Developing an intervention to improve reading comprehension for children and young people with autism spectrum disorders

Aim: A substantial proportion of children and young people with autism demonstrate accurate word reading but struggle to understand the content of what they are reading. There is an urgent need for further research in this area to enable educational professionals to implement evidence-based reading interventions. / Method/Rationale: This study analyses the effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve the reading comprehension of young people with autism and reading comprehension diffculties (mean age 13 years, 6 months). The intervention was delivered twice a week over a period of six weeks. / Findings: The results indicate that the intervention group (N=15) demonstrated a signifcantly greater increase in their reading comprehension than a ‘treatment as usual’ control group (N=14), showing an average of three years’ improvement in their reading comprehension. Semi-structured interviews with participants indicated that many demonstrated a shift in their approach to reading, with a greater focus on comprehension and an awareness of transferring the skills they had learnt to other areas of the curriculum. Participants also identifed that the intervention supported their speaking and listening skills. / Limitations: The small size of the sample in this study limits the generalisation of the fndings. The robustness of the fndings would be increased by including long-term outcome measures. / Conclusions: These fndings present important implications for professionals working with young people and suggest that school-based reading interventions may be effective at developing the reading comprehension of individuals with autism

Effect of incoming radiation on the non-LTE spectrum of Xe at Te = 100 eV

The effect of a diluted Planckian radiation field on a Xe gas at the electron temperature of 100 eV is investigated within the framework of a Collisional Radiative Model, using the HULLAC code. The atomic model spans 19 charge states, includes 20 375 configurations and contains more than 2 10^6 levels. We have simulated detailed spectra comprising more than 10^9 transitions with the Mixed UTA model. The radiation temperature Tr is varied from 0 to 1.5 Te. The dilution factor, D, applied to decrease the radiation field, is varied independently from 0 to 3 at fixed Tr = Te. In both cases, the average charge state Z* increases from 15 to 27, but in different ways. It is shown that even a dilution D = 0.01 changes Z* by more than 1.5. Different combinations of Tr and D yielding exactly the same Z*, may give line ratios sufficiently different to be observed. This fact is explained by the interplay of the shape of the radiation field and the atomic structure

Prevalence of contraindications to mefloquine use among USA military personnel deployed to Afghanistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mefloquine has historically been considered safe and well-tolerated for long-term malaria chemoprophylaxis, but its prescribing requires careful attention to rule out contraindications to its use, including a history of certain psychiatric and neurological disorders. The prevalence of these disorders has not been defined in cohorts of U.S. military personnel deployed to areas where long-term malaria chemoprophylaxis is indicated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Military medical surveillance and pharmacosurveillance databases were utilized to identify contraindications to mefloquine use among a cohort of 11,725 active duty U.S. military personnel recently deployed to Afghanistan.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 9.6% of the cohort had evidence of a contraindication. Females were more than twice as likely as males to have a contraindication (OR = 2.48, P < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings underscore the importance of proper systematic screening prior to prescribing and dispensing mefloquine, and the need to provide alternatives to mefloquine suitable for long-term administration among deployed U.S. military personnel.</p

Gamma-ray bursts and X-ray melting of material to form chondrules and planets

Chondrules are millimeter sized objects of spherical to irregular shape that constitute the major component of chondritic meteorites that originate in the region between Mars and Jupiter and which fall to Earth. They appear to have solidified rapidly from molten or partially molten drops. The heat source that melted the chondrules remains uncertain. The intense radiation from a gamma-ray burst (GRB) is capable of melting material at distances up to 300 light years. These conditions were created in the laboratory for the first time when millimeter sized pellets were placed in a vacuum chamber in the white synchrotron beam at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The pellets were rapidly heated in the X-ray and gamma-ray furnace to above 1400C melted and cooled. This process heats from the inside unlike normal furnaces. The melted spherical samples were examined with a range of techniques and found to have microstructural properties similar to the chondrules that come from meteorites. This experiment demonstrates that GRBs can melt precursor material to form chondrules that may subsequently influence the formation of planets. This work extends the field of laboratory astrophysics to include high power synchrotron sources.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Full resolution figures available from A&

Measurement of the Forward-Backward Asymmetry in the B -> K(*) mu+ mu- Decay and First Observation of the Bs -> phi mu+ mu- Decay

We reconstruct the rare decays $B^+ \to K^+\mu^+\mu^-$, $B^0 \to K^{*}(892)^0\mu^+\mu^-$, and $B^0_s \to \phi(1020)\mu^+\mu^-$ in a data sample corresponding to $4.4 {\rm fb^{-1}}$ collected in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96 {\rm TeV}$ by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Using $121 \pm 16$ $B^+ \to K^+\mu^+\mu^-$ and $101 \pm 12$ $B^0 \to K^{*0}\mu^+\mu^-$ decays we report the branching ratios. In addition, we report the measurement of the differential branching ratio and the muon forward-backward asymmetry in the $B^+$ and $B^0$ decay modes, and the $K^{*0}$ longitudinal polarization in the $B^0$ decay mode with respect to the squared dimuon mass. These are consistent with the theoretical prediction from the standard model, and most recent determinations from other experiments and of comparable accuracy. We also report the first observation of the $B^0_s \to \phi\mu^+\mu^- decay and measure its branching ratio${\mathcal{B}}(B^0_s \to \phi\mu^+\mu^-) = [1.44 \pm 0.33 \pm 0.46] \times 10^{-6}$using$27 \pm 6$signal events. This is currently the most rare$B^0_s$ decay observed.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Measurements of the properties of Lambda_c(2595), Lambda_c(2625), Sigma_c(2455), and Sigma_c(2520) baryons

We report measurements of the resonance properties of Lambda_c(2595)+ and Lambda_c(2625)+ baryons in their decays to Lambda_c+ pi+ pi- as well as Sigma_c(2455)++,0 and Sigma_c(2520)++,0 baryons in their decays to Lambda_c+ pi+/- final states. These measurements are performed using data corresponding to 5.2/fb of integrated luminosity from ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV, collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. Exploiting the largest available charmed baryon sample, we measure masses and decay widths with uncertainties comparable to the world averages for Sigma_c states, and significantly smaller uncertainties than the world averages for excited Lambda_c+ states.Comment: added one reference and one table, changed order of figures, 17 pages, 15 figure

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu

Search for a New Heavy Gauge Boson Wprime with Electron + missing ET Event Signature in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV

We present a search for a new heavy charged vector boson $W^\prime$ decaying to an electron-neutrino pair in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96\unit{TeV}. The data were collected with the CDF II detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.3\unit{fb}^{-1}. No significant excess above the standard model expectation is observed and we set upper limits on $\sigma\cdot{\cal B}(W^\prime\to e\nu)$. Assuming standard model couplings to fermions and the neutrino from the $W^\prime$ boson decay to be light, we exclude a $W^\prime$ boson with mass less than 1.12\unit{TeV/}c^2 at the 95\unit{%} confidence level.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures Submitted to PR

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO