Home and Business Energy Reduction

Course Code: ENR/AEDE 4567The focus of our project is to reduce energy consumption community-wide by 20% over the next five years within the residential and commercial sectors. This 20% reduction is a goal within Green Memo III, set forth by the City of Columbus and Mayor Michael B. Coleman. Focusing on five objectives, we conducted research, gathered data on best practices from cities that have been making strides in this area, reached out to key energy providers, and provided a cost-benefit analysis on the financial feasibility of our goals. We hope to advise Columbus decision makers on how to effectively target homes and commercial buildings in order to market energy efficiency programs. We believe these programs will effectively reduce overall energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the City of Columbus.Academic Major: Environment, Economy, Development, and Sustainabilit

Identification. The missing link between joint attention and imitation

In this paper we outline our hypothesis that human intersubjective engagement entails identifying with other people. We tested a prediction derived from this hypothesis that concerned the relation between a component of joint attention and a specific form of imitation. The empirical investigation involved “blind” ratings of videotapes from a recent study in which we tested matched children with and without autism for their propensity to imitate the self-/other-orientated aspects of another person's actions. The results were in keeping with three a priori predictions, as follows: (a) children with autism contrasted with control participants in spending more time looking at the objects acted upon and less time looking at the tester; (b) participants with autism showed fewer “sharing” looks toward the tester, and although they also showed fewer “checking” and “orientating” looks, they were specifically less likely to show any sharing looks; and, critically, (c) within each group, individual differences in sharing looks (only) were associated with imitation of self–other orientation. We suggest that the propensity to adopt the bodily anchored psychological stance of another person is essential to certain forms of joint attention and imitation, and that a weak tendency to identify with others is pivotal for the developmental psychopathology of autism

A Comparison of a Literature Based Approach with a Textbook Based Approach in Secondary Social Studies

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of using a literature based approach to instruction with a traditional textbook based approach in the content area of social studies. The study was performed at the secondary level, with eleventh grade students, in a four week unit on the Civil War and period of Reconstruction in United States history. A treatment and control group were used in a pretest – posttest design. The sample consisted of 50 students. One class (n = 26) was instructed through the use of a literature based approach. The other class (n = 24) was instructed through the use of school adopted textbook and textbook published materials. Both classes were taught by the same instructor and were equated using a pretest to determine the amount of previous knowledge of the subject studied. Students were administered a posttest at the end of the four week unit. Questions on the test were drawn from previously given Regents exams. The data were analyzed at the .05 level of significance using t test of independent means. The overall mean gains for the literature based group were significant. It was concluded the literature based instructional approach more effectively conveyed information, knowledge and understandings necessary for students to perform better on the Regents exam type posttest. Suggestions for classroom applications and implications for further study were discussed

Large-scale associations between the leukocyte transcriptome and BOLD responses to speech differ in autism early language outcome subtypes.

Heterogeneity in early language development in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is clinically important and may reflect neurobiologically distinct subtypes. Here, we identified a large-scale association between multiple coordinated blood leukocyte gene coexpression modules and the multivariate functional neuroimaging (fMRI) response to speech. Gene coexpression modules associated with the multivariate fMRI response to speech were different for all pairwise comparisons between typically developing toddlers and toddlers with ASD and poor versus good early language outcome. Associated coexpression modules were enriched in genes that are broadly expressed in the brain and many other tissues. These coexpression modules were also enriched in ASD-associated, prenatal, human-specific, and language-relevant genes. This work highlights distinctive neurobiology in ASD subtypes with different early language outcomes that is present well before such outcomes are known. Associations between neuroimaging measures and gene expression levels in blood leukocytes may offer a unique in vivo window into identifying brain-relevant molecular mechanisms in ASD

A Comparison of a Literature Based Approach with a Textbook Based Approach in Secondary Social Studies

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of using a literature based approach to instruction with a traditional textbook based approach in the content area of social studies. The study was performed at the secondary level, with eleventh grade students, in a four week unit on the Civil War and period of Reconstruction in United States history. A treatment and control group were used in a pretest – posttest design. The sample consisted of 50 students. One class (n = 26) was instructed through the use of a literature based approach. The other class (n = 24) was instructed through the use of school adopted textbook and textbook published materials. Both classes were taught by the same instructor and were equated using a pretest to determine the amount of previous knowledge of the subject studied. Students were administered a posttest at the end of the four week unit. Questions on the test were drawn from previously given Regents exams. The data were analyzed at the .05 level of significance using t test of independent means. The overall mean gains for the literature based group were significant. It was concluded the literature based instructional approach more effectively conveyed information, knowledge and understandings necessary for students to perform better on the Regents exam type posttest. Suggestions for classroom applications and implications for further study were discussed.SUNY BrockportEducation and Human DevelopmentMaster of Science in Education (MSEd)Education and Human Development Master's These

What Our Hands Say: Exploring Gesture Use in Subgroups of Children With Language Delay

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate whether children with receptive-expressive language delay (R/ELD) and expressive-only language delay (ELD) differ in their use of gesture; to examine relationships between their use of gesture, symbolic comprehension, and language; to consider implications for assessment and for the nature of problems underlying different profiles of early language delay. Method Twelve children with ELD (8 boys, 4 girls) and 10 children with R/ELD (8 boys, 2 girls), aged 2–3 years, were assessed on measures of gesture use and symbolic comprehension. Results Performance of the R/ELD group was significantly poorer than performance of the ELD group on measures of gesture and symbolic comprehension. Gesture use and symbolic comprehension were significantly associated with receptive language, but associations with expressive language were not significant. Conclusions Findings of this study support previous research pointing to links between gesture and language development, and more specifically, between delays in gesture, symbolic understanding, and receptive rather than expressive language. Given potentially important implications for the nature of problems underlying ELD and R/ELD, and for assessment of children with language delay, this preliminary study invites further investigation comparing the use of different gesture types in samples of children matched on age and nonverbal IQ

Construction and validation of an developmental profile assessment tool for children with autistic spectrum disorder

Nos últimos anos a investigação tem dado particular relevância às alterações do Processamento Sensorial nas crianças com perturbações do espectro do autismo (PEA) e a literatura refere que entre 42% a 88% das crianças com PEA apresentam este tipo de disfunção. Nesta linha foi definido um projeto de investigação centrado na construção de uma escala que avalie a tradicional tríade que caracteriza as crianças com PEA (Interação, Comunicação e Comportamento e interesses repetitivos e estereotipados), enriquecida pela inclusão de um novo domínio: o Processamento Sensorial. Com a construção e validação desta escala pretendemos que pais e profissionais utilizem colaborativamente um instrumento de avaliação da intervenção que lhes permita monitorizar o processo de apoio e adequar as suas práticas. Neste artigo descrevemos os procedimentos e os resultados das sucessivas fases de construção do instrumento, desde as análises iniciais mais qualitativas até aos estudos centrados na análise quantitativa dos itens.During the last few years, research has focused on changes in Sensory Processing in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). As a result, literature has shown that between 42% and 88% of children with ASD present this type of disorder. Based on these findings, a research project was designed centring on the construction of a tool to assess the traditional triad that characterizes children with ASD (Interaction, Communication and Behaviour and Repetitive and Stereotyped Interests), to which was added a new domain: Sensory Processing. By constructing and validating this assessment tool, the intention is for parents and professionals to collaboratively apply this intervention assessment instrument in order to monitor the support process and adapt their practices. In this paper, we describe procedures and results of the successive stages entailed in constructing this instrument, from the first primarily qualitative analyses up to the studies centred on the quantitative item analysis.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)ABPEE - Associação Brasileira de Pesquisadores em Educação EspecialConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)CAPESMinistério da Educação - BrasilMinistério da Ciência e da Tecnologia - BrasilGoverno Federal - Brasi

Incorporating Scripts with Cooperative Learning to Promote Critical Thinking Skills in Secondary Science

A drastic growth of scientific and technological advancements in the 21st century have allowed for new jobs with innovative processes that require individuals who possess the ability to think deductively, reason through problems, and obtain information that can support the potential solutions to these problems. Many of the technological advancements have reduced the necessity to only memorize rote facts; rather, much of this information can be found through a quick internet search. What is needed, therefore, is education which requires students to think deeper than before – to examine new information through a more critical lens. The purpose of this research study is to investigate how the introduction of collaborative scripts into the cooperative learning of students in a secondary science classroom impacts critical thinking skills. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent control-group design was implemented. The sample was drawn from eight sections of ninth grade science at a secondary public school in a northeastern state. Students engaged in project-based learning with cooperation with peers on an inquiry-based science lesson with phenomena. The experimental group was presented with scripts to begin asking thoughtful questions of peers about the phenomena being studied. The control group was instructed to engage in peer discourse as they normally would. The CCT-X was administered to all participants as a pretest and posttest. The data was analyzed via ANCOVA testing. Although a greater improvement in scores can be seen in the group that was exposed to the cooperative scripts, the results were not statistically significant. Future recommendations were identified, such as recruiting a larger sample size, implementing a longer duration for the intervention of collaborative scripts, and considering a new instrument for measuring critical thinking skills