Young children's language and social development is influenced by the linguistic environment of their classrooms, including their interactions with teachers and peers. Measurement of the classroom ...linguistic environment typically relies on observational methods, often providing limited 'snapshots' of children's interactions, from which broad generalizations are made. Recent technological advances, including artificial intelligence, provide opportunities to capture children's interactions using continuous recordings representing much longer durations of time. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the accuracy of the Interaction Detection in Early Childhood Settings (IDEAS) system on 13 automated indices of language output using recordings collected from 19 children and three teachers over two weeks in an urban preschool classroom. The accuracy of language outputs processed via IDEAS were compared to ground truth via linear correlations and median absolute relative error. Findings indicate high correlations between IDEAS and ground truth data on measures of teacher and child speech, and relatively low error rates on the majority of IDEAS language output measures. Study findings indicate that IDEAS may provide a useful measurement tool for advancing knowledge about children's classroom experiences and their role in shaping development.
Interactions with teachers and peers are critical for children’s social, behavioral, and academic development in the classroom context. However, these two types of interpersonal interactions in the ...classroom are usually pursued via separate lines of inquiries. The current study bridges these two areas of research to examine the way in which teachers influence child-perceived peer social support and peer victimization for 2,678 children within 183 classrooms in preschool through grade three. Two levels of teacher influence are considered, namely teacher–child closeness and conflict relationships at the child-level, and teacher management of interpersonal interactions at the classroom-level. Results of multilevel regression models showed that teacher–child closeness was associated with the growth of child-perceived peer social support from fall to spring, whereas teacher–child conflict and teachers’ behavior management practices were associated with the change in child-perceived peer victimization across the academic year. These associations were unique and above and beyond the influence of children’s actual peer social interactions, including reciprocal friendships and the collective classroom reputation of peer victimization. Collectively, findings highlight the multi-faceted teacher roles in shaping children’s perceptions of their peer social experiences during the earliest years of schooling.
Molecular-scale control over the integration of disparate materials on graphene is a critical step in the development of graphene-based electronics and sensors. Here, we report that self-assembled ...monolayers of 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (PCDA) on epitaxial graphene can be used to template the reaction and directed growth of atomic layer deposited (ALD) oxide nanostructures with sub-10 nm lateral resolution. PCDA spontaneously assembles into well-ordered domains consisting of one-dimensional molecular chains that coat the entire graphene surface in a manner consistent with the symmetry of the underlying graphene lattice. Subsequently, zinc oxide and alumina ALD precursors are shown to preferentially react with the functional moieties of PCDA, resulting in templated oxide nanostructures. The retention of the original one-dimensional molecular ordering following ALD is dependent on the chemical reaction pathway and the stability of the monolayer, which can be enhanced via ultraviolet-induced molecular cross-linking.
Craniosynostosis (CS) is a major birth defect resulting from premature fusion of cranial sutures. Nonsyndromic CS occurs more frequently than syndromic CS, with sagittal nonsyndromic craniosynostosis ...(sNCS) presenting as the most common CS phenotype. Previous genome-wide association and targeted sequencing analyses of sNCS have identified multiple associated loci, with the strongest association on chromosome 20. Herein, we report the first whole-genome sequencing study of sNCS using 63 proband-parent trios. Sequencing data for these trios were analyzed using the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) and rare variant TDT (rvTDT) to identify high-risk rare gene variants. Sequencing data were also examined for copy number variants (CNVs) and de novo variants. TDT analysis identified a highly significant locus at 20p12.3, localized to the intergenic region between BMP2 and the noncoding RNA gene LINC01428. Three variants (rs6054763, rs6054764, rs932517) were identified as potential causal variants due to their probability of being transcription factor binding sites, deleterious combined annotation dependent depletion scores, and high minor allele enrichment in probands. Morphometric analysis of cranial vault shape in an unaffected cohort validated the effect of these three single nucleotide variants (SNVs) on dolichocephaly. No genome-wide significant rare variants, de novo loci, or CNVs were identified. Future efforts to identify risk variants for sNCS should include sequencing of larger and more diverse population samples and increased omics analyses, such as RNA-seq and ATAC-seq.
Review of current federal and state standards indicates little consensus or empirical justification regarding appropriate goals, often referred to as benchmarks, for preschool letter-name learning. ...The present study investigated the diagnostic efficiency of various letter-naming benchmarks using a longitudinal database of 371 children who attended publicly funded preschools. Children's uppercase and lowercase letter-naming abilities were assessed at the end of preschool, and their literacy achievement on 3 standardized measures was assessed at the end of 1st grade. Diagnostic indices (sensitivity, specificity, and negative and positive predictive power) were generated to examine the extent to which attainment of various preschool letter-naming benchmarks was associated with later risk for literacy difficulties. Results indicated generally high negative predictive power for benchmarks requiring children to know 10 or more letter names by the end of preschool. Balancing across all diagnostic indices, optimal benchmarks of 18 uppercase and 15 lowercase letter names were identified. These findings are discussed in terms of educational implications, limitations, and future directions. (Contains 10 tables and 3 footnotes.)
Membrane fouling is an inevitable process in membrane filtration, and has adverse effects on membrane performance and life span. This work evaluated the performance of a simple online osmotic ...backwash (OsBW) process in restoring membrane flux after fouling with feed stream mimicking seawater. The traditional cellulose triacetate (CTA) forward osmosis (FO) membrane was used in the support layer facing feed solution orientation for all performed experiments. The effect of backwash permeation rate and cross-flow velocity on cleaning efficiency of the osmotic backwash process was investigated. The surface properties of the cleaned membranes were studied with a range of characterization techniques such as microscopic, spectroscopic and electrokinetic analysis. The cleaning efficiency of the osmotic backwash process was enhanced by high backwash permeation rate and increased cross-flow velocity. Water permeation weakened the attachment between the gel layer and the membrane surface and the loose gel layer components were then “swept”-off the tangential shear force generated by the backwash draw solution cross-flow velocity. Permeation rate was found to be the determinant of cleaning efficiency during osmotic backwash. Membrane surface analysis revealed that even though more than 90% of membrane flux was recovered, there were still remnants of the fouling layer on the membrane, possibly lodged in the pores of the porous support layer and they prevented complete permeate flux restoration. This implies that the active layer facing feed solution orientation is a better option to treat feed streams containing gel forming macromolecules and cleaning efficiency can possibly be improved through longer cleaning durations. Restoration of membrane surface charge was pivotal in maintaining membrane performance (rejection and water flux). The osmotic backwash process was successful in restoring membrane flux and operational flux.
•Alginic sodium salt (200g/L) was used as a model foulant.•Feed solution ionic strength was adjusted to 0.5M using NaCl and CaCl2.•Permeate drag influenced gel layer structure and removal.•Membrane flux was successfully restored to more than 90% after cleaning.•Cleaning was a combined effect of permeate rate and tangential shear force.
Most children experience some form of grouping in the classroom every day. Understanding how teachers make grouping decisions and their impacts on children's social development can shed light on ...effective teacher practices for promoting positive social dynamics in the classroom. This study examined the influence of teachers' grouping strategies on changes in young children's social experiences with peers across an academic year. A total of 1,463 children (51% girls,
= 6.79,
= 1.22) and 79 teachers from kindergarten to third-grade classrooms participated in this study. Teachers rated children's behavioral problems as the most important consideration when creating seating charts or assigning children to small groups. Promoting existing or new friendships was rated as the least important consideration. Heterogeneous ability grouping, rated as somewhat important by the teachers, was associated with a decrease in children's friendships and yet also a decrease in girls' experience with peer conflicts. Our findings begin to fill in the gaps in the literature on the social impacts of ability grouping for young children.
Abstract
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with a wide array of neural and cognitive features, and other psychiatric disorders, identified mainly through cross-sectional ...associations studies. However, it is unclear if the disorder is causally associated with these neurocognitive features. Here, we applied a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) study to summary GWAS data to explore the presence and direction of a causal effect between ADHD and a range of neurocognitive features and other psychiatric disorders. The inverse variance weighted method was used in the main analysis, and two MR methods (MR-Egger, weighted median) were used for robustness checks. We found that genetic risk for ADHD was causally associated with a decreased area of lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Conversely, we found that brain volume and some features of intrinsic functional connectivity had causal effects on ADHD risk. Bidirectional causal links were found between ADHD and adult general intelligence, as well as depression and autistic spectrum disorders. Such work highlights the important ties between ADHD and general cognitive ability, and suggest some neural features, previously merely associated with the disorder, may play a causal role in its pathogenesis.
Policy-makers, administrators, researchers, and teachers are increasingly vested in ensuring the quality of preschool instruction, particularly in the areas of language and literacy. This research ...was conducted to characterize the quality of language and literacy instruction in 135 publicly funded preschool classrooms serving at-risk pupils. As all teachers in these classrooms were implementing the same language and literacy curriculum, we also studied the interrelationships among procedural fidelity to a prescribed curriculum and the quality of language and literacy instruction, determining whether procedural fidelity is associated or disassociated with quality instruction. Results showed that the quality of language and literacy instruction in classrooms was low, with few teachers delivering high-quality instruction. Although teachers were able to implement a prescribed language and literacy curriculum with a high degree of procedural fidelity, this was not associated with quality instruction. Few structural characteristics of classrooms or teachers were systematically associated with quality of instruction. Findings have important implications for professional development of teachers by suggesting a need for a sustained and coherent focus on the process of instruction to elevate instructional quality in language and literacy.
Host resistance to Toxoplasma gondii relies on CD8 T cell IFNγ responses, which if modulated by the host or parasite could influence chronic infection and parasite transmission between hosts. Since ...host-parasite interactions that govern this response are not fully elucidated, we investigated requirements for eliciting naïve CD8 T cell IFNγ responses to a vacuolar resident antigen of T. gondii, TGD057. Naïve TGD057 antigen-specific CD8 T cells (T57) were isolated from transnuclear mice and responded to parasite-infected bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) in an antigen-dependent manner, first by producing IL-2 and then IFNγ. T57 IFNγ responses to TGD057 were independent of the parasite's protein export machinery ASP5 and MYR1. Instead, host immunity pathways downstream of the regulatory Immunity-Related GTPases (IRG), including partial dependence on Guanylate-Binding Proteins, are required. Multiple T. gondii ROP5 isoforms and allele types, including 'avirulent' ROP5A from clade A and D parasite strains, were able to suppress CD8 T cell IFNγ responses to parasite-infected BMDMs. Phenotypic variance between clades B, C, D, F, and A strains suggest T57 IFNγ differentiation occurs independently of parasite virulence or any known IRG-ROP5 interaction. Consistent with this, removal of ROP5 is not enough to elicit maximal CD8 T cell IFNγ production to parasite-infected cells. Instead, macrophage expression of the pathogen sensors, NLRP3 and to a large extent NLRP1, were absolute requirements. Other members of the conventional inflammasome cascade are only partially required, as revealed by decreased but not abrogated T57 IFNγ responses to parasite-infected ASC, caspase-1/11, and gasdermin D deficient cells. Moreover, IFNγ production was only partially reduced in the absence of IL-12, IL-18 or IL-1R signaling. In summary, T. gondii effectors and host machinery that modulate parasitophorous vacuolar membranes, as well as NLR-dependent but inflammasome-independent pathways, determine the full commitment of CD8 T cells IFNγ responses to a vacuolar antigen.
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