Response to Intervention: Reading Project for Intermediate Level Educators

The author\u27s project provides intermediate level reading teachers with a flowchart exemplifying a way to implement a Response to Intervention model. Research indicates that Response to Intervention models have greatly impacted student academic performance. The flowchart provides teachers with a blueprint which may be helpful in identifying and correcting student deficiencies. The flowchart clearly outlines instructional components of service delivery including duration of student sessions, the size of groups involved, length of intervention determined, and methods of assessment The specific detailed responsibilities outlined to staff are designed to improve not only the efficiency of service provided to students, but to provide teachers with a tangible means to ensure student success

Fifty years on . . .

(ii) development o

How hungry were the poor in late 1930s Britain?

This article re-examines energy and nutrition available to British working-class households in the late 1930s using individual household expenditure and consumption data. We use these data to address a number of questions. First, what was the extent of malnutrition in late 1930s Britain? Second, how did the incidence change over time? Third, what were the nutritional consequences of the school meals and school milk schemes? We conclude that, for working households, energy and nutritional availability improved significantly compared with current estimates of availability before the First World War. These improvements were not equally shared, however. In the late 1930s, homes with an unemployed head of household had diets that provided around 20 per cent less energy than their working counterparts and female-headed households had diets that provided around 10 per cent fewer kcal per capita than the average male-headed household. The availability of most macro- and micronutrients showed similar relative reductions. State interventions designed to improve diet and nutrition, such as school meals and school milk, made children's diets significantly healthier, even if they did not eliminate macro- and micronutrient deficiencies completely. Not surprisingly, they made the greatest difference to children in households where the head of household was unemployed

The Effects of Changes in Elk Archery Regulations on Elk Hunter Effort and Harvest, 2004-2010

We evaluated the effects of changes in elk archery hunting seasons in eastern Montana on hunter numbers, days, and densities and elk harvest. We compared 2 time periods (2004-2007 and 2008-2010) and grouped hunting districts (HDs) into 1 of 4 season types. The 4 season types were limited permits in the Missouri Breaks (7 HDs), limited permits in non-breaks HDs (22 HDs), adjacent HDs were in close proximity to the limited permit HDs that we hypothesized might receive additional hunters displaced from the two more restrictive archery permit areas (22 HDs), and our pseudo-control season type included the rest of the HDs in the state (110 HDs). It appeared, from a statewide perspective, that changing the archery regulations to limited permits in 27 HDs didn’t cause a statistically significant hunter shift to the 22 HDs identified as areas hunters would likely select if restrictions forced them to choose a new area. The only significant changes in hunter numbers and days were decreases in nonresident hunter numbers and days in the Missouri River Breaks HDs. Although the decrease in non-resident use may have had an economic impact in the local area; statewide, there was no change in non-resident use. Pseudo-control HDs showed decreases or no change in harvest response variables. Therefore, the significant harvest increases and/or lack of significant harvest declines in the limited permit areas might be interpreted as a relative success since most of these hunting districts are above population objectives for elk

The Political Economy of Low Carbon Energy in Kenya

There is growing international focus on how to support more integrated approaches to addressing climate change in ways that capture synergies and minimise the trade-offs between climate change mitigation, adaptation and development. These aims are embodied in the concept of climate compatible development (CCD). But what does this look like in practice in Kenya? With a National Action Plan on Climate Change, a Vision 2030 Strategy, a new constitution and a revised Energy Policy, Kenya is at a critical cross-roads with respect to defining its energy future for the years to come. The challenge is to enable a just transition to a lower carbon economy that delivers poverty reduction and climate resilience at the same time. But thinking about who sets the terms of transition and for whom, raises key political questions about the role of actors, interests and institutions in the energy sector. In other words, who has the power to change power? Drawing on 29 interviews with government officials, donors and businesses conducted during 2013, insights gleaned from an interactive workshop with practitioners on the themes of the research, as well as available academic and grey literature, this paper explores the role of politics, actors and institutions in enabling or frustrating the pursuit of climate compatible energy development in Kenya. This is a critical time for Kenya in deciding its energy future and whether and how it will aim to make it ‘climate compatible’. Issues of power and political economy will play a key role in determining technological and social outcomes: the winners and losers from different energy pathways and on whose terms and how the trade-offs between competing policy objectives are resolved. In particular political economy analysis helps to understand the potential for energy systems to meet climate, development and adaptation needs simultaneously

Dialogic literary argumentation and close reading: effects on high school students’ literature-related argumentative writing and motivational beliefs

Given evidence that adolescent students’ motivation to read and write about literature declines with age, we proffer an approach called dialogic literary argumentation (DLA) that asks students to explore literature through argumentation in pursuit of understanding the meanings and possibilities of being human. This quasi-experimental study compared the effectiveness of DLA with close reading (CR), a common approach to teaching literature in high school English language arts classrooms, in improving students’ motivational beliefs about writing and literature-related argumentative writing. The study also examined how the links between motivational beliefs and argumentative writing performance varied by instructional contexts. Participants were 278 high school students in 14 classrooms across 8 public high schools. Classrooms of students received either DLA or CR throughout the academic year. While both the DLA and CR groups improved in literature-related argumentative writing, the DLA group demonstrated more growth than the CR group. Neither group exhibited changes in motivational beliefs. However, at the end of the year, both DLA and CR students’ transactional writer beliefs were predictive of writing self-efficacy. Transmissional writer beliefs negatively correlated with argumentative writing in the CR group and had a null relationship in the DLA group. Overall, motivational beliefs and argumentative writing were more positively correlated in the DLA group than the CR group after the intervention. We posit that the argumentative elements unique to DLA may act to protect students from the negative impacts of transmissional beliefs. Our findings provide theoretical explanations and pedagogical recommendations on how DLA and CR can be jointly employed to heighten students’ motivation and strengthen their argumentative writing competence

Predicting knee osteoarthritis severity: comparative modeling based on patient's data and plain X-ray images

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a disease that impairs knee function and causes pain. A radiologist reviews knee X-ray images and grades the severity level of the impairments according to the Kellgren and Lawrence grading scheme; a five-point ordinal scale (0-4). In this study, we used Elastic Net (EN) and Random Forests (RF) to build predictive models using patient assessment data (i.e. signs and symptoms of both knees and medication use) and a convolution neural network (CNN) trained using X-ray images only. Linear mixed effect models (LMM) were used to model the within subject correlation between the two knees. The root mean squared error for the CNN, EN, and RF models was 0.77, 0.97 and 0.94 respectively. The LMM shows similar overall prediction accuracy as the EN regression but correctly accounted for the hierarchical structure of the data resulting in more reliable inference. Useful explanatory variables were identified that could be used for patient monitoring before X-ray imaging. Our analyses suggest that the models trained for predicting the KOA severity levels achieve comparable results when modeling X-ray images and patient data. The subjectivity in the KL grade is still a primary concern

UTILIZACIÓN DE PATRONES DE MUDA PARA DETERMINAR LA EDAD DE LA REINITA DE CORONA ROJIZA (MYIOTHLYPIS CORONATA)

Resumen ∙ Entender las distribuciones de edades y sexos de individuos en poblaciones es importante para describir la dinámica poblacional, demografía y para informar medidas de conservación. A pesar de la utilidad de los patrones de muda, características reproductivas, y la morfología para determinar la edad y sexo de individuos, pocas descripciones publicadas existen para las aves Neotropicales. En este estudio utilizamos la muda, características reproductivas, y morfología para desarrollar criterios confiables de determinar la edad y sexo de la Reinita de Corona Rojiza (Myiothlypis coronata), una especie común a través de los Andes. Entre junio a noviembre de 2015 y 2016 se capturaron 456 individuos de Myiothlypis coronata en los bosques de neblina del norte de Perú, de los cuales 122 presentaron límites de muda. Al igual que otras especies de la familia Parulidae, encontramos que la muda preformativa de Myiothlypis coronata es de extensión parcial e normalmente incluye 6 a 9 coberteras mayores. La muda prebásica definitiva fue de extensión completa sin evidencia de individuos con plumaje alterno. La osificación del cráneo normalmente es completa y representa un método adicional para diferenciar juveniles de adultos. Encontramos evidencia de dimorfismo sexual y la longitud de la cuerda alar de 56 machos midió ≥ 68 mm en comparación de ≤ 68 mm para 12 hembras. Los datos de este estudio demuestran métodos útiles para determinar la estructura de la población de una especie común a lo longitud de la vertiente de los Andes.Abstract ∙ Using molt patterns to age Russet‐crowned Warbler (Myiothlypis coronata) Understanding the age and sex distributions of Neotropical birds is key to describing population dynamics and demographics to inform conservation. Despite the utility of molt patterns, reproductive characteristics, and morphometrics for determining the age and sex of individuals, few published descriptions exist for Neotropical birds. In this study, we use molt, breeding characteristics, and morphometrics to develop reliable ageing and sexing criteria for the Russet‐ crowned Warbler (Myiothlypis coronata), a common species found throughout the Andes. From June to November 2015 and 2016, we captured 456 individuals of Myiothlypis coronata in the cloud forest of northern Peru, and recorded molt limits in 122. As in other warblers, Myiothlypis coronata has a partial preformative molt, and normally 6 to 9 inner greater coverts are replaced. A molt limit in the outer greater coverts was obvious in most individuals. The prebasic molt was complete and we did not observe individuals undergoing a prealternate molt. Skull ossification was typically complete, and serves as an additional tool to age birds. We found evidence for sexual size dimorphism, and wing length of 56 males measured ≥ 68 mm compared to ≤ 68 mm for 12 females. This study provides useful methods to determine population age structure for a common species along the length of the Andes.

College Student Snacking Behaviour Pilot Study

This article was originally published by the International Journal of Home EconomicsThis study examined the snacking behaviour of undergraduate college students using a comprehensive survey that included a Healthy Snacking Knowledge Test (HSKT), a Snack Frequency Questionnaire, a survey of psychosocial correlates related to snacking behaviour (Situational Self-Efficacy, Barriers to Healthy Eating, and Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change), and demographic information. There were 105 student participants from two Midwestern universities. Results show 2.6 mean snacking occasions per day, and the snack food selections tended to be high in nutrient density. Upper classmen had more knowledge about healthful snack options than freshmen. These students were most confident about healthful snack choices in difficult or inconvenient settings. The main predictors of healthful snack consumption were the academic year, the higher level of stage of change, and the difficult/inconvenient subscale of snacking self-efficac