8,666 research outputs found
Struggling readers? Using theory to complicate understandings of what it means to be literate in school
Theories guide many aspects of literacy research. In this article we describe four theoretical approaches that we have used in qualitative research with students who are perceived to struggle with reading in school, including: New Literacy Studies, Disability Studies in Education, Bioecological Systems Theory, and Cultural Historical Activity Theory. We provide a brief overview of each of the theories and then explain how we have used them to gain insights about students with whom we have worked in the context of our research. Although grounded in distinct perspectives, we argue that each of the theories are lenses through which we were better able to understand the complexities of students’ struggles with reading. We further argue that the theories are united in their ability to broaden the perspectives of researchers and teachers to better account for the social, cultural, and institutional factors that shape literacy teaching and learning in schools. We conclude by questioning the use of the term “struggling reader” and highlighting the implications of our individual theoretical frames and analyses for both research and practice.Accepted manuscrip
Optoelectronic Reservoir Computing
Reservoir computing is a recently introduced, highly efficient bio-inspired
approach for processing time dependent data. The basic scheme of reservoir
computing consists of a non linear recurrent dynamical system coupled to a
single input layer and a single output layer. Within these constraints many
implementations are possible. Here we report an opto-electronic implementation
of reservoir computing based on a recently proposed architecture consisting of
a single non linear node and a delay line. Our implementation is sufficiently
fast for real time information processing. We illustrate its performance on
tasks of practical importance such as nonlinear channel equalization and speech
recognition, and obtain results comparable to state of the art digital
implementations.Comment: Contains main paper and two Supplementary Material
The Impact of Service Learning on Moral Development and Moral Orientation
Research on Service-learning\u27s (SL) impact on students\u27 moral development has been mixed. In this study, 46 students in SL and non-SL sections of comparable courses offered at a northeastern Catholic university completed the Defining Issues Test, the Moral Justification Scale, and the SL Outcome Scale at the beginning and end of a semester. Although scores on moral development and orientation did not change significantly, SL students reported becoming more compassionate and more sensitive, having a greater understanding of and ability to solve social problems, and possessing a greater efficacy to make the world better. While a single-semester exposure to SL may be too limited to affect moral development, participants\u27 self-reported changes may be precursors to such developmental changes. Unfortunately, existing measures of moral orientation may preclude a thorough examination of change associated with SL. Future research would benefit from using tools that measure moral thinking and action, and under- standing of hypothetical moral principles
Born's rule from measurements of classical signals by threshold detectors which are properly calibrated
The very old problem of the statistical content of quantum mechanics (QM) is
studied in a novel framework. The Born's rule (one of the basic postulates of
QM) is derived from theory of classical random signals. We present a
measurement scheme which transforms continuous signals into discrete clicks and
reproduces the Born's rule. This is the sheme of threshold type detection.
Calibration of detectors plays a crucial role.Comment: The problem of double clicks is resolved; hence, one can proceed in
purely wave framework, i.e., the wave-partcile duality has been resolved in
favor of the wave picture of prequantum realit
Sand stirred by chaotic advection
We study the spatial structure of a granular material, N particles subject to
inelastic mutual collisions, when it is stirred by a bidimensional smooth
chaotic flow. A simple dynamical model is introduced where four different time
scales are explicitly considered: i) the Stokes time, accounting for the
inertia of the particles, ii) the mean collision time among the grains, iii)
the typical time scale of the flow, and iv) the inverse of the Lyapunov
exponent of the chaotic flow, which gives a typical time for the separation of
two initially close parcels of fluid. Depending on the relative values of these
different times a complex scenario appears for the long-time steady spatial
distribution of particles, where clusters of particles may or not appear.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Silicates in D-type symbiotic stars: an ISO overview
We investigate the IR spectral features of a sample of D-type symbiotic
stars. Analyzing unexploited ISO-SWS data, deriving the basic observational
parameters of dust bands and comparing them with respect to those observed in
other astronomical sources, we try to highlight the effect of environment on
grain chemistry and physic. We find strong amorphous silicate emission bands at
10 micron and 18 micron in a large fraction of the sample. The analysis of the
10 micron band, along with a direct comparison with several astronomical
sources, reveals that silicate dust in symbiotic stars shows features between
the characteristic circumstellar environments and the interstellar medium. This
indicates an increasing reprocessing of grains in relation to specific
symbiotic behavior of the objects. A correlation between the central wavelength
of the 10 and 18 micron dust bands is found. By the modeling of IR spectral
lines we investigate also dust grains conditions within the shocked nebulae.
Both the unusual depletion values and the high sputtering efficiency might be
explained by the formation of SiO moleculae, which are known to be a very
reliable shock tracer. We conclude that the signature of dust chemical
disturbance due to symbiotic activity should be looked for in the outer,
circumbinary, expanding shells where the environmental conditions for grain
processing might be achieved. Symbiotic stars are thus attractive targets for
new mid-infrared and mm observations.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables - to be published in A
Velocity correlations in dense granular gases
We report the statistical properties of spherical steel particles rolling on
an inclined surface being driven by an oscillating wall. Strong dissipation
occurs due to collisions between the particles and rolling and can be tuned by
changing the number density. The velocities of the particles are observed to be
correlated over large distances comparable to the system size. The distribution
of velocities deviates strongly from a Gaussian. The degree of the deviation,
as measured by the kurtosis of the distribution, is observed to be as much as
four times the value corresponding to a Gaussian, signaling a significant
breakdown of the assumption of negligible velocity correlations in a granular
system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Figure
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