A Case Study on Accessible Reading with Deaf Children

The concept of accessible reading for deaf students is new and worthy of exploration. In the face of the reading difficulties often experienced by deaf students, the lack of a specialized reading methodology that works for them must be addressed. Central to the paper is a research case study undertaken with two young deaf students, proficient in American Sign Language (ASL) and learning to read. The students participated in a tutorial with a tutor knowledgeable in a specialized reading methodology called ASL Gloss. The participating students demonstrated progress in reading skills over time. Two reading measures were adapted from English to ASL for use with deaf students. Some important features of ASL Gloss are included in the study report. The manipulated English text that closer resembles ASL and the use of the ASL-phabet, are designed to facilitate deaf students’ needed transition from ASL to English literacy (Supalla, 2017; Supalla & Cripps, 2011; Supalla et al., 2001). These deaf students engage in oral reading (in ASL) and are also given a different task. That is, to identify ASL-phabet letters that represent the phonological structure of signed words. The reading measures under development appear to promote the process of learning to read as informed by the quantitative and qualitative data. These findings support the need and promise of pursuing an alternative theory and applied research for deaf students’ reading that accounts for their ability to become fluent readers

Towards a modeling of the time dependence of contact area between solid bodies

I present a simple model of the time dependence of the contact area between solid bodies, assuming either a totally uncorrelated surface topography, or a self affine surface roughness. The existence of relaxation effects (that I incorporate using a recently proposed model) produces the time increase of the contact area $A(t)$ towards an asymptotic value that can be much smaller than the nominal contact area. For an uncorrelated surface topography, the time evolution of $A(t)$ is numerically found to be well fitted by expressions of the form [$A(\infty)-A(t)]\sim (t+t_0)^{-q}$, where the exponent $q$ depends on the normal load $F_N$ as $q\sim F_N^{\beta}$, with $\beta$ close to 0.5. In particular, when the contact area is much lower than the nominal area I obtain $A(t)/A(0) \sim 1+C\ln(t/t_0+1)$, i.e., a logarithmic time increase of the contact area, in accordance with experimental observations. The logarithmic increase for low loads is also obtained analytically in this case. For the more realistic case of self affine surfaces, the results are qualitatively similar.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Emerging dietary patterns: impact on child health

What we eat today and how we decide to produce sufficient food to meet both demand and nutritional requirements will determine the availability, diversity and quality of diets for future generations. Acceptability and normalisation of new dietary patterns must be prioritised to the same extent as education on environmental sustainability and health, because these are important social levers. They can help to reduce the psychosocial barriers and anxieties often connected to the behaviour changes that are needed to transition away from the traditional Western eating habits that are now increasingly subject to critical scrutiny. Without understanding the motivations and facilitators to change eating habits (and then designing and amplifying solutions which make those changes attractive and compelling in the modern world) positive changes to young people’s health and their environment through better food will not come quickly enough to halt potentially catastrophic consequences for people and planet. Changing consumption is seen by experts as the most powerful lever compared to food waste reduction or more efficient food production methods and technological solutions. There is simply not enough on Earth to sustain the increase of intensification required to continue feeding a global population on its current trajectory with a diet so rich in animal produce. However, radical behaviour modification is challenging and therefore cross-sector, bold and perhaps unorthodox leadership is necessary to inspire alteration in the food system, which will have a knock-on effect in terms of changing food environments and therefore food perceptions, narratives and behaviours. There are no ‘quick fix’ solutions, but what is undeniable is that populations can only make effective shifts in dietary patterns if government and the food industry help them to make those changes. This requires budgetary investment in public health information and the implementation of policies that promote ways to eat healthily that are also affordable and environmentally sustainable. The aim is to offer food that tastes as good as it can be made to look so that uptake is maximised and the benefits are cumulative. The inevitable upheaval incurred by making any alteration to entrenched patterns of consumption that have been centuries in the making should not be underestimated, but carrying on as before is no longer credible nor desirable. The aim is to offer ‘nutritious’ food. ‘If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon’ Sir David Attenborough. This Report is our initial contribution to a conversation that has only just begun.It is unlikely to be the last

Some recent rural radio talks

Current experiments with vegetable crops - By T. WACHTEL, Agricultural Adviser, Horticultural Division Pedigree seed planting - By H. G. CARISS, B.Sc. (Agric), Regional Agricultural Adviser The Ruakura round farrowing house - By P. BECK, Field Assistant, Dairying Division How the random sample laying test could affect the poultry industry - By R. H. MORRIS, Officer-in-Charge, Poultry Branch Feeding the milking goat - By K. NEEDHAM, Dairy Cattle Husbandry Officer Fertilisers for vegetables in summer months - By J. P. FALLON, Senior Adviser (Vegetables), Horticultural Division Pastures and their carrying capacity - By H. G. ELLIOTT, Assistant Superintendent of Dairying Pollination - By J. CRIPPS, Adviser, Horticultural Division Aeroplanes and insect pest control - By P. N. FORTE, Senior Entomologist Kill those flies - By H. MASLIN, Dairy Instructor, Busselton Grazing for pigs - By P. BECK, Field Assistant, Dairying Division Feed flavours in cream - By an officer of the Dairying Division. Those old milk and cream cans - By D. C. MICKLE, Dairy Instructor, Bunbury Overrun in butter making and quality in home-made butter - By A. H. HOBBS, Dairy Produce Inspector Milk flow indicators - By G. W. SCOTT, Dairy Instructor, Head Offic

Direct metal nano-imprinting using embossed solid electrolyte stamp

In this paper, we report direct patterning of metal nanostructures using an embossed solid electrochemical stamp. Microforming of solid superionic stamps using Si templates-analogous to polymer patterning in nano-imprint lithography-is explored. Silver sulfide (Ag2S)-a superionic conductor with excellent micro-forming properties-is investigated as a candidate material. Important parameters of the superionic stamp, including mechanical behavior, material flow during forming, and feature recovery after embossing are studied. Excellent feature transferability during embossing as well as etching is observed. To illustrate the capability of this approach silver nano-antennas with gaps <10 nm were successfully fabricated. The possibility for large area patterning with stamp diameters >6 mm is also demonstrated. Embossing based metal patterning allows fabrication beyond two-dimensional nanofabrication and several patterning schemes are reported.Comment: 11 pages (double spaced), 7 figures, 1 table, continuation of work submitted to MRS Spring 200

Associations between age at first calving and subsequent performance in UK Holstein and Holstein-Friesian dairy heifers

Lactation records from 396,534 pedigree Holstein and Holstein-Friesian primiparous cows from 6,985 UK milk recorded herds, calving for the first time during the period between the 1st of January 2006 and the 31st of December 2008, were examined in order to determine the associations between age at first calving (AFC) and subsequent production, udder health, fertility and survivability parameters. Heifers were grouped by AFC into single month classes ranging from 21 to 42 months. Mixed effects multivariable regression modelling was used for data analysis. Mean and median AFC were 29.1 and 28 months respectively. Within the study, only 48,567 heifers (12.3% of the studied population) calved for the first time at 24 months of age or younger. 162,157 heifers (40.9%) were 30 months or older at their first calving. An increased AFC was associated with increased first lactation milk, fat and protein yields. The lowest predicted mean 305-day yield (6,617kgs; 95% confidence interval (CI): 6,546-6,687 kgs) was recorded for the 21 month AFC class, significantly lower than any other class. The 36 month AFC class had the highest predicted mean (7,774 kgs; 95% CI: 7,737-7,811 kgs). However, an increased AFC was also associated with increased calving interval and increased first lactation somatic cell count (SCC). Animals calving at 21 months had a predicted mean lactation SCC of 72,765 (95% CI: 68427-77378). Animals calving at 36 months of age had a predicted mean lactation SCC of 86,648 (95% CI: 84,499-88,853). Importantly, an increased AFC was also associated with decreased lifetime daily milk yield and decreased likelihood of calving for a second successive time. Animals calving at 22 months of age had a predicted mean daily lifetime milk yield of 15.24 kgs (95% CI: 15.06-15.35); animals calving at 36 months of age had a predicted mean daily lifetime milk yield of 12.83 kgs (95% CI: 12.76-12.91). Our results highlight the importance of achieving a lower age at first calving which was here associated with improved udder health, increased lifetime daily milk yield, improved reproductive performance and increased likelihood of calving for a second time

Geo-environmental mapping using physiographic analysis: constraints on the evaluation of land instability and groundwater pollution hazards in the Metropolitan District of Campinas, Brazil

Geo-environmental terrain assessments and territorial zoning are useful tools for the formulation and implementation of environmental management instruments (including policy-making, planning, and enforcement of statutory regulations). They usually involve a set of procedures and techniques for delimitation, characterisation and classification of terrain units. However, terrain assessments and zoning exercises are often costly and time-consuming, particularly when encompassing large areas, which in many cases prevent local agencies in developing countries from properly benefiting from such assessments. In the present paper, a low-cost technique based on the analysis of texture of satellite imagery was used for delimitation of terrain units. The delimited units were further analysed in two test areas situated in Southeast Brazil to provide estimates of land instability and the vulnerability of groundwater to pollution hazards. The implementation incorporated procedures for inferring the influences and potential implications of tectonic fractures and other discontinuities on ground behaviour and local groundwater flow. Terrain attributes such as degree of fracturing, bedrock lithology and weathered materials were explored as indicators of ground properties. The paper also discusses constraints on- and limitations of- the approaches taken

The Data Quality Monitoring for the CMS Silicon Strip Tracker

The CMS Silicon Strip Tracker (SST), consisting of more than 10 million channels, is organized in about 15,000 detector modules and it is the largest silicon strip tracker ever built for high energy physics experiments. The Data Quality Monitoring system for the Tracker has been developed within the CMS Software framework. More than 100,000 monitorable quantities need to be managed by the DQM system that organizes them in a hierarchical structure reflecting the detector arrangement in subcomponents and the various levels of data processing. Monitorable quantities computed at the level of individual detectors are processed to extract automatic quality checks and summary results that can be visualized with specialized graphical user interfaces. In view of the great complexity of the CMS Tracker detector the standard visualization tools based on histograms have been complemented with 2 and 3 dimensional graphical images of the subdetector that can show the whole detector down to single channel resolution. The functionalities of the CMS Silicon Strip Tracker DQM system and the experience acquired during the SST commissioning will be described

Near-field microwave microscopy for 3D surface assessment of manufactured structures

Using near-field scanning microwave microscopy as a contact and non-contacting investigative tool for 3D surface metrology with three differing measurement modes, it has been possible to analyse structures that may be difficult for existing metrology systems. The system utilizes the small change in capacitance between a coaxial resonant probe (at around 2 GHz) ending in an open circuit tip, and the sample surface. This is measured in the frequency domain by the shift in the resonance frequency of the voltage transmission coefficient |S 21 |. It is also possible to investigate various materials (metallics, plastics etc.) owing to their differing dielectric properties. The probe has been tested on a computer-controlled 3D stage but is suitable for incorporation into a commercial co-ordinate measurement machine (CMM) to enhance its capability to inspect the inside surfaces of structures, e.g., threads in small bores