The Use of Collaborative Writing Websites in the Development of Student Writing

This project set out to examine potential websites that could be used to teach the writing process to secondary students using collaborative modalities. Upon researching these sites, the website mixedink.com was found to have the most potential for this writing processing. The project then evaluated the performance of a sixth grade core class of twenty-nine students on two writing activities using mixedink.com. Students were to write a response to a prompt using the website. Once their responses were posted, they then read at least three of their peers\u27 responses and sent comments on the content of the responses. Finally students were to revise their responses with the opportunity to borrow content from their peers\u27 responses to improve their writing. The website automatically cited any work they borrowed. The student then were able to rate each other\u27s responses on the website. Upon evaluation of their performance, the use of collaborative writing proved to be a challenge for the sixth grade students

Supplementation of polyunsaturated fatty acids, magnesium and zinc in children seeking medical advice for attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems - an observational cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Polyunsaturated fatty acids are essential nutrients for humans. They are structural and functional components of cell membranes and pre-stages of the hormonally and immunologically active eicosanoids. Recent discoveries have shown that the long-chained omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) also play an important role in the central nervous system. They are essential for normal brain functioning including attention and other neuropsychological skills.</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>In our large observational study we monitored 810 children from 5 to 12 years of age referred for medical help and recommended for consuming polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in combination with zinc and magnesium by a physician over a period of at least 3 months. The food supplement ESPRICO^®(further on referred to as the food supplement) is developed on the basis of current nutritional science and containing a combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids as well as magnesium and zinc. Study objective was to evaluate the nutritional effects of the PUFA-zinc-magnesium combination on symptoms of attention deficit, impulsivity, and hyperactivity as well as on emotional problems and sleep related parameters. Assessment was performed by internationally standardised evaluation scales, i.e. SNAP-IV and SDQ. Tolerance (adverse events) and acceptance (compliance) of the dietary therapy were documented.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After 12 weeks of consumption of a combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids as well as magnesium and zinc most subjects showed a considerable reduction in symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactivity/impulsivity assessed by SNAP-IV. Further, the assessment by SDQ revealed fewer emotional problems at the end of the study period compared to baseline and also sleeping disorders. Mainly problems to fall asleep, decreased during the 12 week nutritional therapy. Regarding safety, no serious adverse events occurred. A total of 16 adverse events with a possible causal relationship to the study medication were reported by 14 children (1.7%) and only 5.2% of the children discontinued the study due to acceptance problems. Continuation of consumption of the food supplement was recommended by the paediatricians for 61.1% of the children.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest a beneficial effect of a combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids as well as magnesium and zinc consumption on attentional, behavioural, and emotional problems of children and adolescents. Thus, considering the behavioural benefit in combination with the low risk due to a good safety profile, the dietary supplementation with PUFA in combination with zinc and magnesium can be recommended.</p

Historical analysis and visualization of the retreat of Findelengletscher, Switzerland, 1859–2010

Since the end of the Little Ice Age around 1850, glaciers in Europe have strongly retreated. Thanks to early topographic surveys in Switzerland, accurate maps are available, which enable us to trace glacier changes back in time. The earliest map for all of Switzerland that is usable for a detailed analysis is the Dufour map from around 1850 with subsequent topographic maps on a ~ 20 year interval. Despite the large public and scientific interest in glacier changes through time, this historic dataset has not yet been fully utilized for topographic change assessment or visualization of historic glacier extents. In this study, we use eleven historical topographic maps and more recent digital datasets for the region of Zermatt to analyze geometric changes (length, area and volume) of Findelengletscher as well as for creating animations of glacier evolution through time for use in public communication. All maps were georeferenced, the contour lines digitized, and digital elevation models (DEMs) created and co-registered. Additional digital data like the SRTM X-band DEM and high resolution laser scanning data were used to extend the analysis until 2010. Moreover, one independent DEM from aerial photogrammetry was used for comparison. During the period 1859–2010, Findelengletscher lost 3.5 km of its length (6.9 km in 2010), 4.42 ± 0.13 km² of its area (15.05 ± 0.45 km² in 2010) and 1.32 ± 0.52 km³ of its volume. The average rate of thickness loss is 0.45 ± 0.042 m yr− 1 for the 151 years period. Four periods with high thickness change from − 0.56 m ± 0.28 yr− 1 (1859–1881), − 0.40 ± 0.08 m yr− 1 (1937–1965), − 0.90 ± 0.31 m yr− 1 (1995–2000) and − 1.18 ± 0.02 m yr− 1 (2000–2005) have been identified. Small positive thickness changes were found for the periods 1890–1909 (+ 0.09 ± 0.46 m yr − 1) and 1988–1995 (+ 0.05 ± 0.24 m yr− 1). During its retreat with intermittent periods of advance, the glacier separated into three parts. The above changes are demonstrated through an animation (available from the supplementary material), which has been created to inform the general public

Thinking dimensional : prevalence of DSM-5 early adolescent full syndrome, partial and subthreshold eating disorders in a cross-sectional survey in German schools

OBJECTIVES: Investigating for the first time in Germany Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Fifth Edition (DSM-5) prevalences of adolescent full syndrome, Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED), partial and subthreshold anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED). METHOD: A national school-based cross-sectional survey with nine schools in Germany was undertaken that was aimed at students from grades 7 and 8. Of the 1775 students who were contacted to participate in the study, 1654 participated (participation rate: 93.2%). The sample consisted of 873 female and 781 male adolescents (mean age=13.4 years). Prevalence rates were established using direct symptom criteria with a structured inventory (SIAB-S) and an additional self-report questionnaire (Eating Disorder Inventory 2 (EDI-2)). RESULTS: Prevalences for full syndrome were 0.3% for AN, 0.4% for BN, 0.5% for BED and 3.6% for OSFED-atypical AN, 0% for BN (low frequency/limited duration), 0% for BED (low frequency/limited duration) and 1.9% for purging disorder (PD). Prevalences of partial syndrome were 10.9% for AN (7.1% established with cognitive symptoms only, excluding weight criteria), 0.2% for BN and 2.1% for BED, and of subthreshold syndrome were 0.8% for AN, 0.3% for BN and 0.2% for BED. Cases on EDI-2 scales were much more pronounced with 12.6-21.1% of the participants with significant sex differences. CONCLUSIONS: The findings were in accordance with corresponding international studies but were in contrast to other German studies showing much higher prevalence rates. The study provides, for the first time, estimates for DSM-5 prevalences of eating disorders in adolescents for Germany, and evidence in favour of using valid measures for improving prevalence estimates

The Legal Foundation–Defining the Legislative Format

Current and pending mediation legislative programs in the United States, Canada, and other countries were examined by speakers and panelists who are living under these new systems or were authors of their design. Topics included court annexed programs, mandatory programs, voluntary programs, private institutional programs, the Uniform Mediation Act, state and federal initiatives, and the impact each has, or will have, on the mediation practice

Imaging spectroscopy to assess the composition of ice surface materials and their impact on glacier mass balance

Glacier surfaces are not only composed of ice or snow but are heterogeneous mixtures of different materials. The occurrence and dynamics of light-absorbing impurities affect ice surface characteristics and strongly influence glacier melt processes. However, our understanding of the spatial distribution of impurities and their impact on ice surface characteristics and the glacier's energy budget is still limited. We use imaging spectroscopy in combination with in-situ experiments to assess the composition of ice surface materials and their respective impact on surface albedo and glacier melt rates. Spectroscopy data were acquired in August 2013 using the Airborne Prism EXperiment (APEX) imaging spectrometer and were used to map the abundances of six predominant surface materials on Glacier de la Plaine Morte, Swiss Alps. A pixel-based classification revealed that about 10% of the ice surface is covered with snow, water or debris. The remaining 90% of the surface can be divided into three types of glacier ice, namely ~ 7% dirty ice, ~ 43% pure ice and ~ 39% bright ice. Spatially distributed spectral albedo derived from APEX reflectance data in combination with in-situ multi-angular spectroscopic measurements was used to analyse albedo patterns present on the glacier surface. About 85% of all pixels exhibit a low albedo between 0.1 and 0.4 (mean albedo 0.29 ± 0.12), indicating that Glacier de la Plaine Morte is covered with a significant amount of light-absorbing impurities, resulting in a strong ice-albedo feedback during the ablation season. Using a pixel-based albedo map instead of a constant albedo for ice (0.34) as input for a mass balance model revealed that the glacier-wide total ablation remained similar (10% difference). However, the large local variations in mass balance can only be reproduced using the pixel-based albedo derived from APEX, emphasizing the need to quantify spatial albedo differences as an important input for glacier mass balance models

Effects of improved on-farm crop storage on perceived stress and perceived coping in pregnant women-Evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Kenya

BACKGROUND: Food insecurity can be harmful to pregnant women, as pregnancy is a challenging period with increased maternal nutritional requirements to ensure optimal fetal development and health of the mother. Whether food insecurity negatively affects maternal health may depend on how stressful pregnant women perceive this food insecurity to be and how strongly they believe they can cope with it. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), pregnant women from smallholder households suffer from food insecurity due to post-harvest losses (PHL), i.e., loss of crops because of inadequate storage. An agricultural intervention that improves crop storage has been shown to reduce food insecurity. However, it remains to be determined whether this agricultural intervention (treatment) has an additional positive effect on pregnant women's perceived stress levels and coping abilities. This study examines whether pregnant women from treatment households experience lower perceived stress levels and higher perceived coping abilities compared to pregnant women from control housholds. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), short message service (SMS)-based mobile phone surveys were conducted to assess the causal effect of a food security intervention (improved on-farm storage of maize) on perceived stress and coping in pregnant women from smallholder households. Pregnant women were identified through these monthly surveys by asking whether someone in their household was currently pregnant. The significant results revealed that pregnant women from treatment households experienced more perceived stress but better perceived coping abilities compared to pregnant women from control households. Uncertainty due to lack of experience, this might have contributed to the higher perceived stress, as the women could not easily judge the benefits and risks of the new storage technology. However, the technology itself is a tangible resource which might have empowered the pregnant women to counteract the effects of PHL and thus food insecurity. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that pregnant women from treatment households had higher perceived coping abilities but experienced more perceived stress. More research is needed on how this technology impacts maternal mental health in a broader sense and whether biological mechanisms, such as epigenetics, may underlie this association

Aversive tension in female adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa : a controlled ecological momentary assessment using smartphones

BACKGROUND: Current models of Anorexia Nervosa (AN) emphasize the role of emotion regulation. Aversive tension, described as a state of intense arousal and negative valence, is considered to be a link between emotional events and disordered eating. Recent research focused only on adult patients, and mainly general emotion regulation traits were studied. However, the momentary occurrence of aversive tension, particularly in adolescents with AN, has not been previously studied. METHOD: 20 female adolescents with AN in outpatient treatment and 20 healthy adolescents aged 12 to 19years participated in an ecological momentary assessment using their smartphones. Current states of aversive tension and events were assessed hourly for two consecutive weekdays. Mean and maximum values of aversive tension were compared. Multilevel analyses were computed to test the influence of time and reported events on aversive tension. The effect of reported events on subsequent changes of aversive tension in patients with AN were additionally tested in a multilevel model. RESULTS: AN patients showed higher mean and maximum levels of aversive tension. In a multilevel model, reported food intake was associated with higher levels of aversive tension in the AN group, whereas reported school or sport-related events were not linked to specific states of aversive tension. After food intake, subsequent increases of aversive tension were diminished and decreases of aversive tension were induced in adolescents with AN. CONCLUSIONS: Aversive tension may play a substantial role in the psychopathology of AN, particular in relation with food intake. Therefore, treatment should consider aversive tension as a possible intervening variable during refeeding. Our findings encourage further research on aversive tension and its link to disordered eating. TRIAL REGISTRATION: German register of clinical trials (DRKS): DRKS00005228 (Date of registration: September 2, 2013)

Cross-comparison of albedo products for glacier surfaces derived from airborne and satellite (sentinel-2 and landsat 8) optical data

Surface albedo partitions the amount of energy received by glacier surfaces from shortwave fluxes and modulates the energy available for melt processes. The ice- albedo feedback, influenced by the contamination of bare-ice surfaces with light- absorbing impurities, plays a major role in the melting of mountain glaciers in a warming climate. However, little is known about the spatial and temporal distribution and variability of bare-ice glacier surface albedo under changing conditions. In this study, we focus on two mountain glaciers located in the western Swiss Alps and perform a cross-comparison of different albedo products. We take advantage of high spectral and spatial resolution (284 bands, 2 m) imaging spectrometer data from the Airborne Prism Experiment (APEX) and investigate the applicability and potential of Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 data to derive broadband albedo products. The performance of shortwave broadband albedo retrievals is tested and we assess the reliability of published narrow-to-broadband conversion algorithms. The resulting albedo products from the three sensors and different algorithms are further cross-compared. Moreover, the impact of the anisotropy correction is analysed depending on different surface types. While degradation of the spectral resolution impacted glacier-wide mean albedo by about 5%, reducing the spatial resolution resulted in changes of less than 1%. However, in any case, coarser spatial resolution was no longer able to represent small-scale variability of albedo on glacier surfaces. We discuss the implications when using Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 to map dynamic glaciological processes and to monitor glacier surface albedo on larger spatial and more frequent temporal scales