How children learn to listen: The effects of modeling feedback styles on children's performance in referential communication.

48 kindergartners and 48 2nd graders participated as listeners in a referential communication task with an adult speaker. Ss were presented with sets of 4 pictures and asked to choose the referent on the basis of a speaker's message. The messages were either adequate or ambiguous, describing 2 of the 4 possible referents. Ss were instructed to ask questions if they needed more information. Prior to these trials, Ss were exposed to 1 of 3 modeling conditions in which they viewed an adult listener responding to ambiguous messages by asking either general questions, specific questions, or specific questions accompanied by an explanation of the underlying strategy. A 4th group received no modeling. Although each of the modeling groups was successful in increasing the frequency of the modeled question, older Ss benefited more from modeling than younger children. Age differences suggested that the effectiveness of modeling interacted with children's existing cognitive abilities. Auxiliary evidence pointed to the role of information processing in children's abilities to deal with ambiguous communications as listeners. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

TheGammarus: Asellus ratio as an index of organic pollution

Macroinvertebrate populations includingGammarus pulex andAsellus aquaticus were surveyed at riffle sites on four lowland rivers, i.e. the Rivers Adur and Ouse and the Chess Stream, Sussex, and the Eridge Stream, Kent. Sites were situated both upstream and downstream of sewage treatment works. Macroinvertebrates were collected using a Surber sampler and at some sites the water analysed for the main chemical constituents.Poor water quality is characteristically associated with low biotic scores and in this respect theGammarus : Asellus ratio applied to riffle data corresponded with the Chandler Biotic Score Index and the Extended Trent Biotic Index. TheGammarus : Asellus ratio showed the closest correlations with concentrations of BOD, ammonia-nitrogen (NH₃-N), nitrite-nitrogen (NO₂-N) and phosphate-phosphorus (PO₄-P) being sensitive to changes in water quality brought about by organic enrichment in the four rivers investigated.It is proposed that theGammarus : Asellus ratio may provide a simple biological tool which could be used by anglers and other non-professional river users to routinely monitor water quality.     

Oral language and code-related precursors to reading: Evidence from a longitudinal structural model.

This study examined code-related and oral language precursors to reading in a longitudinal study of 626 children from preschool through 4th grade. Code-related precursors, including print concepts and phonological awareness, and oral language were assessed in preschool and kindergarten. Reading accuracy and reading comprehension skills were examined in 1st through 4th grades. Results demonstrated that (a) the relationship between code-related precursors and oral language is strong during preschool; (b) there is a high degree of continuity over time of both code-related and oral language abilities; (c) during early elementary school, reading ability is predominantly determined by the level of print knowledge and phonological awareness a child brings from kindergarten; and (d) in later elementary school, reading accuracy and reading comprehension appear to be 2 separate abilities that are influenced by different sets of skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child development and emergent literacy

Emergent literacy consists of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are developmental precursors to reading and writing. This article offers a preliminary typology of children's emergent literacy skills, a review of the evidence that relates emergent literacy to reading, and a review of the evidence for linkage between children's emergent literacy environments and the development of emergent literacy skills. We propose that emergent literacy consists of at least two distinct domains: inside-out skills (e.g., phonological awareness, letter knowledge) and outside-in skills (e.g., language, conceptual knowledge). These different domains are not the product of the same experiences and appear to be influential at different points in time during reading acquisition. Whereas outside-in skills are associated with those aspects of children's literacy environments typically measured, little is known about the origins of inside-out skills. Evidence from interventions to enhance emergent literacy suggests that relatively intensive and multifaceted interventions are needed to improve reading achievement maximally. A number of successful preschool interventions for outside-in skills exist, and computer-based tasks designed to teach children inside-out skills seem promising. Future research directions include more sophisticated multidimensional examination of emergent literacy skills and environments, better integration with reading research, and longer-term evaluation of preschool interventions. Policy implications for emergent literacy intervention and reading education are discussed.     

Accelerating language development through picture book reading: A systematic extension to Mexican day care.

Previous research demonstrates linguistic advances in middle-class 2-yr-olds in the US resulting from training parents to read with their children following a particular style. This style, called dialogic reading, encourages children to talk about picture books and gives them models and feedback for progressively more sophisticated language use. This research extends these procedures to a day-care setting using 20 Mexican 2-yr-olds from low-income backgrounds. Children in the intervention group were read to individually by a teacher using dialogic reading techniques. The control group children were given individual arts and crafts instruction by the same teacher. Effects of the intervention were assessed through standardized language tests and by comparing the children's spontaneous language while they shared a picture book with an adult who was unaware of their group assignment. Differences favoring the intervention group were found on all standardized language posttests and on some measures of language production. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A conceptual model for the structure of catalytically grown carbon nano-fibers

Typical platelet-type, herringbone-type, and tubular-type carbon nano-fibers (CNF) were catalytically prepared through three distinctly different routes. By comprehensive observations using SEM, TEM, STM, and XRD, these CNFs were found to have common sub-structures, which we call carbon nano-rods (CNR) and carbon nano-plates (CNP). A CNR was a carbon cluster of 8-10 graphene layers with unique diameters of about 2.5 nm and variable lengths in the range of 15-100 nm. CNPs appeared to be sets of 5-25 graphene stacks, probably formed by association of several CNRs. The faceted catalyst surfaces determine the particular ordered arrangements of the CNRs or CNPs in the final fiber form that result in the production of platelet, herringbone, or tubular-type CNFs. The diameters of the CNFs were defined by the length of the CNR and CNP sub-units (or a series of these) and their angles of association relative to the fiber axis. Graphitization at high temperatures closed the ends (edges) of carbon hexagons in CNRs to form concentrically layered dome-like caps on the surface of CNFs. Such sub-structure units can be separated by grinding.     

Coal dissolution in high boiling process solvents

The liquefaction of a bituminous coal has been studied using distillate and non-distillable, coal-derived solvents. Different classes of solvent components can interact non-additively during reaction with coal to either promote or retard the process of coal dissolution. Above certain concentrations, polyfunctional compounds in heavy coal-derived liquids effect a measurable reduction in coal conversion and product selectivity by accentuating the degree of condensation reactions. Substantial removal of these compounds can be achieved by precipitation in a paraffinic solvent. Retrogressive reactions are reduced and positive synergistic interactions can be realized by the blending of heavy solvents with selected components, such as polycondensed aromatics, and with lower boiling, hydrogen-donor species.     

The effects of substitution on the electrochemical reduction of naphthacenetetrone in N,N-Dimethylformamide

The polarographic reduction of 5,6,11,12-naphthacenetetrone (NT) and several of its chloromethyl, and nitro derivatives were investigated. The electrochemical behavior of NT was compared with 6, 11-dihydroxy-5, 12-naphthacencequinone (DHNQ) previously studied. Like DHNQ, NT exhibits two reduction waves in N,N-dimethylformamide. However, two additional post adsorption waves which were not present in DHNQ reduction were also observed. The first step reduction of NT, representing the formation of the radical anion NT^?, has a potential (0.01 V vs sce) much more anodic than that of its DHNQ counterpart ( ?0.75 V vs sce). The substituent effects of NTs were noted. A linear Hammett relationship similar to that of the DHNQ series was also found for the NTs. In both cases, the averaged values of σ_meta and σ_para were used as the substituent constants     

Organic nitrogen compounds in gas oil blends, their hydrotreated products and the importance to hydrotreatment

In the pretreatment of feeds for catalytic cracking and for HDA, the primary objective is to reduce the amount of organic sulfur and nitrogen compounds in the feedstock [Catal. Rev.-Sci. Eng. 36 (1994) 75] [1]. Organic nitrogen compounds have a significantly negative kinetic effect on hydrotreating reactions. The distribution of the organic nitrogen compounds in feed and hydrotreated products is discussed. Alkyl-substituted carbazoles are found to be the dominant and most refractive organic nitrogen compound in the feed. Our results show that indoles and quinolines are very reactive as compared with carbazoles. From the characterization of the pyrrole benzologues, it is concluded that the more the substituents, the lesser the reactivity. It is well known that conversion of organic sulfur occurs via two different mechanistic routes: the direct and the hydrogenation route [J. Catal. 61 (1981) 523; AIChE J. 27 (1981) 663; J. Catal. 97 (1986) 52; Catal. Today, in press; Polyhedron 16 (1997) 3213] [2, 3, 4, 5 and 6]. The hydrogenation route converts the most refractive S-molecules and plays a very important role in the conversion of N-compounds. N-containing molecules often show a very low reactivity as compared with the analogous sulfur compounds. Several studies using model feedstocks show that nitrogen-containing molecules, and in particular, basic organic nitrogen compounds inhibit the HDS reaction [Appl. Catal. A 170 (1998) 1] [7]. In this study, real feed experiments have demonstrated that even though carbazoles are slow to react and are among the predominant N-compounds, it is the basic N-compounds that are the major inhibiting species in diesel fuels.     

Outcomes of an emergent literacy intervention in Head Start.

Classrooms of 4-yr-olds attending Head Start were randomly assigned to an intervention condition, involving an add-on emergent literacy curriculum, or a control condition, involving the regular Head Start curriculum. Children in the intervention condition experienced interactive book reading at home and in the classroom as well as a classroom-based sound and letter awareness program. Children were pretested and posttested on standardized tests of language, writing, linguistic awareness, and print concepts. Effects of the intervention were significant across all children in the domains of writing and print concepts. Effects on language were large but only for those children whose primary caregivers had been actively involved in the at-home component of the program. One linguistic awareness subtest, involving the ability to identify the 1st letter and 1st sound of words, showed significant effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)