Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales - II profile of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Adaptive behaviour is a crucial area of assessment for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study examined the adaptive behaviour profile of 77 young children with ASD using the Vineland-II, and analysed factors associated with adaptive functioning. Consistent with previous research with the original Vineland a distinct autism profile of Vineland-II age equivalent scores, but not standard scores, was found. Highest scores were in motor skills and lowest scores were in socialisation. The addition of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) calibrated severity score did not contribute significant variance to Vineland-II scores beyond that accounted for by age and nonverbal ability. Limitations, future directions, and implications are discussed.

Annealing Behavior of Isotactic Polybutene-1

The annealing behavior of isotactic polybutene-1 (PB-1) has been studied by differential scanning calorimetry and wide-angle x-ray diffraction. On annealing at 110°C, PB-1 yields thick crystals melting at -140°C which are mainly of Form I. An increase in the heat of fusion (ΔHf) and crystallinity is found for annealing times up to 12 h at 110°C; at longer times these properties decrease with increasing annealing time. The increases in ΔHf and crystallinity are attributed to increases in the lamellar thickness in the chain direction and in crystal perfection, and subsequent decreases to degradation of the polymer.

An analysis of theories of search and search behavior

Theories of search and search behavior can be used to glean insights and generate hypotheses about how people interact with retrieval systems. This paper examines three such theories, the long standing Information Foraging Theory, along with the more recently proposed Search Economic Theory and the Interactive Probability Ranking Principle. Our goal is to develop a model for ad-hoc topic retrieval using each approach, all within a common framework, in order to (1) determine what predictions each approach makes about search behavior, and (2) show the relationships, equivalences and differences between the approaches. While each approach takes a different perspective on modeling searcher interactions, we show that under certain assumptions, they lead to similar hypotheses regarding search behavior. Moreover, we show that the models are complementary to each other, but operate at different levels (i.e., sessions, patches and situations). We further show how the differences between the approaches lead to new insights into the theories and new models. This contribution will not only lead to further theoretical developments, but also enables practitioners to employ one of the three equivalent models depending on the data available.

Phase separation versus spin glass behavior in La0.85Sr0.15CoO3

We present comprehensive studies of dc magnetization, ac susceptibility, and magnetotransport of two sets of La0.85Sr0.15CoO3 samples, one exhibits phase separation and the other exhibits spin glass behavior. Our study reveals that the phase separation in La0.85Sr0.15CoO3 is neither inherent nor ubiquitous; rather, it is a consequence of preparation condition. It is realized that the low temperature annealed sample exhibits phase separation while the high temperature annealed one shows the characteristic of spin glass behavior. This study shows that the most probable magnetic state of La0.85Sr0.15CoO3 is spin glass.

Size dependence and dispersion behavior of the first hyperpolarizability of copper nanoparticles

We have probed the size dependency of the first hyperpolarizability (b) of copper nanoparticles by hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS). Our results indicate that second harmonic generation (SHG) originates predominantly at the surface of the nanoparticles as long as the size (d) remains small compared to the wavelength (k). However, volume contribution to the SH response due to the retardation effect becomes important when particle size grows beyond the `small particle limit'. There is a significant dispersion in the b values of copper nanoparticles owing tothe presence of the strong surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band.

An exploratory investigation of the practice of assessment for learning in Vietnamese higher education: Three case studies of lecturers' practice

In response to limited research conducted on the practice of assessment for learning (AfL) in higher education and in Asian educational settings, this qualitative study, using sociocultural theories of learning and a multiple case study approach, investigates how AfL was implemented by three lecturers in one Vietnamese university. Findings revealed that the lecturers engaged with AfL principles and practices to some extent. However, despite the lecturers' significant efforts, Vietnamese sociocultural factors such as respect for harmony, hierarchy, and examination-oriented learning, impacted on their practice of AfL. This study therefore argues that AfL requires adaptation for it to be effective in the Vietnamese tertiary context.

Negotiating and Renegotiating Conversational Ground Rules : Formation of an Artifact Designed to Mediate Exploratory Collaboration

This study highlights the formation of an artifact designed to mediate exploratory collaboration. The data for this study was collected during a Finnish adaptation of the thinking together approach. The aim of the approach is to teach pulps how to engage in educationally beneficial form of joint discussion, namely exploratory talk. At the heart of the approach lies a set of conversational ground rules aimed to promote the use of exploratory talk. The theoretical framework of the study is based on a sociocultural perspective on learning. A central argument in the framework is that physical and psychological tools play a crucial role in human action and learning. With the help of tools humans can escape the direct stimulus of the outside world and learn to control ourselves by using tools. During the implementation of the approach, the classroom community negotiates a set of six rules, which this study conceptualizes as an artifact that mediates exploratory collaboration. Prior research done about the thinking together approach has not extensively researched the formation of the rules, which give ample reason to conduct this study. The specific research questions asked were: What kind of negotiation trajectories did the ground rules form during the intervention? What meanings were negotiated for the ground rules during the intervention The methodological framework of the study is based on discourse analysis, which has been specified by adapting the social construction of intertextuality to analyze the meanings negotiated for the created rules. The study has town units of analysis: thematic episode and negotiation trajectory. A thematic episode is a stretch of talk-in-interaction where the participants talk about a certain ground rule or a theme relating to it. A negotiation trajectory is a chronological representation of the negotiation process of a certain ground rule during the intervention and is constructed of thematic episodes. Thematic episodes were analyzed with the adapted intertextuality analysis. A contrastive analysis was done on the trajectories. Lastly, the meanings negotiated for the created rules were compared to the guidelines provided by the approach. The main result of the study is the observation, that the meanings of the created rules were more aligned with the ground rules of cumulative talk, rather than exploratory talk. Although meanings relating also to exploratory talk were negotiated, they clearly were not the dominant form. In addition, the study observed that the trajectories of the rules were non identical. Despite connecting dimensions (symmetry, composition, continuity and explicitness) none of the trajectories shared exactly the same features as the others.

Re-entrant Phase Behavior of a Concentrated Anionic Surfactant System with Strongly Binding Counterions

The phase behavior of the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in the presence of the strongly binding counterion p-toluidine hydrochloride (PTHC) has been examined using small-angle X-ray diffraction and polarizing microscopy. A hexagonal-to-lamellar transition on varying the PTHC to SDS molar ratio (alpha) occurs through a nematic phase of rodlike micelles (N-C) -> isotropic (I) -> nematic of disklike micelles (N-D) at a fixed surfactant concentration (phi). The lamellar phase is found to coexist with an isotropic phase (l') over a large region of the phase diagram. Deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance investigations of the phase behavior at phi = 0.4 confirm the transition from N-C to N-D on varying alpha. The viscoelastic and flow behaviors of the different phases were examined. A decrease in the steady shear viscosity across the different phases with increasing alpha suggests a decrease in the aspect ratio of the micellar aggregates. From the transient shear stress response of the N-C and N-D nematic phases in step shear experiments, they were characterized to be tumbling and now aligning, respectively. Our studies reveal that by tuning the morphology of the surfactant micelles strongly binding counterions modify the phase behavior and rheological properties of concentrated surfactant solutions.

EQCM Investigation of the Electrodeposition of MnO2 and Its Capacitance Behavior

Electro-oxidation of Mn2+ to MnO2 by cyclic voltammetry on gold in acidic (0.1 M H2SO4) and neutral (0.1 M Na2SO4) media was studied using electrochemical quartz-crystal microbalance (EQCM). The cyclic voltammetric behavior of Au is different in these electrolytes. From EQCM data of mass variation during cycling, the rate of electrodeposition of MnO2 is higher in the neutral medium than in the acidic medium. Specific capacitance of MnO2 deposited from the neutral medium is higher than that deposited from the acidic medium owing to different crystallographic structures.

Behavior Of High-Voltage Machine Insulation System In The Presence Of Thermal And Electrical Stresses

This paper presents the results on a resin-rich machine insulation system subjected to varying stresses such as electrical (2.6 to 13.3 MV/m) and thermal (40 to 155° C) acting together. Accelerated electro-thermal aging experiments subsequently have been performed to understand the insulation degradation The interpretations are based on several measured properties like capacitance, loss tangent, ac resistance, leakage current, and partial discharge quantities. The results indicate that the changes in properties are not significant below a certain temperature for any applied stress, Beyond this temperature large variations are observed even for low electrical stresses. Electrothermal aging studies reveal that the acceleration of the insulation degradation and the ultimate time to failure depends on the relative values of temperature and voltage stresses. At lower temperatures, below critical, material characteristics of the system predominate whereas beyond this temperature, other phenomena come into play causing insulation deterioration. During aging under combined stresses, it appears that the prevailing temperature of the system has a significant role in the insulation degradation and ultimate failure.

Fracture Behavior of Ferrocement Beams

An attempt is made to study the fracture behavior of ferrocement beams using J-integral and critical crack opening displacement approaches. Ferrocement beams with three different relative notch depths and different percentages of mesh reinforcement were tested in four-point bending (third-point loading). The experimental results were used to evaluate the apparent J-integral and CODc values. Results show that the apparent J-integral does not seem to follow any particular trend in variation with notch depth, but is sensitive to the increase of mesh reinforcement. Hence, the apparent J-integral appears to be a useful fracture criterion for ferrocement. The computed values of CODt are found to be dependent on the depth of notch and, thus, cannot possibly be considered as a suitable fracture criterion for ferrocement.

A composition dependent thermal behavior of GexSe35-xTe65 glasses

Alternating differential scanning calorimetric (ADSC) studies have been performed to understand the thermal behavior of bulk GexSe35-xTe65 glasses (17 <= x <= 25); it is found that the glasses with x <= 20 exhibit two crystallization exotherms (T-c1 & T-c2). On the other hand, those with x >= 20.5, show a single crystallization reaction upon heating. The exothermic reaction at T-c1 has been found to correspond to the partial crystallization of the glass into hexagonal Te and the reaction at T-c2 is associated with the additional crystallization of rhombohedral Ge-Te phase. The glass transition temperature of GexSe35-xTe65 glasses is found to show a linear but not-steep increase, indicating a progressive, but a gradual increase in network connectivity with Ge addition. It is also found that T-c1 of GexSe35-xTe65 glasses with x <= 20, increases progressively with Ge content and eventually merges with T-c2 at x approximate to 20.5 (< r > = 2.41); this behavior has been understood on the basis of the reduction in Te-Te bonds of lower energy and increase in Ge-Te bonds of higher energy, with increasing Ge content. Apart from the interesting composition dependent crystallization, an anomalous melting behavior is also exhibited by the GexSe35-xTe65 glasses.

Differences in the Behavior of Luteinizing Hormones of Various Species at the Rat Gonadal Cell Receptor Site

The ability of different LH-like hormones, such as hCG, PMSG/equine (e) CG, ovine (o) LH, eLH, and rat (r) LH, to bind to and stimulate steroidogenesis in two types of rat gonadal cells was studied under the same experimental conditions. In both Leydig and granulosa cells, the maximal steroidogenic responses elicited by optimal doses of different LHs present during a 2-h incubation were comparable. However, if the cells were exposed to the different LHs for a brief period and then subjected to interference with hormone action by removing the unbound hormone from the medium by washing or adding specific antisera, differences were observed in the amount of steroid produced during subsequent incubation in hormone-free medium. Thus, in the case of hCG, either of these procedures carried out at 15 or 30 min of incubation had little inhibitory effect on the amount of steroid produced at 2 h, the latter being similar to that produced by cells incubated in the continued presence of hCG for 2 h. With eCG and rLH, the effect was dramatic, in that there was a total inhibition of subsequent steroidogenic response. In cells exposed to eLH and oLH, inhibition of subsequent steroidogenesis due to either removal of the free-hormone or addition of specific antisera at 15 or 30 min was only partial. Although all of the antisera used were equally effective in inhibiting the steroidogenic response to respective gonadotropins when added along with hormones at the beginning of incubation, differences were observed in the degree of inhibition of this response when the same antisera were added at later times of incubation. Thus, when antisera were added 60 min after the hormone, the inhibition of steroidogenesis was total (100%) for eCG, partial (10–40%) for eLH and oLH, and totally lacking in cells treated with hCG. From this, it appears that hCG bound to the receptor probably becomes unavailable for binding to its antibody with time, while in the case of eCG and other LHs used, the antibody can still inhibit the biological activity of the hormone. Studies with 125I-labeled hormones further supported the conclusion that hCG differs from all other LHs in being most tightly bound and, hence, least dissociable, while eCG and rLH dissociate most readily; oLH and eLH can be placed in between these hormones in the extent of their dissociability. (Endocrinology 116: 597–603,1985)

Influence of heat-treatment on the strength and fracture-behavior of fe-12cr-6al ferritic stainless-steel

The changes in the tensile properties and fracture mode brought about by heat treatment of Fe-12Cr-6Al ferritic stainless steel have been studied. A favourable combination of high strength and good ductility is obtained by heating the material at 1370 K for 2 h followed by a water quench. The high-temperature treatment results in carbide dissolution as well as an increase in the grain size. The mechanism of strengthening has been evaluated from the apparent activation energy (28 kJ mol–1) and is identified to be the unpinning of dislocations from the atmosphere of carbon atoms. As the heat-treatment temperature is increased, the fracture behaviour changes from ductile to brittle mode and this is related to the changes in grain size and friction stress.

Behavior of the indian social wasp ropalidia-cyathiformis on a nest of separate combs (hymenoptera, vespidae)

Observations were made on a nest of Ropalidia cyathiformis consisting of three combs. The number of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults were monitored at about 3-day intervals for a 2-month period. The behaviour of the adults was observed with special reference to the proportion of time spent on each of the three combs, the proportion of time spent away from the nest site and the frequencies of dominance interactions and egg laying. The adults moved freely between the three combs suggesting that all of them and all the three combs belonged to one nest. However, most of the adults preferred combs 2 and 3 over comb 1. Of the 10 animals chosen for a detailed analysis of behaviour, seven spent varying periods of time away from the nest site and oRen brought back food or building material. Five of the 10 animals laid at least one egg each but two adults monopolized most of the egg-laying. The animals showed a variety of dominance interactions on the basis of which they have been arranged in a dominance hierarchy. The dominant individuals laid most of the eggs and spent little or no time foraging, while the subordinate individuals spent more time foraging and laid few eggs or none. It is argued that R. cyathiformis is different from R. marginata, the only other Indian social wasp whose behaviour has been studied, in being at a more primitive stage of social organization.