Early Childhood ABA: Issues of Early ASD Detection and Access to Intervention

This paper provides an overview of ABA, summarizes findings from studies of early childhood ABA with a focus on intervention dosage, and addresses the influence of demographics and culture on early ASD detection and access to early childhood ABA intervention. Although, this paper is not inclusive of all the ABA studies conducted between 1987-2007 and beyond, it summarizes the findings of some of the historical studies in early childhood ABA. These historical studies were located through two systematic reviews including studies between the years 1987- 2007 and selected if they met the following criteria: (1) intervention was based on behavioral principals (2) participants were five years of age or younger at the onset of intervention (3) intervention was in-home or clinic-based (4) utilized a group research design. A total of seven studies met the inclusion criteria. All seven studies reported increasing intellectual, educational, and behavioral gains for children with ASD. However, three of the studies did not report significant differences across all outcome measures favoring the treatment group. The seven studies reported mixed findings regarding treatment dosage with weekly treatment dosage ranging from 40 to 19.45 hours. Additional findings indicated that demographics and culture should be considered as they influence the early detection of ASD and access to intervention. Based on these findings, future research should further investigate how these variables along with others moderate or mediate early childhood ABA outcomes associated with early ASD detection and access to intervention

Nonlinear gas oscillations in pipes. Part 1. Theory

The problem of forced acoustic oscillations in a pipe is studied theoretically. The oscillations are produced by a moving piston in one end of the pipe, while a variety of boundary conditions ranging from a completely closed to a completely open mouth at the other end are considered. All these boundary conditions are modelled by two parameters: a length correction and a reflexion coefficient equivalent to the acoustic impedance. The linear theory predicts large amplitudes near resonance and nonlinear effects become crucially important. By expanding the equations of motion in a series in the Mach number, both the amplitude and wave form of the oscillation are predicted there. In both the open- and closed-end cases the need for shock waves in some range of parameters is found. The amplitude of the oscillation is different for the two cases, however, being proportional to the square root of the piston amplitude in the closed-end case and to the cube root for the open end

Aristotle on Enduring Evils While Staying Happy

In what ways and how far does virtue shield someone against suffering evils? In other words, how do non-moral evils affect the lives of virtuous people and to what extent can someone endure evils while staying happy? The central purpose of this chapter is to answer these questions by exploring what Aristotle has to say about the effects of evils in human well-being in general and his treatment of extreme misfortunes

Beyond the Standard Model of Physics with Astronomical Observations

There has been significant recent progress in observational cosmology. This, in turn, has provided an unprecedented picture of the early universe and its evolution. In this review I will present a (biased) view of how one can use these observational results to constraint fundamental physics and in particular physics beyond the standard model.Comment: Invited Talk at BW201