Understanding the dimensional change card sort: Perspectives from task success and failure

Four experiments consider some of the circumstances under which children follow two different rule pairs when sorting cards. Previous research has repeatedly found that 3-year-olds encounter substantial difficulties implementing the second of two conflicting rule sets, despite their knowledge of these rules. One interpretation of this phenomenon [Cognitive Complexity and Control (CCC) theory] is that 3-year-olds have problems establishing an appropriate hierarchical ordering for rules. The present data suggest an alternative account of children's card sorting behaviour, according to which the cognitive salience of test card features may be more important than inflexibility with respect to rule representation.

Bit-index sort: a fast non-comparison integer sorting algorithm for permutations

This paper describes a fast integer sorting algorithm, herein referred as Bit-index sort, which is a non-comparison sorting algorithm for partial per-mutations, with linear complexity order in execution time. Bit-index sort uses a bit-array to classify input sequences of distinct integers, and exploits built-in bit functions in C compilers supported by machine hardware to retrieve the ordered output sequence. Results show that Bit-index sort outperforms in execution time to quicksort and counting sort algorithms. A parallel approach for Bit-index sort using two simultaneous threads is included, which obtains speedups up to 1.6.

"I'm still here. Sort of." : Constructed Identities in Paul Auster's City of Glass

Paul Auster’s City of Glass contains a jumble of identities. In fact, the identities are more numerous than the characters, and consequently, characters have several different identities. Some of these identities are obvious constructs, but with others the degree of construction is less evident. Poststructuralist theory, however, puts forward the idea that these seemingly original identities are in fact constructs to the same level as all others. Thus, this essay argues that there are no original identities; identities are constructed by outer factors. This essay discusses three outer factors contributing to the construction of identities, factors commonly discussed in poststructuralist criticism, these three being language, cultural codes and chance.

Animalism and Person as a Basic Sort

In this paper Animalism is analysed. It will be argued that Animalism is correct in claiming (i) that being of a certain sort of animal S is a fundamental individuative substance sortal concept (animal of the species Homo Sapiens), (ii) that this implies that Animalism is correct in claiming that persons such as us are, by necessity, human beings, (iii) that remaining the same animal is a necessary condition for our identity over time. Contrary to Animalism it will be argued that this does not imply that person should be understood as a phased sortal concept. It will be argued that Animalism rests upon a prior conception of person, and that this implies that person must be understood as a basic substance sortal concept through which we have to individuate ourselves and others. It is further argued that this, together with the insights of Animalism, implies that persons, by necessity, are beings of a biological nature.

The new class of Kummer beta generalized distributions

Ng and Kotz (1995) introduced a distribution that provides greater flexibility to extremes. We define and study a new class of distributions called the Kummer beta generalized family to extend the normal, Weibull, gamma and Gumbel distributions, among several other well-known distributions. Some special models are discussed. The ordinary moments of any distribution in the new family can be expressed as linear functions of probability weighted moments of the baseline distribution. We examine the asymptotic distributions of the extreme values. We derive the density function of the order statistics, mean absolute deviations and entropies. We use maximum likelihood estimation to fit the distributions in the new class and illustrate its potentiality with an application to a real data set.

Características de los educadores sociales de los recursos residenciales de atención a la infancia y adolecencia en Catalunya

Esta investigación planteó la consecución de dos objetivos: mostrarnos la radiografía de las características de los educadores sociales que ejerce la profesión en los recursos residenciales de atención a la infancia y adolescencia en situación de riesgo social y conocer el nivel de desarrollo de las funciones educativas que estos profesionales tienen atribuidas en el marco residencial. El marco teórico que enmarca la investigación se estructura en dos bloques temáticos complementarios, uno primero que presenta un recorrido histórico de la profesionalización de la educación social según las dimensiones que transforman una ocupación en una profesión: corporativa, formativa, social y laboral. Con relación al segundo bloque, se estructura en el marco jurídico, el administrativo y el educativo que recogen las funciones que tiene atribuidas el educador social en los recursos residenciales. La comparación entre estos tres marcos permite plantear una clasificación de las funciones en cinco áreas: atención educativa individual, atención educativa grupal, en relación con el equipo educativo, en relación con el entorno social/red extensa y las funciones en relación con los servicios sociales de protección. Finalmente presenta las conclusiones como resultado de la pasación de un cuestionario autoadminsitrado a un universo poblacional de 600 educadores de centros de acogida y centros residenciales de atención educativa de Barcelona y provincia. Describe las características de estos profesionales: perfil demográfico, perfil formativo y perfil laboral y, propone una nueva clasificación de funciones atendiendo su desarrollo actual: funciones de atención directa, funciones de sistematización de la información e intervención educativa y funciones del trabajo en equipo.

Nueva ley de infancia en Catalunya. Anteproyecto de ley sobre los derechos y las oportunidades de las niñas, niños y adolescentes

[ES] Se presenta el "Anteproyecto de la nueva ley de infancia en Catalunya: Ley sobre los derechos y las oportunidades de las niñas, niños y adolescentes". Un nuevo texto legal muy esperado. Una de sus principales finalidades, es poner orden y unificar toda la legislación vigente y dispersa que existe en esta materia. Por otra parte aportará un cambio sustancial, ya que incorpora el concepto de "protección de los derechos de las personas menores de edad". Se ha de destacar que se presenta una visión educativa de las leyes, ya que éstas, por una parte limitan, pero por otra, potencian y facilitan la intervención socioeducativa. Con el deseo que sea una ley preventiva que incida en la mejora de las condiciones de vida de los niños, niñas y adolescentes, en los diferentes contextos de la vida cotidiana. La elaboración de una nueva ley es, sin duda, el producto de una conjunción de propuestas y voluntades políticas y sociales.

Perceived functional ability assessed with the spinal function sort: is it valid for European rehabilitation settings in patients with non-specific non-acute low back pain?

The aim of this study involving 170 patients suffering from non-specific low back pain was to test the validity of the spinal function sort (SFS) in a European rehabilitation setting. The SFS, a picture-based questionnaire, assesses perceived functional ability of work tasks involving the spine. All measurements were taken by a blinded research assistant; work status was assessed with questionnaires. Our study demonstrated a high internal consistency shown by a Cronbach's alpha of 0.98, reasonable evidence for unidimensionality, spearman correlations of >0.6 with work activities, and discriminating power for work status at 3 and 12 months by ROC curve analysis (area under curve = 0.760 (95% CI 0.689-0.822), respectively, 0.801 (95% CI 0.731-0.859). The standardised response mean within the two treatment groups was 0.18 and -0.31. As a result, we conclude that the perceived functional ability for work tasks can be validly assessed with the SFS in a European rehabilitation setting in patients with non-specific low back pain, and is predictive for future work status.

Identification of markers to characterize and sort human articular chondrocytes with enhanced in vitro chondrogenic capacity

OBJECTIVE: To identify markers associated with the chondrogenic capacity of expanded human articular chondrocytes and to use these markers for sorting of more highly chondrogenic subpopulations. METHODS: The chondrogenic capacity of chondrocyte populations derived from different donors (n = 21) or different clonal strains from the same cartilage biopsy specimen (n = 21) was defined based on the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content of tissues generated using a pellet culture model. Selected cell populations were analyzed by microarray and flow cytometry. In some experiments, cells were sorted using antibodies against molecules found to be associated with differential chondrogenic capacity and again assessed in pellet cultures. RESULTS: Significance Analysis of Microarrays indicated that chondrocytes with low chondrogenic capacity expressed higher levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 and of catabolic genes (e.g., matrix metalloproteinase 2, aggrecanase 2), while chondrocytes with high chondrogenic capacity expressed higher levels of genes involved in cell-cell or cell-matrix interactions (e.g., CD49c, CD49f). Flow cytometry analysis showed that CD44, CD151, and CD49c were expressed at significantly higher levels in chondrocytes with higher chondrogenic capacity. Flow cytometry analysis of clonal chondrocyte strains indicated that CD44 and CD151 could also identify more chondrogenic clones. Chondrocytes sorted for brighter CD49c or CD44 signal expression produced tissues with higher levels of GAG per DNA (up to 1.4-fold) and type II collagen messenger RNA (up to 3.4-fold) than did unsorted cells. CONCLUSION: We identified markers that allow characterization of the capacity of monolayer-expanded chondrocytes to form in vitro cartilaginous tissue and enable enrichment for subpopulations with higher chondrogenic capacity. These markers might be used as a means to predict and possibly improve the outcome of cell-based cartilage repair techniques.

Potential Value of Ultrasound to Sort Feeder Cattle into More Uniform Groups for Finishing and Marketing

Cattle in three experiments were scanned with ultrasound as feeders to measure ribeye area and thickness of fat cover to determine if cattle could be sorted into outcome groups with respect to carcass yield. Sorting the cattle into low fat cover or large ribeye groups resulted in improved carcass yield grades. There were no effects on carcass quality grades related to sorting of the cattle. Cattle with greater fat cover at the beginning of the feeding period were heavier, seemed to be more mature and had less muscle growth during the finishing period. There were no significant differences in gain among the groups, but cattle with more fat cover had poorer feed efficiency. Ultrasound seems to have potential to sort feeder cattle, but before it can be used in practice, growth curves need to be developed to predict final end points of individual cattle.