Can low domain knowledge be compensated for when using the internet? /

Previous researchers have found that learners do not benefit fi-om using the Internet when domain knowledge is low. The purpose of the current study was to investigate possible methods to compensate for low domain knowledge. Specifically, the presence of notes, more time to search the Internet, and high levels of motivation to use the Internet were examined as possible compensating factors. Sixty Political Science and Kinesiology undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Students searched the Internet for an hour prior to vmting an essay with notes present, searched the Internet for an hour prior to writing an essay without notes present, or did not search the Internet prior to completing an essay. Each participant completed the same two essays, one corresponding to a high knowledge domain and another corresponding to a low knowledge domain. First, the presence of notes did not significantly improve essay scores in comparison to the absence of notes. Second, learners did benefit fi-om using the Internet for 1 hour in comparison to their peers who were not exposed to the Internet, regardless of level of domain knowledge. Third, high levels of motivation did not affect essay performance. A discussion of why time may have compensated for low domain knowledge while notes and motivation did not is included. In addition, methods that may compensate for low domain knowledge when time is restricted are suggested.

Learning to be literate : parental empowerment in early literacy interventions

Considerable research has focused on the success of early intervention programs for children. However, minimal research has focused on the effect these programs have on the parents of targeted children. Many current early intervention programs champion family-focused and inclusive programming, but few have evaluated parent participation in early interventions and fewer still have evaluated the impact of these programs on beliefs and attitudes and parenting practices. Since parents will continue to play a key role in their child's developmental course long after early intervention programs end, it is vital to examine whether these programs empower parents to take action to make changes in the lives of their children. The goal of this study was to understand parental influences on the early development of literacy, and in particular how parental attitudes, beliefs and self efficacy impact parent and child engagement in early literacy intervention activities. A mixed method procedure using quantitative and qualitative strategies was employed. A quasi-experimental research design was used. The research sample, sixty parents who were part of naturally occurring community interventions in at- risk neighbourhoods in a south-western Ontario city participated in the quantitative phase. Largely individuals whose home language was other than English, these participants were divided amongst three early literacy intervention groups, a Prescriptive Interventionist type group, a Participatory Empowering type group and a drop-in parent- child neighbourhood Control group. Measures completed pre and post a six session literacy intervention, on all three literacy and evidence of change in parental empowerment. Parents in all three groups, on average, held beliefs about early literacy that were positive and that were compatible with current approaches to language development and emergent literacy. No significant change in early literacy beliefs and attitudes for pre to post intervention was found. Similarly, there was no significant difference between groups on empowerment scores, but there was a significant change post intervention in one group's empowerment score. There was a drop in the empowerment score for the Prescriptive Interventionist type group, suggesting a drop in empowerment level. The qualitative aspect of this study involved six in-depth interviews completed with a sub-set of the sixty research participants. Four similar themes emerged across the groups: learning takes place across time and place; participation is key; success is achieved by taking small steps; and learning occurs in multiple ways. The research findings have important implications for practitioners and policy makers who target at risk populations with early intervention programming and wish to sustain parental empowerment. Study results show the value parents place on early learning and point to the importance of including parents in the development and delivery of early intervention programs. groups, were analyzed for evidence of change in parental attitudes and beliefs about early literacy and evidence of change in parental empowerment. Parents in all three groups, on average, held beliefs about early literacy that were positive and that were compatible with current approaches to language development and emergent literacy. No significant change in early literacy beliefs and attitudes for pre to post intervention was found. Similarly, there was no significant difference between groups on empowerment scores, but there was a significant change post intervention in one group's empowerment score. There was a drop in the empowerment score for the Prescriptive Interventionist type group, suggesting a drop in empowerment level. The qualitative aspect of this study involved six in-depth interviews completed with a sub-set of the sixty research participants. Four similar themes emerged across the groups: learning takes place across time and place; participation is key; success is achieved by taking small steps; and learning occurs in multiple ways. The research findings have important implications for practitioners and policy makers who target at risk populations with early intervention programming and wish to sustain parental empowerment. Study results show the value parents place on early learning and point to the importance of including parents in the development and delivery of early intervention programs.

Diffusion Monte Carlo study of electronic properties for H and Be atoms /

We examined three different algorithms used in diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) to study their precisions and accuracies in predicting properties of isolated atoms, which are H atom ground state, Be atom ground state and H atom first excited state. All three algorithms — basic DMC, minimal stochastic reconfiguration DMC, and pure DMC, each with future-walking, are successfully impletmented in ground state energy and simple moments calculations with satisfactory results. Pure diffusion Monte Carlo with future-walking algorithm is proven to be the simplest approach with the least variance. Polarizabilities for Be atom ground state and H atom first excited state are not satisfactorily estimated in the infinitesimal differentiation approach. Likewise, an approach using the finite field approximation with an unperturbed wavefunction for the latter system also fails. However, accurate estimations for the a-polarizabilities are obtained by using wavefunctions that come from the time-independent perturbation theory. This suggests the flaw in our approach to polarizability estimation for these difficult cases rests with our having assumed the trial function is unaffected by infinitesimal perturbations in the Hamiltonian.

A tour from the City of New-York, to Detroit, in the Michigan Territory, made between the 2d of May and the 22d of September, 1818 : the tour extends from New-York, by Albany, Schenectady, and Utica to Sacket's Harbor, and thence throught Lake Ontario, to St. Lawrence river, and down that stream to Hamilton village. Thence along both banks of the St. Lawrence, from Hamilton to the Thousand Islands; thence to Sacket's Harbor by water; from that place by the route of great Sodus, Geneva, Cananaigua and Batavia, to Buffalo; and from thence to Black Rock, Fort Erie, the Falls of Niagara, Queenston, Lewiston, and the memorable fields of Bridgewater and Chippewa after viewing the interesting place of Niagara, the author traversed the south shore of Lake Erie to the City of Detroit, and visited in the latter range, Dunkirk, Erie, Cleveland, Sandusky, and other places of less note. The tour is accompanied with a map upon which the route will be designated; a particular map of the Falls andRiver of Niagara, and the environs of the City of Detroit /

Errata slip inserted.

Water-power at Niagara Falls to be successfully utilized : its objects, facilities and resources, inducements for manufacturers, etc. /

The lithograph, "General view of lands, tunnel and docks of Niagara River Hydraulic Tunnel, Power and Sewer Company," called for p. [4] in the Index, has been removed and encapsulated, and is shelved separately.

A compressed view of the points to be discussed, in treating with the United States of America : with an appendix /

Appendix: On the conduct of the government of United States towards the Indian tribes: p.[129]-139.

Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a report of the Secretary of State, in obedience to a resolution of the thirteenth inst. "requesting the President to lay before this House such documents relative to the Russian mediation as in his opinion it may not be improper to communicate." --

United States,13th Congress, 2d session, 1813-1814. House. Doc. no. 35.

A national monument to Laura Secord : why it should be erected, an appeal to the people of Canada /

Bibliography: p. 16.

Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into the Present condition and distribution of the flags, standards and colors, which have been taken by the forces of the United States from their enemies, and whether it would be expedient to make any provision in relation to them.--

Adam Seybet, Chairman.

"I might be a duck, but I'm human" : an analysis of clothing in Disney cartoons

Mickey Mouse, one of the world's most recognizable cartoon characters, did not wear a shirt in his earliest incarnation in theatrical shorts and, for many years, Donald Duck did not wear pants and still rarely does so. Especially when one considers the era in which these figures were first created by the Walt Disney Studio, in the 1920s and 1930s, why are they portrayed without full clothing? The obvious answer, of course, is that they are animals, and animals do not wear clothes. But these are no ordinary animals: in most cases, they do wear clothing - some clothing, at least - and they walk on two legs, talk in a more or less intelligible fashion, and display a number of other anthropomorphic traits. If they are essentially animals, why do they wear clothing at all? On the other hand, if these characters are more human than animal, as suggested by other behavioral traits - they walk, talk, work, read, and so on - why are they not more often fully clothed? To answer these questions I undertook three major research strategies used to gather evidence: interpretive textual analysis of 321 cartoons; secondary analysis of interviews conducted with the animators who created the Disney characters; and historical and archival research on the Disney Company and on the times and context in which it functioned. I was able to identify five themes that played a large part in what kind of clothing a character wore; first, the character's gender and/or sexuality; second, what species or "race" the character was; third, the character's socio-economic status; fourth, the degree to which the character was anthropomorphized; and, fifth, the context in which the character and its clothing appeared in a particular scene or narrative. I concluded that all of these factors played a part in determining, to some extent, the clothing worn by particular characters at particular times. However, certain patterns emerged from the analysis that could not be explained by these factors alone or in combination. Therefore, my analysis also investigates the individual and collective attitudes and desires of the men in the Disney studio who were responsible for creating these characters and the cultural conditions under which they were created. Drawing on literature from the psychoanalytic approach to film studies, I argue that the clothing choices spoke to an idealized fantasy world to which the animators (most importantly, Walt Disney himself), and possibly wider society, wanted to return.

An Act to authorise the stock held by private parties in the Welland Canal to be purchased on behalf of the Province [Welland Canal Stock Bill], 1841

The bill is a proposal by the government to purchase Welland Canal stock held in private hands. The bill was read for the first time on Wednesday 4 August, 1841, and received second reading on 10th August, 1841. One hundred and fifty copies were printed of the bill. This example was addressed to Samuel Street at the Falls of Niagara, by William Hamilton Merritt, September 1841.

Moving from values inaction to values-in-action : an exploration of how values can be managed intentionally by national sports organizations

The study examined the intentional use of National Sport Organizations' (NSOs) stated values. Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS) was applied to an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach of interviewing NSO senior leaders. One intention of this research was to foster a connection between academia and practitioners, and in so doing highlight the gap between values inaction and values-in-action. Data were collected from nine NSOs through multiple-case studies analysis of interview transcripts, websites, and constitutional statements. Results indicated that while the NSOs operated from a Management by Objectives (MBO) approach they were interested in exploring how Management by Values (MBV) might improve their organization's performance. Eleven themes from the case studies analysis contributed to the development of a framework. The 4-1 framework described how an NSO can progress through different stages by becoming more intentional in how they use their values. Another finding included deepening our understanding of how values are experienced within the NSO and then transferred across the entire sport. Participants also spoke about the tension that arises among their NSO' s values as well as the dominant values held by funding agents. This clash of values needs to be addressed before the tension escalates. Finally, participants expressed a desire to learn more about how values can be used more intentionally to further their organization's purpose. As such, strategies for intentionally leveraging values are also suggested. Further research should explore how helpful the 4-1 framework can be to NSOs leaders who are in the process of identifying or renewing their organization's values.

Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms might be destroying your intimacy : a test of mediational models in a community sample of couples

The present research focused on the pathways through which the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may negatively impact intimacy. Previous research has confirmed a link between self-reported PTSD symptoms and intimacy; however, a thorough examination of mediating paths, partner effects, and secondary traumatization has not yet been realized. With a sample of 297 heterosexual couples, intraindividual and dyadic models were developed to explain the relationships between PTSD symptoms and intimacy in the context of interdependence theory, attachment theory, and models of selfpreservation (e.g., fight-or-flight). The current study replicated the findings of others and has supported a process in which affective (alexithymia, negative affect, positive affect) and communication (demand-withdraw behaviour, self-concealment, and constructive communication) pathways mediate the intraindividual and dyadic relationships between PTSD symptoms and intimacy. Moreover, it also found that the PTSD symptoms of each partner were significantly related; however, this was only the case for those dyads in which the partners had disclosed most everything about their traumatic experiences. As such, secondary traumatization was supported. Finally, although the overall pattern of results suggest a total negative effect of PTSD symptoms on intimacy, a sex difference was evident such that the direct effect of the woman's PTSD symptoms were positively associated with both her and her partner's intimacy. I t is possible that the Tend-andBefriend model of threat response, wherein women are said to foster social bonds in the face of distress, may account for this sex difference. Overall, however, it is clear that PTSD symptoms were negatively associated with relationship quality and attention to this impact in the development of diagnostic criteria and treatment protocols is necessary.