The Classroom Observation Schedule to Measure Intentional Communication (COSMIC): An observational measure of the intentional communication of children with autism in an unstructured classroom setting

The Classroom Observation Schedule to Measure Intentional Communication (COSMIC) was devised to provide ecologically valid outcome measures for a communication-focused intervention trial. Ninety-one children with autism spectrum disorder aged 6 years 10 months (SD 16 months) were videoed during their everyday snack, teaching and free play activities. Inter-rater reliability was high and relevant items showed significant associations with comparable items from concurrent Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – Generic (Lord et al., 2000) assessments. In a subsample of 28 children initial differences in rates of initiations, initiated speech/vocalisation and commenting were predictive of language and communication competence 15 months later. Results suggest that the use of observational measures of intentional communication in natural settings is a valuable assessment strategy for research and clinical practice

Violent Video Game Playing, Aggression and Wellbeing in Emerging Adulthood

Purpose This study aimed to explore the relationship between level of violence in video games played problem game playing and engagement in gaming aggression empathy and wellbeing Method This study used an online survey with questionnaire data collection in a sample of 304 emerging adults aged between 18 and 24 years of age 124 males and 180 females Findings The model proposed was supported by the data and suggests that the relationship between violence in games and aggression and empathy is mediated by engagement and addictive tendencies and the impact on wellbeing is largely through aggression and empathy Conclusions We conclude that future research should take cognisance of these mediational factors and consider the developmental stage of participants in order to get a clearer picture of effect

Urban escalators and inter-regional elevators: the difference that location, mobility and sectoral specialisation make to occupational progression

This paper uses evidence from the (British) Longitudinal Study to examine the influence on occupational advancement of the city-region of residence (an escalator effect) and of relocation between city-regions (an elevator effect). It shows both effects to be substantively important, though less so than the sector of employment. Elevator effects are found to be associated with moves from slacker to tighter regional labour markets. Escalator effects, on the other hand, are linked with residence in larger urban agglomerations, though not specifically London, but also across most of the Greater South East and in second/third order city-regions elsewhere. Sectoral escalator effects are found to be particularly strong in knowledge-intensive activities, with concentrations of these, as of other advanced job types (rather than of graduate labour), contributing strongly to the more dynamic city-regional escalators. The impact of the geographic effects is found to vary substantially with both observed and unobserved personal characteristics, being substantially stronger for the young and for those whose unobserved attributes (e.g. dynamic human capital) generally boost rates of occupational advance

How do you teach a controversial topic like Brexit?

How do you teach a current, controversial topic such as Brexit? Claire Gordon speaks to Tony Travers and Swati Dhingra, two well-known academics, about how they discuss Brexit in their classrooms. How do lecturers incorporate Brexit into their curricula when teaching? How do they teach such a polarising topic and what has the response from students been? Tony teaches a course on The Politics and the Policies of Brexit: the UK’s changing relationship with the European Union, a course for undergraduates and postgraduates. He is the Director of LSE London and a professor in the School of Public Policy. Swati is based in the Department of Economics and teaches courses in international economics at the undergraduate, Master’s, and doctoral levels

Design of a numerical solar dynamo model.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Meteorology, 1971.Vita.Bibliography: leaves 277-285.Ph.D