Relations between Preschool Children’s Planning Ability, Self-Regulation and Early Literacy Skills

Thirty preschool children (18 boys, mean age = 54 months, SD = 6.82, range = 39 to 67 months) were recruited from a local University preschool center. Experimenters visited the preschool on one occasion and administered planning and inhibitory control tasks. Teachers’ reported on children’s temperament and data regarding early literacy skills. Consistent with expectations, teacher-rated attention focusing and inhibitory control were associated with better observed inhibitory control. Results unexpectedly showed that higher observed inhibitory control and lower teacher-rated anger/frustration, sadness, high intensity pleasure, and impulsivity, and higher teacher-rated inhibitory control and soothability were associated with a greater number of trials needed for successful completion of the two planning tasks. Perhaps children with better inhibitory control and lower overall difficulties in temperament were more likely to persist to completion in the face of task complexity

Cultural Biases in the Weschler Memory Scale iii (WMS-iii)

The Wechsler Memory Scale –iii is the newest version of a six-decade old neuropsychological inventory. Since its conception, the Wechsler Memory Scale has been highly utilized by practitioners to accurately assess various memory functions in adult subjects. Revisions made within this inventory include the Faces I subtest, a facial recognition scale, which was added in order to strengthen the instrument’s accuracy at measuring episodic memory. Facial recognition, both cross-race and within-race, has been researched extensively and consistent biases have been found between race of test taker and cross-racial identification. Theories of exposure/contextual interaction (environment) and biological foundations have been the subject of study in the past in order to determine from where these racial identification deficits stem. The current study focuses on revealing bias in the Faces I subtest, regarding to an unequal distribution of racially representative faces in the testing materials. Eighty-eight college students were recruited to view forty-eight pictured faces from the Faces I subtest and determine the racial category to which the pictured face belonged. The subjects’ categorical responses were the basis for calculating a percent agreement score for racial category of each face. It was determined, using the results of subjects’ responses, that the Faces I subtest contained an unequal distribution of racially representative faces in both the Target and Interference testing material. This confirmed the presence of an inherent bias within the subscale. The implications of memory accuracy for the WMS-iii are discussed as it relates to different fields of study, but none more directly than the criminal justice system. Eyewitness testimony is a pivotal evidentiary tool in the criminal justice system, and ramifications of cross-racial identification deficits and biases in the tools to accurately assess memory are increasingly bringing this once heavily relied upon tool into question

Faculty Adoption of Computer Technology for Instruction in the North Carolina Community College System.

Computer technology has become an integral part of instruction at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels. Some instructors have enthusiastically adopted technological innovations in their classrooms, often expending their own funds for hardware and software, while others have resisted the trend, citing a myriad of reasons for not including computer technology. Significant research on the adoption of innovations has been undertaken by Everett M. Rogers, who identified individuals on a continuum from Innovator to Laggard. Rogers’ research was used as a basis to classify full-time faculty teaching in degree programs in the North Carolina Community College System and to compare these faculty members on five demographic variables. While faculty did not differ on age, gender or race/ethnicity, they did differ regarding their years of teaching experience and highest degree attained. Faculty in the North Carolina Community College were further identified as either users or non-users of computer technology in instruction and were analyzed on the same five demographic characteristics as were evaluated with the Rogers continuum. No differences were found in any of the five categories. Faculty members who reported employing technology for instruction often utilized multiple techniques, such as e-mail contact with students, posting assignments and other information on course websites, and using course management software for recordkeeping functions. Non-users identified a number of reasons for not incorporating technology into instruction, as well as which strategies might be employed to encourage them to adopt computer technology into instruction. Faculty classified as users or non-users of computer technology in instruction identified the presence of technology change agents in their organizations, and stated that other faculty members, or the president or other members of senior administration filled these roles

Supposed trans-Atlantic migration of Heterostegina around the Eocene/Oligocene boundary

According to our hypothesis, Heterostegina ocalana migrated eastward through the previously much narrower Atlantic Ocean around the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Sporadic populations of H. n. sp., its phylogenetic successor, survived in the western part of the Neotethys until the end of the Rupelian, when they became extinct

Regulating Non-territorial Commercial Environments in Territorial-based Legal Systems

The purpose of the following work is the identification and analysis of the legal and technological challenges that transnational electronic commerce carried out over open computermediated networks presents to legal systems based on territorial principles in order to delineate global and systematic solutions to this new non-territorial commercial environment. A possible global, systematic and technologically oriented legal solution will create a new commercial environment safer for consumers, more predictable for businesses and with equal opportunities of access and growth for all countries

Numerical implementation of a functional observability algorithm : a singular value decomposition approach

The paper outlines a numerical algorithm to implement the concept of Functional Observability introduced in [6] based on a Singular Value Decomposition approach. The key feature of this algorithm is in outputting a minimum number of additional linear functions of the state vector when the system is Functional Observable, these additional functions are required to design the smallest possible order functional observer as stated in [6]

Functional observability

A simple theorem for Functional Observability is presented considering the observable and unobservable states of a system based on Kalman decomposition. The proposed theorem is also consistent with two other theorems on Functional Observability which was based on eigen decomposition [6]. The paper also reports a new definition for Functional Observability which is consistent with previously reported definitions and theorems [4], [5], [6]