Information processing strategy application: A longitudinal study of typically developing preschool and school aged children

Readiness for the move to formal schooling, commonly referred to as ‘school readiness’, is one of the most important milestones in a young child’s life and also in the life of their family, preschool and community. Formal school comprises between ten to thirteen years in most westernised countries and it is important that young children are ready for the transition from the nurtured, supportive environment that encompasses either home life or preschool, to that of formal school. This study investigates the information processing strategy application capacities of a small cohort of typically developing preschool and school aged Australian children as they moved through their preschool years into the first year of formal schooling. Research suggests that readiness for school is demonstrated not only by what tasks children can do, but also how well they can process information in situations of social and academic learning (Scrimsher, College & Tudge, 2003). ‘School readiness’ is not a new concept but is becoming an increasingly important focus for parents, teachers and health professionals involved in young preschool aged children preparing for the move to formal schooling. Traditional areas of school readiness, such as fine motor skills, social skills and pre-academic abilities provide important information about a child’s ultimate readiness for formal schooling but don’t necessarily highlight specific weaknesses that may later translate to more general difficulties once a child is in formal schooling. In order to help young children meet the challenges of their future at school with success they need to be prepared to start formal schooling. This longitudinal study followed 32 typically developing preschool aged children over a period of 30 months as they moved from preschool to the end of their first year at formal school. A criterion referenced occupational therapy assessment, the Perceive, Recall, Plan and Perform System of Task Analysis (Chapparo & Ranka, 1997) was the primary tool used to evaluate the cognitive information processing strategy application abilities of the participants. It measures the task related parameters of attention, sensory processing, memory, planning and organisation, and performance monitoring. The results of the study demonstrated that the assessment of information processing strategy application did provide insight into the ultimate school readiness of the study participants. Those participants with consistently effective strategy application abilities transitioned well into formal schooling, whilst those who demonstrated inefficient strategy application experienced difficulty with the transition to formal schooling and the ongoing demands of classroom work and routine. The PRPP System proved to be a reliable tool for assessing information processing strategy application in this population and also emerged as having some predictive use in determining school readiness and the successful transition into a school student role. The findings from the study are supported by information processing theory and descriptions of typical cognitive development seen during the preschool and early school years. The uniqueness of this research was the focus on strategy application as an indicator of school readiness and longitudinal student performance being investigated from an information processing strategy application perspective

Information processing strategy application: A longitudinal study of typically developing preschool and school aged children

Readiness for the move to formal schooling, commonly referred to as ‘school readiness’, is one of the most important milestones in a young child’s life and also in the life of their family, preschool and community. Formal school comprises between ten to thirteen years in most westernised countries and it is important that young children are ready for the transition from the nurtured, supportive environment that encompasses either home life or preschool, to that of formal school. This study investigates the information processing strategy application capacities of a small cohort of typically developing preschool and school aged Australian children as they moved through their preschool years into the first year of formal schooling. Research suggests that readiness for school is demonstrated not only by what tasks children can do, but also how well they can process information in situations of social and academic learning (Scrimsher, College & Tudge, 2003). ‘School readiness’ is not a new concept but is becoming an increasingly important focus for parents, teachers and health professionals involved in young preschool aged children preparing for the move to formal schooling. Traditional areas of school readiness, such as fine motor skills, social skills and pre-academic abilities provide important information about a child’s ultimate readiness for formal schooling but don’t necessarily highlight specific weaknesses that may later translate to more general difficulties once a child is in formal schooling. In order to help young children meet the challenges of their future at school with success they need to be prepared to start formal schooling. This longitudinal study followed 32 typically developing preschool aged children over a period of 30 months as they moved from preschool to the end of their first year at formal school. A criterion referenced occupational therapy assessment, the Perceive, Recall, Plan and Perform System of Task Analysis (Chapparo & Ranka, 1997) was the primary tool used to evaluate the cognitive information processing strategy application abilities of the participants. It measures the task related parameters of attention, sensory processing, memory, planning and organisation, and performance monitoring. The results of the study demonstrated that the assessment of information processing strategy application did provide insight into the ultimate school readiness of the study participants. Those participants with consistently effective strategy application abilities transitioned well into formal schooling, whilst those who demonstrated inefficient strategy application experienced difficulty with the transition to formal schooling and the ongoing demands of classroom work and routine. The PRPP System proved to be a reliable tool for assessing information processing strategy application in this population and also emerged as having some predictive use in determining school readiness and the successful transition into a school student role. The findings from the study are supported by information processing theory and descriptions of typical cognitive development seen during the preschool and early school years. The uniqueness of this research was the focus on strategy application as an indicator of school readiness and longitudinal student performance being investigated from an information processing strategy application perspective

Relative Robustness of Quantized Neural Networks Against Adversarial Attacks

Neural networks are increasingly being moved to edge computing devices and smart sensors, to reduce latency and save bandwidth. Neural network compression such as quantization is necessary to fit trained neural networks into these resource constrained devices. At the same time, their use in safety-critical applications raises the need to verify properties of neural networks. Adversarial perturbations have potential to be used as an attack mechanism on neural networks, leading to "obviously wrong" misclassification. SMT solvers have been proposed to formally prove robustness guarantees against such adversarial perturbations. We investigate how well these robustness guarantees are preserved when the precision of a neural network is quantized. We also evaluate how effectively adversarial attacks transfer to quantized neural networks. Our results show that quantized neural networks are generally robust relative to their full precision counterpart (98.6%-99.7%), and the transfer of adversarial attacks decreases to as low as 52.05% when the subtlety of perturbation increases. These results show that quantization introduces resilience against transfer of adversarial attacks whilst causing negligible loss of robustness.</p

Redetermination of l-tryptophan hydro­bromide

The redetermined crystal structure of the title compound, C11H13N2O2 +·Br−, is reported. Data collection at 100 K about three crystallographic axes resulted in a crystal structure with significantly higher precision in comparison to the two-dimensional data collected at 176 K [Takigawa et al. [(1966) Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn, 39, 2369–2378]. The carboxyl group and indole ring system are planar, with maximum deviations of 0.002 (2) and 0.007 (2) Å, respectively, and make an angle of 70.17 (1)° with each other. The mol­ecules are arranged in double layers of carboxyl and amino groups parallel to the ab plane, stabilized by an extensive network of N—H⋯Br and O—H⋯Br hydrogen bonds. The polar layer is held together by a network of three N—H⋯Br hydrogen bonds and one O—H⋯Br hydrogen bond. In the non-polar layer, the indole rings are linked mainly by electrostatic N—H⋯C inter­actions between the polarized bond N—H (H is δ+) of the pyrrole unit and two of the ring C atoms (δ−) of the benzene rings of adjacent mol­ecules. The distances of these electrostatic inter­actions are 2.57 and 2.68 Å, respectively. C—H⋯O and C—H⋯π inter­actions are also present

N,N-Bis(2-pyridylmeth­yl)-tert-butyl­amine

In the title compound, C16H21N3, the dihedral angle between the two pyridine rings is 88.11 (9)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked through inter­molecular C—H⋯π inter­actions, forming a layer expanding parallel to the (10) plane

The Knee Arthroplasty Trial (KAT) : design features, baseline characteristics and two-year functional outcomes after alternative approaches to knee replacement

Background: The aim of continued development of total knee replacement systems has been the further improvement of the quality of life and increasing the duration of prosthetic survival. Our goal was to evaluate the effects of several design features, including metal backing of the tibial component, patellar resurfacing, and a mobile bearing between the tibial and femoral components, on the function and survival of the implant. Methods: A pragmatic, multicenter, randomized, controlled trial involving 116 surgeons in thirty-four centers in the United Kingdom was performed; 2352 participants were randomly allocated to be treated with or without a metal backing of the tibial component (409), with or without patellar resurfacing (1715), and/or with or without a mobile bearing (539). Randomization to more than one comparison was allowed. The primary outcome measures were the Oxford Knee Score (OKS), Short Form-12, EuroQol-5D, and the need for additional surgery. The results up to two years postoperatively are reported. Results: Functional status and quality-of-life scores were low at baseline but improved markedly across all trial groups following knee replacement (mean overall OKS, 17.98 points at baseline and 34.82 points at two years). Most of the change was observed at three months after the surgery. Six percent of the patients had additional knee surgery within two years. There was no evidence of differences in clinical, functional, or quality-of-life measures between the randomized groups at two years. Conclusions: Patients have substantial improvement following total knee replacement. This is the first adequately powered randomized controlled trial, of which we are aware, in which the effects of metal backing, patellar resurfacing, and a mobile bearing were investigated. We found no evidence of an effect of these variants on the rate of early complications or on functional recovery up to two years after total knee replacement. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme (Project Number 95/10/01); Howmedica Osteonics; Zimmer; DePuy, a Johnson and Johnson company; Corin Medical; Smith and Nephew Healthcare. Biomet Merck; and Wright CremascoliPeer reviewe

Effects of robotic-assisted gait training on the central vascular health of individuals with spinal cord injury: A pilot study.

Objective: To investigate the effect of a short-term, robotic-assisted (exoskeleton) gait training (RGT) program on central and peripheral hemodynamic measures in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Design: Parallel group, non-randomized trial with before (baseline) and after (follow-up) assessments. Setting: Single-center, community-based neuro-physiotherapy practice. Participants: Twelve individuals with SCI (ASI A to C). Interventions: Participants completed either a 5-day RGT program plus physiotherapy (n = 6), or a usual care physiotherapy only program (control group; n = 6). The RGT program consisted of daily 60-min physiotherapy and 90-min of RGT. Outcome measures were measured before and after the rehabilitation program. Main outcome measure(s): The primary outcome measure was arterial wave reflection (Augmentation index [AIx]), with central and peripheral blood pressures also reported. Data are presented as mean (SD) and effect sizes (partial eta squared; η2 p). Results: There was a significant reduction in AIx (30 ± 18–21 ± 15%; η2 p=0.75) and mean arterial pressure (89 ± 11–82 ± 10 mmHg; η2 p=0.47) following completion of the RGT program (both P &lt; 0.05). There were no changes in these measures for the control group. Although not significantly different, medium to large effects were observed in favor of RGT for all other central and peripheral measures (η2 p=0.06–0.21), except for heart rate and pulse pressure (η2 p&lt;0.04). Conclusions: RGT using an exoskeleton is a promising therapy for improving cardiovascular health in patients with SCI. Specifically, this study indicates decreased arterial wave reflection and supports the need for larger randomized controlled trials