HOW CAREGIVERS EXPERIENCE READING ALOUD TO CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH SECOND GRADE: AN INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

According to Hudson, Koh, Moore, and Binks-Cantrell, (2020), The National Assessment of Educational Progress’s (NAEP) 2019 testing data revealed that 32% of U.S. fourth-grade students are reading below basic levels. This issue calls for interventions to increase reading achievement levels for elementary students. One way to accomplish this is to increase studies regarding what motivates caregivers to read to children. This present study examines how caregivers perceived the at-home read-aloud experience for children in primary grades: kindergarten through second grade. This study employed Bandura’s observational theory. The study consisted of a qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis of 20 caregivers of students from kindergarten through second grade. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews of the caregivers. The data were coded and interpreted to connect themes. The findings will help guide future read aloud interventions

Anonymity and its Prospects in the Digital World

"This work­ing paper traces the changes under­gone by anonymity - and by the dis­courses sur­rounding it - in liberal Western societies. The author asks whether the current politi­cization of the issue is likely to have any impact on the gra­dual dis­appearance of oppor­tunities for anonymity that we are currently witnes­sing and argues that anonymity is an ambi­valent but critical feature of the demo­cratic public sphere. The argu­ment proceeds in three stages. It begins with a number of concep­tual ob­ser­vations on anonymity. From these, a heuristic frame­work emerges with which the changes in anony­mous communi­cation, and in the role this communi­cation plays in society, can be described. The author then analyses the extent to which options for anonymity have been affected by the rev­olution in infor­mation and communi­cation techno­logies and concludes by con­sidering how anonymity is framed in public dis­course and what impacts this has." (author's abstract)"Das Working Paper unter­sucht die Ver­änderungen von Anonymität und den Diskursen über Anonymität in liberalen west­lichen Gesell­schaften. Der Autor fragt, in­wiefern die gegen­wärtige Politi­sierung des Themas einen Einfluss auf das gra­duelle Ver­schwinden der Möglich­keiten anonymer Kom­munikation haben wird und welche Be­deutung Anonymität für die demo­kratische Öffen­tlich­keit hat. Die Analyse voll­zieht sich in drei Schritten: Zunächst wird konzep­tuell ge­klärt, was Anonymität ist und darauf auf­bauend ein heur­istisches Instru­ment ent­wickelt mittels dessen sich die Ver­änderung anonymer Kom­muni­kations­mög­lich­keiten in der Gesell­schaft be­schreiben lassen. Im zweiten Schritt wird dieses Instru­ment zur An­wendung gebracht, um die sich wandelnden Möglich­keiten anonymer Komm­uni­kation im digitalen Struktur­wandel zu porträtieren. Der dritte Teil des Papiers fragt schließ­lich nach der Art und Weise, wie Anonymität im öffent­lichen Diskurs politi­siert wird - und sucht die Erfolgs­aus­sichten ab­zu­schätzen, die diese Thema­tisierung hat, der Ent­wicklung zu be­gegnen oder sie gar um­zu­kehren." (Autorenreferat

Chaotic behaviour of nonlinear waves and solitons of perturbed Korteweg - de Vries equation

This paper considers properties of nonlinear waves and solitons of Korteweg-de Vries equation in the presence of external perturbation. For time-periodic hamiltonian perturbation the width of the stochastic layer is calculated. The conclusions about chaotic behaviour in long-period waves and solitons are inferred. Obtained theoretical results find experimental confirmation in experiments with the propagation of ion-acoustic waves in plasma.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX, 2 Postscript figures, submitted to Reports on Mathematical Physic

The Modulation of Multiple Phases Leading to the Modified KdV Equation

This paper seeks to derive the modified KdV (mKdV) equation using a novel approach from systems generated from abstract Lagrangians that possess a two-parameter symmetry group. The method to do uses a modified modulation approach, which results in the mKdV emerging with coefficients related to the conservation laws possessed by the original Lagrangian system. Alongside this, an adaptation of the method of Kuramoto is developed, providing a simpler mechanism to determine the coefficients of the nonlinear term. The theory is illustrated using two examples of physical interest, one in stratified hydrodynamics and another using a coupled Nonlinear Schr\"odinger model, to illustrate how the criterion for the mKdV equation to emerge may be assessed and its coefficients generated.Comment: 35 pages, 5 figure

Soliton formation from a pulse passing the zero-dispersion point in a nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation

We consider in detail the self-trapping of a soliton from a wave pulse that passes from a defocussing region into a focussing one in a spatially inhomogeneous nonlinear waveguide, described by a nonlinear Schrodinger equation in which the dispersion coefficient changes its sign from normal to anomalous. The model has direct applications to dispersion-decreasing nonlinear optical fibers, and to natural waveguides for internal waves in the ocean. It is found that, depending on the (conserved) energy and (nonconserved) mass of the initial pulse, four qualitatively different outcomes of the pulse transformation are possible: decay into radiation; self-trapping into a single soliton; formation of a breather; and formation of a pair of counterpropagating solitons. A corresponding chart is drawn on a parametric plane, which demonstrates some unexpected features. In particular, it is found that any kind of soliton(s) (including the breather and counterpropagating pair) eventually decays into pure radiation with the increase of the energy, the initial mass being kept constant. It is also noteworthy that a virtually direct transition from a single soliton into a pair of symmetric counterpropagating ones seems possible. An explanation for these features is proposed. In two cases when analytical approximations apply, viz., a simple perturbation theory for broad initial pulses, or the variational approximation for narrow ones, comparison with the direct simulations shows reasonable agreement.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Phys. Rev. E, in pres

Cuspons, peakons and regular gap solitons between three dispersion curves

A general wave model with the cubic nonlinearity is introduced to describe a situation when the linear dispersion relation has three branches, which would intersect in the absence of linear couplings between the three waves. Actually, the system contains two waves with a strong linear coupling between them, to which a third wave is then coupled. This model has two gaps in its linear spectrum. Realizations of this model can be made in terms of temporal or spatial evolution of optical fields in, respectively, a planar waveguide or a bulk-layered medium resembling a photonic-crystal fiber. Another physical system described by the same model is a set of three internal wave modes in a density-stratified fluid. A nonlinear analysis is performed for solitons which have zero velocity in the reference frame in which the group velocity of the third wave vanishes. Disregarding the self-phase modulation (SPM) term in the equation for the third wave, we find two coexisting families of solitons: regular ones, which may be regarded as a smooth deformation of the usual gap solitons in a two-wave system, and cuspons with a singularity in the first derivative at their center. Even in the limit when the linear coupling of the third wave to the first two vanishes, the soliton family remains drastically different from that in the linearly uncoupled system; in this limit, regular solitons whose amplitude exceeds a certain critical value are replaced by peakons. While the regular solitons, cuspons, and peakons are found in an exact analytical form, their stability is tested numerically, which shows that they all may be stable. If the SPM terms are retained, we find that there again coexist two different families of generic stable soliton solutions, namely, regular ones and peakons.Comment: a latex file with the text and 10 pdf files with figures. Physical Review E, in pres

Stationary Solitons of the Fifth Order KdV-type Equations and their Stabilization

Exact stationary soliton solutions of the fifth order KdV type equation $$u_t +\alpha u^p u_x +\beta u_{3x}+\gamma u_{5x} = 0$$ are obtained for any p ($>0$) in case $\alpha\beta>0$, $D\beta>0$, $\beta\gamma<0$ (where D is the soliton velocity), and it is shown that these solutions are unstable with respect to small perturbations in case $p\geq 5$. Various properties of these solutions are discussed. In particular, it is shown that for any p, these solitons are lower and narrower than the corresponding $\gamma = 0$ solitons. Finally, for p = 2 we obtain an exact stationary soliton solution even when $D,\alpha,\beta,\gamma$ are all $>0$ and discuss its various properties.Comment: 8 pages, no figure