An investigation into the effectiveness of paired reading with the incorporation of additional error corrective procedures

The aim of this literature review was to examine the effectiveness of the Paired Reading (PR) intervention, a one-to-one instruction approach to improving children\u27s fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. The effectiveness of PR in promoting a positive attitude towards reading and in increasing children\u27s sense of self-efficacy in reading was also investigated, focusing principally on children whose level of reading was below what was expected for their chronological age. It addressed the question of how well the intervention can be implemented by parents and explored the strategies used in PR to elucidate what aspects of the intervention may contribute to its success. The effectiveness of PR was also compared with other, less structured, reading methods such as Relaxed Reading and the Pause-Prompt-Praise intervention. Limitations were discussed in light of the literature and directions for future research were outlined. Children struggling to meet classroom curriculum standards due to insufficient reading mastery must receive immediate help to improve their reading skills to a viable level to prevent academic failure. The Paired Reading (PR) intervention incorporates strategies promoting enjoyable reading and numerous studies have supported its efficacy. However, research comparing PR with less structured reading methods that rely principally on positive feedback has found little difference in outcome, suggesting that it is positive feedback that accounts for PR\u27s success. Thus, this study compared PR with a variation of this intervention, Error Correction Reading (ECR), incorporating additional corrective procedures, to investigate whether these procedures would increase its efficacy, particularly in relation to reading accuracy and comprehension. Participants comprised five children who were behind in their reading, from three year three classes. As predicted, both interventions helped the children progress in their reading. However, the study failed to provide evidence for the superiority of ECR, complementing previous studies that suggest positive feedback primarily underlies PR\u27s success rather than error corrective procedures

The usefulness of accrual-based surpluses in the Canadian public sector

This paper investigates how useful accrual-based surpluses are when predicting future cash flows and surpluses in the context of the Canadian public sector. We provide evidence that surpluses incrementally enhance the ability of operating cash flows to predict future cash flows and surpluses. Analysis of our accrual quality model illustrates that in the public sector, accruals accounting is useful in mitigating the noise in operating cash flows. We also find that decomposing surpluses into operating cash flows and accruals enhances the ability of surpluses to forecast future cash flows and surpluses. Therefore, we conclude that aggregate and disaggregated surpluses are positively related to both relevance and reliability. We also find a lack of test results to support the presence of conservatism in the Canadian public sector, and confirm that the usefulness of surpluses in making predictions is independent of selected control factors

Parallel selection on ecologically relevant gene functions in the transcriptomes of highly diversifying salmonids

Background: Salmonid fishes are characterised by a very high level of variation in trophic, ecological, physiological, and life history adaptations. Some salmonid taxa show exceptional potential for fast, within-lake diversification into morphologically and ecologically distinct variants, often in parallel; these are the lake-resident charr and whitefish (several species in the genera Salvelinus and Coregonus). To identify selection on genes and gene categories associated with such predictable diversifications, we analysed 2702 orthogroups (4.82 Mbp total; average 4.77 genes/orthogroup; average 1783 bp/orthogroup). We did so in two charr and two whitefish species and compared to five other salmonid lineages, which do not evolve in such ecologically predictable ways, and one non-salmonid outgroup. Results: All selection analyses are based on Coregonus and Salvelinus compared to non-diversifying taxa. We found more orthogroups were affected by relaxed selection than intensified selection. Of those, 122 were under significant relaxed selection, with trends of an overrepresentation of serine family amino acid metabolism and transcriptional regulation, and significant enrichment of behaviour-associated gene functions. Seventy-eight orthogroups were under significant intensified selection and were enriched for signalling process and transcriptional regulation gene ontology terms and actin filament and lipid metabolism gene sets. Ninety-two orthogroups were under diversifying/positive selection. These were enriched for signal transduction, transmembrane transport, and pyruvate metabolism gene ontology terms and often contained genes involved in transcriptional regulation and development. Several orthogroups showed signs of multiple types of selection. For example, orthogroups under relaxed and diversifying selection contained genes such as ap1m2, involved in immunity and development, and slc6a8, playing an important role in muscle and brain creatine uptake. Orthogroups under intensified and diversifying selection were also found, such as genes syn3, with a role in neural processes, and ctsk, involved in bone remodelling. Conclusions: Our approach pinpointed relevant genomic targets by distinguishing among different kinds of selection. We found that relaxed, intensified, and diversifying selection affect orthogroups and gene functions of ecological relevance in salmonids. Because they were found consistently and robustly across charr and whitefish and not other salmonid lineages, we propose these genes have a potential role in the replicated ecological diversifications

Using the Theories of Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Procedural Justice to Reconceptualize Brazil’s Rejection of Bilateral Investment Treaties

In the past decade, investor-state arbitration has made tremendous gains in both credibility and use. There is now widespread accession to the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States. States have executed more than 2,000 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) defining the terms and conditions under which one (“investor”) state’s nationals and companies will invest in the other (“host”) state. Such terms include provisions allowing foreign investors to initiate arbitration proceedings against the host state, and at this point, more than 500 disputes have been submitted to investor-state arbitration. There is, however, one very notable example of a rapidly developing state that has rejected this system of international dispute resolution in favor of nation-level structures. That example is the largely industrialized state of Brazil. This Article begins by describing the economic and political context within which Brazil began its consideration of BITs. Then, this Article recounts Brazil’s history with BITs in some detail and examines alternative investment protection legislation adopted in Brazil. This Article then turns to Hirschman’s theory of exit, voice, and loyalty, as well as the theories and research of procedural justice, to apply them to Brazil’s history with BITs and to consider the particular relationship between procedural justice and loyalty. Ultimately, the Article urges that Hirschman’s theory and the theories and research regarding procedural justice encourage a reconceptualization of Brazil’s alleged “failure” in choosing not to ratify the BITs that had been negotiated by its diplomats

Parallel selection on ecologically relevant gene functions in the transcriptomes of highly diversifying salmonids

Background: Salmonid fishes are characterised by a very high level of variation in trophic, ecological, physiological, and life history adaptations. Some salmonid taxa show exceptional potential for fast, within-lake diversification into morphologically and ecologically distinct variants, often in parallel; these are the lake-resident charr and whitefish (several species in the genera Salvelinus and Coregonus). To identify selection on genes and gene categories associated with such predictable diversifications, we analysed 2702 orthogroups (4.82 Mbp total; average 4.77 genes/orthogroup; average 1783 bp/orthogroup). We did so in two charr and two whitefish species and compared to five other salmonid lineages, which do not evolve in such ecologically predictable ways, and one non-salmonid outgroup. Results: All selection analyses are based on Coregonus and Salvelinus compared to non-diversifying taxa. We found more orthogroups were affected by relaxed selection than intensified selection. Of those, 122 were under significant relaxed selection, with trends of an overrepresentation of serine family amino acid metabolism and transcriptional regulation, and significant enrichment of behaviour-associated gene functions. Seventy-eight orthogroups were under significant intensified selection and were enriched for signalling process and transcriptional regulation gene ontology terms and actin filament and lipid metabolism gene sets. Ninety-two orthogroups were under diversifying/positive selection. These were enriched for signal transduction, transmembrane transport, and pyruvate metabolism gene ontology terms and often contained genes involved in transcriptional regulation and development. Several orthogroups showed signs of multiple types of selection. For example, orthogroups under relaxed and diversifying selection contained genes such as ap1m2, involved in immunity and development, and slc6a8, playing an important role in muscle and brain creatine uptake. Orthogroups under intensified and diversifying selection were also found, such as genes syn3, with a role in neural processes, and ctsk, involved in bone remodelling. Conclusions: Our approach pinpointed relevant genomic targets by distinguishing among different kinds of selection. We found that relaxed, intensified, and diversifying selection affect orthogroups and gene functions of ecological relevance in salmonids. Because they were found consistently and robustly across charr and whitefish and not other salmonid lineages, we propose these genes have a potential role in the replicated ecological diversifications

Using the Theories of Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Procedural Justice to Reconceptualize Brazil\u27s Rejection of Bilateral Investment Treaties

In the past decade, investor-state arbitration has made tremendous gains in both credibility and use. There is now widespread accession to the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (“ICSID Convention” or “Washington Convention”). States have executed more than 2,000 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) defining the terms and conditions under which one (“investor”) state’s nationals and companies will invest in the other (“host”) state. Such terms include provisions allowing foreign investors to initiate arbitration proceedings against the host state, and at this point, more than 500 disputes have been submitted to investor-state arbitration. There is, however, one very notable example of a rapidly developing state that has rejected this system of international dispute resolution in favor of nation-level structures. That example is the largely industrialized state of Brazil.Brazil boasts the seventh largest economy in the world, $65 billion in foreign direct investment, and enticing investment opportunities in advance of its hosting of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. But Brazil does not have a single BIT in force. Brazil’s notorious absence from international investment arbitration has been described as the product of the region’s recent economic history, coupled with technical and political barriers that have impeded the ratification of BITs in particular. Some commentators have also found that Brazil’s failure to enact BITs and its general avoidance of international forums for dispute resolution are largely the result of shifting priorities on the part of the executive branch of the Brazilian government.Those who are most interested in international investment arbitration often present Brazil’s choice not to ratify its BITs as problematic and, indeed, as a failure. This label, however, is only used by certain audiences in assessing Brazil’s actions.Using Hirschman’s theory of exit, voice, and loyalty — supplemented by procedural justice research and theory — a different conclusion emerges. The failure of Brazil’s executive and legislative branches to reach agreement on BITs represents a story of Brazilian legislators’ exit from the product that had been negotiated by the state’s diplomats. But this exit also evidences the executive’s acknowledgement and even-handed, dignified treatment of the voice expressed by Brazilian legislators. Ultimately, such voice and acknowledgement led to executive and legislative collaboration in the creation of new, unbundled legislation that responded to state concerns while also providing sufficient protection to foreign investors. Such products include: constitutional equal protection for foreign investors, protections for the free flow of capital, double taxation treaties, investment opportunities through privatization and concessions, and arbitration law reforms.For Brazil’s domestic constituents and its foreign investors, these alternative approaches to investment protection actually represent superior products that were more responsive than BITs to the needs and interests of the state at that time. Far from representing failure, then, the development of these products represents a success for Brazil’s domestic and foreign stakeholders. Perhaps as evidence of this, foreign investment in Brazil continues to be strong.Meanwhile, Brazil’s role in foreign investment has evolved as its own multinational corporations increasingly engage in foreign investment. Inevitably, these corporations seek to reduce the risk of their foreign investments. As a result, they may encourage Brazil’s executive and legislative branches to take a second look at BITs. As circumstances change, so may the definition of success.Ultimately, the Article urges that Hirschman’s theory and the theories and research regarding procedural justice encourage a reconceptualization of Brazil’s alleged “failure” in choosing not to ratify the BITs that had been negotiated by its diplomats

Awareness of the Red Dress Symbol and Heart Disease among College Women

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of concern and knowledge about heart disease among college women and to explore the relationship between awareness of the Red Dress symbol and knowledge of risk factors for heart disease. Female college students (n = 475) completed a survey. While 63% believed they are informed about heart disease, only 43% identified heart disease as the leading cause of death in women. Breast cancer (36%) was listed as the one greatest health concern facing women, followed by heart disease (29%). Chi-square analysis revealed that a significantly greater proportion of participants familiar with the Red Dress symbol (n = 157) identified heart disease as the greatest health problem facing women and the leading cause of death of women than participants unfamiliar with the symbol (n = 318). Participants familiar with the symbol identified 0.4-0.5 more correct choices on two questions related to causes of and activities to prevent heart disease than women unfamiliar with the symbol. College women are a prime target for a Red Dress campaign due to their low level of awareness. Young women can reduce their risk of developing heart disease through prevention