Developing communication skills in deaf primary school pupils: Introducing and evaluating the smiLE approach

Many profoundly deaf signers have difficulty communicating with hearing people. This article describes a therapy called ‘Strategies and Measurable Interaction in Live English’ (smiLE; Schamroth and Threadgill, 2007a), an approach used to teach deaf children skills to become successful communicators in real-life situations. This study evaluates the effectiveness of smiLE in helping deaf pupils develop their ability to make successful requests in a specific communication situation and whether this generalized to another communication situation. Sixteen severely and profoundly deaf primary school pupils (7.2—11.0 years old) received an 11-week programme of therapy. Their performances in a trained and an untrained communication situation were compared pre- and post-therapy. In the trained task, the pupils’ interactions improved significantly. No differences were found in the untrained task, suggesting that the learnt skills did not generalize. Anecdotal findings suggest that some carry-over into a similar situation had occurred and that trained skills were maintained. The smiLE therapy approach is effective in providing deaf children with the communication skills and confidence to interact with English speakers in targeted situations. The lack of generalization of these skills to similar situations may be overcome by a longer therapy programme that specifically promote these skills across different situations

Duality Cascade and Oblique Phases in Non-Commutative Open String Theory

We investigate the complete phase diagram of the decoupled world-sheet theory of (P,Q) strings. These theories include 1+1 dimensional super Yang-Mills theory and non-commutative open string theory. We find that the system exhibits a rich fractal phase structure, including a cascade of alternating supergravity, gauge theory, and matrix string theory phases. The cascade proceeds via a series of SL(2,Z) S-duality transformations, and depends sensitively on P and Q. In particular, we find that the system may undergo multiple Hagedorn-type transitions as the temperature is varied.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, references adde

Selective extinction of marine plankton at the end of the Mesozoic era: The fossil and stable isotope record

Floral, faunal and stable isotope evidence in a continuous sequence of latest Cretaceous and earliest Tertiary shallow water marine deposits in the Mangyshlak Peninsula, USSR suggest severe environmental changes at the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary. Time frame is provided by nanno, micro and macrofossils as well as by magnetic stratigraphy and an iridium spike. Oxygen isotopic analyses of the bulk sediments, composed of nanno and microplankton skeletal remains, show a sharp positive spike at the K/T boundary. This shift is primarily attributed to severe cooling possibly accompanied by increased salinities of the surface mixed layer. Floral and faunal extinctions were selective, affecting approximately 90 percent of the warm water calcareous phyto and zooplankton genera in the Tethyan-Paratethyan regions. These highly diverse taxa with many endemic representatives were at the peak of their evolutionary development. Geologic evidence indicates that the terminal Cretaceous temperature decline was coeval with widespread and intense volcanic activity which reached a peak at the close of the Mesozoic Era. Increased acidity temporarily prohibited calcite nucleation of the surface dwelling warm-water plankton. Superimposed upon decreased alkalinity, severe and rapid climatic changes caused the extinction of calcareous phyto and zooplankton

Apollo communications system support. Improvements in contact printing and metal masking techniques Final report, 1 Aug. 1967 - 29 Mar. 1968

Production methods for contact prints in emulsions or chromium coated glass plat

Prospek Dan Strategi Pengembangan Perkebunan Kakao Berkelanjutan Di Sumatera Barat

SProspect and Development Strategy of Sustainable Cocoa Plantation in West SumateraIn recent years, Indonesian cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) plantation faces serious problems related to pests and diseases. Cocoa production in some central cocoa plantations decreased sharply. Therefore, Indonesian government is attempting to eliminate impact of reduction of plant production by enhancing cocoa production in some new potential planting areas such as West Sumatera through revitalization program. However, this program does not run smoothly due to various constraints i.e. limited availability of planting materials, limited staff and supervisors as well as support from the bank. In order to overcome these problems, prospect and strategy studies to develop cocoa plantations in West Sumatera using prospective analysis offer some prospective alternative solutions. The study shows that cocoa plantation is quite important for the regional economy of West Sumatera and prospective to be developed for the future economic. The strategic factors influencing the development and sustainability of cocoa plantations in West Sumatera are the availability of technology, supervisors, trainers, policy support, availability of cocoa plantation, productivity, skill of farmers and institutional of farmer net work. These eight factors are generally positioned in moderate condition and lead to optimistic condition since launching revitalization of cocoa plantation development in West Sumatera. Quantity and quality of funding and supervisors is needed. Prospects and development strategies of cocoa will be useful to assess the efficiency of agribusiness activities in terms of increasing of cocoa production and sustainability of the environment resulting sustainable cocoa development. Cocoa plantations in West Sumatera have important roles and absorbed 60,000 workers/farmers with the average income of about USD 1.198/year. To ensure the sustainable development of cocoa plantations support and consistency of government policy as well as bank's commitment are needed, especially to support revitalization plantation program

Entitled to a sustainable career? Motherhood in science, engineering and technology

Sustaining careers and motherhood is particularly challenging in highly masculinised science, engineering and technology (SET) sectors. We explore this issue using a social comparison theory perspective, drawing on interviews with professional engineers and scientists from four companies, located in Italy, France and the Netherlands. We examine how decisions to reduce working hours are influenced by perceived ideological, normative and policy contexts. Despite contextual differences in opportunities and perceived entitlements and supports for family-friendly working hours, we found that sense of entitlement to do so without forfeiting career progression is limited across all the contexts. This attests to the enduring power of gendered organizational assumptions about ideal SET careers. Nevertheless we present examples of three women who achieved senior roles despite working reduced hours and discuss combinations of conditions which may facilitate sustainable careers and caring roles