Combining teacher-Led and technology-assisted instruction to improve phoneme blending to read words for elementary students with disabilities

Technology-assisted instruction has potential for helping students improve their reading skills. In the current studies, PowerPoint software was used to supplement teacher-led reading instruction for elementary-aged students with disabilities who struggled with phoneme blending to read words. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed using two multiple probe design studies across sets of words based on an onset-rime (word family) strategy. In Study 1, teacher-led instruction was paired with technology-assisted instruction for all intervention sessions for three students in first and second grade. In Study 2, teacher-led instruction occurred between baseline and technology-assisted intervention sessions for three students in third and fourth grade. During the initial instruction sessions, participants recorded their own voices onto PowerPoint slides so that their technology-assisted instruction included self-modelling. Results of both studies indicated that technology-assisted instruction can be effective for helping students learn how to blend phonemes to read words; however, performance varied and there were limitations in each study that should be addressed in future research. Relevant implications for classroom instruction are emphasized.     

Editorial: January 1992.

Explains changes in the American Psychologist (AP) and reveals plans for 3 special issues in 1992 and 1993 (including a commemorative issue to observe the American Psychological Association's (APA's) centennial year. AP's standard editorial procedure, reasons for some rejections, and reconsideration of submissions are discussed. The editor notes that APA's new building (already a financial success) and its highly successful publications program can become an additional source of income to APA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analytical and numerical study of the two-dimensional Bratu equation

Bratu's problem, which is the nonlinear eigenvalue equationu+ exp(u)=0 withu=0 on the walls of the unit square and as the eigenvalue, is used to develop several themes on applications of Chebyshev pseudospectral methods. The first is the importance ofsymmetry: because of invariance under the C₄ rotation group and parity in bothx andy, one can slash the size of the basis set by a factor of eight and reduce the CPU time by three orders of magnitude. Second, the pseudospectral method is ananalytical as well as a numerical tool: the simple approximation3.2A exp(–0.64A), whereA is the maximum value ofu(x, y), is derived via collocation with but a single interpolation point, but is quantitatively accurate for small and moderateA. Third, the Newton-Kantorovich/Chebyshev pseudospectral algorithm is so efficient that it is possible to compute good numerical solutions—five decimal places—on amicrocomputer inbasic. Fourth, asymptotic estimates of the Chebyshev coefficients can be very misleading: the coefficients for moderately or strongly nonlinear solutions to Bratu's equations fall off exponentially rather than algebraically withv untilv is so large that one has already obtained several decimal places of accuracy. The corner singularities, which dominate the behavior of the Chebyshev coefficients in thelimit v, are so weak as to be irrelevant, and replacing Bratu's problem by a more complicated and realistic equation would merely exaggerate the unimportance of the corner branch points even more.     

Quadratic approximate dynamic programming for input‐affine systems

We consider the use of quadratic approximate value functions for stochastic control problems with input‐affine dynamics and convex stage cost and constraints. Evaluating the approximate dynamic programming policy in such cases requires the solution of an explicit convex optimization problem, such as a quadratic program, which can be carried out efficiently. We describe a simple and general method for approximate value iteration that also relies on our ability to solve convex optimization problems, in this case, typically a semidefinite program. Although we have no theoretical guarantee on the performance attained using our method, we observe that very good performance can be obtained in practice.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Water as a Promoter of the Complete Oxidation of Volatile Organic Compounds over Uranium Oxide Catalysts

The effect of water addition on the complete oxidation of benzene and propane VOCs by uranium oxide catalysts has been investigated. Benzene oxidation was studied using a silica supported U₃O₈ catalyst. Complete oxidation is promoted by the addition of 2.6% water compared with the reactivity when no water is added to the reactant feed. Increasing the water concentration to 12.1% resulted in a suppression of oxidation activity. Investigation of propane oxidation using U₃O₈ shows a dramatic promotion of activity. Propane conversion was ca. 50% at 600 °C without added water, whilst it increased to 100% at 400 °C with the addition of 2.6% water. A comparison of oxidation activity has been made with Mn₂O₃, an oxide recognised for complete oxidation. In contrast to the U₃O₈ catalysts the addition of 2.6% water suppresses the activity of Mn₂O₃. In situ powder X-ray diffraction studies showed that the bulk U₃O₈ structure was stable under all the reaction conditions. The origin of the increased activity is not clear but may be due to modification of the catalyst surface and the contribution from new reaction pathways such as steam reforming.     

Approximate dynamic programming via iterated Bellman inequalities

In this paper, we introduce new methods for finding functions that lower bound the value function of a stochastic control problem, using an iterated form of the Bellman inequality. Our method is based on solving linear or semidefinite programs, and produces both a bound on the optimal objective, as well as a suboptimal policy that appears to works very well. These results extend and improve bounds obtained in a previous paper using a single Bellman inequality condition. We describe the methods in a general setting and show how they can be applied in specific cases including the finite state case, constrained linear quadratic control, switched affine control, and multi‐period portfolio investment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of two authorization protocols using Colored Petri Nets

To prevent unauthorized access to protected trusted platform module (TPM) objects, authorization protocols, such as the object-specific authorization protocol (OSAP), have been introduced by the trusted computing group (TCG). By using OSAP, processes trying to gain access to the protected TPM objects need to prove their knowledge of relevant authorization data before access to the objects can be granted. Chen and Ryan’s 2009 analysis has demonstrated OSAP’s authentication vulnerability in sessions with shared authorization data. They also proposed the Session Key Authorization Protocol (SKAP) with fewer stages as an alternative to OSAP. Chen and Ryan’s analysis of SKAP using ProVerif proves the authentication property. The purpose of this paper was to examine the usefulness of Colored Petri Nets (CPN) and CPN Tools for security analysis. Using OSAP and SKAP as case studies, we construct intruder and authentication property models in CPN. CPN Tools is used to verify the authentication property using a Dolev–Yao-based model. Verification of the authentication property in both models using the state space tool produces results consistent with those of Chen and Ryan.     

Appropriating an architectural design tool for musical ends

NURBS (non-uniform rational b-spline) modelling has become a ubiquitous tool within architectural design praxis. In this article I examine three projects that utilise NURBS modelling as a means for which a musical system's inherent spatiality is visualised. There are numerous precedents for which architectural form is a derivation of a musical system, or a musical system is proportionally informed by architectonic gesture. I propose in this article three NURBS modelling methodologies: for the spatial analysis of Karlheinz Stockhausen's sound projection geometries in Pole für 2; for a spatial realisation of John Cage's indeterminate work Variations III; and for the generation of a surface manifold informed by musically derived soundscape data from the Japanese garden Kyu Furukawa Teien. Rather than seeking to translate music into inhabitable architecture, or architectonic form into music, I highlight an approach that produces an interstitial territory between discourses on architecture and music analysis.     

Thermodynamic magnetization discontinuity between the A and B phases of superfluid3he

We present data for the magnitude of the thermodynamic magnetization discontinuity at the equilibrium A-B transition in superfluid³He, M_AB, over its entire pressure-temperature-magnetic field phase diagram. The data was taken by measuring flux changes in a SQUID pick-up coil, which was calibrated by a novel first-principles technique. We compare our results with those of NMR experiments, and find that the two types of measurements yield different values, and this discrepancy is not the result of thermometry or field errors.