcoding and calculation skills of 274 children were assessed in the penultimate term of preschool (Mage = 4:0). Prior to these assessments, parents completed questionnaires that surveyed the frequency of the children's home learning experiences. Three types of experiences were indexed: code-focused home literacy experiences that focus on the phonological and orthographic features of language, meaning-focused home literacy experiences that focus on sharing the meaning of language and text, and home number experiences. The children's language abilities (phonological awareness and vocabulary) and nonverbal abilities (inhibitory control and nonverbal reasoning) were assessed in the final term of preschool (Mage = 4:3). Their number skills were reassessed in the final term of the first year of primary school (Mage = 5:3). Home letter–sound interaction experiences (interactive code-focused literacy experiences) had significant longitudinal relationships with counting and number transcoding that were independent of language and nonverbal abilities. The relationship between letter–sound interaction experiences and later counting was also independent of the autoregressive influence of baseline counting ability. We extend previous findings by demonstrating that interactive code-focused home literacy experiences in the preschool period predict growth in counting skills even when a broad range of language and cognitive abilities are controlled. Supporting parents to engage in code-focused home literacy experiences may benefit pre-schoolers’ counting skills

Characteristics of the preschool home literacy environment which predict writing skills at school

Aspects of the preschool home learning environment which may foster reading development have been identified, although their relationships with spelling and writing remain unclear. The present study explored associations between the preschool home literacy environment (HLE), language and nonverbal abilities and children’s spelling and writing skills measured two years later. A parental questionnaire recorded the reported frequency of pre-schoolers’ code- and meaning-related home literacy experiences, alongside an index of book exposure. One hundred and twenty one children (60 female, Mage= 6:7 SD= 3.67 months) contributed data assessing their transcription skills, indexed by handwriting fluency and word spelling, and translation abilities, indexed by sentence generation and the ability to produce more extended text. Exploratory factor analyses confirmed distinct factors relating to the productivity and complexity of writing samples. Regression analyses revealed that the frequency of preschool code-related, letter-sound interactions explained significant variance in children’s transcription skills at school, independently of earlier language and nonverbal abilities. In contrast, experiences in the preschool HLE were not related to the higher level writing skills of translation and text production. The implications of the findings for our understanding of the cognitive and environmental factors associated with children’s early writing development are discussed

A rare case of metastatic renal carcinoid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Carcinoid is an endocrine cell tumor with low-grade atypia, which is generally a low-grade malignant cancer with a good prognosis. Metastatic renal carcinoid is even rarer than primary carcinoids.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present our experience of a patient with metastatic renal carcinoid from the gastrointestinal tract.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The carcinoid tumor of the kidney in our patient, who had a history of liver metastasis from rectal carcinoid, was considered metastatic based on the pathological findings.</p

Tailoring force sensitivity and selectivity by microstructure engineering of multidirectional electronic skins

Electronic skins (e-skins) with high sensitivity to multidirectional mechanical stimuli are crucial for healthcare monitoring devices, robotics, and wearable sensors. In this study, we present piezoresistive e-skins with tunable force sensitivity and selectivity to multidirectional forces through the engineered microstructure geometries (i.e., dome, pyramid, and pillar). Depending on the microstructure geometry, distinct variations in contact area and localized stress distribution are observed under different mechanical forces (i.e., normal, shear, stretching, and bending), which critically affect the force sensitivity, selectivity, response/relaxation time, and mechanical stability of e-skins. Microdome structures present the best force sensitivities for normal, tensile, and bending stresses. In particular, microdome structures exhibit extremely high pressure sensitivities over broad pressure ranges (47,062 kPa(-1) in the range of &lt; 1 kPa, 90,657 kPa(-1) in the range of 1-10 kPa, and 30,214 kPa(-1) in the range of 10-26 kPa). On the other hand, for shear stress, micropillar structures exhibit the highest sensitivity. As proof-of-concept applications in healthcare monitoring devices, we show that our e-skins can precisely monitor acoustic waves, breathing, and human artery/carotid pulse pressures. Unveiling the relationship between the microstructure geometry of e-skins and their sensing capability would provide a platform for future development of high-performance microstructured e-skins