Social Characteristics of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders Across Classroom Settings

Social Characteristics of Students with autism spectrum disorders across Classroom Settings The current study examined the differences in social characteristics between students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) primarily educated in full inclusion and non full inclusion classrooms. One hundred and forty six parents of children with ASD completed a questionnaire regarding the social experiences of their child. Results indicate that after controlling for severity of disability and age, higher social competence was related to placement in full inclusion classrooms. Regression analyses indicate that ASD severity predicted social competence and quality of friendships, and age and problem behaviour predicted the number of friends outside school. Implications for future studies are discussed

Parent Empowerment and Mental Health: Understanding Parent Perceptions of the Educational Experience

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are important partners with schools in ensuring effective education, and it is important to examine the factors that influence parent perceptions of their children’s educational experience. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations among parent empowerment, parent mental health, and perceptions of children’s educational experience in 176 parents of children with ASD. Parent empowerment and mental health were found to be significant predictors of parents’ perceptions of their child’s educational experience. The importance of understanding constructs such as empowerment and mental health and how they relate to school satisfaction is discussed

The role of place in explaining racial heterogeneity in cognitive outcomes among older adults

Racially patterned disadvantage in Southern states, especially during the formative years of primary school, may contribute to enduring disparities in adult cognitive outcomes. Drawing on a lifecourse perspective, we examine whether state of school attendance affects cognitive outcomes in older adults and partially contributes to persistent racial disparities. Using data from older African American and white participants in the national Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the New York based Washington Heights Inwood Cognitive Aging Project (WHICAP), we estimated age-and gender-adjusted multilevel models with random effects for states predicting years of education and cognitive outcomes (e.g., memory and vocabulary). We summarized the proportion of variation in outcomes attributable to state of school attendance and compared the magnitude of racial disparities across states. Among WHICAP African Americans, state of school attendance accounted for 9% of the variance in years of schooling, 6% of memory, and 12% of language. Among HRS African Americans, state of school attendance accounted for 13% of the variance in years of schooling and also contributed to variance in cognitive function (7%), memory (2%), and vocabulary (12%). Random slope models indicated state-level African American and white disparities in every Census region, with the largest racial differences in the South. State of school attendance may contribute to racial disparities in cognitive outcomes among older Americans. Despite tremendous within-state heterogeneity, state of school attendance also accounted for some variability in cognitive outcomes. Racial disparities in older Americans may reflect historical patterns of segregation and differential access to resources such as educatio

Adipocyte JAK2 Regulates Hepatic Insulin Sensitivity Independently of Body Composition, Liver Lipid Content, and Hepatic Insulin Signaling.

Disruption of hepatocyte growth hormone (GH) signaling through disruption of Jak2 (JAK2L) leads to fatty liver. Previously, we demonstrated that development of fatty liver depends on adipocyte GH signaling. We sought to determine the individual roles of hepatocyte and adipocyte Jak2 on whole-body and tissue insulin sensitivity and liver metabolism. On chow, JAK2L mice had hepatic steatosis and severe whole-body and hepatic insulin resistance. However, concomitant deletion of Jak2 in hepatocytes and adipocytes (JAK2LA) completely normalized insulin sensitivity while reducing liver lipid content. On high-fat diet, JAK2L mice had hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance despite protection from diet-induced obesity. JAK2LA mice had higher liver lipid content and no protection from obesity but retained exquisite hepatic insulin sensitivity. AKT activity was selectively attenuated in JAK2L adipose tissue, whereas hepatic insulin signaling remained intact despite profound hepatic insulin resistance. Therefore, JAK2 in adipose tissue is epistatic to liver with regard to insulin sensitivity and responsiveness, despite fatty liver and obesity. However, hepatocyte autonomous JAK2 signaling regulates liver lipid deposition under conditions of excess dietary fat. This work demonstrates how various tissues integrate JAK2 signals to regulate insulin/glucose and lipid metabolism

Capstone Experience purposes: an international, multidisciplinary study

Capstone experiences (CEs) serve a variety of purposes in higher education as places to apply academic skills, explore post-graduate life and employment, and achieve a meaningful undergraduate event. This study investigated the purposes of CEs through a content analysis of institutional course syllabi/course outlines/module outlines and catalog/calendar descriptions at five institutions of higher education: a large public research university in Canada, a large public teaching university in the U.K., a large public research university campus in the U.S., and two medium-sized private liberal arts universities in the U.S. Using the CE purposes found in a review of scholarly literature as a research guide, the authors analyzed 84 institutional documents. CE purposes that appeared in the sample at lower percentages when compared with published studies included oral communication, a coherent academic experience, preparation for graduate school, preparation for life after college, and civic engagement/service learning. Implications for practice include the need for instructors and administrators to consider revising CE documents to better reflect the content and goals of the courses and to address the requirements of other audiences (e.g., program reviewers, accreditation evaluators). Moreover, the results of this study may assist educators in considering reasons for omitting explicit purposes from CE documents and/or justifying the inclusion of previously omitted purposes

The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: Data Reduction System

IRIS (InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph) is the diffraction-limited first light instrument for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that consists of a near-infrared (0.84 to 2.4 $\mu$m) imager and integral field spectrograph (IFS). The IFS makes use of a lenslet array and slicer for spatial sampling, which will be able to operate in 100's of different modes, including a combination of four plate scales from 4 milliarcseconds (mas) to 50 mas with a large range of filters and gratings. The imager will have a field of view of 34$\times$34 arcsec$^{2}$ with a plate scale of 4 mas with many selectable filters. We present the preliminary design of the data reduction system (DRS) for IRIS that need to address all of these observing modes. Reduction of IRIS data will have unique challenges since it will provide real-time reduction and analysis of the imaging and spectroscopic data during observational sequences, as well as advanced post-processing algorithms. The DRS will support three basic modes of operation of IRIS; reducing data from the imager, the lenslet IFS, and slicer IFS. The DRS will be written in Python, making use of open-source astronomical packages available. In addition to real-time data reduction, the DRS will utilize real-time visualization tools, providing astronomers with up-to-date evaluation of the target acquisition and data quality. The quicklook suite will include visualization tools for 1D, 2D, and 3D raw and reduced images. We discuss the overall requirements of the DRS and visualization tools, as well as necessary calibration data to achieve optimal data quality in order to exploit science cases across all cosmic distance scales.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 6 tables, Proceeding 9913-165 of the SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 201