An analysis of the impact of sentence-combining techniques on the writing of individually instructed students in beginning college composition.

For the past two decades, research in the teaching of writing has been examining writing as a process rather than the traditional rhetorical product. This positioning and public concern that students are not writing as well as they once did have led many high schools and colleges to establish writing laboratories where students in need of writing instruction can get a diagnosis of their writing and where a lab instructor will then prescribe exercises or techniques to improve the individual student\u27s writing. Many businesses, too, have been unhappy with the poor quality of their employees\u27 writing and have hired consultants to diagnose the problems in employee writing and to present workshops to improve the writing. This diagnostic approach to the teaching of usage and mechanics in writing is well documented in the research of Mina Shaughnessy (1977)

Justice and the good life : an analysis and defense of a communicative theory of ethics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Boston University, 1990.The central question of this dissertation 1s whether Habermas's discourse ethics can successfully take account of the kinds of criticisms of Kantian formalism, first raised by Hegel, without at the same time abdicating the universalism of the Kantian conception of justice. Specifically, it considers whether the universality of moral principles can be maintained while recognizing the particularity of our experiences and values. This question is pursued in the context of a discussion raised by contemporary Anglo-American ethicists. Communitarians such as Michael Sandel and Alasdair MacIntyre argue that . our notions of the right and the good are derived from a notion of the good life which defines the character of any given community. This would seem to undercut the force of Habermas's quasi-deontological position, which asserts that norms are only legitimated by universally valid criteria. This dissertation maintains that Habermas's theory of moral character accounts for both our historical rootedness and our ability to adopt a universalistic standpoint from which to question and assess our culturally mediated beliefs. When Habermas's position is considered in light of the arguments of critics such as Carol Gilligan, Martha Nussbaum, and Larry Blum, who criticize neo-Kantian tendencies to characterize morality as moral argument and the consequent failure to develop concepts of moral character, moral perception, moral emotion, and moral judgment, it becomes clear that Habermas needs a general moral theory that extends to the private sphere. It is posssible to reformulate Habermas's ethical theory so that the distinction between norms and values issues from an ideally regulated discourse that at the same time defines the boundary between public and private. The gap between norms and values also can be bridged by incorporating the notion of symmetrical reciprocity as a meta-norm of discourse, which would ground both principles of justice and a notion of the good without privileging any historically specific vision of the good life

Mesomorphic behaviour in copoly(ester-imide)s of poly(butylene-2,6-naphthalate) (PBN)

Copolycondensation of N,N’-bis(4-hydroxybutyl)-biphenyl-3,4,3',4'-tetracarboxylic diimide at 20 and 25 mol% with bis(4-hydroxybutyl)-2,6-naphthalate produces PBN-based copoly(ester-imide)s that not only crystallise but also form a (smectic) mesophase upon cooling from the melt. Incorporation of 25 mol% imide in PBN causes the glass transition temperature (measured by DSC) to rise from 51 to 74 °C, a significant increase relative to PBN. Furthermore, increased storage- (G'), loss- (G'') and elastic (E) moduli are observed for both copoly(ester-imide)s when compared to PBN itself. Structural analysis of the 20 mol% copolymer by X-ray powder and fibre diffraction, interfaced to computational modelling, suggests a crystal structure related to that of α-PBN, in space group P-1, with cell dimensions a = 4.74, b = 6.38, c = 14.45 Å, α = 106.1, β = 122.1, γ = 97.3°, ρ = 1.37 g cm-3

Position Measurements with Micro-Channel Plates and Transmission lines using Pico-second Timing and Waveform Analysis

The anodes of Micro-Channel Plate devices are coupled to fast transmission lines in order to reduce the number of electronics readout channels, and can provide two-dimension position measurements using two-ends delay timing. Tests with a laser and digital waveform analysis show that resolutions of a few hundreds of microns along the transmission line can be reached taking advantage of a few pico-second timing estimation. This technique is planned to be used in Micro-channel Plate devices integrating the transmission lines as anodes

Erratum: Author Correction: Identification of genes required for eye development by high-throughput screening of mouse knockouts.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/s42003-018-0226-0.]

Clinical risk score for persistent postconcussion symptomsamong children with acute concussion in the ED

IMPORTANCE Approximately one-third of children experiencing acute concussion experience ongoing somatic, cognitive, and psychological or behavioral symptoms, referred to as persistent postconcussion symptoms (PPCS). However, validated and pragmatic tools enabling clinicians to identify patients at risk for PPCS do not exist. OBJECTIVE To derive and validate a clinical risk score for PPCS among children presenting to the emergency department. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Prospective, multicenter cohort study (Predicting and Preventing Postconcussive Problems in Pediatrics [5P]) enrolled young patients (aged 5-\u3c18 years) who presented within 48 hours of an acute head injury at 1 of 9 pediatric emergency departments within the Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC) network from August 2013 through September 2014 (derivation cohort) and from October 2014 through June 2015 (validation cohort). Participants completed follow-up 28 days after the injury. EXPOSURES All eligible patients had concussions consistent with the Zurich consensus diagnostic criteria. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcomewas PPCS risk score at 28 days, which was defined as 3 or more new or worsening symptoms using the patient-reported Postconcussion Symptom Inventory compared with recalled state of being prior to the injury. RESULTS In total, 3063 patients (median age, 12.0 years [interquartile range, 9.2-14.6 years]; 1205 [39.3%] girls) were enrolled (n = 2006 in the derivation cohort; n = 1057 in the validation cohort) and 2584 of whom (n = 1701 [85%] in the derivation cohort; n = 883 [84%] in the validation cohort) completed follow-up at 28 days after the injury. Persistent postconcussion symptoms were present in 801 patients (31.0%) (n = 510 [30.0%] in the derivation cohort and n = 291 [33.0%] in the validation cohort). The 12-point PPCS risk score model for the derivation cohort included the variables of female sex, age of 13 years or older, physician-diagnosed migraine history, prior concussion with symptoms lasting longer than 1 week, headache, sensitivity to noise, fatigue, answering questions slowly, and 4 or more errors on the Balance Error Scoring System tandem stance. The area under the curve was 0.71 (95%CI, 0.69-0.74) for the derivation cohort and 0.68 (95%CI, 0.65-0.72) for the validation cohort. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE A clinical risk score developed among children presenting to the emergency department with concussion and head injury within the previous 48 hours had modest discrimination to stratify PPCS risk at 28 days. Before this score is adopted in clinical practice, further research is needed for external validation, assessment of accuracy in an office setting, and determination of clinical utility