A Family Strengths Approach to Early Language and Literacy Development

Language and literacy skills are an essential element of young children’s development and allow them to interact meaningfully with other people and to develop knowledge in all subject areas. Despite the importance of language and literacy development, however, more than one third of children in the United States enter school with significant differences in language, early literacy skills, and motivation to learn that place them at considerable risk for developing long-term reading difficulties. The quantity and quality of language interactions children have with their parents and exposure to print in their home environment prior to entering school have an important impact on these individual differences. This paper provides teachers with guidelines and tools for helping families identify and create language and literacy opportunities in their home environment that reflect their unique strengths and routines

Measuring wanting and liking from animals to humans: A systematic review

Animal research has shown it is possible to want a reward that is not liked once obtained. Although these findings have elicited interest, human experiments have produced contradictory results, raising doubts about the existence of separate wanting and liking influences in human reward processing. This discrepancy could be due to inconsistences in the operationalization of these concepts. We systematically reviewed the methodologies used to assess human wanting and/or liking and found that most studies operationalized these concepts in congruency with the animal literature. Nonetheless, numerous studies operationalized wanting in similar ways to those that operationalized liking. These contradictions might be driven by a major source of confound: expected pleasantness. Expected pleasantness underlies cognitive desires and does not correspond to animal liking, a hedonic experience, or to animal wanting, which relies on affective relevance, consisting of the perception of a cue associated with a relevant reward for the organism’s current physiological state. Extending the concept of affective relevance and differentiating it from expected pleasantness might improve measures of human wanting and liking

Development of behaviour change communication strategy for a vaccination-linked malaria control tool in southern Tanzania.

BACKGROUND\ud \ud Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) using sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine and linked to the expanded programme on immunization (EPI) is a promising strategy for malaria control in young children. As evidence grows on the efficacy of IPTi as public health strategy, information is needed so that this novel control tool can be put into practice promptly, once a policy recommendation is made to implement it. This paper describes the development of a behaviour change communication strategy to support implementation of IPTi by the routine health services in southern Tanzania, in the context of a five-year research programme evaluating the community effectiveness of IPTi.\ud \ud METHODS\ud \ud Mixed methods including a rapid qualitative assessment and quantitative health facility survey were used to investigate communities' and providers' knowledge and practices relating to malaria, EPI, sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine and existing health posters. Results were applied to develop an appropriate behaviour change communication strategy for IPTi involving personal communication between mothers and health staff, supported by a brand name and two posters.\ud \ud RESULTS\ud \ud Malaria in young children was considered to be a nuisance because it causes sleepless nights. Vaccination services were well accepted and their use was considered the mother's responsibility. Babies were generally taken for vaccination despite complaints about fevers and swellings after the injections. Sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine was widely used for malaria treatment and intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy, despite widespread rumours of adverse reactions based on hearsay and newspaper reports. Almost all health providers said that they or their spouse were ready to take SP in pregnancy (96%, 223/242). A brand name, key messages and images were developed and pre-tested as behaviour change communication materials. The posters contained public health messages, which explained the intervention itself, how and when children receive it and safety issues. Implementation of IPTi started in January 2005 and evaluation is ongoing.\ud \ud CONCLUSION\ud \ud Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) strategies for health interventions must be both culturally appropriate and technically sound. A mixed methods approach can facilitate an interactive process among relevant actors to develop a BCC strategy

Inventory of survey questions about the interests of the American public

Statement of responsibility on t.p. reads: Ithiel de Sola Pool, Gilbert E. Scharfenberger, David M. Griffel, Allan R. Kessler"#1997"--handwritten on coverPrepared for the Markle Foundatio

The cellular basis of distinct thirst modalities

Fluid intake is an essential innate behaviour that is mainly caused by two distinct types of thirst. Increased blood osmolality induces osmotic thirst that drives animals to consume pure water. Conversely, the loss of body fluid induces hypovolaemic thirst, in which animals seek both water and minerals (salts) to recover blood volume. Circumventricular organs in the lamina terminalis are critical sites for sensing both types of thirst-inducing stimulus. However, how different thirst modalities are encoded in the brain remains unknown. Here we employed stimulus-to-cell-type mapping using single-cell RNA sequencing to identify the cellular substrates that underlie distinct types of thirst. These studies revealed diverse types of excitatory and inhibitory neuron in each circumventricular organ structure. We show that unique combinations of these neuron types are activated under osmotic and hypovolaemic stresses. These results elucidate the cellular logic that underlies distinct thirst modalities. Furthermore, optogenetic gain of function in thirst-modality-specific cell types recapitulated water-specific and non-specific fluid appetite caused by the two distinct dipsogenic stimuli. Together, these results show that thirst is a multimodal physiological state, and that different thirst states are mediated by specific neuron types in the mammalian brain

Förderpläne: Instrument zur Förderung oder „bürokratisches Mittel“? Eine empirische Untersuchung zum Einsatz von Förderplänen

Förderplanung gilt als eine Voraussetzung für die individuelle Förderung von Lernenden in inklusiven und separativen Schulformen und die Erstellung von Förderplänen wird häufig gefordert. Allerdings ist noch wenig bekannt über deren Einsatz. Im vorliegenden Artikel werden erstens bisherige Forschungsergebnisse zu dieser Thematik berichtet. Zweitens wird eine Studie vorgestellt, in der untersucht wurde, ob und wie Regel- und Förderlehrkräfte in inklusiven und separativen Schulformen Förderpläne einsetzen bzw. wie sie damit umgehen. 226 Lehrkräfte aus der Schweiz wurden schriftlich mit einem Onlinefragebogen befragt. 25 dieser Lehrkräfte wurden im Anschluss an einen Unterrichtsbesuch interviewt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Förderpläne dort, wo sie verbindlich eingefordert werden, meistens erstellt werden. Allerdings steht in der Regel die Legitimations- oder Dokumentarfunktion im Zentrum und nicht die Förderung bzw. die Zielvereinbarung und -fokussierung. Auf der Sekundarstufe scheinen Förderpläne nicht verwendet zu werden. Zudem werden Förderpläne nicht für die Unterrichtsplanung genutzt. Die Frage, ob und wie Förderplanung und Unterrichtsplanung miteinander verbunden werden können, ist somit ein wichtiges Thema für die zukünftige Entwicklungs- und Forschungsarbeit

Propuesta de mapa de riesgo sísmico para la estimación de pérdidas mediante curvas de fragilidad de sistemas estructurales típicos usando la metodología fema-hazus para el distrito de Surquillo en Lima

Se sabe que la mayoría de las viviendas en el Perú no cumplen con las normas de edificaciones, por ello abunda la autoconstrucción debido muchas veces a las limitaciones económicas. Esto puede presentar mayor vulnerabilidad frente a algún movimiento telúrico en la costa peruana. Es necesario cuantificar el daño estructural de las edificaciones comunes producido por un sismo mediante las curvas de fragilidad. Los métodos empleados para evaluar el riesgo sísmico generalmente son abstrusos ya que se necesita evaluar la curva de capacidad de cada vivienda seleccionada, utilizando un análisis no lineal o por desempeño sísmico; por ello en un área de mayor amplitud como en el caso de un distrito se vuelven poco convencionales para la estimación de perdidas. Por este motivo, en el presente trabajo de investigación, se emplea un método de la vulnerabilidad sísmica utilizando las curvas de fragilidad propuestas por el FEMA. Si bien las construcciones americanas presentan características propias de lugar y la calidad de los materiales de las diferentes tipologías estructurales, se puede utilizar la metodología HAZUS pero adaptándolas a la realidad peruana. Debido a esto, las viviendas serán analizadas en el mapa de riesgo sísmico para escenarios que comprenden las siguientes clasificaciones de intensidad del sismo: frecuente, ocasional, raro y muy raro, analizando así el comportamiento y los niveles de daño alcanzados para cada caso, con ello se podrá determinar las pérdidas para cada situación.It is known that most of the houses in Peru do not comply with the building standards, therefore self-construction abounds, often due to economic limitations. This may present greater vulnerability to any telluric movement on the Peruvian coast. It is necessary to quantify the structural damage of common buildings produced by an earthquake using the fragility curves. The methods used to evaluate the seismic risk are generally abstruse since it is necessary to evaluate the capacity curve of each selected dwelling, using a nonlinear analysis or by seismic performance; therefore, in a larger area, such as a district, they become unconventional for loss estimation. For this reason, in this research work, a seismic vulnerability method is used using the fragility curves proposed by FEMA. Although the American constructions present their own characteristics of place and the quality of the materials of the different structural typologies, the HAZUS methodology can be used but adapting them to the Peruvian reality. Due to this, the houses will be analyzed in the seismic risk map for scenarios that include the following earthquake intensity classifications: frequent, occasional, rare and very rare, thus analyzing the behavior and the levels of damage achieved for each case, with this can determine the losses for each situation.Tesi

Sistematización del balance térmico en la máquina 4 de Propal S.A

En el proceso de secado que se realiza en una máquina de papel, se lleva a cabo la evaporación del agua contenida en la hoja de papel, esto se realiza mediante la transferencia de la energía térmica, proveniente del vapor, hacia el papel húmedo por medio de una serie de cilindros dispuestos por grupos dentro de una sección de secado; en esta fase de la fabricación del papel, los consumos de energía son mayores; por consiguiente, es la parte del proceso más costosa operacionalmente. En este trabajo se presenta el balance térmico realizado para la sección de secado de la máquina de papel 4 (MP-4) PROPAL S.A., con el fin de modelar de manera aproximada el comportamiento en operación de la máquina en la sección de secado. Mediante la aplicación de este balance térmico, se pueden obtener los requerimientos energéticos para el proceso, consumos de vapor por grupo de secadores, consumos de vapor para calentamiento del aire, pérdidas energéticas del sistema, eficiencia del proceso y costos de la energía térmica usada en el mismo; esto permite hacer comparaciones entre la operación térmica real de la maquina y la operación esperada, lo cual, puede dar pautas acerca de que camino tomar en la búsqueda de mejorar la eficiencia en la sección de secado. Este balance puede ser aplicado a la mayoría de las máquinas de papel siempre y cuando sean máquinas multicilindros. Con el fin de facilitar el proceso de cálculo y obtención de resultados se ha sistematizado dicho balance mediante el empleo del programa Visual Basic 6.0 y de esta manera modelar el comportamiento energético de la máquina para diferentes estados de operación de una manera rápida evitando tediosos cálculos, también facilitar la tarea en la búsqueda de una operación óptima del proceso y los ahorros que esto conllevaríaPasantía (Ingeniero Mecánico)-- Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, 2008PregradoIngeniero(a) Mecánico(a

A Strategic Vision for Telemedicine and Medical Informatics in Space Flight

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63255/1/15305620050503924.pd