Examining Associations Between Preschool Home Literacy Experiences, Language, Cognition And Early Word Reading: Evidence From A Longitudinal Study

Research Findings: The study investigated whether preschool code-related home literacy experiences had direct associations with regular and irregular word reading in the first year of primary school as well as exploring whether there were indirect associations between these experiences and later word reading via children\u2019s language skills or inhibitory control. The parents of 274 preschool children completed a home learning questionnaire at time 1 (Mage  = 3:11). At time 2, the children completed phonological awareness, vocabulary, inhibitory control and nonverbal reasoning assessments (Mage  = 4:3) and at time 3 a word reading assessment (Mage  = 5:3). Letter-sound interactions (a code-related home literacy index that included discussions about letter-sound associations) bore significant associations with children\u2019s word reading, whereas letter activities (a code-related index that was less focussed on letter-sound links) did not. Path analyses indicated that letter-sound interactions directly predicted regular word reading and predicted regular and irregular word reading indirectly via children\u2019s phonological awareness. These findings highlight that different aspects of code-related home literacy experiences are differentially associated with later word reading skills. Practice and Policy: The findings suggest that parents\u2019 integration of interactive, age-appropriate discussions that focus on letter-sound associations into children\u2019s everyday experiences may support emerging word decoding skills

Pre-Schoolers’ Home Numeracy and Home Literacy Experiences and Their Relationships with Early Number Skills: Evidence from a UK Study

Research Findings. It has been proposed that the home literacy environment may influence the development of early number skills. However, the results of studies examining the association between home literacy experiences and early number skills are mixed. This could be due to the way that the home literacy experiences are conceptualized and measured. This study examines the relationship between early number skills and aspects of the home learning environment. Alongside home number experiences and parental mathematical attitudes, two types of home literacy experiences were examined in a sample of 274 pre-schoolers (mean age 4:0, SD 4 months); code-focused home literacy experiences that focus on the phonological and orthographic features of language, and meaning-focused home literacy experiences that focus on sharing the meaning of language and text. Home number experiences and letter-sound interactions (interactive code-focused literacy experiences) were related to the children’s counting, number transcoding, and calculation skills whereas meaning-focused home literacy experiences and parental mathematical attitudes were largely unrelated to these early number skills. Structural equation models indicated that only letter-sound interactions could predict statistically significant unique variance in counting, number transcoding, and calculation. Practice or Policy. These findings suggest that code– rather than meaning-focused home literacy experiences are related to pre-schoolers early number skills. Supporting parents to engage in code-focused home literacy experiences may benefit pre-schoolers number skills as well as their emergent literacy

A Light Calibration System for the ProtoDUNE-DP Detector

A LED-based fiber calibration system for the ProtoDUNE-Dual Phase (DP) photon detection system (PDS) has been designed and validated. ProtoDUNE-DP is a 6x6x6 m3 liquid argon time-projection-chamber currently being installed at the Neutrino Platform at CERN. The PDS is based on 36 8-inch photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and will allow triggering on cosmic rays. The system serves as prototype for the PDS of the final DUNE DP far detector in which the PDS also has the function to allow the 3D event reconstruction on non-beam physics. For this purpose an equalized PMT response is desirable to allow using the same threshold definition for all PMT groups, simplifying the determination of the trigger efficiency. The light calibration system described in this paper is developed to provide this and to monitor the PMT performance in-situ.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Characteristics of the preschool home literacy environment which predict writing skills at school

Aspects of the preschool home learning environment which may foster reading development have been identified, although their relationships with spelling and writing remain unclear. The present study explored associations between the preschool home literacy environment (HLE), language and nonverbal abilities and children’s spelling and writing skills measured two years later. A parental questionnaire recorded the reported frequency of pre-schoolers’ code- and meaning-related home literacy experiences, alongside an index of book exposure. One hundred and twenty one children (60 female, Mage= 6:7 SD= 3.67 months) contributed data assessing their transcription skills, indexed by handwriting fluency and word spelling, and translation abilities, indexed by sentence generation and the ability to produce more extended text. Exploratory factor analyses confirmed distinct factors relating to the productivity and complexity of writing samples. Regression analyses revealed that the frequency of preschool code-related, letter-sound interactions explained significant variance in children’s transcription skills at school, independently of earlier language and nonverbal abilities. In contrast, experiences in the preschool HLE were not related to the higher level writing skills of translation and text production. The implications of the findings for our understanding of the cognitive and environmental factors associated with children’s early writing development are discussed

Persistencia de leguminosas nativas en fincas ganaderas y su influencia en el aporte de nitrógeno y la producción de leche. II. Relaciones con los rendimientos de materia seca del pasto y la respuesta animal

Native legume population effect on grazing grounds and milk production, as well as the incidence of a number of factors affecting these plants were assessed. To this end, legumes effect upon grass yield and milk production was evaluated on two dairy farms. Besides, a partial budget analysis was performed to determine economic advantages derived from legumes introduction on dairy farms. Important relations between grass dry matter yield and legumes percentage in grassland were found out through a second grade polynomial equation (P<0,01) in which Y = grass yield, and X = legume percent, resulting in R2 = 0, 93. This result showed that values near to 50 % of legumes increase grass yield on grazing grounds. A significant relation between milk produced and legume population was detected. The partial budget analysis proved the economic advantages of introducing native legumes on grazing grounds.Con el objetivo de evaluar el efecto de las poblaciones de leguminosas nativas en pastoreo, la incidencia de factores que las afectan y cómo influyen estas plantas en la producción lechera, se estimó su efecto en el rendimiento de las gramíneas y en la producción de leche en dos vaquerías. Además se realizó un análisis de presupuesto parcial para determinar las ventajas económicas de la adopción de las leguminosas en las fincas. Se determinaron relaciones importantes entre los rendimientos de materia seca de las gramíneas y el por ciento de leguminosas presentes en las asociaciones, con una ecuación polinomial de segundo grado, (P<0,01) donde Y= rendimiento de las gramíneas y X = % de leguminosas, hallándose un R2 = 0,93 que demostró que valores cercanos al 50 % de leguminosas, siguen incrementando los rendimientos de las gramíneas en los potreros. Se comprobó una relación significativa entre la leche producida y la población de leguminosas. El análisis de presupuesto parcial indicó la factibilidad económica de la adopción de las leguminosas nativas

Resultados del estudio geológico a escala 1/25.000 del término municipal de Madrid.

Se exponen de forma abreviada los rasgos en cuanto a metodología y conclusiones del estudio geológico a escala 1/25000 realizado en el Municipio de Madrid en los años 1982/83. Las diferentes unidades expresadas en la cartografiase describen en función de las pautas mayores observables en los materiales que forman cada una de ellas, analizándose sus relaciones estratigráficas. El Proyecto «Estudio Geológico a escala 1/25000 del Término Municipal de Madrid ha sido llevado a cabo a lo largo de los años 1982-83 como resultado de la colaboración científica entre diversos organismos de la Administración (Facultad de CC. Geológicas-Universidad Complutense, Instituto Geológico y Minero. Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Instituto de Geología de Madrid-CSIC, y otros). Constituye una de las áreas de actuación definidas dentro del Convenio de Colaboración Técnica y Cultural para el conocimiento de las Características del Suelo y Subsuelo de Madrid», propiciado y patrocinado por el Excmo. Ayuntamiento. La financiación del proyecto especifico de Geología ha sido realizada íntegramente por el IGME, organismo encargado además de su supervisión. El desarrollo del Proyecto tiene un marcado carácter interdisciplinar, fruto del trasvase de información entre los distintos grupos que abarca el Convenio general (aparte de los ya referidos, el SGOP, COPLACO, Laboratorio «José Luis Escario» siendo precisamente uno de los objetivos del trabajo el servir de apoyo a las restantes áreas de investigación. Los estudios geológicos realizados se plasman en un total de siete mapas a escala 1/25000 elaborados según la normativa Magna de cartografía geológica mapas que toman como referencia, aunque en algunos casos no las completan y en otros adosan porciones de hojas adyacentes, las hojas 1/25000 de Madrid, Alcorcón, El Pardo, San Femando de Henares, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Alcobendas y Castillo de Viñuelas

MRCP compared to diagnostic ERCP for diagnosis when biliary obstruction is suspected: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is an alternative to diagnostic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for investigating biliary obstruction. The use of MRCP, a non-invasive procedure, may prevent the use of unnecessary invasive procedures. The aim of the study was to compare the findings of MRCP with those of ERCP by the computation of accuracy statistics. METHODS: Thirteen electronic bibliographic databases, covering biomedical, science, health economics and grey literature were searched. A systematic review of studies comparing MRCP to diagnostic ERCP in patients with suspected biliary obstruction was conducted. Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, acceptability and adverse events were reported. RESULTS: 25 studies were identified reporting several conditions including choledocholithiasis (18 studies), malignancy (four studies), obstruction (three studies), stricture (two studies) and dilatation (five studies). Three of the 18 studies reporting choledocholithiasis were excluded from the analysis due to lack of data, or differences in study design. The sensitivity for the 15 studies of choledocholithiasis ranged from 0.50 to 1.00 while specificity ranged from 0.83 to 1.00. The positive likelihood ratio ranged: from 5.44–47.72 and the negative likelihood ratio for the 15 studies ranged from 0.00–0.51. Significant heterogeneity was found across the 15 studies so the sensitivities and specificities were summarised by a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. For malignancy, sensitivity ranged from 0.81 to 0.94 and specificity from 0.92 to 1.00. Positive likelihood ratios ranged from 10.12 to 43 and negative likelihood ratios ranged from 0.15 to 0.21, although these estimates were less reliable. CONCLUSION: MRCP is a comparable diagnostic investigation in comparison to ERCP for diagnosing biliary obstruction