A Review of Behavior Analysis in Education

Most education research in applied behavior analysis (ABA) is specific to early learners, which presents significant opportunity to better determine the effectiveness of various instruction methods for college-aged learners (CALs). Within the context of pedagogy, or method of teaching, ABA is the scientific study of the effect of instructional techniques on student behaviors. The available research for college-aged learners is scattered, non-definitive, and has gaps over time. Despite declension over the past half-century, research examining evidence-based practices in education has identified multiple approaches to help instructors manage and improve individual student behaviors and academic performance for CALs. In this review, I evaluated the available research in education generally, identified methods with the most empirically supported evidence as a best practice for teachers, and suggested topics for future research to help fill in some of the current knowledge gaps in ABA within the confines of education. Additionally, I reviewed the available behavior-analytic research with CALs. These studies were evaluated by determining whether the instructional methods demonstrated clear results with significant improvements in student behaviors and student satisfaction. Analysis of the research identified personalized system of instruction (PSI) as the most effective teaching method for improving CAL outcomes. Given this finding, it is recommended that researchers in the field of ABA who are focused on CALs, develop more methods specific to PSI, encourage teachers apply them in a real-world setting, and determine how best to make this information widely available

Open data from the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo are monitoring the sky and collecting gravitational-wave strain data with sufficient sensitivity to detect signals routinely. In this paper we describe the data recorded by these instruments during their first and second observing runs. The main data products are gravitational-wave strain time series sampled at 16384 Hz. The datasets that include this strain measurement can be freely accessed through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center at http://gw-openscience.org, together with data-quality information essential for the analysis of LIGO and Virgo data, documentation, tutorials, and supporting software