Discrimination Acquisition in Children with Developmental Disabilities under Immediate and Delayed Reinforcement

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Sy, Jolene R.; Vollmer, Timothy R.

2012-01-01

We evaluated the discrimination acquisition of individuals with developmental disabilities under immediate and delayed reinforcement. In Experiment 1, discrimination between two alternatives was examined when reinforcement was immediate or delayed by 20 s, 30 s, or 40 s. In Experiment 2, discrimination between 2 alternatives was compared across an…

Designing Class Activities to Meet Specific Core Training Competencies: A Developmental Approach

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Guth, Lorraine J.; McDonnell, Kelly A.

2004-01-01

This article presents a developmental model for designing and utilizing class activities to meet specific Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW) core training competencies for group workers. A review of the relevant literature about teaching group work and meeting core training standards is provided. The authors suggest a process by…

Charting the acquisition of semantic knowledge in a case of developmental amnesia.

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Gardiner, John M; Brandt, Karen R; Baddeley, Alan D; Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh; Mishkin, Mortimer

2008-09-01

We report the acquisition and recall of novel facts by Jon, a young adult with early onset developmental amnesia whose episodic memory is gravely impaired due to selective bilateral hippocampal damage. Jon succeeded in learning some novel facts but compared with a control group his intertrial retention was impaired during acquisition and, except for the most frequently repeated facts, he was also less accurate in correctly sourcing these facts to the experiment. The results further support the hypothesis that despite a severely compromised episodic memory and hippocampal system, there is nevertheless the capacity to accrue semantic knowledge available to recall.

Charting the acquisition of semantic knowledge in a case of developmental amnesia

Science.gov (United States)

Gardiner, John M.; Brandt, Karen R.; Baddeley, Alan D.; Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh; Mishkin, Mortimer

2009-01-01

We report the acquisition and recall of novel facts by Jon, a young adult with early onset developmental amnesia whose episodic memory is gravely impaired due to selective bilateral hippocampal damage. Jon succeeded in learning some novel facts but compared with a control group his intertrial retention was impaired during acquisition and, except for the most frequently repeated facts, he was also less accurate in correctly sourcing these facts to the experiment. The results further support the hypothesis that despite a severely compromised episodic memory and hippocampal system, there is nevertheless the capacity to accrue semantic knowledge available to recall. PMID:18589461

The Computer Book of the Internal Medicine Resident: competence acquisition and achievement of learning objectives.

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Oristrell, J; Oliva, J C; Casanovas, A; Comet, R; Jordana, R; Navarro, M

2014-01-01

The Computer Book of the Internal Medicine resident (CBIMR) is a computer program that was validated to analyze the acquisition of competences in teams of Internal Medicine residents. To analyze the characteristics of the rotations during the Internal Medicine residency and to identify the variables associated with the acquisition of clinical and communication skills, the achievement of learning objectives and resident satisfaction. All residents of our service (n=20) participated in the study during a period of 40 months. The CBIMR consisted of 22 self-assessment questionnaires specific for each rotation, with items on services (clinical workload, disease protocolization, resident responsibilities, learning environment, service organization and teamwork) and items on educational outcomes (acquisition of clinical and communication skills, achievement of learning objectives, overall satisfaction). Associations between services features and learning outcomes were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate analysis. An intense clinical workload, high resident responsibilities and disease protocolization were associated with the acquisition of clinical skills. High clinical competence and teamwork were both associated with better communication skills. Finally, an adequate learning environment was associated with increased clinical competence, the achievement of educational goals and resident satisfaction. Potentially modifiable variables related with the operation of clinical services had a significant impact on the acquisition of clinical and communication skills, the achievement of educational goals, and resident satisfaction during the specialized training in Internal Medicine. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Histamine is a modulator of metamorphic competence in Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea

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Sutherby Josh

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A metamorphic life-history is present in the majority of animal phyla. This developmental mode is particularly prominent among marine invertebrates with a bentho-planktonic life cycle, where a pelagic larval form transforms into a benthic adult. Metamorphic competence (the stage at which a larva is capable to undergo the metamorphic transformation and settlement is an important adaptation both ecologically and physiologically. The competence period maintains the larval state until suitable settlement sites are encountered, at which point the larvae settle in response to settlement cues. The mechanistic basis for metamorphosis (the morphogenetic transition from a larva to a juvenile including settlement, i.e. the molecular and cellular processes underlying metamorphosis in marine invertebrate species, is poorly understood. Histamine (HA, a neurotransmitter used for various physiological and developmental functions among animals, has a critical role in sea urchin fertilization and in the induction of metamorphosis. Here we test the premise that HA functions as a developmental modulator of metamorphic competence in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Results Our results provide strong evidence that HA leads to the acquisition of metamorphic competence in S. purpuratus larvae. Pharmacological analysis of several HA receptor antagonists and an inhibitor of HA synthesis indicates a function of HA in metamorphic competence as well as programmed cell death (PCD during arm retraction. Furthermore we identified an extensive network of histaminergic neurons in pre-metamorphic and metamorphically competent larvae. Analysis of this network throughout larval development indicates that the maturation of specific neuronal clusters correlates with the acquisition of metamorphic competence. Moreover, histamine receptor antagonist treatment leads to the induction of caspase mediated apoptosis in competent larvae. Conclusions We

A Disciplinary Perspective of Competency-Based Training on the Acquisition of Employability Skills

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Boahin, Peter; Hofman, Adriaan

2013-01-01

In the changing global economy, employability skills increasingly are the focus of vocational education and training institutions. This paper explores the effect of academic disciplines, students' background characteristics and industry training on the acquisition of employability skills through competency-based training. A significant…

Exploring Marriage and Family Therapy Supervisees' Perspectives about Postgraduate Supervision and the Acquisition of Core Competencies

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Steele, Stephanie J.

2013-01-01

The topic of core competencies has been a central focus in the marriage and family therapy field since 2003. There are currently no published studies from the supervisees' perspective about the role of supervision in the acquisition of core competencies. This qualitative study used transcendental phenomenology to explore supervisees' perspectives…

Intelligence quotient discrepancy indicates levels of motor competence in preschool children at risk for developmental delays

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Yu TY

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Tzu-Ying Yu,1 Kuan-Lin Chen,2,3 Willy Chou,4,5 Shu-Han Yang,4 Sheng-Chun Kung,4 Ya-Chen Lee,2 Li-Chen Tung4,6,7 1Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, 2Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 3Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 4Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan, 5Department of Recreation and Health Care Management, Cha Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, 6School of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 7School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan Purpose: This study aimed to establish 1 whether a group difference exists in the motor competence of preschool children at risk for developmental delays with intelligence quotient discrepancy (IQD; refers to difference between verbal intelligence quotient [VIQ] and performance intelligence quotient [PIQ] and 2 whether an association exists between IQD and motor competence.Methods: Children’s motor competence and IQD were determined with the motor subtests of the Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Toddlers and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence™ – Fourth Edition. A total of 291 children were included in three groups: NON-IQD (n=213; IQD within 1 standard deviation [SD], VIQ>PIQ (n=39; VIQ>PIQ greater than 1 SD, and PIQ>VIQ (n=39; PIQ>VIQ greater than 1 SD.Results: The results of one-way analysis of variance indicated significant differences among the subgroups for the “Gross and fine motor” subdomains of the Comprehensive Developmental Inventory for Infants and Toddlers, especially on the subtests of “body-movement coordination” (F=3.87, P<0.05 and “visual-motor coordination” (F=6.90, P<0.05. Motor competence was significantly

Dual Systems Competence [Image Omitted] Procedural Processing: A Relational Developmental Systems Approach to Reasoning

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Ricco, Robert B.; Overton, Willis F.

2011-01-01

Many current psychological models of reasoning minimize the role of deductive processes in human thought. In the present paper, we argue that deduction is an important part of ordinary cognition and we propose that a dual systems Competence [image omitted] Procedural processing model conceptualized within relational developmental systems theory…

Developmental Pathways Linking Externalizing Symptoms, Internalizing Symptoms, and Academic Competence to Adolescent Substance Use

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Englund, Michelle M.; Siebenbruner, Jessica

2012-01-01

This study extends previous research investigating the developmental pathways predicting adolescent alcohol and marijuana use by examining the cascading effects of externalizing and internalizing symptoms and academic competence in the prediction of use and level of use of these substances in adolescence. Participants (N = 191) were drawn from a…

Stressed out or subjective acquisition of competence – how do veterinary students see their curative work placement?

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Dilly, Marc; Tipold, Andrea; Geuenich, Katja

2016-01-01

Veterinary studies in Germany are regulated by the Veterinary Certification Act (TAppV). The practical part of the education consists of 1,170 hours, whereby up to 850 hours can be spent on the curative work placement. A curative work placement can result in physical and psychological stress in the sense of a professional overload. It is the aim of this study to find out in what areas and to what extent competence is acquired and psychological stress exists in students during their work placement. Veterinary students (n=142) from all German education institutes participated in a voluntary online-study based on Burnout Screening Scales (BOSS) as well as a questionnaire regarding the acquisition of competence and excessive stress during the work placement (FKÜP). The distribution of values for work placement related stress show that such work placement related stress is generally slightly increased (T=60) and lies above that of occupational stresses within the normal population. Work placement related physical complaints also show a significant slight increase (T=61). A value (T=42) within the normal range was determined for the resource values. Few of the students questioned considered themselves to be excessively stressed in favour of a high subjective acquisition of competences. The largest increase regarding the acquisition of competence was noted for the areas of animal handling/restraint and application and injection techniques. In the sense of a perceived excessive demand regarding practical capabilities the areas of emergency management, surgery and medication dispensation were mentioned. With regard to the load structure and the acquisition of competence by veterinary students during their work placement, more support of the individual and a balancing of teaching/learning goals would be desirable and represents a promising approach. PMID:26958657

Developmental pathways of change in fitness and motor competence are related to overweight and obesity status at the end of primary school.

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Rodrigues, Luis P; Stodden, David F; Lopes, Vítor P

2016-01-01

To test how different developmental pathways of health-related physical fitness and motor competence tests relate to weight status (overweight and obesity) at the end of primary school. Longitudinal study on growth, health-related physical fitness, and motor competence of 472 primary school children assessed yearly throughout 1st to 4th grade, with an average age of 6.3±0.7 years of age at 1st grade. Children's pathways of change on each of the fitness and motor competence tests were determined along the four years of the study. Participants were divided into three groups according to their rate of change in each test over time: Low Rate of Change, Average Rate of Change, and High Rate of Change. A logistic regression was used to predict the odds ratio of becoming overweight or obese, depending on the developmental pathway of change in fitness and motor competence across childhood. Children with a low or average rate of change in their developmental pathways of fitness and motor competence were several times more prone to become overweight or obese at the end of primary school (OR 2.0 to 6.3), independent of sex and body mass index at baseline. Specifically, a negative developmental pathway (Low Rate of Change) in cardiorespiratory fitness demonstrated over a six-fold elevated risk of being overweight or obese, compared to peers with a positive pathway. Not all children improve their motor competence and fitness levels over time and many actually regress over time. Developing positive fitness and motor competence pathways during childhood protects from obesity and overweight. Copyright © 2015 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Motor Competence and its Effect on Positive Developmental Trajectories of Health.

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Robinson, Leah E; Stodden, David F; Barnett, Lisa M; Lopes, Vitor P; Logan, Samuel W; Rodrigues, Luis Paulo; D'Hondt, Eva

2015-09-01

In 2008, Stodden and colleagues took a unique developmental approach toward addressing the potential role of motor competence in promoting positive or negative trajectories of physical activity, health-related fitness, and weight status. The conceptual model proposed synergistic relationships among physical activity, motor competence, perceived motor competence, health-related physical fitness, and obesity with associations hypothesized to strengthen over time. At the time the model was proposed, limited evidence was available to support or refute the model hypotheses. Over the past 6 years, the number of investigations exploring these relationships has increased significantly. Thus, it is an appropriate time to examine published data that directly or indirectly relate to specific pathways noted in the conceptual model. Evidence indicates that motor competence is positively associated with perceived competence and multiple aspects of health (i.e., physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and a healthy weight status). However, questions related to the increased strength of associations across time and antecedent/consequent mechanisms remain. An individual's physical and psychological development is a complex and multifaceted process that synergistically evolves across time. Understanding the most salient factors that influence health and well-being and how relationships among these factors change across time is a critical need for future research in this area. This knowledge could aid in addressing the declining levels of physical activity and fitness along with the increasing rates of obesity across childhood and adolescence.

Follicular 17β-estradiol and progesterone concentrations and degree of cumulus cell expansion as predictors of in vivo-matured oocyte developmental competence in superstimulated heifers

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Aardema, Hilde; Roelen, Bernard A J; van Tol, Helena T A; Oei, Christine H Y; Gadella, Bart M; Vos, Peter L A M

2013-01-01

The quality of an oocyte is crucial for successful generation of offspring, but few selection parameters have been identified that reliably predict oocyte developmental competence. The objective of the present study was to determine whether the developmental competence of in vivo-matured oocytes

Description of a developmental criterion-referenced assessment for promoting competence in internal medicine residents.

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Varney, Andrew; Todd, Christine; Hingle, Susan; Clark, Michael

2009-09-01

End-of- rotation global evaluations can be subjective, produce inflated grades, lack interrater reliability, and offer information that lacks value. This article outlines the generation of a unique developmental criterion-referenced assessment that applies adult learning theory and the learner, manager, teacher model, and represents an innovative application to the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) 9-point scale. We describe the process used by Southern Illinois University School of Medicine to develop rotation-specific, criterion-based evaluation anchors that evolved into an effective faculty development exercise. The intervention gave faculty a clearer understanding of the 6 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies, each rotation's educational goals, and how rotation design affects meaningful work-based assessment. We also describe easily attainable successes in evaluation design and pitfalls that other institutions may be able to avoid. Shifting the evaluation emphasis on the residents' development of competence has made the expectations of rotation faculty more transparent, has facilitated conversations between program director and residents, and has improved the specificity of the tool for feedback. Our findings showed the new approach reduced grade inflation compared with the ABIM end-of-rotation global evaluation form. We offer the new developmental criterion-referenced assessment as a unique application of the competences to the ABIM 9-point scale as a transferable model for improving the validity and reliability of resident evaluations across graduate medical education programs.

High hydrostatic pressure: a new way to improve in vitro developmental competence of porcine matured oocytes after vitrification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Du, Y; Pribenszky, C S; Molnár, M

2008-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to improve cryotolerance using high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) pretreatment of porcine in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes, to facilitate their further developmental competence after parthenogenetic activation. A total of 1668 porcine IVM oocytes were used in our...... present study. The pressure tolerance and optimal duration of recovery after HHP treatment were determined. Oocytes were treated with either 20 or 40 MPa (200 and 400 times greater than atmospheric pressure) for 60 min, with an interval of 10, 70, and 130 min between pressure treatment and subsequent...... vitrification under each pressure parameter. Oocytes from all vitrification groups had much lower developmental competence than fresh oocytes (Ppressure, with either 70...

Effect of stage of follicular growth during superovulation on developmental competence of bovine oocytes

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Humblot, P; Holm, Peter; Lonergan, P

2005-01-01

. Follicular characteristics were measured and oocyte quality was assessed by morphology, mRNA expression of eight marker genes or developmental ability after in vitro/in vivo maturation and subsequent in vitro fertilization and culture. Approaching ovulation, expected increases in follicular size and cumulus...... expansion suggested progression of oocyte maturation. No differences were found in the expression patterns of analyzed genes, except for heat-shock-protein (Hsp) that was lower in in vivo matured oocytes collected shortly before ovulation. Oocytes collected at this time also had higher developmental ability...... measured as blastocyst rates (57.6 after in vitro production while no differences were found between oocytes recovered earlier at the first three time points (39.3-41.5. We conclude that oocytes recovered late in the preovulatory period are more developmentally competent than oocytes recovered at the pre...

Deliberate acquisition of competence in physiological breech birth: A grounded theory study.

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Walker, Shawn; Scamell, Mandie; Parker, Pam

2018-06-01

Research suggests that the skill and experience of the attendant significantly affect the outcomes of vaginal breech births, yet practitioner experience levels are minimal within many contemporary maternity care systems. Due to minimal experience and cultural resistance, few practitioners offer vaginal breech birth, and many practice guidelines and training programmes recommend delivery techniques requiring supine maternal position. Fewer practitioners have skills to support physiological breech birth, involving active maternal movement and choice of birthing position, including upright postures such as kneeling, standing, squatting, or on a birth stool. How professionals learn complex skills contrary to those taught in their local practice settings is unclear. How do professionals develop competence and expertise in physiological breech birth? Nine midwives and five obstetricians with experience facilitating upright physiological breech births participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed iteratively using constructivist grounded theory methods to develop an empirical theory of physiological breech skill acquisition. Among the participants in this research, the deliberate acquisition of competence in physiological breech birth included stages of affinity with physiological birth, critical awareness, intention, identity and responsibility. Expert practitioners operating across local and national boundaries guided less experienced practitioners. The results depict a specialist learning model which could be formalised in sympathetic training programmes, and evaluated. It may also be relevant to developing competence in other specialist/expert roles and innovative practices. Deliberate development of local communities of practice may support professionals to acquire elusive breech skills in a sustainable way. Copyright © 2017 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nurses' and midwives' acquisition of competency in spiritual care: a focus on education.

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Attard, Josephine; Baldacchino, Donia R; Camilleri, Liberato

2014-12-01

The debate that spirituality is 'caught' in practice rather than 'taught' implies that spiritual awareness comes about through clinical experience and exposure, requiring no formal education and integration within the curricula. This is challenged as it seems that providing students with a 'taught' component equips students with tools to identify and strengthen resources in 'catching' the concept. This study forms part of a modified Delphi study, which aims to identify the predictive effect of pre- and post-registration 'taught' study units in spiritual care competency of qualified nurses/midwives. A purposive sample of 111 nurses and 101 midwives were eligible to participate in the study. Quantitative data were collected by the Spiritual Care Competency Scale (SCCS) (Van Leeuwen et al., 2008) [response rate: nurses (89%; n=99) and midwives (74%; n=75)]. Overall nurses/midwives who had undertaken the study units on spiritual care scored higher in the competency of spiritual care. Although insignificant, nurses scored higher in the overall competency in spiritual care than the midwives. 'Taught' study units on spiritual care at pre- or post-registration nursing/midwifery education may contribute towards the acquisition of competency in spiritual care. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of Kisspeptin on the Developmental Competence and Early Transcript Expression in Porcine Oocytes Parthenogenetically Activated with Different Methods

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Islam M. Saadeldin

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Recent studies showed the modulatory effect of kisspeptin (KP on calcium waves through the cell membrane and inside the cell. Spermatozoon can induce similar ooplasmic calcium oscillations at fertilization to trigger meiosis II. Here, we evaluated the effect of KP supplementation with 6-dimethylaminopurine (6-DMAP for 4 h on embryonic development after oocyte activation with single electric pulse, 5 µM ionomycin, or 8% ethanol. Compared to control nonsupplemented groups, KP significantly improved embryo developmental competence electric- and ethanol-activated oocytes in terms of cleavage (75.3% and 58.6% versus 64% and 48%, respectively, p<0.05 and blastocyst development (31.3% and 10% versus 19.3% and 4%, respectively, p<0.05. MOS expression was increased in electrically activated oocytes in presence of KP while it significantly reduced CCNB1 expression. In ionomycin treated group, both MOS and CCNB1 showed significant increase with no difference between KP and control groups. In ethanol-treated group, KP significantly reduced CCNB1 but no effect was observed on MOS expression. The early alterations in MOS and CCNB1 mRNA transcripts caused by KP may explain the significant differences in the developmental competence between the experimental groups. Kisspeptin supplementation may be adopted in protocols for porcine oocyte activation through electric current and ethanol to improve embryonic developmental competence.

Developmental competence of oocytes isolated from surplus medulla tissue in connection with cryopreservation of ovarian tissue for fertility preservation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wilken-Jensen, Helle N; Kristensen, Stine G; Jeppesen, Janni V

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Evaluating the developmental competence of immature oocytes collected from surplus medulla tissue in connection with ovarian tissue cryopreservation for fertility preservation. DESIGN: Cohort comparative study. SETTING: University laboratory in Denmark from 2011-2012. POPULATION: 69...

The Effect of Culture Methods and Serum Supplementation on Developmental Competence of Bovine Embryos Cultured In Vitro

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The objective of this study was to compare the developmental competence of bovine in vitro fertilized embryos in three different culture methods; microdrop method (50 µl of medium under mineral oil in petri dishes) compared to tube methods (1 ml of medium in tubes) with or without oil overlay, and t...

The "Globularization Hypothesis" of the Language-ready Brain as a Developmental Frame for Prosodic Bootstrapping Theories of Language Acquisition.

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Irurtzun, Aritz

2015-01-01

In recent research (Boeckx and Benítez-Burraco, 2014a,b) have advanced the hypothesis that our species-specific language-ready brain should be understood as the outcome of developmental changes that occurred in our species after the split from Neanderthals-Denisovans, which resulted in a more globular braincase configuration in comparison to our closest relatives, who had elongated endocasts. According to these authors, the development of a globular brain is an essential ingredient for the language faculty and in particular, it is the centrality occupied by the thalamus in a globular brain that allows its modulatory or regulatory role, essential for syntactico-semantic computations. Their hypothesis is that the syntactico-semantic capacities arise in humans as a consequence of a process of globularization, which significantly takes place postnatally (cf. Neubauer et al., 2010). In this paper, I show that Boeckx and Benítez-Burraco's hypothesis makes an interesting developmental prediction regarding the path of language acquisition: it teases apart the onset of phonological acquisition and the onset of syntactic acquisition (the latter starting significantly later, after globularization). I argue that this hypothesis provides a developmental rationale for the prosodic bootstrapping hypothesis of language acquisition (cf. i.a. Gleitman and Wanner, 1982; Mehler et al., 1988, et seq.; Gervain and Werker, 2013), which claim that prosodic cues are employed for syntactic parsing. The literature converges in the observation that a large amount of such prosodic cues (in particular, rhythmic cues) are already acquired before the completion of the globularization phase, which paves the way for the premises of the prosodic bootstrapping hypothesis, allowing babies to have a rich knowledge of the prosody of their target language before they can start parsing the primary linguistic data syntactically.

The globularization hypothesis of the language-ready brain as a developmental frame for prosodic bootstrapping theories of language acquisition

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Aritz eIrurtzun

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In recent research Boeckx & Benítez-Burraco (2014a,b have advanced the hypothesis that our species-specific language-ready brain should be understood as the outcome of developmental changes that occurred in our species after the split from Neanderthals-Denisovans, which resulted in a more globular braincase configuration in comparison to our closest relatives, who had elongated endocasts. According to these authors, the development of a globular brain is an essential ingredient for the language faculty and in particular, it is the centrality occupied by the thalamus in a globular brain that allows its modulatory or regulatory role, essential for syntactico-semantic computations. Their hypothesis is that the syntactico-semantic capacities arise in humans as a consequence of a process of globularization, which significantly takes place postnatally (cf. Neubauer et al. (2010. In this paper, I show that Boeckx & Benítez-Burraco’s hypothesis makes an interesting developmental prediction regarding the path of language acquisition: it teases apart the onset of phonological acquisition and the onset of syntactic acquisition (the latter starting significantly later, after globularization. I argue that this hypothesis provides a developmental rationale for the prosodic bootstrapping hypothesis of language acquisition (cf. i.a. Gleitman & Wanner (1982; Mehler et al. (1988, et seq.; Gervain & Werker (2013, which claim that prosodic cues are employed for syntactic parsing. The literature converges in the observation that a large amount of such prosodic cues (in particular, rhythmic cues are already acquired before the completion of the globularization phase, which paves the way for the premises of prosodic bootstrapping hypothesis, allowing babies to have a rich knowledge of the prosody of their target language before they can start parsing the primary linguistic data syntactically.

3. The Formation of Musical Competences: Methodological Approachesin the Process of Artistic-Aesthetic Acquisition

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Crişciuc Viorica

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The article hereby includes conceptual aspects of the musical competences formation. It describes the realization of this process operating with the concepts of well-known occidental, Russian and local researchers. One of the ideas characteristic to the researchers’ pedagogical thinking is that, during the process of musical competence formation through art, the acquisition process mechanism is happening. For integrity in insuring the practical realization at of a musical education, the methodology we propose is based on research, an imposing theoretical network of successful pedagogical practices of remarkable scientists from all over the world. The analyzed theories are a source of inspiration and constitute the theoretical universe which contributes to as truthful as possible musical education.

Expectations of clinical teachers and faculty regarding development of the CanMEDS-Family Medicine competencies: Laval developmental benchmarks scale for family medicine residency training.

Science.gov (United States)

Lacasse, Miriam; Théorêt, Johanne; Tessier, Sylvie; Arsenault, Louise

2014-01-01

The CanMEDS-Family Medicine (CanMEDS-FM) framework defines the expected terminal enabling competencies (EC) for family medicine (FM) residency training in Canada. However, benchmarks throughout the 2-year program are not yet defined. This study aimed to identify expected time frames for achievement of the CanMEDS-FM competencies during FM residency training and create a developmental benchmarks scale for family medicine residency training. This 2011-2012 study followed a Delphi methodology. Selected faculty and clinical teachers identified, via questionnaire, the expected time of EC achievement from beginning of residency to one year in practice (0, 6, 12, […] 36 months). The 15-85th percentile intervals became the expected competency achievement interval. Content validity of the obtained benchmarks was assessed through a second Delphi round. The 1st and 2nd rounds were completed by 33 and 27 respondents, respectively. A developmental benchmarks scale was designed after the 1st round to illustrate expectations regarding achievement of each EC. The 2nd round (content validation) led to minor adjustments (1.9±2.7 months) of intervals for 44 of the 92 competencies, the others remaining unchanged. The Laval Developmental Benchmarks Scale for Family Medicine clarifies expectations regarding achievement of competencies throughout FM training. In a competency-based education system this now allows identification and management of outlying residents, both those excelling and needing remediation. Further research should focus on assessment of the scale reliability after pilot implementation in family medicine clinical teaching units at Laval University, and corroborate the established timeline in other sites.

Perceived athletic competence and physical activity in children with developmental coordination disorder who are clinically referred, and control children

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Noordstar, Johannes J.; Stuive, Ilse; Herweijer, Hester; Holty, Lian; Oudenampsen, Chantal; Schoemaker, Marina M.; Reinders-Messelink, Heleen A.

2014-01-01

The relationship between perceived athletic competence (PAC) and physical activity (PA) in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is still unclear. This study investigated differences in PAC and PA between, and within, a group of children with DCD that were clinically referred (n =

PXD101 significantly improves nuclear reprogramming and the in vitro developmental competence of porcine SCNT embryos

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Jin, Jun-Xue; Kang, Jin-Dan; Li, Suo; Jin, Long; Zhu, Hai-Ying; Guo, Qing; Gao, Qing-Shan; Yan, Chang-Guo; Yin, Xi-Jun, E-mail: yinxj33@msn.com

2015-01-02

Highlights: • First explored that the effects of PXD101 on the development of SCNT embryos in vitro. • 0.5 μM PXD101 treated for 24 h improved the development of porcine SCNT embryos. • Level of AcH3K9 was significantly higher than control group at early stages. - Abstract: In this study, we investigated the effects of the histone deacetylase inhibitor PXD101 (belinostat) on the preimplantation development of porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos and their expression of the epigenetic markers histone H3 acetylated at lysine 9 (AcH3K9). We compared the in vitro developmental competence of SCNT embryos treated with various concentrations of PXD101 for 24 h. Treatment with 0.5 μM PXD101 significantly increased the proportion of SCNT embryos that reached the blastocyst stage, in comparison to the control group (23.3% vs. 11.5%, P < 0.05). We tested the in vitro developmental competence of SCNT embryos treated with 0.5 μM PXD101 for various amounts of times following activation. Treatment for 24 h significantly improved the development of porcine SCNT embryos, with a significantly higher proportion of embryos reaching the blastocyst stage in comparison to the control group (25.7% vs. 10.6%, P < 0.05). PXD101-treated SCNT embryos were transferred into two surrogate sows, one of whom became pregnant and four fetuses developed. PXD101 treatment significantly increased the fluorescence intensity of immunostaining for AcH3K9 in embryos at the pseudo-pronuclear and 2-cell stages. At these stages, the fluorescence intensities of immunostaining for AcH3K9 were significantly higher in PXD101-treated embryos than in control untreated embryos. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that PXD101 can significantly improve the in vitro and in vivo developmental competence of porcine SCNT embryos and can enhance their nuclear reprogramming.

Comparison of the effects of pre-treatment with sodium chloride, sucrose and trehalose on developmental competence porcine oocytes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lin, L; Kragh, P M; Purup, S

2009-01-01

calculations with SPSS 11.0 program (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Results are shown in Table 1. Osmotic stress with both permeable and non-permeable agents increased developmental competence of porcine IVM oocytes. NaCl seems to be more appropriate for the purpose, as the other two components resulted in decreased...

Naturally occurring mastitis disrupts developmental competence of bovine oocytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Z; Dvir, A; Kalo, D; Lavon, Y; Krifucks, O; Wolfenson, D; Leitner, G

2013-10-01

We examined the effects of naturally occurring mastitis on bovine oocyte developmental competence in vitro. Specifically, we investigated the effects of intramammary infection on the ovarian pool of oocytes (i.e., follicle-enclosed oocytes) and their ability to undergo in vitro maturation, fertilization, and further development to the blastocyst stage. Culled Holstein cows (n=50) from 9 commercial dairy farms in Israel were allotted to 3 groups according to somatic cell count (SCC) records of the last 3 monthly milk tests as well as of quarter samples collected before slaughter: (1) low SCC (n=7), (2) medium SCC (n=16), or (3) high SCC (n=27). Means of SCC values differed among low-, medium-, and high-SCC groups: 148,000, 311,000 and 1,813,000 cell/mL milk, respectively. Milk yield and days in milk did not differ among the 3 groups. Bacterial isolates included coagulase-negative staphylococci, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, or no bacteria found. Ovaries were collected at the abattoir and brought to the laboratory. Cumulus oocyte complexes were recovered separately from each cow and subjected individually to in vitro maturation and fertilization, followed by 8d in culture. The number of aspirated oocytes did not differ among groups, with a range of 17 to 21 oocytes per cow. The proportion of oocytes that cleaved into 2- to 4-cell-stage embryos (86.1 ± 3.4%) did not differ among groups. In contrast, mean percentages of embryos developed to the blastocyst stage on d 7 and 8 after fertilization were less in both medium- and-high SCC groups than in the low-SCC group (5.6 ± 2.3 and 4.1 ± 1.8 vs. 18.1 ± 4.6%, respectively). Additional analysis indicated that cleavage and blastocyst-formation rates did not differ among the bacterial types in the low-, medium-, and high-SCC groups. These are the first results to demonstrate that naturally occurring mastitis disrupts the developmental competence of the ovarian pool of oocytes, (i.e., oocytes at the

Enhancement of faba bean competitive ability by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi is highly correlated with dynamic nutrient acquisition by competing wheat.

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Qiao, Xu; Bei, Shuikuan; Li, Chunjie; Dong, Yan; Li, Haigang; Christie, Peter; Zhang, Fusuo; Zhang, Junling

2015-01-29

The mechanistic understanding of the dynamic processes linking nutrient acquisition and biomass production of competing individuals can be instructive in optimizing intercropping systems. Here, we examine the effect of inoculation with Funneliformis mosseae on competitive dynamics between wheat and faba bean. Wheat is less responsive to mycorrhizal inoculation. Both inoculated and uninoculated wheat attained the maximum instantaneous N and P capture approximately five days before it attained the maximum instantaneous biomass production, indicating that wheat detected the competitor and responded physiologically to resource limitation prior to the biomass response. By contrast, the instantaneous N and P capture by uninoculated faba bean remained low throughout the growth period, and plant growth was not significantly affected by competing wheat. However, inoculation substantially enhanced biomass production and N and P acquisition of faba bean. The exudation of citrate and malate acids and acid phosphatase activity were greater in mycorrhizal than in uninoculated faba bean, and rhizosphere pH tended to decrease. We conclude that under N and P limiting conditions, temporal separation of N and P acquisition by competing plant species and enhancement of complementary resource use in the presence of AMF might be attributable to the competitive co-existence of faba bean and wheat.

How Well Can Existing Software Support Processes Accomplish Sustainment of a Non-Developmental Item-Based Acquisition Strategy

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2017-04-06

guidance to the PM regarding development and sustainment of software . The need for a strong application of software engineering principles is...on the battlefield by a government- developed network manager application . The configuration of this confluence of software will be jointly managed...How Well Can Existing Software -Support Processes Accomplish Sustainment of a Non- Developmental Item-Based Acquisition Strategy? Graciano

Developmental Competence of Vitrified-Warmed Bovine Oocytes at the Germinal-Vesicle Stage is Improved by Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate Modulators during In Vitro Maturation.

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Kenji Ezoe

Full Text Available Cryopreservation of mature oocytes and embryos has provided numerous benefits in reproductive medicine. Although successful cryopreservation of germinal-vesicle stage (GV oocytes holds promise for further advances in reproductive biology and clinical embryology fields, reports regarding cryopreservation of immature oocytes are limited. Oocyte survival and maturation rates have improved since vitrification is being performed at the GV stage, but the subsequent developmental competence of GV oocytes is still low. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplementation of the maturation medium with cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP modulators on the developmental competence of vitrified-warmed GV bovine oocytes. GV oocytes were vitrified-warmed and cultured to allow for oocyte maturation, and then parthenogenetically activated or fertilized in vitro. Our results indicate that addition of a cAMP modulator forskolin (FSK or 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX to the maturation medium significantly improved the developmental competence of vitrified-warmed GV oocytes. We also demonstrated that vitrification of GV oocytes led to a decline in cAMP levels and maturation-promoting factor (MPF activity in the oocytes during the initial and final phases of maturation, respectively. Nevertheless, the addition of FSK or IBMX to the maturation medium significantly elevated cAMP levels and MPF activity during IVM. Taken together, our results suggest that the cryopreservation-associated meiotic and developmental abnormalities observed in GV oocytes may be ameliorated by an artificial increase in cAMP levels during maturation culture after warming.

Group Training of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Knowledge Competencies to Community-Based Service Providers for Adults with Developmental Disabilities

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Luiselli, James K.; St. Amand, CarrieAnne; MaGee, Christine; Sperry, James M.

2008-01-01

We describe a training program to teach applied behavior analysis (ABA) knowledge competencies to paraprofessional staff (N = 47) at a habilitation services agency for adults with developmental disabilities. Before and following training, staff completed assessment of knowledge tests for three content areas: basic learning principles,…

Juvenile offenders: competence to stand trial.

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Soulier, Matthew

2012-12-01

This article details the legal background and assists the reader in the preparation and practical conduct of evaluations regarding juvenile adjudicative competency. The material is presented to be useful as a guide to direct questions of competency and covers aspects of evaluation that include: legal standard for competency to stand trial, developmental immaturity, current practice in juvenile competency to stand trial, forensic evaluation of juvenile competency to stand trial, organizing the evaluation, collateral sources of information, psychiatric evaluation of juvenile adjudicative competency, assessment of mental disorder and intellectual disability, assessment of developmental status, assessment of functional abilities for adjudicative competence, and reaching the forensic opinion. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Small and medium-sized firms top management teams’ decision making in global acquisitions

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Timothy Kiessling

2009-07-01

Full Text Available The new global marketplace has caused changes in some organizations’/industries’ forms and execution of strategy and reliance on international personnel. Entry and success through the accumulation of knowledge in the global marketplace have become the impetus for sustainable competitive/developmental advantage for many corporations. Many organizations choose a strategy focusing on international acquisitions in foreign markets to compete effectively in the current ever-changing dynamic competitive landscape. After acquisition, the monitoring of the operations of the new international subsidiary by US firms typically is an ethnocentric example of applying home-country standards and controls. We suggest that the top management team (TMT of a firm is a valuable resource, needs to be retained and that ethnocentric monitoring must be reconsidered. This research focuses on the TMT and their value to the firm to help explain the variation in acquisition success. Thus post-acquisition integration and monitoring must account for this valuable asset.

Genome Transfer Prevents Fragmentation and Restores Developmental Potential of Developmentally Compromised Postovulatory Aged Mouse Oocytes

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Mitsutoshi Yamada

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Changes in oocyte quality can have great impact on the developmental potential of early embryos. Here we test whether nuclear genome transfer from a developmentally incompetent to a developmentally competent oocyte can restore developmental potential. Using in vitro oocyte aging as a model system we performed nuclear transfer in mouse oocytes at metaphase II or at the first interphase, and observed that development to the blastocyst stage and to term was as efficient as in control embryos. The increased developmental potential is explained primarily by correction of abnormal cytokinesis at anaphase of meiosis and mitosis, by a reduction in chromosome segregation errors, and by normalization of the localization of chromosome passenger complex components survivin and cyclin B1. These observations demonstrate that developmental decline is primarily due to abnormal function of cytoplasmic factors involved in cytokinesis, while the genome remains developmentally fully competent.

Relationship between growth hormone concentrations in bovine oocytes and follicular fluid and oocyte developmental competence

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S Modina

2009-08-01

Full Text Available In the last few years, several works suggest that Growth Hormone (GH is involved in follicular development and oocyte maturation. These actions may reflect endocrine roles of pituitary GH and also account for local autocrine or paracrine activities of GH produced in reproductive tissue. This study was aimed to verify whether the developmental competence of bovine female gametes might be related to ovarian GH.We evaluated the localisation and distribution of GH in the cumulus oocytes complexes (COCs and the concentration of GH in the oocytes and in the follicular fluids (FF from ovaries classified on the basis of the follicles number. Oocytes retrieved from ovaries with more than 10 follicles of 2 to 5 mm in diameter (High ovaries, Hi show higher rate of maturation and blastocyst formation than those retrieved from ovaries with less than 10 follicles (Low ovaries, Lo. At the same time we measured Estrogen (E2 and Progesterone (P4 concentrations in FF, to relate oocytes quality, GH concentration and follicle health. GH localization in COCs and oocytes was performed by indirect immunofluorescence and its concentration within the ooplasm was evaluated by microspectrophotometer analysis. GH, E2 and P4 concentrations in FF were measured by an Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent assay (ELISA.We observed a positive, diffuse signal at cytoplasmic level in most of the cumulus cells, with no differences between COCs collected from Hi and Lo ovaries. On the contrary, GH level was significantly higher in the oocytes collected from Lo ovaries than in those recovered from Hi ovaries. Finally we found that also GH level in the FF was inversely related to the oocytes developmental capability. We suggest that the increase of GH in the oocytes and in the FF derived from Lo ovaries might be interpreted as attempt of the follicular environment to improve ovarian activity and in turn oocytes developmental competence in a autocrineparacrine manner. Moreover, E2, and P4 levels

Multicenter, randomized, controlled trial of virtual-reality simulator training in acquisition of competency in colonoscopy.

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Cohen, Jonathan; Cohen, Seth A; Vora, Kinjal C; Xue, Xiaonan; Burdick, J Steven; Bank, Simmy; Bini, Edmund J; Bodenheimer, Henry; Cerulli, Maurice; Gerdes, Hans; Greenwald, David; Gress, Frank; Grosman, Irwin; Hawes, Robert; Mullin, Gerard; Mullen, Gerard; Schnoll-Sussman, Felice; Starpoli, Anthony; Stevens, Peter; Tenner, Scott; Villanueva, Gerald

2006-09-01

The GI Mentor is a virtual reality simulator that uses force feedback technology to create a realistic training experience. To define the benefit of training on the GI Mentor on competency acquisition in colonoscopy. Randomized, controlled, blinded, multicenter trial. Academic medical centers with accredited gastroenterology training programs. First-year GI fellows. Subjects were randomized to receive 10 hours of unsupervised training on the GI Mentor or no simulator experience during the first 8 weeks of fellowship. After this period, both groups began performing real colonoscopies. The first 200 colonoscopies performed by each fellow were graded by proctors to measure technical and cognitive success, and patient comfort level during the procedure. A mixed-effects model comparison between the 2 groups of objective and subjective competency scores and patient discomfort in the performance of real colonoscopies over time. Forty-five fellows were randomized from 16 hospitals over 2 years. Fellows in the simulator group had significantly higher objective competency rates during the first 100 cases. A mixed-effects model demonstrated a higher objective competence overall in the simulator group (P < .0001), with the difference between groups being significantly greater during the first 80 cases performed. The median number of cases needed to reach 90% competency was 160 in both groups. The patient comfort level was similar. Fellows who underwent GI Mentor training performed significantly better during the early phase of real colonoscopy training.

The design of a study environment for acquiring academic and professional competence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kirschner, P.A.; Vilsteren, P. van

Proposes a framework for the design of a learning environment which encourages the acquisition of academic and professional competence. Definition of knowledge, cognitive skill and competence; Acquisition of competence; Designing an environment for competence acquisition; Implementation of study

Socio-Emotional Skills, Behavior Problems, and Spanish Competence Predict the Acquisition of English among English Language Learners in Poverty

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Winsler, Adam; Kim, Yoon Kyong; Richard, Erin R.

2014-01-01

This article analyzes the role that individual differences in children's cognitive, Spanish competence, and socio-emotional and behavioral skills play in predicting the concurrent and longitudinal acquisition of English among a large sample of ethnically diverse, low-income, Hispanic preschool children. Participants assessed at age 4 for language,…

Charting the Road to Competence: Developmental Milestones for Internal Medicine Residency Training

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Green, Michael L.; Aagaard, Eva M.; Caverzagie, Kelly J.; Chick, Davoren A.; Holmboe, Eric; Kane, Gregory; Smith, Cynthia D.; Iobst, William

2009-01-01

Background The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Outcome Project requires that residency program directors objectively document that their residents achieve competence in 6 general dimensions of practice. Intervention In November 2007, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and the ACGME initiated the development of milestones for internal medicine residency training. ABIM and ACGME convened a 33-member milestones task force made up of program directors, experts in evaluation and quality, and representatives of internal medicine stakeholder organizations. This article reports on the development process and the resulting list of proposed milestones for each ACGME competency. Outcomes The task force adopted the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition as a framework the internal medicine milestones, and calibrated the milestones with the expectation that residents achieve, at a minimum, the “competency” level in the 5-step progression by the completion of residency. The task force also developed general recommendations for strategies to evaluate the milestones. Discussion The milestones resulting from this effort will promote competency-based resident education in internal medicine, and will allow program directors to track the progress of residents and inform decisions regarding promotion and readiness for independent practice. In addition, the milestones may guide curriculum development, suggest specific assessment strategies, provide benchmarks for resident self-directed assessment-seeking, and assist remediation by facilitating identification of specific deficits. Finally, by making explicit the profession's expectations for graduates and providing a degree of national standardization in evaluation, the milestones may improve public accountability for residency training. PMID:21975701

Milrinone treatment of bovine oocytes during in vitro maturation benefits production of nuclear transfer embryos by improving enucleation rate and developmental competence.

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Naruse, Kenji; Iga, Kosuke; Shimizu, Manabu; Takenouchi, Naoki; Akagi, Satoshi; Somfai, Tamas; Hirao, Yuji

2012-01-01

In the production of cattle nuclear transfer embryos, the production efficiency is affected by the oocyte developmental competence and successful enucleation rate. This study investigated the effect of treating oocytes with milrinone, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, on these two characteristics. When cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were cultured for 19 h with 0, 50 or 100 μM of milrinone, the enucleation rate was significantly improved by 100 μM milrinone. However, milrinone treatment during in vitro maturation (IVM) also delayed meiotic progression by at least 2 h, which would affect the examination of enucleation rate and developmental competence of oocytes. Thus, in the second experiment, meiotic resumption was temporarily inhibited with butyrolactone I (BL-I; 100 μM, 18 h) to decrease the delayed maturation caused by milrinone; this enabled a more accurate comparison of the effects of milrinone after oocyte maturation. In nuclear transfer embryo production, oocytes treated with milrinone (100 μM, 20 h) showed a significantly higher rate of enucleation compared with that of control oocytes. This improved enucleation rate was associated with a closer location of the metaphase plate to the first polar body in the treated oocytes compared with that in control oocytes. Furthermore, milrinone improved the frequency of development to the blastocyst stage in the resulting embryos. In conclusion, milrinone supplementation during IVM improved enucleation rates by rendering the metaphase plate in close proximity to the first polar body, and this treatment also improved oocyte developmental competence. These benefits additively improved the yield of cloned embryos that developed to the blastocyst stage.

Metaphorical Competence: A Neglected Component of Communicative Competence

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Sabet, Masoud Khalili; Tavakoli, Marjaneh

2016-01-01

The ability to comprehend and use metaphors in L2 which is referred to as metaphorical competence is an important issue in second language acquisition. Metaphors are so pervasive in our life that we might not realize their presence and simply neglect them even in our first language. Different models of communicative competence have been suggested…

Effect of supplementation of green tea polyphenols on the developmental competence of bovine oocytes in vitro

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Z.G. Wang

2007-08-01

Full Text Available The objective of the present study was to examine the effect of green tea polyphenols (GTPs supplementation during in vitro maturation, in vitro fertilization, and in vitro culture on the developmental competence of bovine oocytes. Cumulus-oocyte complexes aspirated from the ovaries were matured in vitro (38.5ºC for 24 h and fertilized (38.5ºC for 15-18 h and embryos were cultured (38.5ºC for 192 h in a defined conditioned medium with or without GTPs supplementation. The GTPs used in the present study contained 99% catechin derivatives, with the major components being 50% (--epigallocatechin gallate, 22% (--epicatechin gallate, 18% (--epigallocatechin, and 10% (--epicatechin. Four replicate trials were done for each type of experiment. GTPs supplementation (15 µM of the maturation medium led to a significant increase in the rate of blastocyst formation (34.0 vs 21.4%, P < 0.05. However, the rate of blastocyst formation was not improved when higher GTPs concentrations (20 or 25 µM were added to the in vitro maturation medium. During in vitro fertilization, supplementation with higher GTPs concentrations (20 or 25 µM significantly reduced the rate of blastocyst formation (P < 0.05. Supplementation of the culture medium with 15 µM GTPs improved the rate of blastocyst formation, while higher GTPs concentrations (25 µM significantly reduced embryo development (P < 0.05. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that supplementation with GTPs at low concentration (15 µM during in vitro maturation and in vitro culture improved the developmental competence of bovine oocytes.

Scriptaid and 5-aza-2'deoxycytidine enhanced expression of pluripotent genes and in vitro developmental competence in interspecies Black-footed cat cloned embryos

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Gómez, M. C.; Biancardi, M.N.; Jenkins, J.A.; Dumas, C.; Galiguis, J.; Wang, G.; Earle Pope, C.

2012-01-01

Somatic cell nuclear transfer offers the possibility of preserving endangered species including the black-footed cat, which is threatened with extinction. The effectiveness and efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) depends on a variety of factors, but 'inappropriate epigenetic reprogramming of the transplanted nucleus is the primary cause of the developmental failure of cloned embryos. Abnormal epigenetic events such as DNA methylation and histone modifications during SCNT perturb the expression of imprinted and pluripotent-related genes that, consequently, may result in foetal and neonatal abnormalities. We have demonstrated that pregnancies can be established after transfer of black-footed cat cloned embryos into domestic cat recipients, but none of the implanted embryos developed to term and the foetal failure has been associated to aberrant reprogramming in cloned embryos. There is growing evidence that modifying the epigenetic pattern of the chromatin template of both donor cells and reconstructed embryos with a combination of inhibitors of histone deacetylases and DNA methyltransferases results in enhanced gene reactivation and improved in vitro and in vivo developmental competence. Epigenetic modifications of the chromatin template of black-footed cat donor cells and reconstructed embryos with epigenetic-modifying compounds enhanced in vitro development, and regulated the expression of pluripotent genes, but these epigenetic modifications did not improve in vivo developmental competence.

A conceptual model of individual competency components as one of the predictors of success in mergers and acquisitions

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Darko Kovač

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The increasing challenge of how to balance “soft” human factors with “hard” financial factors in mergers and acquisitions (M&A to be successful is not new. However, the real challenge lies in the question of how, and with which yardstick, to measure and compare the human factor in both the acquiring and the acquired companies in all phases of M&A. In this study, a model for measuring and comparing the human factor with competencies is presented. The model enables the measuring of soft factors with quantitative criteria. A tripartite individual competency components construct is conceived: cognitive, affective and conative, to which the personal value system is added. The model discussed is based on empirical findings and the cases of two companies and literature. The model enables companies to compare differences in competencies and thus to plan activities how to overcome those differences and achieve a higher success rate in M&A.

Comparison of Different Vitrification Procedures on Developmental Competence of Mouse Germinal Vesicle Oocytes in the Presence or Absence of Cumulus Cells

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Mojdeh Salehnia

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Background: An evaluation of the developmental competence of vitrified mouse germinal vesicle(GV oocytes with various equilibration and vitrification times; in the presence or absence ofcumulus cells and by comparison between the cryotop method and straws was performed.Materials and Methods: Mouse GV oocytes were considered in cumulus-denuded oocytes(CDOs and cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs groups. Their survival and developmental rateswere studied in the following experiments: (I exposure to different equilibration times (0, 3 and5 minutes and vitrification (1, 3 and 5 minutes without plunging in LN2 as toxicity tests, (IIoocytes were vitrified using straws followed by exposure to equilibration solution for 0, 3 and 5minutes and vitrification solution for 1 and 3 minutes, and (III oocytes were vitrified by cryotopfollowing exposure to equilibration for 5 minutes and vitrification for 1 minute, respectively.Results: Maturation and developmental rates of the COCs were higher than CDOs in the nonvitrifiedgroup (p<0.05. The survival and maturation rates were low in all oocytes exposed tovitrification solution for 5 minutes (p <0.05. In vitrified CDOs and COCs using straws, the survivalrates ranged from 56.9% to 85.4% and 44.0% to 84.5%, and the maturation rates from 35.3% to56.8% and 25.8% to 56.2%, respectively; which were lower than non-vitrified samples (p <0.05.Cryotop vitrified oocytes showed higher survival, maturation and fertilization rates when comparedto straw in both CDOs and COCs (p <0.05.Conclusion: The presence of cumulus cells improves developmental competence of GV oocytesin control groups but it did not affect the vitrified group. Vitrification of mouse GV oocytes usingcryotop was more effective than straws, however both vitrification techniques did not improve thecleavage rate.

Vitamin K2 improves developmental competency and cryo-tolerance of in vitro derived ovine blastocyst.

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Sefid, Fatemeh; Ostadhosseini, S; Hosseini, S M; Ghazvini Zadegan, F; Pezhman, M; Nasr Esfahani, Mohammad Hossein

2017-08-01

Vitamin K2 (VK2), acts as an electron carrier in mitochondria and thereby effects reactive oxygen species (ROS) and ATP production. This study evaluates role of VK2 on in vitro developmental competency and cryo-survival of pre-implantation ovine embryos. Initially the optimal and beneficial concentration of VK2 on compaction and blastocyst formation rates was defined (0.1 μM). Subsequently, it was shown that 0.1 μM VK2, at blastocyst stage, reduces H2O2 production, increase the expression of mitochondrial related gene and improved embryos quality. We further assessed presence VK2 supplementation before and/or after vitrification of in vitro derived blastocysts. Our results reveal that presence of VK2 before and after vitrification improves rates of blastocysts re-expansion (88.19± 3.37% vs 73.68± 1.86%, P < 0.05) and hatching (49.55± 4.37% vs 32.7± 3.32%) compared to control group. These observation were consistent with reduction in H2O2 production and improved in expression of mitochondrial related genes. However, VK2 before or after vitrification, not only had no positive effect on these two parameters, but also significantly reduced these parameters. Therefore, in concordance with pervious report in bovine, we show that VK2 supplementation post genomic activation (Day 3-7) improved developmental competency of ovine in vitro derived embryos. We also showed that presence of VK2 after vitrification improves the cryo-survival of ovine embryos. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of milrinone on the developmental competence of growing lamb oocytes identified with brilliant cresyl blue.

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Wang, Liqin; Jiang, Xiangjiu; Wu, Yangsheng; Lin, Jiapeng; Zhang, Li; Yang, Nan; Huang, Juncheng

2016-11-01

Juvenile in vitro embryo transfer is a novel technique that can be used to increase the rate of genetic gain in a population and presents an alternative to embryo technologies on the basis of adult animals. However, oocytes from prepubertal animals have a lower viability than those obtained from adult ewe oocyte donors. In this research, we aimed to determine the optimum concentration and time of treatment of oocytes from prepubertal lambs with brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) stain and milrinone during IVM. This would improve the developmental rate of lamb oocytes and embryos after IVF. First, lamb cumulus-oocyte complexes were cultured under different concentrations (13 or 26 μM) of BCB staining. Treated lamb oocytes were then divided into BCB- (colorless cytoplasm) and BCB+ (colored cytoplasm) groups on the basis of their glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity. The blastocyst efficiency rate of BCB+ oocytes treated with 13 μM BCB (37.03%) was significantly higher than that of BCB+ oocytes treated with 26 μM BCB (23.25%) and that of nontreated BCB control oocytes (15.37%), as well as that of BCB- oocytes (6.28%). Both control oocytes and BCB+ oocytes exhibited significantly higher cleavage rates (60.15% and 73.44%, respectively) than that of BCB- oocytes (36.19%). Moreover, the diameter and glutathione content of BCB+ oocytes were found to be significantly greater than those of BCB- oocytes (163.37 vs. 159.25 μm and 6.39 vs. 0.26 pM, respectively). After culturing BCB- oocytes in different concentrations of milrinone (0, 50, 75, and 100 μM) for 3, 6, or 9 hours, results reported that supplementation of IVM medium with 75 μM milrinone for 6 hours yielded a significantly higher proportion of blastocysts than the other treatments. These results show that the staining of lamb cumulus-oocyte complexes with 13 μM BCB before IVM may be used to select developmentally competent lamb oocytes. Furthermore, they suggest that milrinone can be used to promote

Maturation, fertilisation and culture of bovine oocytes and embryos in an individually identifiable manner: a tool for studying oocyte developmental competence.

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Matoba, Satoko; Fair, Trudee; Lonergan, Patrick

2010-01-01

The ability to successfully culture oocytes and embryos individually would facilitate the study of the relationship between follicle parameters and oocyte developmental competence, in order to identify markers of competent oocytes, as well as the ability to use small numbers of oocytes from an individual donor such as when ovum pick-up is carried out. Using a total of 3118 oocytes, the aim of the present study was to develop a system capable of supporting the development of immature bovine oocytes to the blastocyst stage in an individually identifiable manner. Initially, post-fertilisation embryo culture in the Well-of-the-Well (WOW) system, on the cell adhesive Cell-Tak or in polyester mesh was tested and shown to result in similar development to embryos cultured in standard group culture. The results demonstrate that it is possible to culture bovine oocytes to the blastocyst stage in an individually identifiable manner in all three culture systems with comparable success rates. This permits the localisation and identification of individual embryos throughout preimplantation development in vitro while retaining the developmental benefits of group culture. In terms of ease of preparation and use, culture in isolation within the strands of a polyester mesh is preferable.

Confidence-Based Progress-Driven Self-Generated Goals for Skill Acquisition in Developmental Robots

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Hung eNgo

2013-11-01

Full Text Available A reinforcement learning agent that autonomously explores its environment can utilize a curiosity drive to enable continual learning of skills, in the absence of any external rewards. We formulate curiosity-driven exploration, and eventual skill acquisition, as a selective sampling problem. Each environment setting provides the agent with a stream of instances. An instance is a sensory observation that, when queried, causes an outcome that the agent is trying to predict. After an instance is observed, a query condition, derived herein, tells whether its outcome is statistically known or unknown to the agent, based on the confidence interval of an online linear classifier. Upon encountering the first unknown instance, the agent "queries'' the environment to observe the outcome, which is expected to improve its confidence in the corresponding predictor. If the environment is in a setting where all instances are known, the agent generates a plan of actions to reach a new setting, where an unknown instance is likely to be encountered. The desired setting is a self-generated goal, and the plan of action, essentially a program to solve a problem, is a skill. The success of the plan depends on the quality of the agent's predictors, which are improved as mentioned above. For validation, this method is applied to both a simulated and real Katana robot arm in its "blocks-world'' environment. Results show that the proposed method generates sample-efficient curious exploration behavior, which exhibits developmental stages, continual learning, and skill acquisition, in an intrinsically-motivated playful agent.

Relating Language and Music Skills in Young Children: A First Approach to Systemize and Compare Distinct Competencies on Different Levels.

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Cohrdes, Caroline; Grolig, Lorenz; Schroeder, Sascha

2016-01-01

Children in transition from kindergarten to school develop fundamental skills important for the acquisition of reading and writing. Previous research pointed toward substantial correlations between specific language- and music-related competencies as well as positive transfer effects from music on pre-literacy skills. However, until now the relationship between diverse music and language competencies remains unclear. In the present study, we used a comprehensive approach to clarify the relationships between a broad variety of language and music skills on different levels, not only between but also within domains. In order to do so, we selected representative language- and music-related competencies and systematically compared the performance of N = 44 5- to 7-year-old children with a control group of N = 20 young adults aged from 20 to 30. Competencies were organized in distinct levels according to varying units of vowels/sounds, words or syllables/short melodic or rhythmic phrases, syntax/harmony and context of a whole story/song to test for their interrelatedness within each domain. Following this, we conducted systematic correlation analyses between the competencies of both domains. Overall, selected competencies appeared to be appropriate for the measurement of language and music skills in young children with reference to comprehension, difficulty and a developmental perspective. In line with a hierarchical model of skill acquisition, performance on lower levels was predictive for the performance on higher levels within domains. Moreover, correlations between domains were stronger for competencies reflecting a similar level of cognitive processing, as expected. In conclusion, a systematic comparison of various competencies on distinct levels according to varying units turned out to be appropriate regarding comparability and interrelatedness. Results are discussed with regard to similarities and differences in the development of language and music skills as well

Relating language and music skills in young children: a first approach to systemize and compare distinct competencies on different levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caroline Cohrdes

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Children in transition from kindergarten to school develop fundamental skills important for the acquisition of reading and writing. Previous research pointed towards substantial correlations between specific language- and music-related competencies as well as positive transfer effects from music on pre-literacy skills. However, until now the relationship between diverse music and language competencies remains unclear. In the present study we used a comprehensive approach to clarify the relationships between a broad variety of language and music skills on different levels, not only between but also within domains. In order to do so, we selected representative language- and music-related competencies and systematically compared the performance of N = 44 5- to 7-year-old children with a control group of N = 20 young adults aged from 20 to 30. Competencies were organized in distinct levels according to varying units of vowels/sounds, words or syllables/short melodic or rhythmic phrases, syntax/harmony and context of a whole story/song to test for their interrelatedness within each domain. Following this, we conducted systematic correlation analyses between the competencies of both domains. Overall, selected competencies appeared to be appropriate for the measurement of language and music skills in young children with reference to comprehension, difficulty and a developmental perspective. In line with a hierarchical model of skill acquisition, performance on lower levels was predictive for the performance on higher levels within domains. Moreover, correlations between domains were stronger for competencies reflecting a similar level of cognitive processing, as expected. In conclusion, a systematic comparison of various competencies on distinct levels according to varying units turned out to be appropriate regarding comparability and interrelatedness. Results are discussed with regard to similarities and differences in the development of language and

Competent for commitment: you've got to have heart!

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Rajan; Epstein, Jonathan A

2018-01-01

The mature heart is composed primarily of four different cell types: cardiac myocytes, endothelium, smooth muscle, and fibroblasts. These cell types derive from pluripotent progenitors that become progressively restricted with regard to lineage potential, giving rise to multipotent cardiac progenitor cells and, ultimately, the differentiated cell types of the heart. Recent studies have begun to shed light on the defining characteristics of the intermediary cell types that exist transiently during this developmental process and the extrinsic and cell-autonomous factors that influence cardiac lineage decisions and cellular competence. This information will shape our understanding of congenital and adult cardiac disease and guide regenerative therapeutic approaches. In addition, cardiac progenitor specification can serve as a model for understanding basic mechanisms regulating the acquisition of cellular identity. In this review, we present the concept of "chromatin competence" that describes the potential for three-dimensional chromatin organization to function as the molecular underpinning of the ability of a progenitor cell to respond to inductive lineage cues and summarize recent studies advancing our understanding of cardiac cell specification, gene regulation, and chromatin organization and how they impact cardiac development. © 2018 Jain and Epstein; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

On Verbal Competence

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Zhongxin Dai

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This paper explored a new concept, verbal competence, to present a challenge to Chomsky’s linguistic competence and Hymes’ communicative competence. It is generally acknowledged that Chomsky concerned himself only with the syntactic/grammatical structures, and viewed the speaker’s generation and transformation of syntactic structures as the production of language. Hymes challenged Chomsky’s conception of linguistic competence and argued for an ethnographic or sociolinguistic concept, communicative competence, but his concept is too broad to be adequately grasped and followed in such fields as linguistics and second language acquisition. Communicative competence can include abilities to communicate with nonverbal behaviors, e.g. gestures, postures or even silence. The concept of verbal competence concerns itself with the mental and psychological processes of verbal production in communication. These processes originate from the speaker’s personal experience, in a certain situation of human communication, and with the sudden appearance of the intentional notion, shape up as the meaning images and end up in the verbal expression.

Do primary health centres and hospitals contribute equally towards achievement of the transversal clinical competencies of medical students? Performance on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in competency acquisition.

Science.gov (United States)

Soler-González, Jorge; Buti, Miquel; Boada, Jordi; Ayala, Victoria; Peñascal, Eduard; Rodriguez, Toni

2016-01-01

The adaptation of the educational programmes of European faculties of medicine to the European Higher Education Area guidelines has focused curricula design on competence acquisition. Competencies are defined as the achievements of a predetermined level of efficacy in real-world scenarios. Our objective was to assess whether performance on a common competence evaluation test, the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), resulted in different scores for second-year students after a practical medical training course took place in a primary health centre (PHC) or in a hospital. A descriptive study was conducted during the 2010-2014 academic year of the OSCE test scores obtained by all second-year students. Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain). We performed a correlation analysis between students who completed their practical medical training at the PHC and hospitals utilising Student's t-test for comparison of means. 423 students who completed internships at the PHC and at hospitals obtained OSCE mean scores of 7.32 (SD; IC) (0.82; 7.18-7.47) points and 7.17 (0.83; 6.07-7.26) points, respectively (p=0.07). Second-year medical students acquired similar competency levels in the two analysed training scenarios. The two areas both serve their teaching purpose. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Developmental Competence and Epigenetic Profile of Porcine Embryos Produced by Two Different Cloning Methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Ying; Lucas-Hahn, Andrea; Petersen, Bjoern; Li, Rong; Hermann, Doris; Hassel, Petra; Ziegler, Maren; Larsen, Knud; Niemann, Heiner; Callesen, Henrik

2017-06-01

The "Dolly" based cloning (classical nuclear transfer, [CNT]) and the handmade cloning (HMC) are methods that are nowadays routinely used for somatic cloning of large domestic species. Both cloning protocols share several similarities, but differ with regard to the required in vitro culture, which in turn results in different time intervals until embryo transfer. It is not yet known whether the differences between cloned embryos from the two protocols are due to the cloning methods themselves or the in vitro culture, as some studies have shown detrimental effects of in vitro culture on conventionally produced embryos. The goal of this study was to unravel putative differences between two cloning methods, with regard to developmental competence, expression profile of a panel of developmentally important genes and epigenetic profile of porcine cloned embryos produced by either CNT or HMC, either with (D5 or D6) or without (D0) in vitro culture. Embryos cloned by these two methods had a similar morphological appearance on D0, but displayed different cleavage rates and different quality of blastocysts, with HMC embryos showing higher blastocyst rates (HMC vs. CNT: 35% vs. 10%, p cloned embryos were similar on D0, but differed on D6. In conclusion, both cloning methods and the in vitro culture may affect porcine embryo development and epigenetic profile. The two cloning methods essentially produce embryos of similar quality on D0 and after 5 days in vitro culture, but thereafter both histone acetylation and gene expression differ between the two types of cloned embryos.

Embryogenic competence acquisition in sugarcane callus is associated with differential H+ pump abundance and activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Passamani, Lucas Z; Bertolazi, Amanda A; Ramos, Alessandro C; Santa-Catarina, Claudete; Thelen, Jay J; Silveira, Vanildo

2018-06-22

Somatic embryogenesis is an important biological process in several plant species, including sugarcane. Proteomics approaches have shown that H + pumps are differentially regulated during somatic embryogenesis; however, the relationship between H + flux and embryogenic competence is still unclear. This work aimed to elucidate the association between extracellular H + flux and somatic embryo maturation in sugarcane. We performed a microsomal proteomics analysis and analyzed changes in extracellular H + flux and H + pump (P-H + -ATPase, V-H + -ATPase and H + -PPase) activity in embryogenic and non-embryogenic callus. A total of 657 proteins were identified, 16 of which were H + pumps. We observed that P-H + -ATPase and H + -PPase were more abundant in embryogenic callus. Compared with non-embryogenic callus, embryogenic callus showed higher H + influx, especially on maturation day 14, as well as higher H+ pump activity (mainly P-H+-ATPase and H+-PPase activity). H+-PPase appears to be the major H + pump in embryogenic callus during somatic embryo formation, functioning in both vacuole acidification and PPi homeostasis. These results provide evidence for an association between higher H + pump protein abundance and, consequently, higher H + flux and embryogenic competence acquisition in the callus of sugarcane, allowing for optimization of the somatic embryo conversion process by modulating the activities of these H + pumps.

Arguments from Developmental Order.

Science.gov (United States)

Stöckle-Schobel, Richard

2016-01-01

In this article, I investigate a special type of argument regarding the role of development in theorizing about psychological processes and cognitive capacities. Among the issues that developmental psychologists study, discovering the ontogenetic trajectory of mechanisms or capacities underpinning our cognitive functions ranks highly. The order in which functions are developed or capacities are acquired is a matter of debate between competing psychological theories, and also philosophical conceptions of the mind - getting the role and the significance of the different steps in this order right could be seen as an important virtue of such theories. Thus, a special kind of strategy in arguments between competing philosophical or psychological theories is using developmental order in arguing for or against a given psychological claim. In this article, I will introduce an analysis of arguments from developmental order, which come in two general types: arguments emphasizing the importance of the early cognitive processes and arguments emphasizing the late cognitive processes. I will discuss their role in one of the central tools for evaluating scientific theories, namely in making inferences to the best explanation. I will argue that appeal to developmental order is, by itself, an insufficient criterion for theory choice and has to be part of an argument based on other core explanatory or empirical virtues. I will end by proposing a more concerted study of philosophical issues concerning (cognitive) development, and I will present some topics that also pertain to a full-fledged 'philosophy of development.'

Developmental Trajectory of Number Acuity Reveals a Severe Impairment in Developmental Dyscalculia

Science.gov (United States)

Piazza, Manuela; Facoetti, Andrea; Trussardi, Anna Noemi; Berteletti, Ilaria; Conte, Stefano; Lucangeli, Daniela; Dehaene, Stanisalas; Zorzi, Marco

2010-01-01

Developmental dyscalculia is a learning disability that affects the acquisition of knowledge about numbers and arithmetic. It is widely assumed that numeracy is rooted on the "number sense", a core ability to grasp numerical quantities that humans share with other animals and deploy spontaneously at birth. To probe the links between number sense…

Lessons from the bottom of the U: arts-based learning processes in pedagogues’ training

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chemi, Tatiana

The purpose of the developmental project "Dance with the future" was to test a new professional area for educators, pedagogues and social workers, and at the same time to offer teachers within this educational sector a novel opportunity for competence acquisition and professional growth. This pro......The purpose of the developmental project "Dance with the future" was to test a new professional area for educators, pedagogues and social workers, and at the same time to offer teachers within this educational sector a novel opportunity for competence acquisition and professional growth...

Arguments from Developmental Order

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard eStöckle-Schobel

2016-05-01

Full Text Available In this article, I investigate a special type of argument regarding the role of development in theorising about psychological processes and cognitive capacities. Among the issues that developmental psychologists study, discovering the ontogenetic trajectory of mechanisms or capacities underpinning our cognitive functions ranks highly. The order in which functions are developed or capacities are acquired is a matter of debate between competing psychological theories, and also philosophical conceptions of the mind – getting the role and the significance of the different steps in this order right could be seen as an important virtue of such theories.Thus, a special kind of strategy in arguments between competing philosophical or psychological theories is using developmental order in arguing for or against a given psychological claim. In this article, I will introduce an analysis of arguments from developmental order, which come in two general types: arguments emphasising the importance of the early cognitive processes and arguments emphasising the late cognitive processes. I will discuss their role in one of the central tools for evaluating scientific theories, namely in making inferences to the best explanation. I will argue that appeal to developmental order is, by itself, an insufficient criterion for theory choice and has to be part of an argument based on other core explanatory or empirical virtues. I will end by proposing a more concerted study of philosophical issues concerning (cognitive development, and I will present some topics that also pertain to a full-fledged ‘philosophy of development’.

Improving Acquisition Outcomes with Contextual Ambidexterity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meglio, Olimpia; King, David R.; Risberg, Annette

2015-01-01

The results of research on mergers and acquisitions often point to a need to improve acquisition outcomes and lessen the organizational turmoil that can often follow integration efforts. We assert that viewing acquisition integration through the lens of contextual ambidexterity may improve...... acquisition outcomes in two ways: by providing an integrated solution to the economic and social tensions in acquisitions, and by enabling managers to effectively confront the competing needs of task and human integration. We also posit that by building on contextual ambidexterity, we can extend...... the possibilities for both research and practice regarding task and human integration in acquisitions. We also emphasize the role of an integration manager and integration mechanisms in enabling contextual ambidexterity for successful acquisition integration. Finally, we identify implications for research...

Use of Both Cumulus Cells’ Transcriptomic Markers and Zona Pellucida Birefringence to Select Developmentally Competent Oocytes in Human Assisted Reproductive Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Background Selection of the best oocyte for subsequent steps of fertilization and embryo transfer was shown to be the crucial step in human infertility treatment procedure. Oocyte selection using morphological criteria mainly Zona pellucida (ZP) has been the gold standard method in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) clinics, but this selection approach has limitations in terms of accuracy, objectivity and constancy. Recent studies using OMICs-based approaches have allowed the identification of key molecular markers that quantitatively and non-invasively predict the oocyte quality for higher pregnancy rates and efficient infertility treatment. These biomarkers are a valuable reinforcement of the morphological selection criteria widely used in in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics. In this context, this study was designed to investigate the relationship between transcriptomic predictors of oocyte quality found by our group and the conventional morphological parameters of oocyte quality mainly the ZP birefringence. Results Microarray data revealed that 48 and 27 differentially expressed candidate genes in cumulus cells (CCs) were respectively overexpressed and underexpressed in the ZGP (Zona Good Pregnant) versus ZBNP (Zona Bad Non Pregnant) groups. More than 70% of previously reported transcriptomic biomarkers of oocyte developmental competence were confirmed in this study. The analysis of possible association between ZP birefringence versus molecular markers approach showed an absence of correlation between them using the current set of markers. Conclusions This study suggested a new integrative approach that matches morphological and molecular approaches used to select developmentally competent oocytes able to lead to successful pregnancy and the delivery of healthy baby. For each ZP birefringence score, oocytes displayed a particular CCs' gene expression pattern. However, no correlations were found between the 7 gene biomarkers of oocyte developmental

Native plants ( and extracts act as antioxidants to support developmental competence of bovine blastocysts

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Geon-Yeop Do

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Objective Phellodendron amurense (P. amurense and Humulus japonicus (H. japonicus are closely involved in anti-oxidative response and increasing antioxidant enzymes activities. However, the effects of their extracts on development of preimplantation bovine embryos have not been investigated. Therefore, we investigated the effects of P. amurense and H. japonicus extracts on developmental competence and quality of preimplantation bovine embryos. Methods After in vitro fertilization, bovine embryos were cultured for 7 days in Charles Rosenkrans amino acid medium supplemented with P. amurense (0.01 μg/mL and H. japonicus (0.01 μg/mL. The effect of this supplementation during in vitro culture on development competence and antioxidant was investigated. Results We observed that the blastocysts rate was significantly increased (p<0.05 in P. amurense (28.9%±2.9%, H. japonicus (30.9%±1.5%, and a mixture of P. amurense and H. japonicus (34.8%± 2.1% treated groups compared with the control group (25.4%±1.6%. We next confirmed that the intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS were significantly decreased (p<0.01 in P. amurense and/or H. japonicus extract treated groups when compared with the control group. Our results also showed that expression of cleaved caspase-3 and apoptotic cells of blastocysts were significantly decreased (p<0.05 in bovine blastocysts derived from both P. amurense and H. japonicus extract treated embryos. Conclusion These results suggest that proper treatment with P. amurense and H. japonicus extracts in the development of preimplantation bovine embryos improves the quality of blastocysts, which may be related to the reduction of ROS level and apoptosis.

Competence in radiation protection - acquisition, maintaining, extending

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breckow, J.; Geringer, T.; Radiation Protection Academy Seibersdorf; Haug, T.

2007-01-01

A survey is given on current initiatives, supranational in the EU and national in Germany and Switzerland, for education and training in radiation protection with the aim of maintaining and enlarging professional competence. Successively, individual studying possibilities and courses as well as some experiences with guidelines for professional knowledge in Germany are described. (orig.)

The Contribution of Inhibitory Control to Preschoolers' Social-Emotional Competence

Science.gov (United States)

Rhoades, Brittany L.; Greenberg, Mark T.; Domitrovich, Celene E.

2009-01-01

Social-emotional competence is a key developmental task during early childhood. This study examined concurrent relationships between maternal education and employment status, children's sex, ethnicity, age, receptive vocabulary, emotional knowledge, attention skills, inhibitory control and social-emotional competence in a sample of 146 preschool,…

Infant developmental milestones and adult intelligence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Flensborg-Madsen, Trine; Mortensen, Erik Lykke

2015-01-01

Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Associations between motor developmental milestones and IQwere analysed bymultiple linear regression adjusting for potential confounding factors. Results: Later acquisition of infant developmental milestones was associated with lower subsequent IQ, and the majority of significant......Background: A number of studies suggest a positive association between faster infant motor development and intellectual function in childhood and adolescence. However, studies investigating the relationship between infant motor development and intelligence in adulthood are lacking. Aims......: To investigate whether age at achievement of 12 motor developmental milestones was associated with adult intelligence and to evaluate the influence of sex, parental social status, parity,mother's cigarette consumption in the last trimester, gestational age, birthweight, and birth length on this association...

[Modeling developmental aspects of sensorimotor control of speech production].

Science.gov (United States)

Kröger, B J; Birkholz, P; Neuschaefer-Rube, C

2007-05-01

Detailed knowledge of the neurophysiology of speech acquisition is important for understanding the developmental aspects of speech perception and production and for understanding developmental disorders of speech perception and production. A computer implemented neural model of sensorimotor control of speech production was developed. The model is capable of demonstrating the neural functions of different cortical areas during speech production in detail. (i) Two sensory and two motor maps or neural representations and the appertaining neural mappings or projections establish the sensorimotor feedback control system. These maps and mappings are already formed and trained during the prelinguistic phase of speech acquisition. (ii) The feedforward sensorimotor control system comprises the lexical map (representations of sounds, syllables, and words of the first language) and the mappings from lexical to sensory and to motor maps. The training of the appertaining mappings form the linguistic phase of speech acquisition. (iii) Three prelinguistic learning phases--i. e. silent mouthing, quasi stationary vocalic articulation, and realisation of articulatory protogestures--can be defined on the basis of our simulation studies using the computational neural model. These learning phases can be associated with temporal phases of prelinguistic speech acquisition obtained from natural data. The neural model illuminates the detailed function of specific cortical areas during speech production. In particular it can be shown that developmental disorders of speech production may result from a delayed or incorrect process within one of the prelinguistic learning phases defined by the neural model.

The importance of social-cognitive development and the developmental context for group dynamics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Killen, Melanie; Verkuyten, Maykel

2017-01-01

A developmental approach provides a unique vantage point for understanding the origins, acquisition, and nature of change regarding intergroup attitudes and behavior. Developmental research has focused predominantly on understanding and addressing negative intergroup attitudes and behaviors. We

Developmental coordination disorder: evaluation and treatment.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leemrijse, C.

2003-01-01

A child's popularity is often related to his or her proficiency in sports and games, and children value physical competence highly. The movement difficulties of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) often invite ridicule from their peers. Children with DCD have a poor motor

Multilevel linear modelling of the response-contingent learning of young children with significant developmental delays.

Science.gov (United States)

Raab, Melinda; Dunst, Carl J; Hamby, Deborah W

2018-02-27

The purpose of the study was to isolate the sources of variations in the rates of response-contingent learning among young children with multiple disabilities and significant developmental delays randomly assigned to contrasting types of early childhood intervention. Multilevel, hierarchical linear growth curve modelling was used to analyze four different measures of child response-contingent learning where repeated child learning measures were nested within individual children (Level-1), children were nested within practitioners (Level-2), and practitioners were nested within the contrasting types of intervention (Level-3). Findings showed that sources of variations in rates of child response-contingent learning were associated almost entirely with type of intervention after the variance associated with differences in practitioners nested within groups were accounted for. Rates of child learning were greater among children whose existing behaviour were used as the building blocks for promoting child competence (asset-based practices) compared to children for whom the focus of intervention was promoting child acquisition of missing skills (needs-based practices). The methods of analysis illustrate a practical approach to clustered data analysis and the presentation of results in ways that highlight sources of variations in the rates of response-contingent learning among young children with multiple developmental disabilities and significant developmental delays. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Does Colour Preference Have a Role in Colour Term Acquisition?

Science.gov (United States)

Pitchford, Nicola J.; Davis, Emma E.; Scerif, Gaia

2009-01-01

A developmental association exists between colour preference and emerging colour term acquisition in young children. Colour preference might influence colour term acquisition by directing attention towards or away from a particular colour, making it more or less memorable. To investigate the role that colour preference may have in the acquisition…

Naturfaglig kompetence og IBSE – Model for evaluering af elevers kompetenceudvikling i undersøgelsesbaseret naturfagsundervisning Science competence and IBSE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steffen Elmose

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The object of this article is to generate the theoretical and methodological foundation in order for researchers and educators to be able to evaluate teaching, which is inspired by Inquiry Based Science Education. Science teaching in subsequent developmental projects can be evaluated as to its ability to enhance the science competencies of the pupils. The foundation consists of the integration of the characteristics of IBSE-inspired teaching with learning outcomes in terms of science competence and its four sub-competencies: investigative competence, representative competence, modeling competence and perspective competence. The theory and method will be tested and evaluated in an upcoming developmental project in four University Colleges in Denmark, where there will be developmental as well as research focus on the integration of the two perspectives, a methodological – IBSE – and a goal-oriented – science competence. The complexity of the developmental project must be reflected by a complexity of the research process, wherefore this article presents and discusses a three dimensional evaluation model in order for the researcher to be able to investigate relations between IBSE-inspired teaching and learning outcomes in terms of science competencies.Results from the subsequent research process are expected to highlight the links between a teaching method and learning outcomes and give answers to critical questions about the goals of IBSE-inspired teaching, and also give answers about the relevance of a matrix described competence model for science teaching practice.

Teaching for competence in science education in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chaiklin, Seth

2016-01-01

teaching situations. Nonetheless, the idea of competence is viewed as an important and valuable way for engaging with the more general goals for science education in Denmark (and elsewhere). In service of that interest, we introduce the ideas of germcell and theoretical thinking from the developmental...... teaching tradition as a way to operationalise a meaning of competence that can be realised in concrete teaching situations....

A developmental study of the acquisition of Russian colour terms.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, I R; Corbett, G G; McGurk, H; MacDermid, C

1998-06-01

We report a study of the acquisition of colour terms by Russian children which had two main aims: first, to test Berlin & Kay's (1969) theory of colour universals using acquisition order as a measure of basicness; and secondly, to see if the two BLUE terms of Russian are genuinely basic. Two hundred children aged from three to six-years-old were tested on three colour-tasks--colour term listing, colour term production and colour term comprehension. To a reasonable approximation, the order of colour term acquisition was in accord with Berlin & Kay's theory, but the data are also consistent with the weaker claim that primary terms tend to be learned before derived terms. On balance the data were consistent with Russian exceptionally, having an extra term for the BLUE region. But, the two BLUE terms--goluboj 'light blue' and sinij 'dark blue'--were confused more often than other pairs of terms even by the five- to six-year-old sample.

Evolutionary and developmental modules.

Science.gov (United States)

Lacquaniti, Francesco; Ivanenko, Yuri P; d'Avella, Andrea; Zelik, Karl E; Zago, Myrka

2013-01-01

The identification of biological modules at the systems level often follows top-down decomposition of a task goal, or bottom-up decomposition of multidimensional data arrays into basic elements or patterns representing shared features. These approaches traditionally have been applied to mature, fully developed systems. Here we review some results from two other perspectives on modularity, namely the developmental and evolutionary perspective. There is growing evidence that modular units of development were highly preserved and recombined during evolution. We first consider a few examples of modules well identifiable from morphology. Next we consider the more difficult issue of identifying functional developmental modules. We dwell especially on modular control of locomotion to argue that the building blocks used to construct different locomotor behaviors are similar across several animal species, presumably related to ancestral neural networks of command. A recurrent theme from comparative studies is that the developmental addition of new premotor modules underlies the postnatal acquisition and refinement of several different motor behaviors in vertebrates.

Dual-systems and the development of reasoning: competence-procedural systems.

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Overton, Willis F; Ricco, Robert B

2011-03-01

Dual-system, dual-process, accounts of adult cognitive processing are examined in the context of a self-organizing relational developmental systems approaches to cognitive growth. Contemporary adult dual-process accounts describe a linear architecture of mind entailing two split-off, but interacting systems; a domain general, content-free 'analytic' system (system 2) and a domain specific highly contextualized 'heuristic' system (system 1). In the developmental literature on deductive reasoning, a similar distinction has been made between a domain general competence (reflective, algorithmic) system and a domain specific procedural system. In contrast to the linear accounts offered by empiricist, nativist, and/or evolutionary explanations, the dual competence-procedural developmental perspective argues that the mature systems emerge through developmental transformations as differentiations and intercoordinations of an early relatively undifferentiated action matrix. This development, whose microscopic mechanism is action-in-the-world, is characterized as being embodied, nonlinear, and epigenetic. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 231-237 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.120 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Sherborne Developmental Movement (SDM) Teaching Model for Pre-Service Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Hen, Meirav; Walter, Ofra

2012-01-01

Previously, the Sherborne Developmental Movement (SDM) has been found to contribute to the development of emotional competencies in higher education. This study presents and evaluates a teaching model based on SDM for the development of emotional competencies in teacher education. The study examined the contributions of this model to the increase…

Extension of the culture period for the in vitro growth of bovine oocytes in the presence of bone morphogenetic protein-4 increases oocyte diameter, but impairs subsequent developmental competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Yinghua; Kanno, Chihiro; Sakaguchi, Kenichiro; Yanagawa, Yojiro; Katagiri, Seiji; Nagano, Masashi

2017-11-01

Bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) inhibits luteinization of granulosa cells during in vitro growth (IVG) culture of bovine oocytes; however, oocytes derived from a 12 day IVG were less competent for development than in vivo-grown oocytes. We herein investigated whether an extended IVG culture with BMP-4 improves oocyte growth and development to blastocysts after in vitro fertilization. Oocyte-granulosa cell complexes (OGCs) were cultured for 14 or 16 days with BMP-4 (10 ng/mL), while a 12 day culture with BMP-4 served as the in vitro control. OGC viability was maintained for the 16 day culture with BMP-4 (83.2%), but was significantly lower without BMP-4 (58.9%) than the control (83.0%). Prolong-cultured oocytes at 16 days had statistically greater diameter (114.6 μm) than the control (111.7 μm). IVG oocytes with BMP-4 for the 16 day culture had a similar nuclear maturation rate to the control (approximately 67%); however, blastocyst rates in BMP-4 treated oocytes of 14 (1.8%) and 16 day (0%) IVG were statistically lower than that of 12 day IVG (9.0%). In conclusion, BMP-4 maintained OGC viability and promoted oocyte growth in a prolonged culture, but impaired the developmental competence of oocytes. Prolonged culture may not be an appropriate strategy for enhancing the developmental competence of IVG oocytes. © 2017 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

Osmotic stress induced by sodium chloride, sucrose or trehalose improves cryotolerance and developmental competence of porcine oocytes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lin, Lin; Kragh, Peter Michael; Purup, Stig

2009-01-01

Cl with those of concentrated solutions of two non-permeable osmotic agents, namely sucrose and trehalose, on the cryotolerance and developmental competence of porcine oocytes. In Experiment 1, porcine in vitro-matured cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs; n = 1200) were exposed to 588 mOsmol NaCl, sucrose...... or trehalose solutions for 1 h, allowed to recover for a further 1 h, vitrified, warmed and subjected to parthenogenetic activation. Both Day 2 (where Day 0 is the day of activation) cleavage and Day 7 blastocyst rates were significantly increased after NaCl, sucrose and trehalose osmotic treatments compared...... with untreated controls (cleavage: 46 ± 5%, 44 ± 7%, 45 ± 4% and 26 ± 6%, respectively; expanded blastocyst rate: 6 ± 1%, 6 ± 2%, 7 ± 2% and 1 ± 1%, respectively). In Experiment 2, COCs (n = 2000) were treated with 588 mOsmol NaCl, sucrose or trehalose, then used as recipients for SCNT (Day 0). Cleavage rates...

Comparison of Health Outcomes Among Children with Different Levels of Motor Competence

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Chagas Daniel V.

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose. While evidence suggests that children with the developmental coordination disorder (DCD have worse health outcomes than their typically developing peers, it remains unclear whether children with low motor competence but without DCD are also characterized by worse health outcomes than those with average motor competence. The main purpose of this study was to compare health outcomes between children with low motor competence without DCD and those with average motor competence.

Variation in rates of early development in Haliotis asinina generate competent larvae of different ages

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Jackson Daniel J

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Inter-specific comparisons of metazoan developmental mechanisms have provided a wealth of data concerning the evolution of body form and the generation of morphological novelty. Conversely, studies of intra-specific variation in developmental programs are far fewer. Variation in the rate of development may be an advantage to the many marine invertebrates that posses a biphasic life cycle, where fitness commonly requires the recruitment of planktonically dispersing larvae to patchily distributed benthic environments. Results We have characterised differences in the rate of development between individuals originating from a synchronised fertilisation event in the tropical abalone Haliotis asinina, a broadcast spawning lecithotrophic vetigastropod. We observed significant differences in the time taken to complete early developmental events (time taken to complete third cleavage and to hatch from the vitelline envelope, mid-larval events (variation in larval shell development and late larval events (the acquisition of competence to respond to a metamorphosis inducing cue. We also provide estimates of the variation in maternally provided energy reserves that suggest maternal provisioning is unlikely to explain the majority of the variation in developmental rate we report here. Conclusions Significant differences in the rates of development exist both within and between cohorts of synchronously fertilised H. asinina gametes. These differences can be detected shortly after fertilisation and generate larvae of increasingly divergent development states. We discuss the significance of our results within an ecological context, the adaptive significance of mechanisms that might maintain this variation, and potential sources of this variation.

Expert and competent non-expert visual cues during simulated diagnosis in intensive care.

Science.gov (United States)

McCormack, Clare; Wiggins, Mark W; Loveday, Thomas; Festa, Marino

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the information acquisition strategies of expert and competent non-expert intensive care physicians during two simulated diagnostic scenarios involving respiratory distress in an infant. Specifically, the information acquisition performance of six experts and 12 competent non-experts was examined using an eye-tracker during the initial 90 s of the assessment of the patient. The results indicated that, in comparison to competent non-experts, experts recorded longer mean fixations, irrespective of the scenario. When the dwell times were examined against specific areas of interest, the results revealed that competent non-experts recorded greater overall dwell times on the nurse, where experts recorded relatively greater dwell times on the head and face of the manikin. In the context of the scenarios, experts recorded differential dwell times, spending relatively more time on the head and face during the seizure scenario than during the coughing scenario. The differences evident between experts and competent non-experts were interpreted as evidence of the relative availability of task-specific cues or heuristics in memory that might direct the process of information acquisition amongst expert physicians. The implications are discussed for the training and assessment of diagnostic skills.

Implementation of Competency-Based Pharmacy Education (CBPE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andries Koster

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Implementation of competency-based pharmacy education (CBPE is a time-consuming, complicated process, which requires agreement on the tasks of a pharmacist, commitment, institutional stability, and a goal-directed developmental perspective of all stakeholders involved. In this article the main steps in the development of a fully-developed competency-based pharmacy curriculum (bachelor, master are described and tips are given for a successful implementation. After the choice for entering into CBPE is made and a competency framework is adopted (step 1, intended learning outcomes are defined (step 2, followed by analyzing the required developmental trajectory (step 3 and the selection of appropriate assessment methods (step 4. Designing the teaching-learning environment involves the selection of learning activities, student experiences, and instructional methods (step 5. Finally, an iterative process of evaluation and adjustment of individual courses, and the curriculum as a whole, is entered (step 6. Successful implementation of CBPE requires a system of effective quality management and continuous professional development as a teacher. In this article suggestions for the organization of CBPE and references to more detailed literature are given, hoping to facilitate the implementation of CBPE.

[Acquisition of arithmetic knowledge].

Science.gov (United States)

Fayol, Michel

2008-01-01

The focus of this paper is on contemporary research on the number counting and arithmetical competencies that emerge during infancy, the preschool years, and the elementary school. I provide a brief overview of the evolution of children's conceptual knowledge of arithmetic knowledge, the acquisition and use of counting and how they solve simple arithmetic problems (e.g. 4 + 3).

Narrative competence in children with pragmatic language impairment: a longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ketelaars, Mieke P; Jansonius, Kino; Cuperus, Juliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2016-03-01

Children with pragmatic language impairment (PLI) show impairments in the use of language in social contexts. Although the issue has been gaining attention in recent literature, not much is known about the developmental trajectories of children who experience pragmatic language problems. Since narrative competence is an important predictor of both academic and social success, evaluating narrative competence in children with PLI is deemed important. To examine the development of narrative competence of children with PLI compared with typically developing (TD) children using a prognostic longitudinal design. Using the Dutch adaptation of the Renfrew Bus Story Test, narrative competence was assessed at ages 5-7 for a group of 84 children with PLI and a group of 81 TD children. Groups were compared on measures of narrative productivity, organization of story content and cohesion. Results showed an increase in narrative competence for both groups across most time points. The PLI group obtained lower scores on measures of narrative productivity and story content organization compared with their TD peers at all time points, but did not show more problems related to narrative cohesion. Most problems in the domain of narrative productivity and story content organization were shown to be independent of lower non-verbal intelligence. The developmental trajectory for the PLI group was largely similar to that of their TD peers, and showed a persistent developmental delay of approximately one year. Furthermore, qualitative differences were visible in the proportion of irrelevant T-units, which was consistently higher in the PLI group. The different narrative measures were found to be relatively stable over time. The results of this study suggest that narrative difficulties of children identified as pragmatically impaired persist at least until middle childhood. The persistence of the measured developmental delay, combined with the finding of qualitative differences, support the

Language competence in movement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laursen, Helle Pia; Mogensen, Naja Dahlstrup

2016-01-01

multilingual children's language and literacy acquisition processes, we direct our focus to a single child's active exploration of what it means to know a language. Through analysis of interviews and researcher generated activities, we see how this child both describes and does language competence......This article examines how, in a multilingual perspective, language competence is experienced, talked about and practiced by language users themselves. By viewing children as active co-creators of the spaces in which language is used, this article contributes to a research tradition in which focus...... is shifted from viewing the individual's language competence as a mental linguistic or communicative property, to viewing language as a series of social and spatial practices. Looking at data from the research project Tegn på Sprog (in the following referred to as Signs of Language), which examines...

Formation of common cultural competence in country studies ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... in country studies classes (based on Turkish language teaching practice) ... the acquisition of common cultural competence in foreign language education. ... analysis of methodological frameworks offered by Russian and foreign specialists.

Expert and Competent Non-Expert Visual Cues during Simulated Diagnosis in Intensive Care

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clare eMcCormack

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to examine the information acquisition strategies of expert and competent non-expert intensive care physicians during two simulated diagnostic scenarios involving respiratory distress in an infant. Specifically, the information acquisition performance of six experts and 12 competent non-experts was examined using an eye tracker during the initial 90 seconds of the assessment of the patient. The results indicated that, in comparison to competent non-experts, experts recorded longer mean fixations, irrespective of the scenario. When the dwell times were examined against specific areas of interest, the results revealed that competent non-experts recorded greater overall dwell times on the nurse, where experts recorded relatively greater dwell times on the head and face of the manikin. In the context of the scenarios, experts recorded differential dwell times, spending relatively more time on the head and face during the seizure scenario than during the coughing scenario. The differences evident between experts and competent non-experts were interpreted as evidence of the relative availability of task-specific cues or heuristics in memory that might direct the process of information acquisition amongst expert physicians. The implications are discussed for the training and assessment of diagnostic skills.

Language Acquisition in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Developmental Review

Science.gov (United States)

Eigsti, Inge-Marie; de Marchena, Ashley B.; Schuh, Jillian M.; Kelley, Elizabeth

2011-01-01

This paper reviews the complex literature on language acquisition in the autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Because of the high degree of interest in ASD in the past decade, the field has been changing rapidly, with progress in both basic science and applied clinical areas. In addition, psycholinguistically-trained researchers have increasingly…

Developmental disorders: what can be learned from cognitive neuropsychology?

Science.gov (United States)

Castles, Anne; Kohnen, Saskia; Nickels, Lyndsey; Brock, Jon

2014-01-01

The discipline of cognitive neuropsychology has been important for informing theories of cognition and describing the nature of acquired cognitive disorders, but its applicability in a developmental context has been questioned. Here, we revisit this issue, asking whether the cognitive neuropsychological approach can be helpful for exploring the nature and causes of developmental disorders and, if so, how. We outline the key features of the cognitive neuropsychological approach, and then consider how some of the major challenges to this approach from a developmental perspective might be met. In doing so, we distinguish between challenges to the methods of cognitive neuropsychology and those facing its deeper conceptual underpinnings. We conclude that the detailed investigation of patterns of both associations and dissociations, and across both developmental and acquired cases, can assist in describing the cognitive deficits within developmental disorders and in delineating possible causal pathways to their acquisition.

The Effects of Bilingualism on Infant Language Development : The Acquisition of Sounds and Words

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liu, Liquan

2014-01-01

This dissertation reports on the influence of bilingualism on infants’ sound and word acquisition in the first two years of life. It targets the question of whether mono- and bilingual infants follow the same developmental trajectory of language acquisition, it displays similarities and differences

Moral competence as a positive youth development construct: a conceptual review.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Hing Keung

2012-01-01

Moral competence refers to the affective orientation to perform altruistic behaviors and the ability to judge moral issues logically. A five-stage theory of moral development is proposed. Both western and Chinese perspectives are incorporated in the elaboration of the characteristics of each stage. A brief review of the antecedents of moral competence is presented. The relationship between moral competence and adolescent developmental outcomes is also discussed. Some practical ways to promote moral competence are suggested. School-based programs may be effective in the promotion of moral competence provided it is based on all-round or whole-person development and the length of the program should be sufficiently long.

Developing the Simulator Instructor’s Pedagogical Competence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sjøstedt, Peter

2014-01-01

The full benefits of investment in simulator-based training are achieved only when development of the simulator instructor’s pedagogical competence accompanies the acquisition of advanced technology. In spite of this, the instructor’s pedagogical competence often is not well developed. Courses...... for simulator instructors that address their experiential instructional skills and their understanding of adult participants' learning processes are rare. Lessons learned about the instructor’s role that focus on the relationship between instruction and learning are seldom reported. Simulator instructors......’ pedagogical competence appears to be an area afforded insufficient attention from the simulation community. Based on lessons learned from our four-day pedagogical course for naval simulator instructors in the Danish armed forces, this paper presents a framework for instructors’ pedagogical competence...

N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid DHA during IVM affected oocyte developmental competence in cattle.

Science.gov (United States)

Oseikria, Mouhamad; Elis, Sébastien; Maillard, Virginie; Corbin, Emilie; Uzbekova, Svetlana

2016-06-01

The positive effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (FAs) on fertility in ruminants seems to be partly mediated through direct effects on the oocyte developmental potential. We aimed to investigate whether supplementation with physiological levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6 n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) during IVM has an effect on oocyte maturation and in vitro embryo development in cattle. We reported that DHA (0, 1, 10, or 100 μM) had no effect on oocyte viability or maturation rate after 22-hour IVM. Incubation of oocyte-cumulus complexes with 1-μM DHA during IVM significantly increased (P DHA during IVM also induced a significant increase in the blastocyst rate at Day 7 after IVF as compared with control (30.6% vs. 17.6%, respectively) and tended to increase the number of cells in the blastocysts (97.1 ± 4.9 vs. 81.2 ± 5.3, respectively; P = 0.08). On the contrary, 10-μM DHA had no effects, whereas 100-μM DHA significantly decreased the cleavage rate compared with control (69.5% vs.78.8%, respectively) and the greater than 4-cell embryo rate at Day 2 after parthenogenetic activation (19.5% vs. 29.7%). As was shown by real-time polymerase chain reaction, negative effects of 100-μM DHA were associated with significant increase of progesterone synthesis by oocyte-cumulus complexes, a three-fold increase in expression level of FA transporter CD36 and a two-fold decrease of FA synthase FASN genes in cumulus cells (CCs) of corresponding oocytes. Docosahexaenoic acid at 1 and 10 μM had no effect on expression of those and other key lipid metabolism-related genes in CC. In conclusion, administration of a low physiological dose of DHA (1 μM) during IVM may have beneficial effects on oocyte developmental competence in vitro without affecting lipid metabolism gene expression in surrounding CCs, contrarily to 100 μM DHA which diminished oocyte quality associated with perturbation of lipid and steroid metabolism in CC. Copyright © 2016

The Path to Competence: A Lifespan Developmental Perspective on Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Patricia A.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this document is to present a developmental model of reading that encompasses changes across the lifespan. The need for such a lifespan orientation toward reading within our educational institutions is great. Until we adopt this lifelong perspective, we continue to run the risk of turning out undeveloped, unmotivated, and uncritical…

Defining the Locus of Developmental Differences in Children's Causal Reasoning

Science.gov (United States)

Siegler, Robert S.

1975-01-01

Five experiments were performed in the area of children's causal reasoning to validate a previously reported developmental difference, to examine the role of a possible mediating mechanism, and to test a number of competing theoretical interpretations. (GO)

What Mathematical Competencies Are Needed for Success in College.

Science.gov (United States)

Garofalo, Joe

1990-01-01

Identifies requisite math skills for a microeconomics course, offering samples of supply curves, demand curves, equilibrium prices, elasticity, and complex graph problems. Recommends developmental mathematics competencies, including problem solving, reasoning, connections, communication, number and operation sense, algebra, relationships,…

76 FR 42056 - Department of the Treasury Acquisition Regulation

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-18

... entities. The program is designed for mentoring firms to provide developmental assistance to prot[eacute]g.... Thomas A. Sharpe, Jr., Senior Procurement Executive, Office of the Procurement Executive. Accordingly.... For acquisitions made from non- appropriated funds, the Senior Procurement Executive will determine...

Content Analysis in Systems Engineering Acquisition Activities

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-30

Acquisition Activities Karen Holness, Assistant Professor, NPS Update on the Department of the Navy Systems Engineering Career Competency Model Clifford...systems engineering toolkit . Having a common analysis tool that is easy to use would support the feedback of observed system performance trends from the

Learning difficulties or learning English difficulties? Additional language acquisition: an update for paediatricians.

Science.gov (United States)

Clifford, Vanessa; Rhodes, Anthea; Paxton, Georgia

2014-03-01

Australia is a diverse society: 26% of the population were born overseas, a further 20% have at least one parent born overseas and 19% speak a language other than English at home. Paediatricians are frequently involved in the assessment and management of non-English-speaking-background children with developmental delay, disability or learning issues. Despite the diversity of our patient population, information on how children learn additional or later languages is remarkably absent in paediatric training. An understanding of second language acquisition is essential to provide appropriate advice to this patient group. It takes a long time (5 years or more) for any student to develop academic competency in a second language, even a student who has received adequate prior schooling in their first language. Refugee students are doubly disadvantaged as they frequently have limited or interrupted prior schooling, and many are unable to read and write in their first language. We review the evidence on second language acquisition during childhood, describe support for English language learners within the Australian education system, consider refugee-background students as a special risk group and address common misconceptions about how children learn English as an additional language. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2013 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

Music and Early Language Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Brandt, Anthony; Gebrian, Molly; Slevc, L. Robert

2012-01-01

Language is typically viewed as fundamental to human intelligence. Music, while recognized as a human universal, is often treated as an ancillary ability – one dependent on or derivative of language. In contrast, we argue that it is more productive from a developmental perspective to describe spoken language as a special type of music. A review of existing studies presents a compelling case that musical hearing and ability is essential to language acquisition. In addition, we challenge the prevailing view that music cognition matures more slowly than language and is more difficult; instead, we argue that music learning matches the speed and effort of language acquisition. We conclude that music merits a central place in our understanding of human development. PMID:22973254

Evaluating Child Coping Competence: Theory and Measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Moreland, Angela D.; Dumas, Jean E.

2008-01-01

Much of the research on children's coping styles is based on a downward extension of adult coping theories. In a departure from this approach, coping competence theory seeks to account for children's ability to cope with daily challenges on the basis of developmental research. The theory, which states that challenges call for distinct coping…

Nurturing and Testing Translation Competence for Text-Translating

Science.gov (United States)

Aubakirova, Karlygash Adilkhanovna

2016-01-01

The article analyzes the problems of contemporary professional education. As its instance, we examine the developmental scheme for training professional translators. Optimal ways of organizing the learning process are suggested from the point of view of the competence approach, which is widely recognized for training a modern specialist. The…

Teaching for competence in science education in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chaiklin, Seth; Jakobsen, Lars Sejersgård; Goldbech, Ole

development, critically illuminating the conceptual sources and arguments for the introduction of these ideas, and (b) a short discussion of the practical problems in realising a curriculum document that is organised around the idea of competence goals, based on the experience of one who was involved......). In service of that interest, we introduce the ideas of germcell and theoretical thinking from the developmental teaching tradition as a way to operationalise a meaning of competence that can be realised in concrete teaching situations. A concrete example from chemistry is given....

Benefits/problems of enhancing students' intercultural competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Koskinen, Liisa; Tossavainen, Kerttu

European nursing has responded to the challenges of multicultural society by integrating student exchange programmes into nursing education since the 1990s. For students, these programmes provide opportunities to study in another EU member state and to develop intercultural competence as part of the training. The aim of this study was to describe the process of gaining intercultural competence among British undergraduate nursing students during their study abroad in Finland. Fifteen British students participated in this study. Data were obtained from interviews, observations, background questionnaires and research diary notes. The data were analysed with Spradley's developmental research sequence (DRS) method. Campinha-Bacotes' model of cultural competence was used as a framework of rendering the results. Students' intercultural desire, i.e. their effort to become interculturally competent, turned out to be the foundation of the entire process. Study abroad is an intensive experience, and therefore the preparation, the selection of exchange students, the design of the programme and intercultural tutoring warrant careful attention.

Minimum Competencies in Undergraduate Motor Development. Guidance Document

Science.gov (United States)

National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2004

2004-01-01

The minimum competency guidelines in Motor Development described herein at the undergraduate level may be gained in one or more motor development course(s) or through other courses provided in an undergraduate curriculum. The minimum guidelines include: (1) Formulation of a developmental perspective; (2) Knowledge of changes in motor behavior…

First and second language acquisition: Towards a reconcillation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nau Nicole

2015-07-01

Full Text Available For the past two decades, research on first language acquisition on the one side, and on second language acquisition and learning on the other have largely developed separately, probably as a reaction to the failure of earlier attempts to use the same methods or simply transfer insights gained in one of the fields to the other. T his article argues that a reconciliation may be fruitful, provided that different aspects which have often got blurred in the discussion are considered separately. These aspects include the assessment of multilingualism and monolingualism, the age factor and the definition of “first” and “second” language, the understanding of linguistic competence and of completeness of acquisition, different forms of acquisition and learning, and uniformity vs. individual differences in the process of language acquisition. By challenging some widely held views on characteristics of first language acquisition and its differences to second language learning, more fine-grained research questions are revealed, some of which have been addressed in recent studies on language acquisition and multilingualism

Developmental perspectives on nutrition and obesity from gestation to adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Esposito, Layla; Fisher, Jennifer O; Mennella, Julie A; Hoelscher, Deanna M; Huang, Terry T

2009-07-01

Obesity results from a complex combination of factors that act at many stages throughout a person's life. Therefore, examining childhood nutrition and obesity from a developmental perspective is warranted. A developmental perspective recognizes the cumulative effects of factors that contribute to eating behavior and obesity, including biological and socioenvironmental factors that are relevant at different stages of development. A developmental perspective considers family, school, and community context. During gestation, risk factors for obesity include maternal diet, overweight, and smoking. In early childhood, feeding practices, taste acquisition, and eating in the absence of hunger must be considered. As children become more independent during middle childhood and adolescence, school nutrition, food marketing, and social networks become focal points for obesity prevention or intervention. Combining a multilevel approach with a developmental perspective can inform more effective and sustainable strategies for obesity prevention.

Children's Competence or Adults' Incompetence: Different Developmental Trajectories in Different Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Furlan, Sarah; Agnoli, Franca; Reyna, Valerie F.

2013-01-01

Dual-process theories have been proposed to explain normative and heuristic responses to reasoning and decision-making problems. Standard unitary and dual-process theories predict that normative responses should increase with age. However, research has focused recently on exceptions to this standard pattern, including developmental increases in…

Design of a Competency-Based Assessment Model in the Field of Accounting

Science.gov (United States)

Ciudad-Gómez, Adelaida; Valverde-Berrocoso, Jesús

2012-01-01

This paper presents the phases involved in the design of a methodology to contribute both to the acquisition of competencies and to their assessment in the field of Financial Accounting, within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) framework, which we call MANagement of COMpetence in the areas of Accounting (MANCOMA). Having selected and…

Theory of Mind and Language of Mind in Narratives: Developmental Trends from Kindergarten to Primary School

Science.gov (United States)

Gamannossi, Beatrice Accorti; Pinto, Giuliana

2014-01-01

Narrative competence can be considered an indicator of children's knowledge about other people's minds. The present study investigates the relations between, on the one hand, children's narrative competence and their second order language of mind (comprehension of deception) and, on the other, their developmental trends from kindergarten to…

Social Empowerment in Mexican Violent Contexts through Media Competence

OpenAIRE

Grijalva-Verdugo, Abel-Antonio; Moreno-Candil, David

2017-01-01

The acquisition of digital skills, media diet management, and general knowledge of ICT, is essential for the development and empowerment of audiences in the current media ecology, particularly considering the political and social challenges of the Latin American environment. In that sense, the study of media competence is urgent for sizing up the needs and characteristics of these communities. This work analyses the axiological and ideological dimension of media competence during an electoral...

Does frequency count? Parental input and the acquisition of vocabulary.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, Judith C; Dale, Philip S; Li, Ping

2008-08-01

Studies examining factors that influence when words are learned typically investigate one lexical category or a small set of words. We provide the first evaluation of the relation between input frequency and age of acquisition for a large sample of words. The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory provides norming data on age of acquisition for 562 individual words collected from the parents of children aged 0 ; 8 to 2 ; 6. The CHILDES database provides estimates of frequency with which parents use these words with their children (age: 0 ; 7-7 ; 5; mean age: 36 months). For production, across all words higher parental frequency is associated with later acquisition. Within lexical categories, however, higher frequency is related to earlier acquisition. For comprehension, parental frequency correlates significantly with the age of acquisition only for common nouns. Frequency effects change with development. Thus, frequency impacts vocabulary acquisition in a complex interaction with category, modality and developmental stage.

Validation of a questionnaire on behaviour academic competence among Chinese preschool children.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Cynthia; Lo, S K; Leung, Shirley S L

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to validate a questionnaire on academic competence behaviour for use with Chinese preschool children in Hong Kong. A parent version and a teacher version were developed and evaluated. The participants included 457 children (230 boys and 227 girls) aged four and five years old, their preschool teachers and their parents. Besides, 44 children (39 boys and 5 girls) with developmental disabilities were recruited. The children were assessed on the cognitive domain of the Preschool Development Assessment Scale (PDAS). Their parents completed a questionnaire on academic competence behaviour, as well as the Strength and Difficulty Scale (SDQ). Their teachers completed the questionnaire on academic competence behaviour. Rasch analysis results provided support for the unidimensionality of the parent and teacher versions of the scale, with one item deleted. The parent and teacher versions of the revised scale correlated positively with the cognitive domain of the PDAS and the prosocial scale of the SDQ and negatively with SDQ total problem behaviour score. Children with developmental delay were assigned lower scores by their parents and teachers, compared with preschool children, on the revised versions of the academic competence behaviour scale. Reliability estimates (Cronbach's alpha) of the parent and teacher versions of this revised scale were above .80. The results suggested that the two versions of academic competence behaviour scales were promising instruments for the assessment of academic competence behaviour among Chinese preschool children. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Competence in Serving Children: Credentials Protectionism and Public Policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Koocher, Gerald P.

Professional competency in psychologists wishing to treat children and families is an area of considerable concern and disagreement. Three types of practitioners comprise the bulk of the problem: clinical psychologists, who lack specific child-oriented training; developmental psychologists, who wish to serve children but lack traditional clinical…

Ontogeny and social dominance: a developmental view of human power patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawley, Patricia H

2014-04-29

Developmental science has long evolutionary roots and has historically focused on individual differences. Accordingly, developmental models can inform conversations about phylogeny and personality. The present paper evokes life history theory to describe a theoretical model of competitive behavior that applies to both children and adults (resource control theory: RCT). The model suggests that prosocial and coercive behavior, though different in manifest form, serve similar evolutionary functions. Accordingly, RCT presents a view on social dominance that gives primacy to function over form that contrasts sharply from traditional views. This reformulation gives rise to novel questions (both developmental and non-developmental) and challenges long accepted views on prosociality (e.g., that it is altruistic) and aggression (e.g., that it is maladaptive). Similarly, RCT gives rise to a minority perspective that aligns aggression with social competence.

The logical syntax of number words: theory, acquisition and processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Musolino, Julien

2009-04-01

Recent work on the acquisition of number words has emphasized the importance of integrating linguistic and developmental perspectives [Musolino, J. (2004). The semantics and acquisition of number words: Integrating linguistic and developmental perspectives. Cognition93, 1-41; Papafragou, A., Musolino, J. (2003). Scalar implicatures: Scalar implicatures: Experiments at the semantics-pragmatics interface. Cognition, 86, 253-282; Hurewitz, F., Papafragou, A., Gleitman, L., Gelman, R. (2006). Asymmetries in the acquisition of numbers and quantifiers. Language Learning and Development, 2, 76-97; Huang, Y. T., Snedeker, J., Spelke, L. (submitted for publication). What exactly do numbers mean?]. Specifically, these studies have shown that data from experimental investigations of child language can be used to illuminate core theoretical issues in the semantic and pragmatic analysis of number terms. In this article, I extend this approach to the logico-syntactic properties of number words, focusing on the way numerals interact with each other (e.g. Three boys are holding two balloons) as well as with other quantified expressions (e.g. Three boys are holding each balloon). On the basis of their intuitions, linguists have claimed that such sentences give rise to at least four different interpretations, reflecting the complexity of the linguistic structure and syntactic operations involved. Using psycholinguistic experimentation with preschoolers (n=32) and adult speakers of English (n=32), I show that (a) for adults, the intuitions of linguists can be verified experimentally, (b) by the age of 5, children have knowledge of the core aspects of the logical syntax of number words, (c) in spite of this knowledge, children nevertheless differ from adults in systematic ways, (d) the differences observed between children and adults can be accounted for on the basis of an independently motivated, linguistically-based processing model [Geurts, B. (2003). Quantifying kids. Language

How Does Linguistic Competence Enhance Cognitive Functions in Children? A Study in Multilingual Children with Different Linguistic Competences

Science.gov (United States)

Videsott, Gerda; Della Rosa, Pasquale Anthony; Wiater, Werner; Franceschini, Rita; Abutalebi, Jubin

2012-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the attentional mechanisms of multilingual children with differential degrees of language competence. For this purpose, 118 children (61 female/57 male; mean age 10.9 years (SD = 0.29); early acquisition multilinguals) from the Ladin valleys in South Tyrol, Italy, performed the Attentional Network…

Collaborative Learning and Competence Development in School Health Nursing

Science.gov (United States)

Nordentoft, Helle Merete; Wistoft, Karen

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process and learning outcomes of peer collaboration in a Danish health developmental project in school health nursing. The paper explores how peer collaboration influences the school nurses' collaborative learning and competence development. Design/methodology/approach: The article is based…

The second language acquisition of French tense, aspect, mood and modality

CERN Document Server

Ayoun, Dalila

2013-01-01

Temporal-aspectual systems have a great potential of informing our understanding of the developing competence of second language learners. So far, the vast majority of empirical studies investigating L2 acquisition have largely focused on past temporality, neglecting the acquisition of the expression of the present and future temporalities with rare exceptions (aside from ESL learners), leaving unanswered the question of how the investigation of different types of temporality may inform our understanding of the acquisition of temporal, aspectual and mood systems as a whole. This monograph addr

Aliens Behaving Badly: Children's Acquisition of Novel Purity-Based Morals

Science.gov (United States)

Rottman, Joshua; Kelemen, Deborah

2012-01-01

The traditional cognitive developmental perspective on moral acquisition posits that children actively construct moral beliefs by assessing the negative impacts of antisocial behaviors. This account is not easily applied to actions that are considered immoral despite lacking consequences for others' welfare. We studied the moralization of…

Ontogeny and Social Dominance: A Developmental View of Human Power Patterns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia H. Hawley

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Developmental science has long evolutionary roots and has historically focused on individual differences. Accordingly, developmental models can inform conversations about phylogeny and personality. The present paper evokes life history theory to describe a theoretical model of competitive behavior that applies to both children and adults (resource control theory: RCT. The model suggests that prosocial and coercive behavior, though different in manifest form, serve similar evolutionary functions. Accordingly, RCT presents a view on social dominance that gives primacy to function over form that contrasts sharply from traditional views. This reformulation gives rise to novel questions (both developmental and non-developmental and challenges long accepted views on prosociality (e.g., that it is altruistic and aggression (e.g., that it is maladaptive. Similarly, RCT gives rise to a minority perspective that aligns aggression with social competence.

Grammatical gender in the discourse of multilingual children's acquisition of German

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Montanari, Elke

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The acquisition of grammatical gender by multilingual pre-school children (aged six was investigated by observing their narration and discourse. It emerged that only three of the 17 children actually used gender to classify nouns. Grammatical agreement is acknowledged as a key feature of gender acquisition, and it reflects developmental steps. Children growing up with mostly bilingual German input at a low proficiency level had the greatest difficulties in acquiring gender and agreement in the group investigated.

Conceptual framework for performance assessment: competency, competence and performance in the context of assessments in healthcare--deciphering the terminology.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Kamran; Ramachandran, Sankaranarayanan

2012-01-01

The definitions of performance, competence and competency are not very clear in the literature. The assessment of performance and the selection of tools for this purpose depend upon a deep understanding of each of the above terms and the factors influencing performance. In this article, we distinguish between competence and competency and explain the relationship of competence and performance in the light of the Dreyfus model of skills acquisition. We briefly critique the application of the principles described by Miller to the modern assessment tools and distinguish between assessment of actual performance in workplace settings and the observed performance, demonstrated by the candidates in the workplace or simulated settings. We describe a modification of the Dreyfus model applicable to assessments in healthcare and propose a new model for the assessment of performance and performance rating scale (PRS) based on this model. We propose that the use of adapted versions of this PRS will result in benchmarking of performance and allowing the candidates to track their progression of skills in various areas of clinical practice.

Variability in the Second Language Acquisition of Verb Morphology ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article seeks to make a developmental study of variability in the acquisition of verb morphology by second language (L2) pupils who learn at an English input impoverished school where variability in learner language is often presumed to be quite extensive. By studying variability in such settings, it is hoped that we can ...

Instructors' Evaluation as an Instrument to Improve Performance and Determine Competence

Science.gov (United States)

Laei, Soosan; Abdi, Ali; Karamaerouz, Mohamad Javad; Shirkhani, Nassim

2014-01-01

Experts in human resources management have suggested common objectives for evaluating performance of all organizations, including motivation and improvement of staff performance, identification of competence and skills, identification of educational needs and developmental contexts, etc. Achievement to these objectives is -a responsibility of…

Function and Content of Maternal Demands: Developmental Significance of Early Demands for Competent Action.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuczynski, Leon; Kochanska, Grazyna

1995-01-01

Examined mothers' demands during mothers' interactions with their 1.5- to 3.5-year olds. Mothers with authoritative child-rearing attitudes emphasized proactive, competence-oriented demands and avoided regulatory control. Maternal demands for competent action predicted fewer behavior problems in their children at age five; maternal demands focused…

DO INFANTS USING BABY WALKERS SUFFER DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS IN ACQUISITION OF MOTOR SKILLS?

OpenAIRE

A. Talebian; A. Honarpishe; A. Taghavi; E. Fakharian; M. Parsa; GA. Mousavi

2008-01-01

 AbstractObjectiveDevelopment is a complex process, completed over a specific period of time, through the maturation of the nervous system. It is affected by genetic, ethnic, nutritional, social, and economic factors; one of the environmental factors affecting the acquisition of motor skills in infants is the use of baby walkers. Since this device is very commonly used for infants in our country, we conducted this study to evaluate its effects on the acquisition of motor skills in this age gr...

Neuroimaging of developmental psychopathologies: the importance of self-regulatory and neuroplastic processes in adolescence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Spessot, Alexandra L; Plessen, Kerstin J; Peterson, Bradley S

2004-01-01

Normal brain maturational and developmental processes, together with plastic reorganization of the brain in response to experiential demands, contribute to the acquisition of improved capacities for self-regulation and impulse control during adolescence. The frontal lobe is a main focus for these......Normal brain maturational and developmental processes, together with plastic reorganization of the brain in response to experiential demands, contribute to the acquisition of improved capacities for self-regulation and impulse control during adolescence. The frontal lobe is a main focus...... for these developmental and plastic processes during the transition from adolescence into adulthood. Tourette syndrome (TS), defined as the chronic presence of motor and vocal tics, has been increasingly conceptualized as a disorder of impaired self-regulatory control. This disordered control is thought to give rise...... to semicompulsory urges to perform the movements that constitute simple tics, complex tics, or compulsions. Neuroimaging studies suggest that the expression of the genetic diathesis to TS is influenced by genetic and nongenetic factors affecting activity-dependent reorganization of neuroregulatory systems, thereby...

Neuroimaging of developmental psychopathologies: the importance of self-regulatory and neuroplastic processes in adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Spessot, Alexandra L; Plessen, Kerstin J; Peterson, Bradley S

2004-06-01

Normal brain maturational and developmental processes, together with plastic reorganization of the brain in response to experiential demands, contribute to the acquisition of improved capacities for self-regulation and impulse control during adolescence. The frontal lobe is a main focus for these developmental and plastic processes during the transition from adolescence into adulthood. Tourette syndrome (TS), defined as the chronic presence of motor and vocal tics, has been increasingly conceptualized as a disorder of impaired self-regulatory control. This disordered control is thought to give rise to semicompulsory urges to perform the movements that constitute simple tics, complex tics, or compulsions. Neuroimaging studies suggest that the expression of the genetic diathesis to TS is influenced by genetic and nongenetic factors affecting activity-dependent reorganization of neuroregulatory systems, thereby influencing the phenotype, illness severity, and adult outcome of tic disorders. Similar developmental processes during adolescence likely determine the phenotype and natural history of a broad range of other complex neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood onset, and they likely contribute to the acquisition of improved self-regulatory capacities that characterize normal adolescent development.

Portfolio as a tool to evaluate clinical competences of traumatology in medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Santonja-Medina, Fernando; García-Sanz, M Paz; Martínez-Martínez, Francisco; Bó, David; García-Estañ, Joaquín

2016-01-01

This article investigates whether a reflexive portfolio is instrumental in determining the level of acquisition of clinical competences in traumatology, a subject in the 5th year of the degree of medicine. A total of 131 students used the portfolio during their clinical rotation of traumatology. The students' portfolios were blind evaluated by four professors who annotated the existence (yes/no) of 23 learning outcomes. The reliability of the portfolio was moderate, according to the kappa index (0.48), but the evaluation scores between evaluators were very similar. Considering the mean percentage, 59.8% of the students obtained all the competences established and only 13 of the 23 learning outcomes (56.5%) were fulfilled by >50% of the students. Our study suggests that the portfolio may be an important tool to quantitatively analyze the acquisition of traumatology competences of medical students, thus allowing the implementation of methods to improve its teaching.

Intercultural Conflicts: Causes and the Role of Competences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valdas Pruskus

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the origins of intercultural conflicts and their causes. It discloses the working mechanism of intercultural conflicts. The author demonstrates that in real life conflicts are caused by the socializing individuals themselves, who are different by their character traits as well as the cultural and intellectual level. Additionally, possibilities of conflict solution are discussed and the conception of competence is presented as explained in works of foreign and Lithuanian authors. The article also reveals the relationship between the constituent elements of the intercultural competence. It shows that proper attention to the acquisition of intercultural competences (linguistic, cultural and communication can be an effective assumption for depreciation of cross-cultural conflicts and thus promote communication and collaboration between the full range of cultures.

Developmental aspects of fear: Comparing the acquisition and generalization of conditioned fear in children and adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Schiele, Miriam A; Reinhard, Julia; Reif, Andreas; Domschke, Katharina; Romanos, Marcel; Deckert, Jürgen; Pauli, Paul

2016-05-01

Most research on human fear conditioning and its generalization has focused on adults whereas only little is known about these processes in children. Direct comparisons between child and adult populations are needed to determine developmental risk markers of fear and anxiety. We compared 267 children and 285 adults in a differential fear conditioning paradigm and generalization test. Skin conductance responses (SCR) and ratings of valence and arousal were obtained to indicate fear learning. Both groups displayed robust and similar differential conditioning on subjective and physiological levels. However, children showed heightened fear generalization compared to adults as indexed by higher arousal ratings and SCR to the generalization stimuli. Results indicate overgeneralization of conditioned fear as a developmental correlate of fear learning. The developmental change from a shallow to a steeper generalization gradient is likely related to the maturation of brain structures that modulate efficient discrimination between danger and (ambiguous) safety cues. © 2016 The Authors. Developmental Psychobiology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

New engineering: from knowledge to competences

Science.gov (United States)

Cartagena, M. C.; Tarquis, A. M.; Arce, A.

2009-04-01

One of the main innovations of Bologna system has been to link learning outcomes, ECTS workload based credits and competences. Competences represent a dynamic combination of knowledge, understanding, skills and abilities. Competences can be distinguished in subject specific and generic ones (instrumental, interpersonal and systemic competences). Actually in Spain Engineering degrees are changing to the new University educational system and should aim to satisfy the real needs of European society. This change has been long and complex, particularly. on the issue that have influenced curricular change Consultation with "actors" and "stakeholders", the definition of academic and professionals profiles and the translation of these into desired learning outcomes. Generic competences or transferable skills are relevant for preparing students well for their future role in society in terms of employability and citizenship. The criteria used by the companies to select their engineers are based in a good background and capacity to adapt and to acquire new knowledge, better than specific education, even postgraduate. It was interesting to note the great importance of generic competences However, Spanish government has regulated conditions of core curriculum need for to guarantee the acquisition of the competences needs to exercise the correspondent professional activities. The new degrees should comply with the core curriculum if the graduates want maintain the legal attributions guaranteed actually by the Spanish Professional Associations. After these degrees, students can access to professional master with actually horizontal attributions of regulated professions.

Cross-linguistic patterns in the acquisition of quantifiers

Science.gov (United States)

Cummins, Chris; Gavarró, Anna; Kuvač Kraljević, Jelena; Hrzica, Gordana; Grohmann, Kleanthes K.; Skordi, Athina; Jensen de López, Kristine; Sundahl, Lone; van Hout, Angeliek; Hollebrandse, Bart; Overweg, Jessica; Faber, Myrthe; van Koert, Margreet; Smith, Nafsika; Vija, Maigi; Zupping, Sirli; Kunnari, Sari; Morisseau, Tiffany; Rusieshvili, Manana; Yatsushiro, Kazuko; Fengler, Anja; Varlokosta, Spyridoula; Konstantzou, Katerina; Farby, Shira; Guasti, Maria Teresa; Vernice, Mirta; Okabe, Reiko; Isobe, Miwa; Crosthwaite, Peter; Hong, Yoonjee; Balčiūnienė, Ingrida; Ahmad Nizar, Yanti Marina; Grech, Helen; Gatt, Daniela; Cheong, Win Nee; Asbjørnsen, Arve; Torkildsen, Janne von Koss; Haman, Ewa; Miękisz, Aneta; Gagarina, Natalia; Puzanova, Julia; Anđelković, Darinka; Savić, Maja; Jošić, Smiljana; Slančová, Daniela; Kapalková, Svetlana; Barberán, Tania; Özge, Duygu; Hassan, Saima; Chan, Cecilia Yuet Hung; Okubo, Tomoya; van der Lely, Heather; Sauerland, Uli; Noveck, Ira

2016-01-01

Learners of most languages are faced with the task of acquiring words to talk about number and quantity. Much is known about the order of acquisition of number words as well as the cognitive and perceptual systems and cultural practices that shape it. Substantially less is known about the acquisition of quantifiers. Here, we consider the extent to which systems and practices that support number word acquisition can be applied to quantifier acquisition and conclude that the two domains are largely distinct in this respect. Consequently, we hypothesize that the acquisition of quantifiers is constrained by a set of factors related to each quantifier’s specific meaning. We investigate competence with the expressions for “all,” “none,” “some,” “some…not,” and “most” in 31 languages, representing 11 language types, by testing 768 5-y-old children and 536 adults. We found a cross-linguistically similar order of acquisition of quantifiers, explicable in terms of four factors relating to their meaning and use. In addition, exploratory analyses reveal that language- and learner-specific factors, such as negative concord and gender, are significant predictors of variation. PMID:27482119

RESPONDING TO MULTICULTURAL ENGLISH CLASSROOMS: TEACHERS‟ POLICY TOWARDS INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Athriyana Pattiwael

2017-04-01

These cultural-lingual contacts in the context of learning second or foreign language possibly involve the acquisition of a second (or third cultural identity (Brown, 2000. The contact and the process of acquisition present opportunity for the teachers to develop students‘ intercultural communicative competence. Yet, the process can be disrupted and take the students to experience culture shock and conflict if the teachers are lack of classroom policy in managing it. This aspect is often neglected during teaching-learning process in which few attentions are paid to how supports are provided for students to go through the acculturation process. This paper, then, addresses some issues that ELT teachers could consider as part of their classroom policy when they work with the students experiencing the cultural-lingual contact aimed at developing intercultural communicative competence.

48 CFR 219.7104 - Developmental assistance costs eligible for reimbursement or credit.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... costs eligible for reimbursement or credit. 219.7104 Section 219.7104 Federal Acquisition Regulations... reimbursement or credit. (a) Developmental assistance provided under an approved mentor-protege agreement is... eligible for reimbursement are set forth in appendix I. (b) Before incurring any costs under the Program...

Acquisition of reliable vacuum hardware for large accelerator systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welch, K.M.

1996-01-01

Credible and effective communications prove to be the major challenge in the acquisition of reliable vacuum hardware. Technical competence is necessary but not sufficient. We must effectively communicate with management, sponsoring agencies, project organizations, service groups, staff and with vendors. Most of Deming's 14 quality assurance tenets relate to creating an enlightened environment of good communications. All projects progress along six distinct, closely coupled, dynamic phases; all six phases are in a state of perpetual change. These phases and their elements are discussed, with emphasis given to the acquisition phase and its related vocabulary. (author)

Why Are There Developmental Stages in Language Learning? A Developmental Robotics Model of Language Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Morse, Anthony F; Cangelosi, Angelo

2017-02-01

Most theories of learning would predict a gradual acquisition and refinement of skills as learning progresses, and while some highlight exponential growth, this fails to explain why natural cognitive development typically progresses in stages. Models that do span multiple developmental stages typically have parameters to "switch" between stages. We argue that by taking an embodied view, the interaction between learning mechanisms, the resulting behavior of the agent, and the opportunities for learning that the environment provides can account for the stage-wise development of cognitive abilities. We summarize work relevant to this hypothesis and suggest two simple mechanisms that account for some developmental transitions: neural readiness focuses on changes in the neural substrate resulting from ongoing learning, and perceptual readiness focuses on the perceptual requirements for learning new tasks. Previous work has demonstrated these mechanisms in replications of a wide variety of infant language experiments, spanning multiple developmental stages. Here we piece this work together as a single model of ongoing learning with no parameter changes at all. The model, an instance of the Epigenetic Robotics Architecture (Morse et al 2010) embodied on the iCub humanoid robot, exhibits ongoing multi-stage development while learning pre-linguistic and then basic language skills. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Homeless Youth in the United States: Description and Developmental Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Smollar, Jacqueline

1999-01-01

Reviews the history and causes of homeless children in the United States from early 19th century to the present. Explores four characteristics necessary for positive developmental pathways that are compromised for children who live on the street: sense of industry and competency, feeling connected to others and society, sense of control of one's…

Foreign Language Acquisition Of Souvenir Seller In Bawomataluo Village

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saniago Dakhi

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This research is addresses language functional and lexical acquisition domains of souvenir seller in Bawomataluo village, South Nias, North Sumatera. The reasons of lexical items acquired by souvenir seller is regarded as the function of language acquisition. On the contrary, form and process of lexical items acquired are totally viewed as language lexical domains. To obtain the whole accurate data of these research problems interview and observation were conducted. The research finding indicates four specified language lexical acquisition reasons: internal motivation, external motivation, access to native speaker and experience. In addition, eight English part of speech are acquired.It is discovered that lexical items acquired are dominated by noun. Verb and adjective posites at the next level of the amount of lexicals acquired. Adverb, conjunction, pronoun are less acquired. Interjection is more easily acquired by souvenir sellers. The processes involved to acquire the lexical consist of social, memory, compensation, and affective process. Finally, the research finding is thoroughly expected to be language teacher’s consideration in employing material selection and determining natural, contextual and situational language teaching model. Language leaners are highly advised to recall the language competence theoretically mastered in naturall setting in attempt to obtain practical competence.

Assessment of a Competency-Based Undergraduate Course on Genetic and Genomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kronk, Rebecca; Colbert, Alison; Lengetti, Evelyn

2017-08-24

In response to new demands in the nursing profession, an innovative undergraduate genetics course was designed based on the Essential Nursing Competencies and Curricula Guidelines for Genetics and Genomics. Reflective journaling and storytelling were used as major pedagogies, alongside more traditional approaches. Thematic content analysis of student reflections revealed transformational learning as the major theme emerging from genomic and genetic knowledge acquisition. Quantitative analyses of precourse/postcourse student self-assessments of competencies revealed significant findings.

Chinese firms entering Europe : Internationalization through acquisitions and strategic alliances

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duijsters, G.M.; Zhang, Y.; Filippov, S.

2012-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine specific use of strategic alliances and acquisitions for Chinese firms to catch‐up technologically and to enhance their internationalization competence. Design/methodology/approach – The paper offers a conceptual analysis of internationalization

Children’s Competence or Adults’ Incompetence: Different Developmental Trajectories in Different Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

S., Furlan; F., Agnoli; V. F., Reyna

2013-01-01

Dual-process theories have been proposed to explain normative and heuristic responses to reasoning and decision-making problems. Standard unitary and dual-process theories predict that normative responses should increase with age. However, research has focused recently on exceptions to this standard pattern, including developmental increases in heuristic or intuitive responses. Developmental trends for normative and heuristic responses were investigated for two kinds of causal reasoning (if-only and covariation) problems in two experiments. To investigate the role of superstitious thinking in these developmental trends, in both experiments a superstitious element was added to the problem solved by half the participants. In the first experiment, 90 fifth graders, 99 seventh graders, and 153 adults responded to an if-only problem. Children performed better than adults, with normative responses decreasing and heuristic responses increasing with age. A superstitious jinx intended to reduce heuristic responses had little effect for all age groups. In the second experiment, 276 fifth graders, 344 seventh graders, and 90 adults responded to a covariation-detection problem. When win-loss ratios were equal, adults performed better than children, with normative responses increasing and heuristic responses decreasing with age. When win-loss ratios were strikingly different, however, even the youngest children were able to solve the problems correctly; participants of all ages responded about equally well. When the normative response required recognizing that a good-luck ritual led to better team performance, participants in all age groups responded skeptically that the ritual had no effect, illustrating belief bias. These results are discussed in terms of dual process theories and the development of heuristic (or intuitive) and analytical processes. PMID:23148936

Competency development information system - Knowledge management based competency development management tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aminuddin, R.; Zainuddin, Z.; Taib, Z.; Hamid, A.H.Ab.; Hamdan, S.N.

2007-01-01

Full text: Knowledge identification, acquisition, sharing, preservation and measurement are some of the desired habits and processes necessary for knowledge management to be effective and contributes to increased innovation, organizational value, competitiveness and sustainability. The knowledge workers in the K-economic era are expected to be an innovative knowledge professional who are capable of managing their own work as well as their own competency development. Organizations however need to provide an environment, tools and policies to support and encourage learning and knowledge acquisition in all forms, methods and approaches beyond what is traditionally done. For an ordinary knowledge professional, he is only interested in developing the necessary competency to complete his assigned tasks and progress in his career. He would not be interested to learn and be lectured on knowledge management or learning principles and concepts. But for the organization it is not only important that its staff members understand and able to go through the process of acquiring the necessary skills to carry out their current and future tasks at the right time, but it has to ensure that what they learn or their individual knowledge is converted into organizational knowledge, utilised, shared and preserved. Hence it is important that tools are provided and policies are set in place to ensure that staff identify, acquire, utilise, share and preserve knowledge necessary for organizational sustainability and growth. A Competency Development Information System was recently developed to address the issue of inculcating the habit of identifying, acquiring, utilising, sharing, preserving and measuring knowledge among staff members hands-on by doing and repeating without having to learn the theory first. Besides that it helps organization manage competency development processes from analysis to planning, implementing and right through to evaluation. The process starts from capturing

Portfolio as a tool to evaluate clinical competences of traumatology in medical students

Science.gov (United States)

Santonja-Medina, Fernando; García-Sanz, M Paz; Martínez-Martínez, Francisco; Bó, David; García-Estañ, Joaquín

2016-01-01

This article investigates whether a reflexive portfolio is instrumental in determining the level of acquisition of clinical competences in traumatology, a subject in the 5th year of the degree of medicine. A total of 131 students used the portfolio during their clinical rotation of traumatology. The students’ portfolios were blind evaluated by four professors who annotated the existence (yes/no) of 23 learning outcomes. The reliability of the portfolio was moderate, according to the kappa index (0.48), but the evaluation scores between evaluators were very similar. Considering the mean percentage, 59.8% of the students obtained all the competences established and only 13 of the 23 learning outcomes (56.5%) were fulfilled by >50% of the students. Our study suggests that the portfolio may be an important tool to quantitatively analyze the acquisition of traumatology competences of medical students, thus allowing the implementation of methods to improve its teaching. PMID:26929675

New Directions in Library and Information Science Education. Final Report. Volume 2.9: Archivist/Museum Professional Competencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffiths, Jose-Marie; And Others

This document contains validated activities and competencies needed by information professionals working in an archive or museum. The activities and competencies are organized according to the functions which information professionals in archives or museums perform: acquisitions; cataloging/indexing; reference; exhibit management; and…

Developmental dyslexia and dysgraphia: What can we learn from the one about the other?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana eDöhla

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Up to 17 % of German school children suffer from reading and writing disabilities. Unlike developmental dyslexia, only few studies have addressed dysgraphia. Presenting a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in developmental dyslexia and dysgraphia, this paper aims to determine how far existing knowledge about the causes of developmental dyslexia also apply to developmental dysgraphia. To promote understanding of developmental dysgraphia, the paper discusses relevant aspects such as predictors, causes and comorbidities, models of acquisition as well as existing deficit models. A comparison of definitions in the DSM-V and ICD-10 complemented by an overview of the most recent German guideline ought to give the reader deeper insight into this topic. The current issue of growing up bilingually and the connection between reading and writing deficits are also discussed. In conclusion, this paper presents a critical survey of theoretical and practical implications for the diagnostics and treatment of developmental dysgraphia.

Combining Language Corpora with Experimental and Computational Approaches for Language Acquisition Research

Science.gov (United States)

Monaghan, Padraic; Rowland, Caroline F.

2017-01-01

Historically, first language acquisition research was a painstaking process of observation, requiring the laborious hand coding of children's linguistic productions, followed by the generation of abstract theoretical proposals for how the developmental process unfolds. Recently, the ability to collect large-scale corpora of children's language…

Business education and social skills to leadership competencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Čukanović-Karavidić Marija

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Encouraged by the fact that the leadership has become sought and highly valued ability in this paper we want to show the importance of education in developing leadership competencies. The creative power of the leaders is in the knowledge-intellectual potential, which have become a key factor of productivity, competitiveness and economic success. Leadership is a process of selection, and then transform those choices into actions - creative thinking through the acquisition of knowledge, values and build social skills. Personality traits and abilities may be to some extent inherited, but only with the education and continuous learning is possible to develop the necessary competencies of a true leader. The paper proves that the structure of leadership competence consists of numerous knowledge, skills, social skills and personality traits which are unavoidable.

Serbian language acquisition in communist Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sorescu-Marinković Annemarie

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The paper analyzes a unique linguistic phenomenon characterizing Romania’s western border areas for almost a decade, in the 1980s: the acquisition of the Serbian language by Romanians in Timişoara under the communist regime, primarily through exposure to Yugoslav television programmes. It gives a necessarily sketchy overview of private life under communism, notably the situation in the Banat province, whose privileged position as a result of being closest to the West both geographically and culturally was reflected in the acceptance of pluralism and a critical attitude towards authoritarianism. Taking into account the literature on foreign language acquisition through exposure to television programmes, the study is based on a research involving Romanian natives of Timişoara who, although lacking any formal instruction in Serbian, intensively and regularly watched Yugoslav television programmes in the period in question, and on evaluating their competence and proficiency in Serbian, through language tests, narrative interviews in Romanian and free conversations in Serbian. The conclusion is that most respondents, despite the varying degree of proficiency in Serbian depending on their active use of the language before and after 1989, showed a strong pragmatic competence, which appears to contradict the author’s initial hypothesis.

Beyond the retention-acquisition trade-off : capabilities of ambidextrous sales organizations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijssen, E.J.; Guenzi, P.; van der Borgh, W.

2017-01-01

Sales organizations aim to grow their firms' business by acquiring new customers while retaining their existing ones. Although customer acquisition and retention are complementary processes, they involve different sales process capabilities that often compete for investments. However, firms that

Speech-Generating Devices versus Manual Signing for Children with Developmental Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

van der Meer, Larah; Kagohara, Debora; Achmadi, Donna; O'Reilly, Mark F.; Lancioni, Giulio E.; Sutherland, Dean; Sigafoos, Jeff

2012-01-01

We compared speed of acquisition and preference for using a speech-generating device (SGD) versus manual signing (MS) as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) options. Four children with developmental disabilities (DD), aged 5-10 years, were taught to request preferred objects using an iPod[R]-based SGD and MS. Intervention was…

‘Developmental Delay’ Reconsidered: The Critical Role of Age-Dependent, Co-variant Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yonata Levy

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In memory of Annette Karmiloff-Smith.This paper reviews recent neurobiological research reporting structural co-variance and temporal dependencies in age-dependent gene expression, parameters of cortical maturation, long range connectivity and interaction of the biological network with the environment. This research suggests that age by size trajectories of brain structures relate to functional properties more than absolute sizes. In line with these findings, recent behavioral studies of typically developing children whose language development was delayed reported long term consequences of such delays. As for neurodevelopmental disorders, disrupted developmental timing and slow acquisitional pace are hallmarks of these populations. It is argued that these behavioral and neuro-biological results highlight the need to commit to a developmental model which will reflect the fact that temporal dependencies overseeing structural co-variance among developmental components are major regulatory factors of typical development of the brain/mind network. Consequently, the concept of ‘developmental delay’ in developmental theorizing needs to be reconsidered.

Cultural Mediation. The Usefulness of Selected Concepts of Developmental Psychology for Coaching and Mentoring Relations

OpenAIRE

Smorczewska, Barbara

2013-01-01

Some developmental psychological concepts, such as L. S. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development or H. R. Schaffer’s joint involvement episodes, gave a new perspective in perceiving the process of teaching and development, by providing very detailed characteristics of the situation of acquiring competence in social relations. The mentioned concepts are based on a belief in the developmental potential of humans, and they perceive teaching as future-oriented. These assumptions are also characte...

The relationship between actual motor competence and physical activity in children: mediating roles of perceived motor competence and health-related physical fitness.

Science.gov (United States)

Khodaverdi, Zeinab; Bahram, Abbas; Stodden, David; Kazemnejad, Anoshirvan

2016-08-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether perceived motor competence and components of health-related physical fitness mediated the relationship between actual motor competence and physical activity in 8- to 9-year-old Iranian girls. A convenience sample of 352 girls (mean age = 8.7, SD = 0.3 years) participated in the study. Actual motor competence, perceived motor competence and children's physical activity were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2, the physical ability sub-scale of Marsh's Self-Description Questionnaire and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children, respectively. Body mass index, the 600 yard run/walk, curl-ups, push-ups, and back-saver sit and reach tests assessed health-related physical fitness. Preacher & Hayes (2004) bootstrap method was used to assess the potential mediating effects of fitness and perceived competence on the direct relationship between actual motor competence and physical activity. Regression analyses revealed that aerobic fitness (b = .28, 95% CI = [.21, .39]), as the only fitness measure, and perceived competence (b = .16, 95% CI = [.12, .32]) were measures that mediated the relationship between actual motor competence and physical activity with the models. Development of strategies targeting motor skill acquisition, children's self-perceptions of competence and cardiorespiratory fitness should be targeted to promote girls' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

Theory of mind in middle childhood: Longitudinal associations with executive function and social competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Devine, Rory T; White, Naomi; Ensor, Rosie; Hughes, Claire

2016-05-01

The vast majority of studies on theory of mind (ToM) have focused on the preschool years. Extending the developmental scope of ToM research presents opportunities to both reassess theoretical accounts of ToM and test its predictive utility. The twin aims of this longitudinal study were to examine developmental relations between ToM, executive function (EF), and teacher-rated social competence in middle childhood. One hundred thirty-seven children (69 males) were followed across a 4-year period spanning middle childhood (M ages at Waves 1 and 2 = 6.05, SD = .35, and 10.81, SD = .35, respectively). Individual differences in ToM were moderately stable across middle childhood. Although there were concurrent associations between ToM and EF at both time points, there were no longitudinal links between these constructs. In contrast, there were concurrent and longitudinal links between ToM and teacher-rated social competence, such that individual differences in ToM predicted later social competence at school. These results are discussed in light of competing theories about the links between ToM and EF and the importance of individual differences in ToM for children's social lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Current situation and discussion of acquisition work in professional libraries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Yan; Xin Pingping

2010-01-01

The acquisition work in professional libraries is an important part of library work, and faces enormous challenges at this stage. For the status quo of the acquisition work in professional libraries, we should develop effective acquisition principles to ensure the integrity of our professional library's collection and systematic literature, and to provide more effective protection for relevant research work. We need reasonable arrangements for the procurement of books with limited funding to avoid the waste of funds. We should use the network, to actively develop the procurement channels, and to establish accurate and reliable systematic network of information resources for the reader. We need to consciously cultivate and improve the professional competence of acquisition staff, to meet the requirement of the acquisition staff in the new situation. We should carry out knowledge management in professional library, to form a competitive 'knowledge resources'. For information research, technical personnel, and scientific researchers, we provide effective information services in time, and carry out personalized services. (authors)

The Intersection of Emotional and Sociocognitive Competencies with Civic Engagement in Middle Childhood and Adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Metzger, Aaron; Alvis, Lauren M; Oosterhoff, Benjamin; Babskie, Elizabeth; Syvertsen, Amy; Wray-Lake, Laura

2018-03-23

Civic developmental theory anticipates connections between normative developmental competencies and civic engagement, but little previous research has directly studied such links. The current study sought to contribute to civic development theory by examining associations between emotional and sociocognitive competencies (empathy, emotion regulation, prosocial moral reasoning, future-orientation) and civic engagement (volunteering, informal helping, political behaviors and beliefs, environmental behaviors, social responsibility values, civic skills). Data came from a geographically and racially diverse sample of 2467 youth (M age  = 13.4, Range: 8-20 years, 56% female). The results indicated that empathy and future-orientation significantly predicted nearly all forms of civic engagement, whereas emotion regulation and prosocial moral reasoning were uniquely associated with specific forms of civic engagement. Exploratory multi-group models indicated that empathy and emotion regulation were more strongly associated with civic engagement among younger youth and prosocial moral reasoning and future-orientation were more strongly related to civic engagement among older youth. The findings help to advance developmental theory of youth civic engagement.

Social Empowerment in Mexican Violent Contexts through Media Competence

Science.gov (United States)

Grijalva-Verdugo, Abel-Antonio; Moreno-Candil, David

2017-01-01

The acquisition of digital skills, media diet management, and general knowledge of ICT, is essential for the development and empowerment of audiences in the current media ecology, particularly considering the political and social challenges of the Latin American environment. In that sense, the study of media competence is urgent for sizing up the…

The Role of Early Childhood Personality in the Developmental Course of Social Adjustment

Science.gov (United States)

Kavcic, Tina; Podlesek, Anja; Zupancic, Maja

2012-01-01

This study explored children, preschool, and family characteristics that contribute to individual differences in the developmental trajectories of social competence and internalizing and externalizing behavior. Teachers reported on personality and social adjustment of 304 children at ages 3, 4, 5, and 6 years. Predictors of social adjustment…

Pre-Service EFL Teachers’ Attitudes towards ‘Language Acquisition Courses’

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nalan Kızıltan

2011-04-01

Full Text Available This study discusses the attitudes of pre-service English language teachers towards „Language Acquisition Courses‟ in English Language Teacher Education Programs. The data have been collected through a developed questionnaire of 20 questions given to 324 students in the department of Pre-service English Language Teacher Education at Ondokuz Mayıs University. SPSS has been used for the evaluation of the data. The results indicate that the pre-service teachers of English believe in the importance of language acquisition courses for their career. However, they think that they need some preliminary courses on linguistics before they take “Language Acquisition Courses”. Otherwise, since they may not have any background knowledge in linguistics, they may have some problems in the comprehension competence.

The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity: A Tool for Understanding Principals' Cultural Competence

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Hernandez, Frank; Kose, Brad W.

2012-01-01

Principals' understanding and skills pertaining to diversity are important in leading diverse schools and preparing all students for a democratic and multicultural society. Although educational leadership scholars have theorized about exemplary leadership of and for diversity, a developmental perspective on principals' diversity or cultural…

Effect of Culture System on Developmental Competence, Cryosurvival and DNA-Fragmentation of In Vitro Bovine Blastocysts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahdi Hajian

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Background: This study investigated the effect of two in vitro embryo culture systems (co-culturesystem versus cell-free sequential-media on developmental competence, cryosurvival and DNAfragmentationof in vitro developed bovine blastocysts.Materials and Methods: Bovine presumptive zygotes were cultured in Ménézo's B2 (B2 plusvero-cells or sequential synthetic oviductal fluid (SOF for eight days. Subsequently, half of theexpanded blastocysts developed in both groups were vitrified, warmed within 30 minutes and postwarmingembryos along with their corresponding non-vitrified embryos were cultured for twoadditional days in the same medium used before vitrification. Embryo development, cryosurvivaland apoptosis were compared between the groups.Results: For non-vitrified embryos, culture in SOF significantly promoted the potency of embryosto develop into blastocysts compared with the co-culture system. The difference in post vitrificationsurvival rate of SOF blastocysts (83.3% was insignificant compared with co-culture (84.3%.However, while total cell number of warmed blastocysts in the co-culture system was significantlyhigher in the co-culture versus the sequential system (215.4 vs. 170.4, the quality of survived embryosin terms of hatching ability and apoptosis was adversely affected by co-culture compared with SOF(65.0% vs. 74.3%, and 13.5% vs. 10.0%, respectively; p<0.05.Conclusion: Although co-culture system may increase the viability of embryos followingcryopreservation, the potency and dynamics of blastocyst formation significantly increased withsequential media compared to the co-culture system which can compensate for the lower efficiency ofsequential media for vitrification/warming purposes.

Assessing Environmental Competencies of Primary Education Pre-Service Teachers in Spain: A Comparative Study between Two Universities

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Alvarez-García, Olaya; Sureda-Negre, Jaume; Comas-Forgas, Rubén

2018-01-01

Purpose: In this paper, the results of an investigation aimed at analysing and comparing the environmental competences of future teachers undergoing training in two universities are presented. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the difference in the acquisition of environmental competences amongst two groups of students enrolled in two…

How to Use Cooperative Learning for Assessing Students' Emotional Competences: A Practical Example at the Tertiary Level

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Martínez Lirola, María

2016-01-01

Cooperative learning allows students acquisition of competences that are essential for the labour market such as leadership, critical thinking, communication, and so on. For this reason, different cooperative activities were designed in a language subject in English Studies so that students could work in groups and acquire those competences. This…

A Simulation-Based Approach to Training Operational Cultural Competence

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Johnson, W. Lewis

2010-01-01

Cultural knowledge and skills are critically important for military operations, emergency response, or any job that involves interaction with a culturally diverse population. However, it is not obvious what cultural knowledge and skills need to be trained, and how to integrate that training with the other training that trainees must undergo. Cultural training needs to be broad enough to encompass both regional (culture-specific) and cross-cultural (culture-general) competencies, yet be focused enough to result in targeted improvements in on-the-job performance. This paper describes a comprehensive instructional development methodology and training technology framework that focuses cultural training on operational needs. It supports knowledge acquisition, skill acquisition, and skill transfer. It supports both training and assessment, and integrates with other aspects of operational skills training. Two training systems will be used to illustrate this approach: the Virtual Cultural Awareness Trainer (VCAT) and the Tactical Dari language and culture training system. The paper also discusses new and emerging capabilities that are integrating cultural competence training more strongly with other aspects of training and mission rehearsal.

The Role of Visual and Auditory Temporal Processing for Chinese Children with Developmental Dyslexia

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Chung, Kevin K. H.; McBride-Chang, Catherine; Wong, Simpson W. L.; Cheung, Him; Penney, Trevor B.; Ho, Connie S. -H.

2008-01-01

This study examined temporal processing in relation to Chinese reading acquisition and impairment. The performances of 26 Chinese primary school children with developmental dyslexia on tasks of visual and auditory temporal order judgement, rapid naming, visual-orthographic knowledge, morphological, and phonological awareness were compared with…

Initial Steps in Creating a Developmentally Valid Tool for Observing/Assessing Rope Jumping

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Roberton, Mary Ann; Thompson, Gregory; Langendorfer, Stephen J.

2017-01-01

Background: Valid motor development sequences show the various behaviors that children display as they progress toward competence in specific motor skills. Teachers can use these sequences to observe informally or formally assess their students. While longitudinal study is ultimately required to validate developmental sequences, there are earlier,…

A longitudinal study of employment and skill acquisition among individuals with developmental disabilities.

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Stephens, Dawn L; Collins, Michael D; Dodder, Richard A

2005-01-01

Recent legislation, especially the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, generated the closure of institutions for people with disabilities and inclusion into community residences and employment. It has been well documented that individuals with developmental disabilities often experience difficulties with employment including both obtaining and maintaining jobs, and many researchers have looked for ways to make employment more successful [McConkey, R. & Mezza F. (2001). Employment aspirations of people with learning disabilities attending day centers. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 5(4), 309-318; Stevens, G. (2002). Employers' perceptions and practice in the employability of disabled people: a survey of companies in south east UK. Disability and Society, 17(7), 779-796; Capella, M., Roessler, R., & Hemmeria, K. (2002). Work-related skills awareness in high-school students with disabilities. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 33(2), 17-23; Ingraham, K., Rahimi, M., Tsang, H., Chan, F., & Oulvey, E. (2001). Work support groups in state vocational rehabilitation agency settings: a case study. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills, 5(1), 6-21; Gosling, V. & Cotterill, L. (2000). An employment project as a route to social inclusion for people with learning difficulties? Disability and Society, 15(7), 1001-1018; Neitupski, J. & Hamre-Nietupski, S. (2000). A systematic process for carving supported employment positions for people with severe disabilities. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 12(2), 103-119]. While research has accumulated that has examined predictors of successful employment, this research assessed longitudinal outcomes of employment. Data were obtained from an existing data set of all known persons receiving services from the Developmental Disabilities Division of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (N=2760). Results indicated that as people moved to employment, scores on adaptive skills increased, that as people moved

Developmental Competence of Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) Pluripotent Embryonic Stem Cells Over Different Homologous Feeder Layers and the Comparative Evaluation with Various Extracellular Matrices.

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Sharma, Manjinder; Dubey, Pawan K; Kumar, Rajesh; Nath, Amar; Kumar, G Sai; Sharma, G Taru

2013-05-01

Use of somatic cells as a feeder layer to maintain the embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in undifferentiated state limits the stem cell research design, since experimental data may result from a combined ESCs and feeder cell response to various stimuli. Therefore, present study was designed to evaluate the developmental competence of the buffalo ESCs over different homogenous feeders and compare with various extracellular matrices using different concentrations of LIF. Inner cell masses (ICMs) of in vitro hatched blastocysts were cultured onto homologous feeders viz. fetal fibroblast, granulosa and oviductal cell feeder layers and synthetic matrices viz. fibronectin, collagen type I and matrigel in culture medium. Developmental efficiency was found higher for ESCs cultured on fetal fibroblast and granulosa layers (83.33%) followed by fibronectin (77.78%) at 30 ng LIF. Oviductal feeder was found to be the least efficient feeder showing only 11.11% undifferentiated primary ESC colonies at 30 ng LIF. However, neither feeder layer nor synthetic matrix could support the development of primary colonies at 10 ng LIF. Expression of SSEA- 4, TRA-1-60 and Oct-4 were found positive in ESC colonies from all the feeders and synthetic matrices with 20 ng and 30 ng LIF. Fetal fibroblast and granulosa cell while, amongst synthetic matrices, fibronectin were found to be equally efficient to support the growth and maintenance of ESCs pluripotency with 30 ng LIF. This well-defined culture conditions may provide an animal model for culturing human embryonic stem cells in the xeno-free or feeder-free conditions for future clinical applications.

Brief Report: Is Perceived Motor Competence a Constraint in Children's Action Planning?

Science.gov (United States)

Gabbard, Carl; Cacola, Priscila; Cordova, Alberto

2009-01-01

A form of action representation of developmental interest is "reach estimation"--the perceptual and cognitive judgment of whether an object is within or out of reach. A common observation among children is overestimation, which, speculatively, has been linked to perceived motor competence (PMC). The authors examined the PMC effect on…

Gestural acquisition in great apes: the Social Negotiation Hypothesis.

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Pika, Simone; Fröhlich, Marlen

2018-01-24

Scientific interest in the acquisition of gestural signalling dates back to the heroic figure of Charles Darwin. More than a hundred years later, we still know relatively little about the underlying evolutionary and developmental pathways involved. Here, we shed new light on this topic by providing the first systematic, quantitative comparison of gestural development in two different chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus and Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) subspecies and communities living in their natural environments. We conclude that the three most predominant perspectives on gestural acquisition-Phylogenetic Ritualization, Social Transmission via Imitation, and Ontogenetic Ritualization-do not satisfactorily explain our current findings on gestural interactions in chimpanzees in the wild. In contrast, we argue that the role of interactional experience and social exposure on gestural acquisition and communicative development has been strongly underestimated. We introduce the revised Social Negotiation Hypothesis and conclude with a brief set of empirical desiderata for instigating more research into this intriguing research domain.

Relationship between Maternal Language Parameters and the Child's Language Competency and Developmental Condition.

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Hooshyar, Nahid T.

Maternal language directed to 21 nonhandicapped, 21 Down syndrome, and 19 language impaired preschool children was examined. The three groups (all Caucasian and middle-class) were matched in mean length of utterance (MLU) and in developmental skills as measured on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Mother-child language interaction was…

Large scale land acquisitions and REDD+: a synthesis of conflicts and opportunities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Carter, Sarah; Manceur, Ameur M.; Seppelt, Ralf; Hermans, Kathleen; Herold, Martin; Verchot, Louis V.

2017-01-01

Large scale land acquisitions (LSLA), and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) are both land based phenomena which when occurring in the same area, can compete with each other for land. A quantitative analysis of country characteristics revealed that land available

Milestones of critical thinking: a developmental model for medicine and nursing.

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Papp, Klara K; Huang, Grace C; Lauzon Clabo, Laurie M; Delva, Dianne; Fischer, Melissa; Konopasek, Lyuba; Schwartzstein, Richard M; Gusic, Maryellen

2014-05-01

Critical thinking is essential to a health professional's competence to assess, diagnose, and care for patients. Defined as the ability to apply higher-order cognitive skills (conceptualization, analysis, evaluation) and the disposition to be deliberate about thinking (being open-minded or intellectually honest) that lead to action that is logical and appropriate, critical thinking represents a "meta-competency" that transcends other knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors required in health care professions. Despite its importance, the developmental stages of critical thinking have not been delineated for nurses and physicians. As part of a task force of educators who considered different developmental stage theories, the authors have iteratively refined and proposed milestones in critical thinking. The attributes associated with unreflective, beginning, practicing, advanced, accomplished, and challenged critical thinkers are conceived as independent of an individual's level of training. Depending on circumstances and environmental factors, even the most experienced clinician may demonstrate attributes associated with a challenged thinker. The authors use the illustrative case of a patient with abdominal pain to demonstrate how critical thinking may manifest in learners at different stages of development, analyzing how the learner at each stage applies information obtained in the patient interaction to arrive at a differential diagnosis and plan for evaluation. The authors share important considerations and provide this work as a foundation for the development of effective approaches to teaching and promoting critical thinking and to establishing expectations for learners in this essential meta-competency.

A Developmental Model of Cross-Cultural Competence at the Tactical Level

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2010-11-01

Army. (2009). Army Culture and Foreign Language Strategy. Dunne, J. P. (2009). Maslow is non-deployable: Modifying Maslow’s hierarchy for contemporary...be destroyed when it is no longer needed . Please do not return it to the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. NOTE...efforts are addressing the need for general cross-cultural competence (3C). To support these efforts, this research aimed to identify the critical

Social geography of developmental health in the early years.

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Hertzman, Clyde

2010-01-01

What happens to children in their earliest years is critical for their development throughout the life course. The years from zero to school age are foundational for brain and biological development. Attachment and face recognition; impulse control and regulation of physical aggression; executive function in the prefrontal cortex and focused attention; fine and gross motor functions and coordination; receptive and expressive language; and understandings of quantitative concepts are all established during this time and become embedded in the architecture and function of the brain (Doherty 1997; Kolb 2009; McCain and Mustard 1999). Brain and biological development are in turn expressed through three broad domains of development of the whole child: physical, social-emotional and language-cognitive, which together are the basis of "developmental health" (Keating and Hertzman 1999). Developmental health influences many aspects of well-being, including obesity and stunting, mental health, heart disease, competence in literacy and numeracy, criminality and economic participation throughout life (Irwin et al. 2007). Accordingly, developmental health is the central concern of this article.

[The Computer Book of the Internal Medicine resident: validity and reliability of a questionnaire for self-assessment of competences in internal medicine residents].

Science.gov (United States)

Oristrell, J; Casanovas, A; Jordana, R; Comet, R; Gil, M; Oliva, J C

2012-12-01

There are no simple and validated instruments for evaluating the training of specialists. To analyze the reliability and validity of a computerized self-assessment method to quantify the acquisition of medical competences during the Internal Medicine residency program. All residents of our department participated in the study during a period of 28 months. Twenty-two questionnaires specific for each rotation (the Computer-Book of the Internal Medicine Resident) were constructed with items (questions) corresponding to three competence domains: clinical skills competence, communication skills and teamwork. Reliability was analyzed by measuring the internal consistency of items in each competence domain using Cronbach's alpha index. Validation was performed by comparing mean scores in each competence domain between senior and junior residents. Cut-off levels of competence scores were established in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our training program. Finally, self-assessment values were correlated with the evaluations of the medical staff. There was a high internal consistency of the items of clinical skills competences, communication skills and teamwork. Higher scores of clinical skills competence and communication skills, but not in those of teamwork were observed in senior residents than in junior residents. The Computer-Book of the Internal Medicine Resident identified the strengths and weaknesses of our training program. We did not observe any correlation between the results of the self- evaluations and the evaluations made by staff physicians. The items of Computer-Book of the Internal Medicine Resident showed high internal consistency and made it possible to measure the acquisition of medical competences in a team of Internal Medicine residents. This self-assessment method should be complemented with other evaluation methods in order to assess the acquisition of medical competences by an individual resident. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Espa

Perspectives on competency-based medical education from the learning sciences.

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Swing, Susan R

2010-01-01

A central component of competency-based medical education is a framework of higher-order and more fundamental competencies whose purpose is to focus instruction and learning. In the language of the learning sciences, many of these competencies are complex cognitive-perceptual or cognitive-motor skills. Competency-based medical education has been criticized for being reductionistic, that is, for focusing on atomistic skills and failing to capture the essence of professional activities as manifested by complex, integrated capabilities. The value of identifying fundamental skill components is supported by theory and evidence from the learning sciences, however. Complex skills are constructed from fundamental, component skills. Proficient performance of the former is achieved as components are refined and integrated during repeated performance of the skill in a realistic context and as feedback on performance is provided. Competency-based medical education does not propose specific methods for teaching competencies. The learning and instructional sciences, however, posit a number of conditions for learning that support the acquisition of simple skills and their flexible integration into complex capabilities. Learners' motivation and self-regulation skills will also have an impact on the extent to which they engage in learning processes that result in the integration of knowledge and skills into complex competencies.

[Competence based medical education].

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Bernabó, Jorge G; Buraschi, Jorge; Olcese, Juan; Buraschi, María; Duro, Eduardo

2007-01-01

The strategy of curriculum planning in the majority of the Schools of Medicine has shifted, in the past years, from curriculum models based in contents to outcome oriented curricula. Coincidently the interest in defining and evaluating the clinical competences that a graduate must have has grown. In our country, and particularly in the Associated Hospitals belonging to the Unidad Regional de Enseñanza IV of the UBA School of Medicine, evidence has been gathered showing that the acquisition of clinical competences during the grade is in general insufficient. The foundations and characteristics of PREM (Programa de Requisitos Esenciales Mínimos) are described. PREM is a tool to promote the apprenticeship of abilities and necessary skills for the practice of medicine. The objective of the program is to promote the apprenticeship of a well defined list of core competences considered indispensable for a general practitioner. An outcome oriented curriculum with a clear definition of the expected knowledge, skills and attitudes of a graduate of the programme, the promotion of learning experiences centered in the practice and evaluation tools based in direct observation of the student's performance should contribute to close the gap between what the Medicine Schools traditionally teach and evaluate, and what the doctor needs to know and needs to do to perform correctly its profession.

Oppositionality and socioemotional competence: interacting risk factors in the development of childhood conduct disorder symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Mandy, William; Skuse, David; Steer, Colin; St Pourcain, Beate; Oliver, Bonamy R

2013-07-01

Oppositional behavior in childhood is a probabilistic risk factor for the subsequent development of more serious conduct problems characteristic of conduct disorder (CD). The capacity to understand the subjective states of others (socioemotional competence) helps regulate antisocial behavior in typical development. We hypothesized that socioemotional competence moderates the developmental relationship between oppositionality and CD symptoms, such that oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms pose the greatest risk for subsequent CD symptoms in children with poor socioemotional competence. Parent-report data were collected for 6,218 children at 7 and 10 years of age. Bootstrap multiple regression predicting CD symptoms at age 10 was used to test for an interaction between socioemotional competence and ODD symptoms, while also accounting for direct effects and controlling for sex, maternal education, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, and CD symptoms at 7 years. We further tested whether the interaction applied to both males and females, and to both aggressive and rule-breaking CD symptoms. A significant interaction was found between ODD and socioemotional competence: the association between oppositionality at 7 years and CD traits at 10 years was strongest for children with poor socioemotional capacities. As predicted, this moderation effect was significant in a model predicting aggression, but it was not significant for rule-breaking CD symptoms. Socioemotional competence moderates the developmental relationship between mid-childhood oppositionality and more serious conduct problems in later childhood. A capacity to understand the subjective states of others may buffer the risk posed by oppositionality for later CD symptoms, including aggression. Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Subtypes of Developmental Dyslexia: Testing the Predictions of the Dual-Route and Connectionist Frameworks

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Robin L.; Pennington, Bruce F.; Olson, Richard K.

2013-01-01

We investigated the phonological and surface subtypes of developmental dyslexia in light of competing predictions made by two computational models of single word reading, the Dual-Route Cascaded Model (DRC; Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001) and Harm and Seidenberg's connectionist model (HS model; Harm & Seidenberg, 1999). The…

Prevention of adolescent substance abuse through the development of personal and social competence.

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Botvin, G J

1983-01-01

The initiation of substance use typically begins during adolescence and appears to be the result of the complex interplay of social, personality, cognitive, attitudinal, behavioral, and developmental factors. Traditional smoking, alcohol, and drug education programs have attempted to increase students' knowledge of the risks associated with using these substances in the hope that this would deter use. Other programs have attempted to enrich the personal and social development of students through what has been referred to as "affective" education. Unfortunately, the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the substance abuse prevention literature is that few of these programs have demonstrated any degree of success in terms of the actual prevention of substance use/abuse. Traditional educational approaches to substance abuse prevention appear to be inadequate because they are based on faulty assumptions and are too narrow in their focus. The "affective" education approaches, on the other hand, appear to have placed too little emphasis on the acquisition of the kind of skills that are likely to increase general personal competence and enable students to cope with the various interpersonal and intrapersonal pressures to begin using tobacco, alcohol, or drugs. From the perspective of social learning theory (Bandura 1977) and problem behavior theory (Jessor and Jessor 1977), substance use is conceptualized as a socially learned, purposive, and functional behavior which is the result of the interplay of social (environmental) and personal factors. One potentially effective approach to substance abuse prevention might involve enhancing general personal competence and teaching adolescents the kind of problem-specific skills and knowledge which will increase their ability to resist the various forms of pro-substance-use social pressure. Brief reviews of the social skills training literature and the literature related to techniques for coping with anxiety not only provide

Relationship between perceived competence and performance during real and virtual motor tasks by children with developmental coordination disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Engel-Yeger, Batya; Sido, Rotem; Mimouni-Bloch, Aviva; Weiss, Patrice L

2017-10-01

(i) To compare children with DCD and typically developing participants via standard motor assessments, two interactive virtual games, measures of physical, social and cognitive self-competence and feedback while playing the virtual games and (ii) To examine the contribution of age and each motor assessment to predict self-competence. Participants were 25 boys with DCD and 25 typically developing boys, aged 5-9 years. They completed the M-ABC-2, the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence, the 6-Minute Walk Test, and then played the two Kinect games and completed the Short Feedback Questionnaire for Children. Children with DCD showed lower physical competence and lower performance than the typical controls in all standard motor assessments. This performance significantly correlated with the children achievements in part of virtual games and with their self-perceived experience while performing within virtual environments. Among the DCD group, Kinect Running game significantly predicted physical and social competence. The significant correlations between the virtual games and standard motor assessments support the feasibility of using these games when evaluating children with DCD for the richer profile they provide. Implications for rehabilitation Clinicians should refer to the impacts of DCD on child's self-competence and daily life. Technological rehabilitation and the use of VR games have the potential to improve self-competence of children with DCD. By including VR games that simulate real life in the intervention for DCD, clinicians may raise child's enjoyment, self-competence and involvement in therapy.

Differential Cellular Responses to Hedgehog Signalling in Vertebrates—What is the Role of Competence?

OpenAIRE

Clemens Kiecker; Anthony Graham; Malcolm Logan

2016-01-01

A surprisingly small number of signalling pathways generate a plethora of cellular responses ranging from the acquisition of multiple cell fates to proliferation, differentiation, morphogenesis and cell death. These diverse responses may be due to the dose-dependent activities of signalling factors, or to intrinsic differences in the response of cells to a given signal—a phenomenon called differential cellular competence. In this review, we focus on temporal and spatial differences in compete...

The APA Ethical Principles as a foundational competency: application to rehabilitation psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanson, Stephanie L; Kerkhoff, Thomas R

2011-08-01

Competence is a core component of ethical conduct as reflected in its addition as an ethical standard in the 2002 APA Ethics Code. Successfully operationalizing and assessing competence provides psychologists a means to improve education and training, advance the field of practice, and create a framework for accountability to the public. Much of the recent competency discussion has been in response to a proposed Cube Model, with its three axes being foundational competencies (practice building blocks, such as scientific knowledge, ethical standards), functional competencies (attributes of providing services, such as assessment, intervention), and developmental progression (acquiring increasing competence over the course of one's education and career). Ethics is included on the foundational competency axis and has been operationalized to the extent that subcomponents and benchmarks have been promulgated. The competency model as proposed faces multiple challenges, including gaining consensus regarding its components, addressing reliable and valid assessment over time, and creating a culture of acceptance. We propose the Ethical Principles as an alternative framework for conceptualizing ethics as a foundational competency given the Ethics Code is already time tested and includes a serial review process for broad discipline input and adaptability. We apply the Ethical Principles as foundational components to rehabilitation psychology training at internship, postdoctoral, and specialty levels to illustrate the model. Rehabilitation psychology should engage in the competency movement at the predoctoral and postdoctoral level. The application of the Ethical Principles as a foundational competency to rehabilitation psychology represents a first step in this dialog.

Testing hypotheses on frequency effects in first language acquisition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærbæk, Laila; Basbøll, Hans

2015-01-01

On the basis of extensive literature studies, Ambridge, Kidd, Rowland and Theakston (2015) present five theses on frequency effects on language acquisition: i) the Levels and Kinds Thesis argues that frequency effects exist at all levels and are of many different kinds (e.g., type and token...... frequency effects as well as absolute and relative frequency effects); ii) the Age of Acquisition Thesis argues that all other things being equal, frequent forms will be acquired before less frequent forms. Since all other things are not equal, this claim does not entail a one-to-one relationship between...... frequency and age of acquisition; iii) the Prevent Error Thesis argues that high-frequency forms prevent (or reduce) errors in contexts in which they are the target; iv) the Cause Error Thesis argues that high-frequency forms also cause errors in contexts in which a competing, related lower-frequency form...

Basic Skills Resource Center. A Review of the Literature on the Acquisition of English as a Second Language: The Potential for Research Applications

Science.gov (United States)

1985-05-01

This limited focus has left the more pervasive concerns in language acquisition such as syntax and sociolinguistic competence largely uninvestigated...used to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence include mnemonics (Levin, 1981), transfer (Corder, 1981; Ventriglia, 1982), and self

Experimental evaluation of sex differences in territory acquisition in a cooperatively breeding bird

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eikenaar, Cas; Richardson, David S.; Brouwer, Lyanne; Bristol, Rachel; Komdeur, Jan

2009-01-01

In many species, territory ownership is a prerequisite for reproduction; consequently, factors that affect success in territory acquisition can have a large impact on fitness. When competing for territories, some individuals may have an advantage if, for example, they are phenotypically superior or

The Acquisition of Clitic Pronouns in the Spanish Interlanguage of Peruvian Quechua Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Klee, Carol A.

1989-01-01

Analysis of four adult Quechua speakers' acquisition of clitic pronouns in Spanish revealed that educational attainment and amount of contact with monolingual Spanish speakers were positively related to native-like norms of competence in the use of object pronouns in Spanish. (CB)

Key factors in children's competence to consent to clinical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Hein, Irma M; Troost, Pieter W; Lindeboom, Robert; Benninga, Marc A; Zwaan, C Michel; van Goudoever, Johannes B; Lindauer, Ramón J L

2015-10-24

Although law is established on a strong presumption that persons younger than a certain age are not competent to consent, statutory age limits for asking children's consent to clinical research differ widely internationally. From a clinical perspective, competence is assumed to involve many factors including the developmental stage, the influence of parents and peers, and life experience. We examined potential determining factors for children's competence to consent to clinical research and to what extent they explain the variation in competence judgments. From January 1, 2012 through January 1, 2014, pediatric patients aged 6 to 18 years, eligible for clinical research studies were enrolled prospectively at various in- and outpatient pediatric departments. Children's competence to consent was assessed by MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research. Potential determining child variables included age, gender, intelligence, disease experience, ethnicity and socio-economic status (SES). We used logistic regression analysis and change in explained variance in competence judgments to quantify the contribution of a child variable to the total explained variance. Contextual factors included risk and complexity of the decision to participate, parental competence judgment and the child's or parents decision to participate. Out of 209 eligible patients, 161 were included (mean age, 10.6 years, 47.2 % male). Age, SES, intelligence, ethnicity, complexity, parental competence judgment and trial participation were univariately associated with competence (P competence judgments was 71.5 %. Only age and intelligence significantly and independently explained the variance in competence judgments, explaining 56.6 % and 12.7 % of the total variance respectively. SES, male gender, disease experience and ethnicity each explained less than 1 % of the variance in competence judgments. Contextual factors together explained an extra 2.8 % (P > 0.05). Age is the factor that

Competence is Competence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bramming, Pia

2004-01-01

The article will address competence, its' diffusion, application, and the consequence of this application within the field of Human Resource Management (HRM). The concept competence-in-practice will be presented and in conclusion the article will consider implications and possibilities...... of competence-in-practice as an alternative approach to Competence Development within Human Resource Management....

Coparenting Competence in Parents of Children with ASD: A Marker of Coparenting Quality.

Science.gov (United States)

May, Chris D; St George, Jennifer M; Fletcher, Richard J; Dempsey, Ian; Newman, Louise K

2017-10-01

The coparenting relationship has been linked to parenting stress, parenting self-efficacy and many other concerns associated with the development of children with ASD. Parents of children with ASD (N = 22) were interviewed to explore three domains of their coparenting relationship; (1) adaptation to the emergence of their child's autism, (2) parenting their child with ASD, (3) expectations for their child's developmental outcomes. The concept of coparenting competence, developed during analysis, describes collective perceptions of parenting efficacy. Parents linked perceptions of coparenting competence to their, ability to cope with diagnosis and parenting, motivation to do what they could for their child, and hopes for their child's development. The concept of coparenting competence could play an important role in future research and intervention.

Children's Perceived Competence Scale: Reference values in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagai, Yukiyo; Nomura, Kayo; Nagata, Masako; Ohgi, Shohei; Iwasa, Mitsuji

2015-12-01

To support children with chronic diseases, reference values to measure developmental changes in self-perception and self-esteem are considered a useful yardstick. To develop reference values to measure self-perceived competence and self-esteem in Japanese children, the Children's Perceived Competence Scale (CPCS) was administered to 768 children of elementary school grade 1 (6 years) to grade 6 (11 years) at four public schools in Japan, from November to December 2012. After excluding 74 with chronic diseases and/or incomplete responses, 694 children were included. CPCS measures children's self-perceived competence in cognitive, social, physical domains, and general self-worth, namely self-esteem. There was a tendency for scores of cognitive and general self-worth to decrease with increasing grade. Scores among grade 5 respondents were significantly lower than those among grade 4 respondents for both social and physical domains. Scores among boys and girls differed significantly, with boys scoring higher for physical domain in grades 3 and 6 and for general self-worth domain in grade 6. The CPCS reference values to measure self-perceived competence and self-esteem in Japanese children were developed in this study. These reference values are useful to inform practitioners supporting children with psychological or psychiatric problems or those with chronic diseases. © The Author(s) 2014.

Establishment of Trophectoderm Cell Lines from Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) Embryos of Different Sources and Examination of In Vitro Developmental Competence, Quality, Epigenetic Status and Gene Expression in Cloned Embryos Derived from Them.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohapatra, Sushil Kumar; Sandhu, Anjit; Singh, Karn Pratap; Singla, Suresh Kumar; Chauhan, Manmohan Singh; Manik, Radheysham; Palta, Prabhat

2015-01-01

Despite being successfully used to produce live offspring in many species, somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) has had a limited applicability due to very low (>1%) live birth rate because of a high incidence of pregnancy failure, which is mainly due to placental dysfunction. Since this may be due to abnormalities in the trophectoderm (TE) cell lineage, TE cells can be a model to understand the placental growth disorders seen after NT. We isolated and characterized buffalo TE cells from blastocysts produced by in vitro fertilization (TE-IVF) and Hand-made cloning (TE-HMC), and compared their growth characteristics and gene expression, and developed a feeder-free culture system for their long-term culture. The TE-IVF cells were then used as donor cells to produce HMC embryos following which their developmental competence, quality, epigenetic status and gene expression were compared with those of HMC embryos produced using fetal or adult fibroblasts as donor cells. We found that although TE-HMC and TE-IVF cells have a similar capability to grow in culture, significant differences exist in gene expression levels between them and between IVF and HMC embryos from which they are derived, which may have a role in the placental abnormalities associated with NT pregnancies. Although TE cells can be used as donor cells for producing HMC blastocysts, their developmental competence and quality is lower than that of blastocysts produced from fetal or adult fibroblasts. The epigenetic status and expression level of many important genes is different in HMC blastocysts produced using TE cells or fetal or adult fibroblasts or those produced by IVF.

Establishment of Trophectoderm Cell Lines from Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis Embryos of Different Sources and Examination of In Vitro Developmental Competence, Quality, Epigenetic Status and Gene Expression in Cloned Embryos Derived from Them.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sushil Kumar Mohapatra

Full Text Available Despite being successfully used to produce live offspring in many species, somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT has had a limited applicability due to very low (>1% live birth rate because of a high incidence of pregnancy failure, which is mainly due to placental dysfunction. Since this may be due to abnormalities in the trophectoderm (TE cell lineage, TE cells can be a model to understand the placental growth disorders seen after NT. We isolated and characterized buffalo TE cells from blastocysts produced by in vitro fertilization (TE-IVF and Hand-made cloning (TE-HMC, and compared their growth characteristics and gene expression, and developed a feeder-free culture system for their long-term culture. The TE-IVF cells were then used as donor cells to produce HMC embryos following which their developmental competence, quality, epigenetic status and gene expression were compared with those of HMC embryos produced using fetal or adult fibroblasts as donor cells. We found that although TE-HMC and TE-IVF cells have a similar capability to grow in culture, significant differences exist in gene expression levels between them and between IVF and HMC embryos from which they are derived, which may have a role in the placental abnormalities associated with NT pregnancies. Although TE cells can be used as donor cells for producing HMC blastocysts, their developmental competence and quality is lower than that of blastocysts produced from fetal or adult fibroblasts. The epigenetic status and expression level of many important genes is different in HMC blastocysts produced using TE cells or fetal or adult fibroblasts or those produced by IVF.

Establishment of Trophectoderm Cell Lines from Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) Embryos of Different Sources and Examination of In Vitro Developmental Competence, Quality, Epigenetic Status and Gene Expression in Cloned Embryos Derived from Them

Science.gov (United States)

Mohapatra, Sushil Kumar; Sandhu, Anjit; Singh, Karn Pratap; Singla, Suresh Kumar; Chauhan, Manmohan Singh; Manik, Radheysham; Palta, Prabhat

2015-01-01

Despite being successfully used to produce live offspring in many species, somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) has had a limited applicability due to very low (>1%) live birth rate because of a high incidence of pregnancy failure, which is mainly due to placental dysfunction. Since this may be due to abnormalities in the trophectoderm (TE) cell lineage, TE cells can be a model to understand the placental growth disorders seen after NT. We isolated and characterized buffalo TE cells from blastocysts produced by in vitro fertilization (TE-IVF) and Hand-made cloning (TE-HMC), and compared their growth characteristics and gene expression, and developed a feeder-free culture system for their long-term culture. The TE-IVF cells were then used as donor cells to produce HMC embryos following which their developmental competence, quality, epigenetic status and gene expression were compared with those of HMC embryos produced using fetal or adult fibroblasts as donor cells. We found that although TE-HMC and TE-IVF cells have a similar capability to grow in culture, significant differences exist in gene expression levels between them and between IVF and HMC embryos from which they are derived, which may have a role in the placental abnormalities associated with NT pregnancies. Although TE cells can be used as donor cells for producing HMC blastocysts, their developmental competence and quality is lower than that of blastocysts produced from fetal or adult fibroblasts. The epigenetic status and expression level of many important genes is different in HMC blastocysts produced using TE cells or fetal or adult fibroblasts or those produced by IVF. PMID:26053554

When words fail us: insights into language processing from developmental and acquired disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Bishop, Dorothy V M; Nation, Kate; Patterson, Karalyn

2014-01-01

Acquired disorders of language represent loss of previously acquired skills, usually with relatively specific impairments. In children with developmental disorders of language, we may also see selective impairment in some skills; but in this case, the acquisition of language or literacy is affected from the outset. Because systems for processing spoken and written language change as they develop, we should beware of drawing too close a parallel between developmental and acquired disorders. Nevertheless, comparisons between the two may yield new insights. A key feature of connectionist models simulating acquired disorders is the interaction of components of language processing with each other and with other cognitive domains. This kind of model might help make sense of patterns of comorbidity in developmental disorders. Meanwhile, the study of developmental disorders emphasizes learning and change in underlying representations, allowing us to study how heterogeneity in cognitive profile may relate not just to neurobiology but also to experience. Children with persistent language difficulties pose challenges both to our efforts at intervention and to theories of learning of written and spoken language. Future attention to learning in individuals with developmental and acquired disorders could be of both theoretical and applied value.

Childhood personality as a harbinger of competence and resilience in adulthood.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiner, Rebecca L; Masten, Ann S

2012-05-01

This study examined the significance of childhood Big Five personality traits for competence and resilience in early adulthood. Resilience was defined in terms of adaptive success in age-salient developmental tasks despite significant adversity throughout childhood/adolescence. The Project Competence Longitudinal Study tracked 205 young people from childhood (around age 10) to emerging adulthood (EA, age 20) and young adulthood (YA, age 30; 90% retention). Multimethod composites were created for personality traits, adversity exposure, and adult outcomes of academic achievement, work, rule-abiding conduct, friendship, and romantic relationships. Regressions showed significant main effects of childhood personality predicting adult outcomes, controlling for adversity, with few interaction effects. In person-focused analyses, the resilient group in EA and YA (high competence, high adversity) showed higher childhood conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness and lower neuroticism than the maladaptive group (low competence, high adversity). The competent (high competence, low adversity) and resilient groups showed similar childhood traits. Turnaround cases, who changed from the maladaptive group in EA to the resilient group in YA, exhibited higher childhood conscientiousness than persistently maladaptive peers. Findings suggest that children on pathways to success in adulthood, whether facing low or high adversity, have capacities for emotion regulation, empathy and connection, dedication to schoolwork, and mastery and exploration.

An Ontology-centered Approach for Designing an Interactive Competence Management System for IT Companies

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Stefan TRAUSAN-MATU

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a generic framework for an intelligent information system of competence management based on ontologies for information technology companies. In a first step it will be applied in an information technology (IT small enterprise and then its applicability will be verified for other organizations of the same type. The work presented in the paper is performed under the project "CONTO – Ontology-based Competencies Management in Information Technology" funded by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, involving two universities, a research institute and an IT private company. A competence management system (CMS, in our vision has to achieve three functions: (a to support the complete and systematic acquisition of knowledge about the competence of the members of an enterprise; (b to provide the knowledge about competences and their owners; (c to apply the available knowledge to serve a purpose. The core of the competence management information system is an ontology that plays the role of the declarative knowledge repository containing the basic concepts (such as: company-job, competence, domain, group, person etc. and their relationships with other concepts, instances and properties. The Protégé environment was used for the development of this ontology. The structure of the ontology is conceived so that description logics can be used to represent the concept definitions of the application domain in a structured and formally well-understood way. Knowledge acquisition is performed in our approach by enriching the ontology, according to the requirements of the IT company. An advantage of using an ontology-based system is the possibility of the identification of new relations among concepts based on inferences starting from the existing knowledge. The user can choose to query instances of one type of concept. The paper also presents some use-cases.

Phonology-morphology interaction: Acquisition of Danish noun plurals as a test case

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjærbæk, Laila; Basbøll, Hans

2010-01-01

Acquisition in Normal and Hearing Impaired Populations". In E. Schmidt, U. Mikkelsen, I. Post, J. B. Simonsen & K. Fruensgaard (eds.), Brain, Hearing and Learning. 20th Danavox Symposium 2003: 165-190. Bleses, D., Vach, W., Wehberg, S., Kristensen, K. F. & Madsen, T. O. (2007). Tidlig kommunikativ udvikling...... Development Inventories: Validity and Main Developmental Trends". Journal of Child Language 35, 651-69. Bleses, D., Vach, W., Slott, M., Wehberg, S., Thomsen, P., Madsen, T. & Basbøll, H. (2008b). “Early Vocabulary Development in Danish and Other Languages: a CDI-based Comparison”. Journal of Child Language...... on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday 12 July 2003. Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag. Slobin, D. I. (ed.) (1985a). The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates. Slobin, D. I. (ed.) (1985b). The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ...

The effect of innovation competence on the choice of information elements in a simulated NPD process

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Søndergaard, Helle Alsted; Juhl, Hans Jørn

to prompt different managerial behaviour. This study uses a role-play approach to investigating the relationship between innovation competence (exploitation or exploration competences) and the acquisition of information elements in a simulated new product development (NPD) process. Results show that two......This paper presents a study of the relationship between innovation competence and managerial behaviour. Within the resource-based view of the firm the development of new products is often related to the attainment of dynamic capabilities. Different levels of dynamic capabilities are expected...... distinct clusters can be identified among respondents, one cluster with both exploitation and exploration competence experience and a second cluster only with exploitation competence experience. Contrary to expectations analysis of variance and Chi-square tests for independence show that there are no clear...

Critical elements of culturally competent communication in the medical encounter: a review and model.

Science.gov (United States)

Teal, Cayla R; Street, Richard L

2009-02-01

Increasing the cultural competence of physicians is one means of responding to demographic changes in the USA, as well as reducing health disparities. However, in spite of the development and implementation of cultural competence training programs, little is known about the ways cultural competence manifests itself in medical encounters. This paper will present a model of culturally competent communication that offers a framework of studying cultural competence 'in action.' First, we describe four critical elements of culturally competent communication in the medical encounter--communication repertoire, situational awareness, adaptability, and knowledge about core cultural issues. We present a model of culturally competent physician communication that integrates existing frameworks for cultural competence in patient care with models of effective patient-centered communication. The culturally competent communication model includes five communication skills that are depicted as elements of a set in which acquisition of more skills corresponds to increasing complexity and culturally competent communication. The culturally competent communication model utilizes each of the four critical elements to fully develop each skill and apply increasingly sophisticated, contextually appropriate communication behaviors to engage with culturally different patients in complex interactions. It is designed to foster maximum physician sensitivity to cultural variation in patients as the foundation of physician-communication competence in interacting with patients.

Collaborative learning and competence development in school health nursing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nordentoft, Helle Merete; Wistoft, Karen

2012-01-01

and the development of their competences in school health nursing. Practical implications The paper outlines how and why collaboration among school nurses should be introduced in a more systematic way in school health nursing. Originality/value The paper investigates the connection between informal educational....... Design/methodology/approach The article is based on data from a three-year health educational development project at primary schools in Denmark. These data are a) Observations from 12 reflective workshops with school nurses b) Two questionnaire surveys c) 5 focus group interviews with 5 of the 6......Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process and learning outcomes of peer collaboration in a Danish health developmental project in school health nursing. The paper explores how peer collaboration influences the school nurses’ collaborative learning and competence development...

Competency based teaching of college physics: The philosophy and the practice

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Ajith Rajapaksha

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The practice of learning physics contributes to the development of many transdisciplinary skills learners are able to exercise independent of the physics discipline. However, the standard practices of physics instruction do not explicitly include the monitoring or evaluation of these skills. In a competency-based (CB learning model, the skills (competencies are clearly defined and evaluated. We envisioned that a CB approach, where the underlying competencies are highlighted within the instructional process, would be more suitable to teaching physics to learners with diversified disciplinary interests. A model CB course curriculum was developed and practiced at Purdue University to teach introductory college physics to learners who were majoring in the technology disciplines. The experiment took place from the spring semester in 2015 until the spring semester in 2017. The practice provided a means to monitor and evaluate a set of developmental transdisciplinary competencies that underlie the learning of force and motion concepts in classical physics. Additionally, the CB practice contributed to produce substantial physics learning outcomes among learners who were underprepared to learn physics in college.

Competency based teaching of college physics: The philosophy and the practice

Science.gov (United States)

Rajapaksha, Ajith; Hirsch, Andrew S.

2017-12-01

The practice of learning physics contributes to the development of many transdisciplinary skills learners are able to exercise independent of the physics discipline. However, the standard practices of physics instruction do not explicitly include the monitoring or evaluation of these skills. In a competency-based (CB) learning model, the skills (competencies) are clearly defined and evaluated. We envisioned that a CB approach, where the underlying competencies are highlighted within the instructional process, would be more suitable to teaching physics to learners with diversified disciplinary interests. A model CB course curriculum was developed and practiced at Purdue University to teach introductory college physics to learners who were majoring in the technology disciplines. The experiment took place from the spring semester in 2015 until the spring semester in 2017. The practice provided a means to monitor and evaluate a set of developmental transdisciplinary competencies that underlie the learning of force and motion concepts in classical physics. Additionally, the CB practice contributed to produce substantial physics learning outcomes among learners who were underprepared to learn physics in college.

Trajectories of Social Anxiety during Adolescence and Relations with Cognition, Social Competence, and Temperament

Science.gov (United States)

Miers, A. C.; Blote, A. W.; de Rooij, M.; Bokhorst, C. L.; Westenberg, P. M.

2013-01-01

This cohort-sequential study examined developmental trajectories of social anxiety in a nonclinical sample (N = 331, 161 girls) aged 9 to 17 years at initial and 12 to 21 years at final assessment. We tested whether variables assessing cognition, social competence, and temperament discriminated between the trajectories. Variables were collected…

Individualized Sampling Parameters for Behavioral Observations: Enhancing the Predictive Validity of Competing Stimulus Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

DeLeon, Iser G.; Toole, Lisa M.; Gutshall, Katharine A.; Bowman, Lynn G.

2005-01-01

Recent studies have used pretreatment analyses, termed competing stimulus assessments, to identify items that most effectively displace the aberrant behavior of individuals with developmental disabilities. In most studies, there appeared to have been no systematic basis for selecting the sampling period (ranging from 30 s to 10 min) in which items…

Training Intercultural Competence in the International Classroom : A Qualitative Analysis of Students' Intercultural Awareness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Corina Tabacaru

2015-01-01

The international classroom is presumably a far more effective learning environment for the acquisition of intercultural competence when students receive adequate training to make the most of their intercultural encounters. This paper provides a summary of the intercultural training taught to

The social competence of Latino kindergartners and growth in mathematical understanding.

Science.gov (United States)

Galindo, Claudia; Fuller, Bruce

2010-05-01

We know that social competence contributes to young children's adaptation to, and cognitive learning within, classroom settings. Yet initial evidence is mixed on the social competencies that Latino children bring to kindergarten and the extent to which these skills advance cognitive growth. Building from ecocultural and developmental-risk theory, this paper shows children's social competence to be adaptive to the normative expectations and cognitive requirements of culturally bounded settings in both the home and classroom. Latino socialization in the home may yield social competencies that teachers value rather than reflect "risk factors" that constrain children's school readiness. We draw on the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, kindergarten cohort (N = 19,590) to detail 5 social competencies at entry to school--self-control, interpersonal skills, approaches to learning, internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors--and to examine variability among Latino subgroups. We then test the extent to which baseline variation in social competence accounts for children's cognitive growth during the kindergarten year. We find that Latino children from poor, but not middle-class, families display weaker social competencies vis-à-vis White children (all relationships p cognitive growth, which is shaped most strongly by positive approaches to learning. The disparities in competencies observed for Latino children from poor families, relative to White children, are significant yet much smaller than gaps in baseline levels of mathematical understanding. We discuss how the consonance or mismatch between competencies acquired at home and those valued by teachers must consider cultural differences, social-class position, and variation among diverse Latino subgroups. 2010 APA, all rights reserved

Longitudinal associations between marital stress and externalizing behavior: Does parental sense of competence mediate processes?

Science.gov (United States)

van Eldik, Willemijn M; Prinzie, Peter; Deković, Maja; de Haan, Amaranta D

2017-06-01

Ecological theories emphasize associations between children and elements within their family system, such as the marital relationship. Within a developmental perspective, we longitudinally examined (a) dynamic associations between marital stress and children's externalizing behavior, (b) mediation of these associations by parental sense of competence, and (c) the extent to which associations are similar for mothers and fathers. The sample consisted of 369 two-parent families (46.1% boys; Mage at Time 1 = 7.70 years; 368 mothers, 355 fathers). Marital stress related to having a child, children's externalizing behavior, and perceived parental competence were assessed three times across 8 years. Multigroup analyses were used to examine models for both parents simultaneously and test for similarity in associations across spouses. A bivariate latent growth model indicated positive associated change between marital stress and externalizing behavior, supporting the idea of codevelopment. The cross-lagged panel model revealed a reciprocal relation between marital stress and perceived parental competence across a time interval of 6 years. Additionally, two elicitation effects appeared during adolescence, showing that parents who reported higher externalizing problems in early adolescence reported more marital stress and a lower sense of competence two years later. Similar associations were found for mothers and fathers. Overall, this study indicates that marital stress and externalizing behavior codevelop over time and supports literature on developmental differences regarding interrelations between subsystems and individuals within the family system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

From Parent-Child Mutuality to Security to Socialization Outcomes: Developmental Cascade toward Positive Adaptation in Preadolescence

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sanghag; Boldt, Lea J.; Kochanska, Grazyna

2016-01-01

A developmental cascade from positive early parent-child relationship to child security with the parent to adaptive socialization outcomes, proposed in attachment theory and often implicitly accepted but rarely formally tested, was examined in 100 mothers, fathers, and children followed from toddler age to preadolescence. Parent-child Mutually Responsive Orientation (MRO) was observed in lengthy interactions at 38, 52, 67, and 80 months; children reported their security with parents at age 8. Socialization outcomes (parent- and child-reported cooperation with parental monitoring and teacher-reported school competence) were assessed at age 10. Mediation was tested with PROCESS (Hayes, 2013). The parent-child history of MRO significantly predicted both mother-child and father-child security. For mother-child dyads, security mediated links between history of MRO and cooperation with maternal monitoring and school competence, controlling for developmental continuity of the studied constructs. For father-child dyads, the mediation effect was not evident. PMID:26258443

How to Use Cooperative Learning for Assessing Students’ Emotional Competences: A Practical Example at the Tertiary Level

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María Martínez Lirola

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Cooperative learning allows students acquisition of competences that are essential for the labour market such as leadership, critical thinking, communication, and so on. For this reason, different cooperative activities were designed in a language subject in English Studies so that students could work in groups and acquire those competences. This article describes some such activities and the emotional competences that students acquire with them. Moreover, a survey was conducted in order to establish students’ opinions about the main competences they acquired with the activities designed and their opinion about a cooperative methodology. Students’ answers were positive and they were aware of what they had learned.

Competences acquisition of university students: Do they match job market's needs?

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Maria Pujol-Jover

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This paper aims at analyzing the skills and competences acquired by students during their university studies, in order to identify the extent to which they fit into society’s labor market demands. Design/methodology/approach: We use data from a survey for firm supervisors corresponding to practices in the Faculty of Economics and Business for the course 2013-14. We analyze the achievement of basic and specific competences and other training project skills, distinguishing by degrees. Findings: Companies find some lacks in the ability to manage time properly, in being versatile, in the communication skills, the ability to work as a team and specially in having an entrepreneurial view. At the university level, this requires training processes more oriented towards experimentation and problem solving. Research limitations/implications: The database used refers only to one Faculty of the University of Barcelona. It would be interesting to collect more data and extend the results to a more general context. Practical implications: It might be interesting both for firms and universities to move closer to one another in a cooperative way. More programs are needed to further enhance the employability of graduates and encourage the mobility of teachers in order for them to spend some time performing their research directly at a firm. Originality/value: This paper explores the immediate and direct relationship established between the university and the labor market through the training period students make during the final stages of their studies.

Portfolio as a tool to evaluate clinical competences of traumatology in medical students

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Santonja-Medina F

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Fernando Santonja-Medina,1,2 M Paz García-Sanz,3 Francisco Martínez-Martínez,1,2 David Bó,1,2,4 Joaquín García-Estañ,5 1Faculty of Medicine, Department of Traumatology, 2Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca, 3Faculty of Medicine, Department of Education, 4Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Morales Meseguer, 5Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain Abstract: This article investigates whether a reflexive portfolio is instrumental in determining the level of acquisition of clinical competences in traumatology, a subject in the 5th year of the degree of medicine. A total of 131 students used the portfolio during their clinical rotation of traumatology. The students’ portfolios were blind evaluated by four professors who annotated the existence (yes/no of 23 learning outcomes. The reliability of the portfolio was moderate, according to the kappa index (0.48, but the evaluation scores between evaluators were very similar. Considering the mean percentage, 59.8% of the students obtained all the competences established and only 13 of the 23 learning outcomes (56.5% were fulfilled by >50% of the students. Our study suggests that the portfolio may be an important tool to quantitatively analyze the acquisition of traumatology competences of medical students, thus allowing the implementation of methods to improve its teaching. Keywords: competence-based education, evaluation, assessment, teaching methodologies

Communicative intercultural competence in Medical Postgraduate Education in Cuba

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Adela Hernández Díaz

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article describes the results of the investigation “Developing Communicative Intercultural Competence in Medical Postgraduate Education in Cuba through English”, a master´s degree thesis whose aim was to design a postgraduate course of English for Specific Purposes which would focus on the development of the communicative competence of doctors going to health missions in English-speaking countries or where English is spoken as a lingua franca.This course is based on Developmental Pedagogy, the Communicative Approach and Task-Based Learning. It emphasizes cultural and important intercultural issues to be kept in mind during doctor-patient interviews, doctor-doctor relationships and doctor-family exchanges in a professional context so as to make it possible to establish cultural differences and similarities between the students´ culture and the foreign country´s culture.This is an exploratory investigation with a fundamentally quantitative focus using resources of the qualitative one. This design is a curricular document with all its didactic components, aimed at the development of intercultural communicative competence that responds to the current needs of the participants. 

Milestones: a rapid assessment method for the Clinical Competency Committee

OpenAIRE

Nabors, Christopher; Forman, Leanne; Peterson, Stephen J.; Gennarelli, Melissa; Aronow, Wilbert S.; DeLorenzo, Lawrence; Chandy, Dipak; Ahn, Chul; Sule, Sachin; Stallings, Gary W.; Khera, Sahil; Palaniswamy, Chandrasekar; Frishman, William H.

2016-01-01

Introduction Educational milestones are now used to assess the developmental progress of all U.S. graduate medical residents during training. Twice annually, each program?s Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) makes these determinations and reports its findings to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The ideal way to conduct the CCC is not known. After finding that deliberations reliant upon the new milestones were time intensive, our internal medicine residency pr...

An investigation of relationships among genetic counselors' supervision skills and multicultural counseling competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Kyung Lee, Hyun; McCarthy Veach, Patricia; LeRoy, Bonnie S

2009-06-01

As racial and ethnic diversity increase in the U.S., genetic counselor multicultural competence is growing in importance. In mental health counseling, supervisor multicultural competence has been shown to promote supervisees' multicultural competence. Moreover, developmentally-advanced supervisors tend to be more effective. This study was designed to investigate relationships among genetic counselor supervisors' perceived multicultural counseling competence and development as supervisors, and their ability to evaluate a supervisee's multicultural skills. One hundred twenty-two supervisors completed an online survey of demographics, the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale, the Supervisor Development Scale, and a hypothetical vignette in which they evaluated a supervisee's multicultural skills and provided written feedback. Stepwise multiple regression yielded five significant predictors accounting for 31% of the variance in accuracy of supervisor evaluations of the student: multicultural awareness, multicultural knowledge, age, supervision experience, and supervisor development. Six feedback themes were identified from written responses. Practice and research suggestions are provided.

Design of bridge crane girder strain acquisition system based on virtual instrument

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Wenxue LIU

Full Text Available Girder is an important part of the bridge crane, which is also the main force element. In order to prevent accidents, it is necessary to collect the bridge crane girder stress data to analyse the fatigue life. This paper constructs a bridge crane girder strain acquisition system. The hardware system consists of sensors, connectors, data acquisition cards, wireless data transmission groups, POE power and host computer. The software system consists of NI MAX to interface with the computer's NI hardware and software resources,and LabVIEW programming to display and storage the girder strain data. Through this system, positions and working days strain data acquisition for the 50/10 t bridge crane girder gets the key positions strain data. The results show that the girder strain data acquisition system runs stably, channel signals of acquisition task transmit accurately, and the terminal data stores competely, meeting the detection requirements, which provides an important data support for the subsequent fatigue analysis and accurate remaining service life prediction of the crane girder.

Maslow and Miller: An Exploration of Gender and Affiliation in the Journey to Competence

Science.gov (United States)

Coy, Doris Rhea; Kovacs-Long, Judith

2005-01-01

This article shows that although neither Abraham Maslow nor Jean Baker Miller reference each other in their writings, they are following different paths to the same conclusion: competence proceeds from connection. Miller and Maslow both describe a developmental model that applies equally to women and men. The conclusion of the authors of this…

Design of the Accounting Course Focusing on the Development of Competences

Science.gov (United States)

Ciudad-Gomez, Adelaida

2011-01-01

The aim of this work is to develop a proposal for a methodology in the university environment that enables us to design our course with an approach based on the development and acquisition of competences within the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), allowing a transition from a model focused on teaching to a model focused on…

Therapist and supervisor competencies in cognitive behavioural therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Prasko, Jan; Vyskocilová, Jana; Mozny, Petr; Novotny, Miroslav; Slepecky, Milos

2011-01-01

For cognitive behavioural therapy, acquisition and maintenance of psychotherapeutic and supervisory competencies is crucial. The PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were searched for articles containing the following keywords: cognitive-behavioural therapy, competencies, therapeutic relationship, intervention, technique, training, supervision, self-reflection, empirically supported, transference, countertransference, scheme of therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy. The search was performed by repeating the words in different combinations with no language or time limitations. The articles were sorted and key articles listed in reference lists were searched. In addition, original texts by A.T. Beck, J. Beck, C. Padesky, M. Linehan, R. Leahy, J. Young, W. Kuyken and others were used. The resources were confronted with our own psychotherapeutic and supervisory experiences and only most relevant information was included in the text. Thus, the article is a review with conclusions concerned with competencies in cognitive behavioural therapy. For cognitive behavioural therapy, four domains of competencies in psychotherapy are crucial - relationship, case assessment and conceptualization, self-reflection and intervention. These may be divided into foundational, specific and supervisory. The foundational competencies include recognition of empirical basis for a clinical approach, good interpersonal skills, ability to establish and maintain the therapeutic relationship, self-reflection, sensitivity to a difference and ethical behaviour. The specific competencies involve the skill of case conceptualization in terms of maladaptive beliefs and patterns of behaviour, ability to think scientifically and teach this to the patient, structure therapy and sessions, assign and check homework, etc. The supervisor's competencies include multiple responsibilities in supporting the supervisee, identification and processing of the therapist's problems with the patient, continuous

Re-Visiting the Competence/Performance Debate in the Acquisition of the Counting Principles

Science.gov (United States)

Le Corre, Mathieu; Van de Walle, Gretchen; Brannon, Elizabeth M.; Carey, Susan.

2006-01-01

Advocates of the ''continuity hypothesis'' have argued that innate non-verbal counting principles guide the acquisition of the verbal count list (Gelman & Gallistel, 1978). Some studies have supported this hypothesis, but others have suggested that the counting principles must be constructed anew by each child. Defenders of the continuity…

A competency-based longitudinal core curriculum in medical neuroscience.

Science.gov (United States)

Merlin, Lisa R; Horak, Holli A; Milligan, Tracey A; Kraakevik, Jeff A; Ali, Imran I

2014-07-29

Current medical educational theory encourages the development of competency-based curricula. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's 6 core competencies for resident education (medical knowledge, patient care, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills, practice-based learning, and systems-based practice) have been embraced by medical schools as the building blocks necessary for becoming a competent licensed physician. Many medical schools are therefore changing their educational approach to an integrated model in which students demonstrate incremental acquisition and mastery of all competencies as they progress through medical school. Challenges to medical schools include integration of preclinical and clinical studies as well as development of learning objectives and assessment measures for each competency. The Undergraduate Education Subcommittee (UES) of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) assembled a group of neuroscience educators to outline a longitudinal competency-based curriculum in medical neuroscience encompassing both preclinical and clinical coursework. In development of this curriculum, the committee reviewed United States Medical Licensing Examination content outlines, Liaison Committee on Medical Education requirements, prior AAN-mandated core curricula for basic neuroscience and clinical neurology, and survey responses from educators in US medical schools. The newly recommended curriculum provides an outline of learning objectives for each of the 6 competencies, listing each learning objective in active terms. Documentation of experiences is emphasized, and assessment measures are suggested to demonstrate adequate achievement in each competency. These guidelines, widely vetted and approved by the UES membership, aspire to be both useful as a stand-alone curriculum and also provide a framework for neuroscience educators who wish to develop a more detailed focus in certain areas of study. © 2014 American Academy

Psychologically Inspired Sensory-Motor Development in Early Robot Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.H. Lee

2008-11-01

Full Text Available We present an implementation of a model of very early sensory-motor development, guided by results from developmental psychology. Behavioural acquisition and growth is demonstrated through constraint-lifting mechanisms initiated by global state variables. The results show how staged competence can be shaped by qualitative behaviour changes produced by anatomical, computational and maturational constraints.

Experimental Acquisition, Development, and Transmission of Leishmania tropica by Phlebotomus duboscqi

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

ac ta t ropica Experimental acquisition, development, and transmission of Leishmania tropica by Phlebotomus duboscqi Hanafi A. Hanafi, El...August 2012 Accepted 2 September 2012 Available online 10 September 2012 Keywords: Phlebotomus duboscqi Leishmania tropica Transmission Vector...competency a b s t r a c t We report experimental infection and transmission of Leishmania tropica (Wright), by the blood-feeding sand

Mother-Child Interaction and Resilience in Children with Early Developmental Risk

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Fenning, Rachel M.; Baker, Jason K.

2014-01-01

Although prenatal and genetic factors make strong contributions to the emergence of intellectual disability (ID), children's early environment may have the potential to alter developmental trajectories and to foster resilience in children with early risk. The present study examined mother-child interaction and the promotion of competence in 50 children with early developmental delays. Three related but distinct aspects of mother-child interaction were considered: maternal technical scaffolding, maternal positive-sensitivity, and mother-child dyadic pleasure. Children were classified as exhibiting undifferentiated delays at age three based upon performance on developmental assessments and the absence of known genetic syndromes. Mother-child interaction was assessed at age four through observational ratings of structured laboratory tasks and through naturalistic home observations. ID was identified at age five using the dual criteria of clinically significant delays in cognitive functioning and adaptive behavior. Maternal technical scaffolding and dyadic pleasure each uniquely predicted reduced likelihood of later ID, beyond the contributions of children's early developmental level and behavioral functioning. Follow-up analyses suggested that mother-child interaction was primarily important to resilience in the area of adaptive behavior, with scaffolding and dyadic pleasure differentially associated with particular sub-domains. Implications for theories of intellectual disability and for family-based early intervention and prevention efforts are discussed. PMID:22662771

Developmental programming of auditory learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melania Puddu

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The basic structures involved in the development of auditory function and consequently in language acquisition are directed by genetic code, but the expression of individual genes may be altered by exposure to environmental factors, which if favorable, orient it in the proper direction, leading its development towards normality, if unfavorable, they deviate it from its physiological course. Early sensorial experience during the foetal period (i.e. intrauterine noise floor, sounds coming from the outside and attenuated by the uterine filter, particularly mother’s voice and modifications induced by it at the cochlear level represent the first example of programming in one of the earliest critical periods in development of the auditory system. This review will examine the factors that influence the developmental programming of auditory learning from the womb to the infancy. In particular it focuses on the following points: the prenatal auditory experience and the plastic phenomena presumably induced by it in the auditory system from the basilar membrane to the cortex;the involvement of these phenomena on language acquisition and on the perception of language communicative intention after birth;the consequences of auditory deprivation in critical periods of auditory development (i.e. premature interruption of foetal life.

The Social and Cultural Contexts of Second Language Acquisition in Young Children

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Soderman, Anne K.; Oshio, Toko

2008-01-01

The aim of the present study was to examine the social behaviour and competence of children, ages 3-6 as they progressed through the stages of second language acquisition in a dual-immersion program in English and Mandarin. Over 100 2-3 hour classroom observations were made during the school year. Teachers' evaluations of children's social…

Meeting the Holistic Needs of Students: A Proposal for Spiritual and Religious Competencies for School Counselors

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Kimbel, Tyler M.; Schellenberg, Rita

2014-01-01

Authors discuss the importance of school counselors addressing spiritual and religious issues in ethically meeting the developmental and cultural needs of K-12 students. Domains of spiritual and religious competence for professional counselors, published by the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC, 2009),…

[Sporulation or competence development? A genetic regulatory network model of cell-fate determination in Bacillus subtilis].

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Zhenghui; Zhou, Yuling; Zhang, Xiaozhou; Zhang, Guimin

2015-11-01

Bacillus subtilis is a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) strain that has been widely used in industries including fodder, food, and biological control. In addition, B. subtilis expression system also plays a significant role in the production of industrial enzymes. However, its application is limited by its low sporulation frequency and transformation efficiency. Immense studies have been done on interpreting the molecular mechanisms of sporulation and competence development, whereas only few of them were focused on improving sporulation frequency and transformation efficiency of B. subtilis by genetic modification. The main challenge is that sporulation and competence development, as the two major developmental events in the stationary phase of B. subtilis, are regulated by the complicated intracellular genetic regulatory systems. In addition, mutual regulatory mechanisms also exist in these two developmental events. With the development of genetic and metabolic engineering, constructing genetic regulatory networks is currently one of the most attractive research fields, together with the genetic information of cell growth, metabolism, and development, to guide the industrial application. In this review, the mechanisms of sporulation and competence development of B. subtilis, their interactions, and the genetic regulation of cell growth were interpreted. In addition, the roles of these regulatory networks in guiding basic and applied research of B. subtilis and its related species were discussed.

Pedagogies of Preparedness: Use of Reflective Journals in the Operationalisation and Development of Anticipatory Competence

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Senan Gardiner

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In higher education there is a growing demand for graduates with the competence to transform our society toward a sustainable future. Part of this competence in sustainability is anticipatory competence, the ability to engage with multiple futures, manage uncertainty and hold a worldview that the future can and should be steered toward a more just sustainable path. In order to further examine and operationalise anticipatory competence, a course “Sustainability and the Future” was developed and run in the University of Vechta, Germany, as part of an action research cycle exploring key competencies for sustainability in higher education. Reflective journaling was used to explore the competence acquisition process along with focus groups with students after the course. The analysis of this programme shows that while certain subject areas such as values, transport and population models provoke more critical reflection on the future, skills such as the ability to work with emotional aspects of the future, for instance hope, were perceived to be necessary for anticipatory competence.

Spindle assembly checkpoint acquisition at the mid-blastula transition.

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Maomao Zhang

Full Text Available The spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC maintains the fidelity of chromosome segregation during mitosis. Nonpathogenic cells lacking the SAC are typically only found in cleavage stage metazoan embryos, which do not acquire functional checkpoints until the mid-blastula transition (MBT. It is unclear how proper SAC function is acquired at the MBT, though several models exist. First, SAC acquisition could rely on transcriptional activity, which increases dramatically at the MBT. Embryogenesis prior to the MBT relies primarily on maternally loaded transcripts, and if SAC signaling components are not maternally supplied, the SAC would depend on zygotic transcription at the MBT. Second, checkpoint acquisition could depend on the Chk1 kinase, which is activated at the MBT to elongate cell cycles and is required for the SAC in somatic cells. Third, SAC function could depend on a threshold nuclear to cytoplasmic (N:C ratio, which increases during pre-MBT cleavage cycles and dictates several MBT events like zygotic transcription and cell cycle remodeling. Finally, the SAC could by regulated by a timer mechanism that coincides with other MBT events but is independent of them. Using zebrafish embryos we show that SAC acquisition at the MBT is independent of zygotic transcription, indicating that the checkpoint program is maternally supplied. Additionally, by precociously lengthening cleavage cycles with exogenous Chk1 activity, we show that cell cycle lengthening and Chk1 activity are not sufficient for SAC acquisition. Furthermore, we find that SAC acquisition can be uncoupled from the N:C ratio. Together, our findings indicate that SAC acquisition is regulated by a maternally programmed developmental timer.

Acquisition of reliable vacuum hardware for large accelerator systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welch, K.M.

1995-01-01

Credible and effective communications prove to be the major challenge in the acquisition of reliable vacuum hardware. Technical competence is necessary but not sufficient. The authors must effectively communicate with management, sponsoring agencies, project organizations, service groups, staff and with vendors. Most of Deming's 14 quality assurance tenants relate to creating an enlightened environment of good communications. All projects progress along six distinct, closely coupled, dynamic phases. All six phases are in a state of perpetual change. These phases and their elements are discussed, with emphasis given to the acquisition phase and its related vocabulary. Large projects require great clarity and rigor as poor communications can be costly. For rigor to be cost effective, it can't be pedantic. Clarity thrives best in a low-risk, team environment

Raising the Bar for the Care of Seriously Ill Patients: Results of a National Survey to Define Essential Palliative Care Competencies for Medical Students and Residents

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Schaefer, Kristen G.; Chittenden, Eva H.; Sullivan, Amy M.; Periyakoil, Vyjeyanth S.; Morrison, Laura J.; Carey, Elise C.; Sanchez-Reilly, Sandra; Block, Susan D.

2014-01-01

Purpose Given the shortage of palliative care specialists in the U.S., to ensure quality of care for patients with serious, life-threatening illness, generalist-level palliative care competencies need to be defined and taught. The purpose of this study was to define essential competencies for medical students and internal medicine and family medicine (IM/FM) residents through a national survey of palliative care experts. Method Proposed competencies were derived from existing Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship competencies, and revised to be developmentally appropriate for students and residents. In spring 2012, the authors administered a web-based, national cross-sectional survey of palliative care educational experts to assess ratings and rankings of proposed competencies and competency domains. Results The authors identified 18 comprehensive palliative care competencies for medical students and IM/FM residents, respectively. Over 95% of survey respondents judged the competencies as comprehensive and developmentally appropriate (survey response rate=72%, 71/98). Using predefined cut-off criteria, experts identified 7 medical student and 13 IM/FM resident competencies as essential. Communication and pain/symptom management were rated as the most critical domains. Conclusions This national survey of palliative care experts defines comprehensive and essential palliative care competencies for medical students and IM/FM residents that are specific, measurable, and can be used to report educational outcomes; provide a sequence for palliative care curricula in undergraduate and graduate medical education; and highlight the importance of educating medical trainees in communication and pain management. Next steps include seeking input and endorsement from stakeholders in the broader medical education community. PMID:24979171

Raising the bar for the care of seriously ill patients: results of a national survey to define essential palliative care competencies for medical students and residents.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaefer, Kristen G; Chittenden, Eva H; Sullivan, Amy M; Periyakoil, Vyjeyanth S; Morrison, Laura J; Carey, Elise C; Sanchez-Reilly, Sandra; Block, Susan D

2014-07-01

Given the shortage of palliative care specialists in the United States, to ensure quality of care for patients with serious, life-threatening illness, generalist-level palliative care competencies need to be defined and taught. The purpose of this study was to define essential competencies for medical students and internal medicine and family medicine (IM/FM) residents through a national survey of palliative care experts. Proposed competencies were derived from existing hospice and palliative medicine fellowship competencies and revised to be developmentally appropriate for students and residents. In spring 2012, the authors administered a Web-based, national cross-sectional survey of palliative care educational experts to assess ratings and rankings of proposed competencies and competency domains. The authors identified 18 comprehensive palliative care competencies for medical students and IM/FM residents, respectively. Over 95% of survey respondents judged the competencies as comprehensive and developmentally appropriate (survey response rate = 72%, 71/98). Using predefined cutoff criteria, experts identified 7 medical student and 13 IM/FM resident competencies as essential. Communication and pain/symptom management were rated as the most critical domains. This national survey of palliative care experts defines comprehensive and essential palliative care competencies for medical students and IM/FM residents that are specific, measurable, and can be used to report educational outcomes; provide a sequence for palliative care curricula in undergraduate and graduate medical education; and highlight the importance of educating medical trainees in communication and pain management. Next steps include seeking input and endorsement from stakeholders in the broader medical education community.

Language cannot be reduced to biology: perspectives from neuro-developmental disorders affecting language learning.

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Vasanta, D

2005-02-01

The study of language knowledge guided by a purely biological perspective prioritizes the study of syntax. The essential process of syntax is recursion--the ability to generate an infinite array of expressions from a limited set of elements. Researchers working within the biological perspective argue that this ability is possible only because of an innately specified genetic makeup that is specific to human beings. Such a view of language knowledge may be fully justified in discussions on biolinguistics, and in evolutionary biology. However, it is grossly inadequate in understanding language-learning problems, particularly those experienced by children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as developmental dyslexia, Williams syndrome, specific language impairment and autism spectrum disorders. Specifically, syntax-centered definitions of language knowledge completely ignore certain crucial aspects of language learning and use, namely, that language is embedded in a social context; that the role of envrironmental triggering as a learning mechanism is grossly underestimated; that a considerable extent of visuo-spatial information accompanies speech in day-to-day communication; that the developmental process itself lies at the heart of knowledge acquisition; and that there is a tremendous variation in the orthographic systems associated with different languages. All these (socio-cultural) factors can influence the rate and quality of spoken and written language acquisition resulting in much variation in phenotypes associated with disorders known to have a genetic component. Delineation of such phenotypic variability requires inputs from varied disciplines such as neurobiology, neuropsychology, linguistics and communication disorders. In this paper, I discuss published research that questions cognitive modularity and emphasises the role of the environment for understanding linguistic capabilities of children with neuro-developmental disorders. The discussion pertains

Motor competence in Czech children aged 11-15: What is the incidence of a risk of developmental coordination disorder?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jakub Kokštejn

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Current findings suggest that the prevalence of developmental coordination disorder (DCD ranges widely between countries. A major reason for this wide range of prevalence is how cases of DCD are identified. Gender differences in level of motor competence in children with movement difficulties may play a key role in the choice of type of intervention. Objective: The aim of the study was to reveal the prevalence of significant movement difficulties with high probability of presence of DCD in Czech children aged 11 to 15. At the same time we wanted to assess possible gender differences in different types of the movement difficulties. Methods: A total sample of 507 children (age 11-15 years, 262 boys, 245 girls from all Czech regions was included. The MABC-2 test was used for the identification of movement difficulties with different severity. Children whose total test score (TTS was ≤ 15th percentile were considered at risk for having DCD (children with rDCD. Children whose TTS was ≤ 5th percentile were considered as having significant movement difficulties with high probability of presence of DCD. An analysis of gender differences of children with rDCD in MABC-2 motor components and tests were carried out. Results: From the entire sample, 33 participants (22 boys, 11 girls were identified as at risk of having DCD (rDCD. 1.4% of the total sample met the criterion for significant movement difficulties with high probability of presence of DCD. 5.1% of the total sample met the criterion for identification of the risk for having movement difficulties. Almost twice as high predisposition for the occurrence of movement difficulties was revealed in boys as compared to girls in a population of children with rDCD (OR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.16-2.74. Girls with rDCD performed better in manual dexterity with a medium effect of the gender (Cohen's d = 0.58, whereas boys with rDCD achieved better results in aiming and catching also with a

Beginning and end in the acquisition of the perfective aspect in Russian.

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Stoll, Sabine

2005-11-01

The goal of this research is to determine the relevant factors that aid in the acquisition of the perfective aspect in Russian. Results confirm the findings of previous research, which say that aspect is not learned as a uniform category, but rather interrelates with the acquisition of Aktionsarten. This study focuses on the factors responsible for the difference in the rate of the acquisition of two complementary Aktionsarten in the perfective aspect: telic verbs (verbs including a result/goal of the denoted event) and ingressive verbs (verbs including the beginning of the event). Since the usage of Aktionsarten strongly depends on the surrounding discourse, two experiments that varied in their discourse complexity were conducted. One study looked at the production of isolated utterances (thirty-nine children aged 3;0 to 6;11) and the other study focused on complex texts (fifty-two children aged 3;0 to 6;11). It was found that while telics are used independently of discourse context, ingressives depend strongly on contextual information. These results suggest that discourse complexity and narrative competence define the acquisitional process for ingressives, yet are irrelevant in the acquisition of telics.

Examining intercultural sensitivity and competency of physician assistant students.

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Huckabee, Michael J; Matkin, Gina S

2012-01-01

Training in intercultural competency for health care professionals is necessary to bring greater balance to the disparity currently found among those needing health care. The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, improvements in cultural competency were measurable in physician assistant (PA) students as they matriculated, using the Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge and Skills Survey-Revised as a pretest upon program entry and again as a posttest on the final day of the program. Ninety-three PA students from four successive classes graduating from a private midwest college between 2003 and 2007 participated in the pre and post measurements. All students were enrolled in specific didactic studies and clinical experiences in cultural sensitivity and competency. The results demonstrated significant improvement in knowledge (pretest 2.63, posttest 2.76, p=0.001) and skills (pretest 2.63, posttest 2.93, pIntercultural Development Inventory was administered to the most recent graduating class to further explore these results. This cohort showed the highest scores (group mean 3.58 on scale of 1-5) in the Minimization developmental stage, which emphasizes cultural commonality over cultural distinctions. Enhanced curricular instruction such as exploring cultural assessment methods and controversies in health care differences, combined with increased clinical experiences with diverse cultures, are recommended to help move students past the minimization stage to gain greater cultural competency.

Value for money: Defining and measuring 'value' in MoD's acquisition policy of obtaining best value for money

OpenAIRE

Weiss, A.

2006-01-01

Obtaining value for money is a keystone of UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) acquisition strategy embedded in its Smart Acquisition policy. This thesis examines how best to measure the relative value of competing tender submissions for major projects. There is a comprehensive discussion of a wide range of relevant definitions and over three dozen documents are scrutinised including just some sixteen published by the Government. Commercially available models, algorithms and software are examined as...

Insights From the Defining Issues Test on Moral Reasoning Competencies Development in Community Pharmacists.

Science.gov (United States)

Roche, Cicely; Thoma, Steve

2017-10-01

Objective. To investigate whether a profession-specific educational intervention affected the development of moral reasoning competencies in community pharmacists, as measured by the Defining Issues Test (DIT2). Methods. This research used a repeated measures pre-post educational intervention design as a quasi-randomized, controlled, crossover study to evaluate changes in the moral reasoning scores of 27 volunteer community pharmacists in Ireland. Results. Changes in pharmacists' moral reasoning competencies development, as reported by P-Scores and N2-Scores, were found to be significant. In addition, interaction effects were observed between developmental scores on the DIT2 and whether participants were determined to be consolidated in their reasoning pre- and post-engagement with the educational intervention. Conclusion. Short profession-specific educational interventions have the potential to positively affect the development of moral reasoning competencies of community pharmacists.

Intercultural palliative care: do we need cultural competence?

Science.gov (United States)

Gunaratnam, Yasmin

2007-10-01

Recognition of the importance of 'cultural competence' is now central to health care policy and to nurse education and training across the international spectrum. Detailed engagement with models of cultural competence is comparatively recent in palliative care nursing. This article presents the findings from a development project on elders and carers from 'minority ethnic' groups, funded by the Department of Health, to increase awareness of palliative care and to improve understanding of the needs of these groups of service users. The article describes the experiences of nurses involved in the delivery of palliative care who were interviewed in focus groups as a part of the project. It draws attention to the complicated relationships between cultural knowledge and practice and to the non-rational and visceral dimensions of intercultural care. These aspects of nursing are marginalised in current approaches to cultural competence, which emphasise the rational acquisition and application of cultural knowledge and skills by practitioners. It is suggested that recognition of these marginalised experiences can contribute to the development of new approaches to intercultural nursing that are also more attuned to the ethos and values of palliative care.

Introducing a competency based Fellowship programme for psychiatry in Australia and New Zealand.

Science.gov (United States)

Jurd, Stephen; de Beer, Wayne; Aimer, Margaret; Fletcher, Scott; Halley, Elaine; Schapper, Cathy; Orkin, Michelle

2015-12-01

The aim of this paper is to summarise the new psychiatry Fellowship programme and its rationale, highlighting the new inclusions, revised assessment structure, the benefits and structure of the programme. The 2012 Fellowship programme is based on the CanMEDs educational framework. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) underwent a comprehensive process, adapting the CanMEDs competencies to a psychiatric framework and mapping the curriculum to Fellowship competencies, learning outcomes and developmental descriptors of the various stages of training. The 2012 Fellowship programme introduced summative entrustable professional activities (EPAs), formative workplace-based assessments (WBAs) and revised external assessments. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2015.

Caregiving and Developmental Factors Differentiating Young At-Risk Urban Children Showing Resilient Versus Stress-Affected Outcomes: A Replication and Extension.

Science.gov (United States)

Wyman, Peter A.; And Others

1999-01-01

Tested hypotheses from an organizational-developmental model for childhood resilience among 7- to 9-year olds. Found that caregiving factors and early development differentiated children with resilient and stress-affected adaptations. Variables reflecting emotionally responsive, competent parenting were direct, proximal predictors of resilience…

Combination effects of epidermal growth factor and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor on the in vitro developmental potential of porcine oocytes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valleh, Mehdi Vafaye; Rasmussen, Mikkel Aabech; Hyttel, Poul

2016-01-01

of improving this issue, the single and combined effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) on oocyte developmental competence were investigated. Porcine cumulus–oocyte cell complexes (COCs) were matured in serum-free medium supplemented with EGF (0, 10...... with the combination of EGF and GDNF was shown to significantly improve oocyte competence in terms of blastocyst formation, blastocyst cell number and blastocyst hatching rate (P

Constructivist developmental theory is needed in developmental neuroscience

Science.gov (United States)

Arsalidou, Marie; Pascual-Leone, Juan

2016-12-01

Neuroscience techniques provide an open window previously unavailable to the origin of thoughts and actions in children. Developmental cognitive neuroscience is booming, and knowledge from human brain mapping is finding its way into education and pediatric practice. Promises of application in developmental cognitive neuroscience rests however on better theory-guided data interpretation. Massive amounts of neuroimaging data from children are being processed, yet published studies often do not frame their work within developmental models—in detriment, we believe, to progress in this field. Here we describe some core challenges in interpreting the data from developmental cognitive neuroscience, and advocate the use of constructivist developmental theories of human cognition with a neuroscience interpretation.

Where do we go from here? Moving from systems-based practice process measures to true competency via developmental milestones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johanna Martinez

2014-06-01

Full Text Available For many educators it has been challenging to meet the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's requirements for teaching systems-based practice (SBP. An additional layer of complexity for educators is evaluating competency in SBP, despite milestones and entrustable professional activities (EPAs. In order to address this challenge, the authors present the results of a literature review for how SBP is currently being taught and a series of recommendations on how to achieve competency in SBP for graduate medical trainees with the use of milestones. The literature review included 29 articles and demonstrated that only 28% of the articles taught more than one of the six core principles of SBP in a meaningful way. Only 7% of the articles received the highest grade of A. The authors summarize four guiding principles for creating a competency-based curriculum that is in alignment with the Next Accreditation System (NAS: 1 the curriculum needs to include all of the core principles in that competency, 2 the objectives of the curriculum should be driven by clinical outcomes, 3 the teaching modalities need to be interactive and clinically relevant, and 4 the evaluation process should be able to measure competency and be directly reflective of pertinent milestones and/or EPAs. This literature review and the provided guiding principles can guide other residency educators in their development of competency-based curricula that meets the standards of the NAS.

LuxS impacts on LytA-dependent autolysis and on competence in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Science.gov (United States)

Romao, Susana; Memmi, Guido; Oggioni, Marco R; Trombe, Marie-Claude

2006-02-01

The ubiquitous protein LuxS with S-ribosylhomocysteinase activity is involved in S-adenosyl methionine detoxification, C-1 unit recycling and the production of autoinducers that allow the cell to sense and respond to cell density. Independent reports describe the impact of LuxS deficiency on Streptococcus pneumoniae virulence in the mouse. In vitro, LuxS deficiency confers discrete phenotypes. A combined approach using genetic dissection and mixed-culture experiments allowed the involvement of LuxS in the developmental physiology of S. pneumoniae to be investigated. Functional LuxS was found to be related on the one hand to down-regulation of competence, and on the other hand to attenuation of autolysis in cultures entering stationary phase. The competence phenotype of luxS mutant bacteria was complemented by media conditioned by competence-defective ComAB0 bacteria, but not by BSA. The autolytic phenotype was complemented by BSA, but not by conditioned supernatants. It is suggested that the impact of LuxS on competence, but not on autolysis, involves cell-cell communication. The phenotype of luxS mutant strains reveals a hierarchy in the competence regulatory networks of S. pneumoniae.

Guidelines on Devising a Programme for Competence Acquisition and Development among Nuclear Regulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2016-12-01

This publication provides the outline of a programme to strengthen regulatory competences, based on the operating experience of countries with a developed nuclear programme and which are members of the Forum of Radiological and Nuclear Regulatory Agencies (FORO). The guidelines are designed to optimize the resources of the Ibero-American region and they complement and supplement the IAEA’s Safety Reports Series No. 79 as a frame of reference.

Phenotypic plasticity in the developmental integration of morphological trade-offs and secondary sexual trait compensation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomkins, Joseph L; Kotiaho, Janne S; Lebas, Natasha R

2005-03-07

Trait exaggeration through sexual selection will tale place alongside other changes in phenotype. Exaggerated morphology might be compensated by parallel changes in traits that support, enhance or facilitate exaggeration: 'secondary sexual trait compensation' (SSTC). Alternatively, exaggeration might be realized at the expense of other traits through morphological trade-offs. For the most part, SSTC has only been examined interspecifically. For these phenomena to be important intraspecifically, the sexual trait must be developmentally integrated with the compensatory or competing trait. We studied developmental integration in two species with different development: the holometabolous beetle Onthophagus taurus and the hemimetabolous earwig Forficula auricularia. Male-dimorphic variation in trait exaggeration was exploited to expose both trade-offs and SSTC. We found evidence for morphological trade-offs in O. taurus, but no F. auricularia, supporting the notion that trade-offs are more likely in closed developmetal systems. However, we found these trade-offs were not limited solely to traits growing close together. Developmental integration of structures involved in SSTC were detected in both species. The developmental integration of SSTC was phenotypically plastic, such that the compensation for relatively larger sexual traits was greater in the exasperated male morphs. Evidence of intraspecific SSTC demands studies of the selective, genetic and developmental architecture of phenotypic integration.

Accentuate or repeat? Brain signatures of developmental periods in infant word recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Männel, Claudia; Friederici, Angela D

2013-01-01

Language acquisition has long been discussed as an interaction between biological preconditions and environmental input. This general interaction seems particularly salient in lexical acquisition, where infants are already able to detect unknown words in sentences at 7 months of age, guided by phonological and statistical information in the speech input. While this information results from the linguistic structure of a given language, infants also exploit situational information, such as speakers' additional word accentuation and word repetition. The current study investigated the developmental trajectory of infants' sensitivity to these two situational input cues in word recognition. Testing infants at 6, 9, and 12 months of age, we hypothesized that different age groups are differentially sensitive to accentuation and repetition. In a familiarization-test paradigm, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) revealed age-related differences in infants' word recognition as a function of situational input cues: at 6 months infants only recognized previously accentuated words, at 9 months both accentuation and repetition played a role, while at 12 months only repetition was effective. These developmental changes are suggested to result from infants' advancing linguistic experience and parallel auditory cortex maturation. Our data indicate very narrow and specific input-sensitive periods in infant word recognition, with accentuation being effective prior to repetition. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gross motor performance and self-perceived motor competence in children with emotional, behavioural, and pervasive developmental disorders: a review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Emck, C.; Bosscher, R.J.; Beek, P.J.; Doreleijers, T.A.H.

2009-01-01

Aims: Motor performance and self-perceived motor competence have a great impact on the psychosocial development of children in general. In this review, empirical studies of gross motor performance and self-perception of motor competence in children with emotional (depression and anxiety),

The Persian developmental sentence scoring as a clinical measure of morphosyntax in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Jalilevand, Nahid; Kamali, Mohammad; Modarresi, Yahya; Kazemi, Yalda

2016-01-01

Background: Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) was developed as a numerical measurement and a clinical method based on the morphosyntactic acquisition in the English language. The aim of this study was to develop a new numerical tool similar to DSS to assess the morphosyntactic abilities in Persian-speaking children. Methods: In this cross-sectional and comparative study, the language samples of 115 typically developing Persian-speaking children aged 30 - 65 months were audio recorded during the free play and picture description sessions. The Persian Developmental Sentence Score (PDSS) and the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) were calculated. Pearson correlation and one - way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis. Results: The correlation between PDSS and MLU in morphemes (convergent validity) was significant with a correlation coefficient of 0.97 (pPersian-speaking children.

Communication competence, self-care behaviors and glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Parchman, Michael L; Flannagan, Dorothy; Ferrer, Robert L; Matamoras, Mike

2009-10-01

To examine the relationship between physician communication competence and A1c control among Hispanics and non-Hispanics seen in primary care practices. Observational. Direct observation and audio-recording of patient-physician encounters by 155 Hispanic and non-Hispanic white patients seen by 40 physicians in 20 different primary care clinics. Audio-recordings were transcribed and coded to derive an overall communication competence score for the physician. An exit survey was administered to each patient to assess self-care activities and their medical record was abstracted for the most recent glycosylated hemoglobin (A1c) level. Higher levels of communication competence were associated with lower levels of A1c for Hispanics, but not non-Hispanic white patients. Although communication competence was associated with better self-reported diet behaviors, diet was not associated with A1c control. Across all patients, higher levels of communication competence were associated with improved A1c control after controlling for age, ethnicity and diet adherence. Physician's communication competence may be more important for promoting clinical success in disadvantaged patients. Acquisition of communication competence skills may be an important component in interventions to eliminate Hispanic disparities in glucose control. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Instruction and Development of Second Language Acquisition Pragmatics: An Investigation into Sociolinguistic Communicative Competence

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Tchoutezo, Etienne

2010-01-01

The problem: The purpose of this study is first to explore the perceptions and attitudes of ESL instructors regarding pragmatics instruction in second language classes. Second, this study is also designed to add to the scholarly literature regarding the importance of pragmatics instruction in developing second language communicative competence.…

Developmental Psychology and the Construction of Intelligent System%发展心理学与智能系统构造

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

危辉

2002-01-01

A number of issues on cognitive development are researched in developmental psychology, that will be very beneficial for us to understand the essence of intelligence. In artificial intelligence giving our attention to the process of cognitive development namely is not to separate the knowledge and its acquisition process, and to study intelligence roundly while it is going to be simulated. To do so make us not only know the appearance of intelligence, but also know the inside mechanism of its working. This inspires us with a method to construct the artificial intelligent system developmentally.

Competency Assessment in Senior Emergency Medicine Residents for Core Ultrasound Skills.

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Schmidt, Jessica N; Kendall, John; Smalley, Courtney

2015-11-01

Quality resident education in point-of-care ultrasound (POC US) is becoming increasingly important in emergency medicine (EM); however, the best methods to evaluate competency in graduating residents has not been established. We sought to design and implement a rigorous assessment of image acquisition and interpretation in POC US in a cohort of graduating residents at our institution. We evaluated nine senior residents in both image acquisition and image interpretation for five core US skills (focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST), aorta, echocardiogram (ECHO), pelvic, central line placement). Image acquisition, using an observed clinical skills exam (OSCE) directed assessment with a standardized patient model. Image interpretation was measured with a multiple-choice exam including normal and pathologic images. Residents performed well on image acquisition for core skills with an average score of 85.7% for core skills and 74% including advanced skills (ovaries, advanced ECHO, advanced aorta). Residents scored well but slightly lower on image interpretation with an average score of 76%. Senior residents performed well on core POC US skills as evaluated with a rigorous assessment tool. This tool may be developed further for other EM programs to use for graduating resident evaluation.

A pilot Tuning Project-based national study on recently graduated medical students? self-assessment of competences - the TEST study

OpenAIRE

Grilo Diogo, Pedro; Barbosa, Joselina; Am?lia Ferreira, Maria

2015-01-01

Background The Tuning Project is an initiative funded by the European Commission that developed core competences for primary medical degrees in Europe. Students' grouped self-assessments are used for program evaluation and improvement of curricula. The TEST study aimed to assess how do Portuguese medical graduates self-assess their acquisition of core competences and experiences of contact with patients in core settings according to the Tuning framework. Methods Translation of the Tuning's co...

Producing Competent Doctors - The Art and Science of Teaching Clinical Skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Dhaliwal, Upreet; Supe, Avinash; Gupta, Piyush; Singh, Tejinder

2017-05-15

For a doctor to provide medical care with competence, he must not only have knowledge but must also be able to translate that knowledge into action. It is his competence in clinical skills that will enable him to practice safely and effectively in the real world. To ensure acquisition of clinical skills, medical teachers must adopt teaching methods that prioritise observation, practice, feedback; and more practice. We try to elucidate the meaning of clinical skills, the challenges inherent in clinical skills training in India, training models that have shown success in practice and can be adopted in the Indian context, and various techniques to enhance skill-training, including the giving of feedback, which is a critically important component of skills development.

Newly Graduated Nurses' Competence and Individual and Organizational Factors: A Multivariate Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Numminen, Olivia; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Isoaho, Hannu; Meretoja, Riitta

2015-09-01

To study the relationships between newly graduated nurses' (NGNs') perceptions of their professional competence, and individual and organizational work-related factors. A multivariate, quantitative, descriptive, correlation design was applied. Data collection took place in November 2012 with a national convenience sample of 318 NGNs representing all main healthcare settings in Finland. Five instruments measured NGNs' perceptions of their professional competence, occupational commitment, empowerment, practice environment, and its ethical climate, with additional questions on turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and demographics. Descriptive statistics summarized the demographic data, and inferential statistics multivariate path analysis modeling estimated the relationships between the variables. The strongest relationship was found between professional competence and empowerment, competence explaining 20% of the variance of empowerment. The explanatory power of competence regarding practice environment, ethical climate of the work unit, and occupational commitment, and competence's associations with turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and age, were statistically significant but considerably weaker. Higher competence and satisfaction with quality of care were associated with more positive perceptions of practice environment and its ethical climate as well as higher empowerment and occupational commitment. Apart from its association with empowerment, competence seems to be a rather independent factor in relation to the measured work-related factors. Further exploration would deepen the knowledge of this relationship, providing support for planning educational and developmental programs. Research on other individual and organizational factors is warranted to shed light on factors associated with professional competence in providing high-quality and safe care as well as retaining new nurses in the workforce. The study sheds light on the strength and direction of

The Influence of Matching and Motor-Imitation Abilities on Rapid Acquisition of Manual Signs and Exchange-Based Communicative Responses

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Gregory, Meagan K.; DeLeon, Iser G.; Richman, David M.

2009-01-01

Establishing a relation between existing skills and acquisition of communicative responses may be useful in guiding selection of alternative communication systems. Matching and motor-imitation skills were assessed for 6 children with developmental disabilities, followed by training to request the same set of preferred items using exchange-based…

The Effectiveness of the Comprehension Hypothesis: A Review on the Current Research on Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Ponniah, Joseph

2011-01-01

The Comprehension Hypothesis (CH) is the most powerful hypothesis in the field of Second Language Acquisition despite the presence of the rivals the skill-building hypothesis, the output hypothesis, and the interaction hypothesis. The competing hypotheses state that consciously learned linguistic knowledge is a necessary step for the development…

Earmuff restricts progenitor cell potential by attenuating the competence to respond to self-renewal factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Janssens, Derek H; Komori, Hideyuki; Grbac, Daniel; Chen, Keng; Koe, Chwee Tat; Wang, Hongyan; Lee, Cheng-Yu

2014-03-01

Despite expressing stem cell self-renewal factors, intermediate progenitor cells possess restricted developmental potential, which allows them to give rise exclusively to differentiated progeny rather than stem cell progeny. Failure to restrict the developmental potential can allow intermediate progenitor cells to revert into aberrant stem cells that might contribute to tumorigenesis. Insight into stable restriction of the developmental potential in intermediate progenitor cells could improve our understanding of the development and growth of tumors, but the mechanisms involved remain largely unknown. Intermediate neural progenitors (INPs), generated by type II neural stem cells (neuroblasts) in fly larval brains, provide an in vivo model for investigating the mechanisms that stably restrict the developmental potential of intermediate progenitor cells. Here, we report that the transcriptional repressor protein Earmuff (Erm) functions temporally after Brain tumor (Brat) and Numb to restrict the developmental potential of uncommitted (immature) INPs. Consistently, endogenous Erm is detected in immature INPs but undetectable in INPs. Erm-dependent restriction of the developmental potential in immature INPs leads to attenuated competence to respond to all known neuroblast self-renewal factors in INPs. We also identified that the BAP chromatin-remodeling complex probably functions cooperatively with Erm to restrict the developmental potential of immature INPs. Together, these data led us to conclude that the Erm-BAP-dependent mechanism stably restricts the developmental potential of immature INPs by attenuating their genomic responses to stem cell self-renewal factors. We propose that restriction of developmental potential by the Erm-BAP-dependent mechanism functionally distinguishes intermediate progenitor cells from stem cells, ensuring the generation of differentiated cells and preventing the formation of progenitor cell-derived tumor-initiating stem cells.

Study of basic computer competence among public health nurses in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kuei-Feng; Yu, Shu; Lin, Ming-Sheng; Hsu, Chia-Ling

2004-03-01

Rapid advances in information technology and media have made distance learning on the Internet possible. This new model of learning allows greater efficiency and flexibility in knowledge acquisition. Since basic computer competence is a prerequisite for this new learning model, this study was conducted to examine the basic computer competence of public health nurses in Taiwan and explore factors influencing computer competence. A national cross-sectional randomized study was conducted with 329 public health nurses. A questionnaire was used to collect data and was delivered by mail. Results indicate that basic computer competence of public health nurses in Taiwan is still needs to be improved (mean = 57.57 +- 2.83, total score range from 26-130). Among the five most frequently used software programs, nurses were most knowledgeable about Word and least knowledgeable about PowerPoint. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed eight variables (weekly number of hours spent online at home, weekly amount of time spent online at work, weekly frequency of computer use at work, previous computer training, computer at workplace and Internet access, job position, education level, and age) that significantly influenced computer competence, which accounted for 39.0 % of the variance. In conclusion, greater computer competence, broader educational programs regarding computer technology, and a greater emphasis on computers at work are necessary to increase the usefulness of distance learning via the Internet in Taiwan. Building a user-friendly environment is important in developing this new media model of learning for the future.

Eco-Evo-Devo: developmental symbiosis and developmental plasticity as evolutionary agents.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Scott F; Bosch, Thomas C G; Ledón-Rettig, Cristina

2015-10-01

The integration of research from developmental biology and ecology into evolutionary theory has given rise to a relatively new field, ecological evolutionary developmental biology (Eco-Evo-Devo). This field integrates and organizes concepts such as developmental symbiosis, developmental plasticity, genetic accommodation, extragenic inheritance and niche construction. This Review highlights the roles that developmental symbiosis and developmental plasticity have in evolution. Developmental symbiosis can generate particular organs, can produce selectable genetic variation for the entire animal, can provide mechanisms for reproductive isolation, and may have facilitated evolutionary transitions. Developmental plasticity is crucial for generating novel phenotypes, facilitating evolutionary transitions and altered ecosystem dynamics, and promoting adaptive variation through genetic accommodation and niche construction. In emphasizing such non-genomic mechanisms of selectable and heritable variation, Eco-Evo-Devo presents a new layer of evolutionary synthesis.

Rank acquisition in rhesus macaque yearlings following permanent maternal separation: The importance of the social and physical environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Wooddell, Lauren J; Kaburu, Stefano S K; Murphy, Ashley M; Suomi, Stephen J; Dettmer, Amanda M

2017-11-01

Rank acquisition is a developmental milestone for young primates, but the processes by which primate yearlings attain social rank in the absence of the mother remain unclear. We studied 18 maternally reared yearling rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) that differed in their social and physical rearing environments. We found that early social experience and maternal rank, but not individual traits (weight, sex, age), predicted dominance acquisition in the new peer-only social group. Yearlings also used coalitions to reinforce the hierarchy, and social affiliation (play and grooming) was likely a product, rather than a determinant, of rank acquisition. Following relocation to a familiar environment, significant rank changes occurred indicating that familiarity with a physical environment was salient in rank acquisition. Our results add to the growing body of literature emphasizing the role of the social and physical environment on behavioral development, namely social asymmetries among peers. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Incidental Learning of Sound Categories is Impaired in Developmental Dyslexia

Science.gov (United States)

Gabay, Yafit; Holt, Lori L.

2015-01-01

Developmental dyslexia is commonly thought to arise from specific phonological impairments. However, recent evidence is consistent with the possibility that phonological impairments arise as symptoms of an underlying dysfunction of procedural learning. The nature of the link between impaired procedural learning and phonological dysfunction is unresolved. Motivated by the observation that speech processing involves the acquisition of procedural category knowledge, the present study investigates the possibility that procedural learning impairment may affect phonological processing by interfering with the typical course of phonetic category learning. The present study tests this hypothesis while controlling for linguistic experience and possible speech-specific deficits by comparing auditory category learning across artificial, nonlinguistic sounds among dyslexic adults and matched controls in a specialized first-person shooter videogame that has been shown to engage procedural learning. Nonspeech auditory category learning was assessed online via within-game measures and also with a post-training task involving overt categorization of familiar and novel sound exemplars. Each measure reveals that dyslexic participants do not acquire procedural category knowledge as effectively as age- and cognitive-ability matched controls. This difference cannot be explained by differences in perceptual acuity for the sounds. Moreover, poor nonspeech category learning is associated with slower phonological processing. Whereas phonological processing impairments have been emphasized as the cause of dyslexia, the current results suggest that impaired auditory category learning, general in nature and not specific to speech signals, could contribute to phonological deficits in dyslexia with subsequent negative effects on language acquisition and reading. Implications for the neuro-cognitive mechanisms of developmental dyslexia are discussed. PMID:26409017

Is there room for 'development' in developmental models of information processing biases to threat in children and adolescents?

Science.gov (United States)

Field, Andy P; Lester, Kathryn J

2010-12-01

Clinical and experimental theories assume that processing biases in attention and interpretation are a causal mechanism through which anxiety develops. Despite growing evidence that these processing biases are present in children and, therefore, develop long before adulthood, these theories ignore the potential role of child development. This review attempts to place information processing biases within a theoretical developmental framework. We consider whether child development has no impact on information processing biases to threat (integral bias model), or whether child development influences information processing biases and if so whether it does so by moderating the expression of an existing bias (moderation model) or by affecting the acquisition of a bias (acquisition model). We examine the extent to which these models fit with existing theory and research evidence and outline some methodological issues that need to be considered when drawing conclusions about the potential role of child development in the information processing of threat stimuli. Finally, we speculate about the developmental processes that might be important to consider in future research.

Clinical nurse specialist education: actualizing the systems leadership competency.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Cathy J; Nelson-Marten, Paula

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article was to show how sequenced educational strategies aid in the acquisition of systems leadership and change agent skills, as well as other essential skills for professional clinical nurse specialist (CNS) practice. Clinical nurse specialist education offers the graduate student both didactic and clinical experiences to help the student transition into the CNS role. Clinical nurse specialist faculty have a responsibility to prepare students for the realities of advanced practice. Systems leadership is an integral competency of CNS practice. The contemporary CNS is to be a leader in the translation of evidence into practice. To assist students to acquire this competency, all CNS students are expected to use research and other sources of evidence to identify, design, implement, and evaluate a specific practice change. Anecdotal comments from students completing the projects are offered. Student projects have been focused in acute and critical care, palliative care, and adult/gerontologic health clinical settings; community outreach has been the focus of a few change projects. Examples of student projects related to the systems leadership competency and correlated to the spheres of influence impacted are presented.

Developmental Pathways for Social Understanding: Linking Social Cognition to Social Contexts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kimberly eBrink

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Contemporary research, often with looking-time tasks, reveals that infants possess foundational understandings of their social worlds. However, few studies have examined how these early social cognitions relate to the child’s social interactions and behavior in early development. Does an early understanding of the social world relate to how an infant interacts with his or her parents? Do early social interactions along with social-cognitive understandings in infancy predict later preschool social competencies? In the current paper, we propose a theory in which children’s later social behaviors and their understanding of the social world depend on the integration of early social understanding and experiences in infancy. We review several of our studies, as well as other research, that directly examine the pathways between these competencies to support a hypothesized network of relations between social-cognitive development and social-interactive behaviors in the development from infancy to childhood. In total, these findings reveal differences in infant social competences that both track the developmental trajectory of infants’ understanding of people over the first years of life and provide external validation for the large body of social-cognitive findings emerging from laboratory looking-time paradigms.

Impaired competence in flagellar mutants of Bacillus subtilis is connected to the regulatory network governed by DegU

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hölscher, Theresa; Schiklang, Tina; Dragos, Anna

2018-01-01

The competent state is a developmentally distinct phase, in which bacteria are able to take up and integrate exogenous DNA into their genome. Bacillus subtilis is one of the naturally competent bacterial species and the domesticated laboratory strain 168 is easily transformable. In this study, we...... report a reduced transformation frequency of B. subtilis mutants lacking functional and structural flagellar components. This includes hag, the gene encoding the flagellin protein forming the filament of the flagellum. We confirm that the observed decrease of the transformation frequency is due...... a close link between motility and natural competence in B. subtilis suggesting that hindrance in motility has great impact on differentiation of this bacterium not restricted only to the transition towards sessile growth stage....

[The debate on the development of advanced competences].

Science.gov (United States)

Dimonte, Valerio; Palese, Alvisa; Chiari, Paolo; Laquintana, Dario; Tognoni, Gianni; Di Giulio, Paola

2016-01-01

. The debate on the development of advanced nursing competences. The dossier aims to describe and disentagle the present Italian and international debate on the development and recognition of advanced nursing competences. Following a general brief description of the legislative national background, the attention is first of all focused on the lack of clarity on the definition of advanced competence, which is further complicated by the issue of their formal, contractual and economic recognition. To explore these issues a list of contributions is presented and some proposals are formulated to favor a better oriented development of the debate: a. A convenience sample of 139 nurses were interviewed asking to describe problems occurred in the last month that could prompt the intervention of an expert nurse and to list the clinical, managerial and educational competences of a specialized nurse in their ward. The results document the quality and the dispersion of the definitions which are perceived and applied in the general settings of care. b. The issue the post basic courses (master, specialization) offered to nurses in 2015-2016 by Italian universities were described and their aims. While the contribution of the courses in increasing the theoretical knowledge is well defined, the aims and the description of the clinical training are badly developed and an acquisition of advanced competences would seem unlikely. c. The definition of advanced competences was explored in the international literature: while evidences are available on the impact of advanced nursing on patients' outcomes, what is advanced nursing is far from being clear, and an impressive list of roles, activities and functions are considered advanced. d. Although at national level there is no formal recognition for nurses with advanced competences (with the exception of the head nurse that holds mostly an organizational rather than clinical role), the opportunities for promoting the role of specialistic

Why is it hard to make progress in assessing children's decision-making competence?

Science.gov (United States)

Hein, Irma M; Troost, Pieter W; Broersma, Alice; de Vries, Martine C; Daams, Joost G; Lindauer, Ramón J L

2015-01-10

For decades, the discussion on children's competence to consent to medical issues has concentrated around normative concerns, with little progress in clinical practices. Decision-making competence is an important condition in the informed consent model. In pediatrics, clinicians need to strike a proper balance in order to both protect children's interests when they are not fully able to do so themselves and to respect their autonomy when they are. Children's competence to consent, however, is currently not assessed in a standardized way. Moreover, the correlation between competence to give informed consent and age in children has never been systematically investigated, nor do we know which factors exactly contribute to children's competence.This article aims at identifying these gaps in knowledge and suggests options for dealing with the obstacles in empirical research in order to advance policies and practices regarding children's medical decision-making competence. Understanding children's competency is hampered by the law. Legislative regulations concerning competency are established on a strong presumption that persons older than a certain age are competent, whereas younger persons are not. Furthermore, a number of contextual factors are believed to be of influence on a child's decision-making competence: the developmental stage of children, the influence of parents and peers, the quality of information provision, life experience, the type of medical decision, and so on. Ostensibly, these diverse and extensive barriers hinder any form of advancement in this conflicted area. Addressing these obstacles encourages the discussion on children's competency, in which the most prominent question concerns the lack of a clear operationalization of children's competence to consent. Empirical data are needed to substantiate the discussion. The empirical approach offers an opportunity to give direction to the debate. Recommendations for future research include: studying a

Exploring the acquisition of entry-to-practice competencies by second-degree nursing students during a preceptorship experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Sedgwick, Monique; Kellett, Peter; Kalischuck, Ruth Grant

2014-03-01

Nursing programs across Canada have begun to implement at an unprecedented rate second-degree nursing programs in response to consumer demands and a nursing shortage. While these types of programs are enjoying considerable popularity among prospective students and employers, it is imperative that nursing programs assess their graduates' ability to meet Registered Nursing entry-to-practice competencies (ETCs). This study sought to determine if second-degree undergraduate nursing students achieved the entry-to-practice competencies established by the provincial regulatory body for registered nurses of Alberta, Canada. The study took place in southern Alberta, Canada as the first cohort of second-degree undergraduate nursing students were completing the final practice course for the program. In this exploratory study, quantitative and qualitative data generation approaches were used. Quantitative data were collected using the nursing program's standardized Clinical Evaluation Tool which is mapped to the 119 ETCs established by the regulatory body. Qualitative data were generated by conducting focus group interviews with students, faculty advisors, and preceptors. A convenience sample consisting of both male and female students (n=14) submitted their mid-term and final clinical evaluations for inclusion in the dataset. Thirteen preceptors submitted mid-term and final clinical evaluations. Three students, three faculty advisors, and two preceptors participated in focus group interviews. At mid-term, statistically significant differences were noted on 31% of the indicators within the clinical evaluation tool between students and preceptors with preceptors consistently ranking students higher than the students' ratings of their performance. Student and preceptor ratings of students' clinical performance were more consistent on the final evaluation. However, where there were differences, preceptors rated students higher than student ratings. Qualitative data analysis

Buffalo embryos produced by handmade cloning from oocytes selected using brilliant cresyl blue staining have better developmental competence and quality and are closer to embryos produced by in vitro fertilization in terms of their epigenetic status and gene expression pattern.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohapatra, Sushil K; Sandhu, Anjit; Neerukattu, Venkata S; Singh, Karn P; Selokar, Naresh L; Singla, Suresh K; Chauhan, Manmohan S; Manik, Radhey S; Palta, Prabhat

2015-04-01

We compared handmade cloned (HMC) buffalo blastocysts produced from oocytes stained with Brilliant Cresyl Blue (BCB) and classified into those with blue (BCB+) or colorless cytoplasm (BCB-). The blastocyst rate was higher (p<0.001) for BCB+ than for BCB- oocytes (43.41 ± 2.54 vs. 22.74 ± 1.76%). BCB+ blastocysts had inner cell mass (ICM) cell number, ICM-to-trophectoderm ratio, global level of H3K18ac, apoptotic index, and expression level of BCL-XL, but not that of CASPASE-3, similar to that of blastocysts produced through in vitro fertilization (IVF), which was higher (p<0.05) than that of BCB- blastocysts. The global level of H3K9me2, which was similar in BCB+ and BCB- blastocysts, was higher (p<0.01) than that in IVF blastocysts. The expression level of OCT4 and SOX2 was higher (p<0.05) and that of GATA2 was lower (p<0.05) in BCB+ than that in BCB- blastocysts, whereas that of DNMT1, DNMT3a, NANOG, and CDX2 was not significantly different between the two groups. The expression level of DNMT1, OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2 was lower (p<0.05) and that of CDX2 was higher (p<0.05) in BCB+ than in IVF blastocysts. In conclusion, because BCB+ blastocysts have better developmental competence and are closer to IVF blastocysts in terms of quality, epigenetic status, and gene expression than BCB- blastocysts, BCB staining can be used effectively for selection of developmentally competent oocytes for HMC.

Morphology and Vocabulary Acquisition: Using Visual Cues from Word Parts to Enhance Recall and Decode Newly Encountered Words

Science.gov (United States)

Bellomo, Tom

2012-01-01

An enhanced replication of an original quasi-experiment (Tom Bellomo, 2009b) was conducted to quantify the extent of long term retention of word parts and vocabulary. Such were introduced as part of a vocabulary acquisition strategy in a developmental reading course at one southeast four-year college. Aside from incorporating changes to the test…

Attention to Language in Day Care Attending Children: A Mediating Factor in the Developmental Effects of Otitis Media.

Science.gov (United States)

Feagans, Lynne V.; And Others

Three ways in which otitis media may affect development of hearing are explored. First, developmental effects may be due to illness in general; second, otitis media may cause fluctuating hearing loss which may lead to deficits in language in many areas; and, third, fluctuating hearing loss may have only a temporary effect on the acquisition of…

Setting Performance Standards for Technical and Nontechnical Competence in General Surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Szasz, Peter; Bonrath, Esther M; Louridas, Marisa; Fecso, Andras B; Howe, Brett; Fehr, Adam; Ott, Michael; Mack, Lloyd A; Harris, Kenneth A; Grantcharov, Teodor P

2017-07-01

The objectives of this study were to (1) create a technical and nontechnical performance standard for the laparoscopic cholecystectomy, (2) assess the classification accuracy and (3) credibility of these standards, (4) determine a trainees' ability to meet both standards concurrently, and (5) delineate factors that predict standard acquisition. Scores on performance assessments are difficult to interpret in the absence of established standards. Trained raters observed General Surgery residents performing laparoscopic cholecystectomies using the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill (OSATS) and the Objective Structured Assessment of Non-Technical Skills (OSANTS) instruments, while as also providing a global competent/noncompetent decision for each performance. The global decision was used to divide the trainees into 2 contrasting groups and the OSATS or OSANTS scores were graphed per group to determine the performance standard. Parametric statistics were used to determine classification accuracy and concurrent standard acquisition, receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were used to delineate predictive factors. Thirty-six trainees were observed 101 times. The technical standard was an OSATS of 21.04/35.00 and the nontechnical standard an OSANTS of 22.49/35.00. Applying these standards, competent/noncompetent trainees could be discriminated in 94% of technical and 95% of nontechnical performances (P < 0.001). A 21% discordance between technically and nontechnically competent trainees was identified (P < 0.001). ROC analysis demonstrated case experience and trainee level were both able to predict achieving the standards with an area under the curve (AUC) between 0.83 and 0.96 (P < 0.001). The present study presents defensible standards for technical and nontechnical performance. Such standards are imperative to implementing summative assessments into surgical training.

Cultural Mediation. The Usefulness of Selected Concepts of Developmental Psychology for Coaching and Mentoring Relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barbara Smorczewska

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Some developmental psychological concepts, such as L. S. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development or H. R. Schaffer’s joint involvement episodes, gave a new perspective in perceiving the process of teaching and development, by providing very detailed characteristics of the situation of acquiring competence in social relations. The mentioned concepts are based on a belief in the developmental potential of humans, and they perceive teaching as future-oriented. These assumptions are also characteristic for coaching and mentoring which are nowadays becoming more and more popular forms of development in work places; hence an attempt to find some analogy between them. The prepared comparison contributes to extending the theoretical bases of “development cooperation relations,” as coaching and mentoring are jointly referred to.

Neuroimaging of developmental psychopathologies: the importance of self-regulatory and neuroplastic processes in adolescence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Spessot, Alexandra L; Plessen, Kerstin J; Peterson, Bradley S

2004-01-01

for these developmental and plastic processes during the transition from adolescence into adulthood. Tourette syndrome (TS), defined as the chronic presence of motor and vocal tics, has been increasingly conceptualized as a disorder of impaired self-regulatory control. This disordered control is thought to give rise...... to semicompulsory urges to perform the movements that constitute simple tics, complex tics, or compulsions. Neuroimaging studies suggest that the expression of the genetic diathesis to TS is influenced by genetic and nongenetic factors affecting activity-dependent reorganization of neuroregulatory systems, thereby...... influencing the phenotype, illness severity, and adult outcome of tic disorders. Similar developmental processes during adolescence likely determine the phenotype and natural history of a broad range of other complex neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood onset, and they likely contribute to the acquisition...

Interoception and psychopathology: A developmental neuroscience perspective.

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Murphy, Jennifer; Brewer, Rebecca; Catmur, Caroline; Bird, Geoffrey

2017-02-01

Interoception refers to the perception of the physiological condition of the body, including hunger, temperature, and heart rate. There is a growing appreciation that interoception is integral to higher-order cognition. Indeed, existing research indicates an association between low interoceptive sensitivity and alexithymia (a difficulty identifying one's own emotion), underscoring the link between bodily and emotional awareness. Despite this appreciation, the developmental trajectory of interoception across the lifespan remains under-researched, with clear gaps in our understanding. This qualitative review and opinion paper provides a brief overview of interoception, discussing its relevance for developmental psychopathology, and highlighting measurement issues, before surveying the available work on interoception across four stages of development: infancy, childhood, adolescence and late adulthood. Where gaps in the literature addressing the development of interoception exist, we draw upon the association between alexithymia and interoception, using alexithymia as a possible marker of atypical interoception. Evidence indicates that interoceptive ability varies across development, and that this variance correlates with established age-related changes in cognition and with risk periods for the development of psychopathology. We suggest a theory within which atypical interoception underlies the onset of psychopathology and risky behaviour in adolescence, and the decreased socio-emotional competence observed in late adulthood. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Interoception and psychopathology: A developmental neuroscience perspective

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Jennifer Murphy

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Interoception refers to the perception of the physiological condition of the body, including hunger, temperature, and heart rate. There is a growing appreciation that interoception is integral to higher-order cognition. Indeed, existing research indicates an association between low interoceptive sensitivity and alexithymia (a difficulty identifying one’s own emotion, underscoring the link between bodily and emotional awareness. Despite this appreciation, the developmental trajectory of interoception across the lifespan remains under-researched, with clear gaps in our understanding. This qualitative review and opinion paper provides a brief overview of interoception, discussing its relevance for developmental psychopathology, and highlighting measurement issues, before surveying the available work on interoception across four stages of development: infancy, childhood, adolescence and late adulthood. Where gaps in the literature addressing the development of interoception exist, we draw upon the association between alexithymia and interoception, using alexithymia as a possible marker of atypical interoception. Evidence indicates that interoceptive ability varies across development, and that this variance correlates with established age-related changes in cognition and with risk periods for the development of psychopathology. We suggest a theory within which atypical interoception underlies the onset of psychopathology and risky behaviour in adolescence, and the decreased socio-emotional competence observed in late adulthood.

The effect of nursing management development program on clinical competency in coronary care unit

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Ali Akbar Vaezi

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Nurses are the main members in nursing cares and nursing managers can improve their clinical competency by applying better leadership skills. This study carried out to determine the effect of nursing management program on clinical competency of nurses in a coronary care unit (CCU.Methods: A quasi-experimental study was carried out in two educational hospitals in Yazd- Iran. These hospitals were allocated randomly in case and control hospitals. 25 matched nurses were selected by convenience sampling from both case and control hospitals. The clinical competency of nurses was measured by related questioners consisted of two dimensions caring and care management behaviors by self-evaluation and head nurse evaluation in case and control groups. Then, the intervention was implemented in four stages including nurse's development, managers' development, adaptation and supervision period during four months in the case group. After intervention, clinical competency of nurses was measured in both groups.Results: The results showed that before intervention more than 80% of nurses in two groups was in the moderate clinical competency level and they were proficient based on Benner's skill acquisition model. After intervention, nurses' clinical competency improved to higher level in case group but it didn't change in control group (P<0.05. Conclusion: Creating necessary modifications in nursing environments through the management development program by head nurses may improve nurses' clinical competency.

The Role of Perception, Language, and Preference in the Developmental Acquisition of Basic Color Terms

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Pitchford, N. J.; Mullen, K. T.

2005-01-01

When learning basic color vocabulary, young children show a selective delay in the acquisition of brown and gray relative to other basic color terms. In this study, we first establish the robustness of this finding and then investigate the extent to which perception, language, and color preference may influence color conceptualization.…

HOW PEER COACHING AFFECTS PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF STUDENT TEACHERS IN TEYL PRACTICUUM

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Dwi Winarsih

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to advance English Department students‘ professional competence about Teaching English to Young Learners. The research questions addressed are (1 does peer coaching improve students teachers‘ professional competence and (2 how does peer coaching affect their professional competence. This qualitative research is carried out by studying pre-service teachers' pedagogicalreasoning in a peer coaching program.Each week during a three-month practicum, twenty student teachersreceive training in clarity skills. Dataare collected in the form of videos, weeklyjournals, questionnaires, observation, focus-group interviews. Follow-up interviews are analyzed qualitatively. Peer provides opportunities to discuss, analyze, and reflect on problems ofprofessional practice. It improve professional practice of student teachers andclarity competenciesare perceived as valuable for TEYL.They also enhance mastery and presentations of language elements and learning activities and classroom management.Italso shows more pedagogical reasoning that as a vehiclefor competencies acquisition and teacher reflection.The cooperating teacher is akey success of studentteachers' interaction with pupils, classroom management, and adaptation ofcontent to relevant aspects of pupils' learning needs. Lecturer‘s feedback assists studentteachers in setting goals for improvement. Thepeer coach functions of collegiality, technicalfeedback, adaptation to students, analysis of application, and support.

Differential Cellular Responses to Hedgehog Signalling in Vertebrates—What is the Role of Competence?

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Kiecker, Clemens; Graham, Anthony; Logan, Malcolm

2016-01-01

A surprisingly small number of signalling pathways generate a plethora of cellular responses ranging from the acquisition of multiple cell fates to proliferation, differentiation, morphogenesis and cell death. These diverse responses may be due to the dose-dependent activities of signalling factors, or to intrinsic differences in the response of cells to a given signal—a phenomenon called differential cellular competence. In this review, we focus on temporal and spatial differences in competence for Hedgehog (HH) signalling, a signalling pathway that is reiteratively employed in embryos and adult organisms. We discuss the upstream signals and mechanisms that may establish differential competence for HHs in a range of different tissues. We argue that the changing competence for HH signalling provides a four-dimensional framework for the interpretation of the signal that is essential for the emergence of functional anatomy. A number of diseases—including several types of cancer—are caused by malfunctions of the HH pathway. A better understanding of what provides differential competence for this signal may reveal HH-related disease mechanisms and equip us with more specific tools to manipulate HH signalling in the clinic. PMID:29615599

Differential Cellular Responses to Hedgehog Signalling in Vertebrates—What is the Role of Competence?

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Clemens Kiecker

2016-12-01

Full Text Available A surprisingly small number of signalling pathways generate a plethora of cellular responses ranging from the acquisition of multiple cell fates to proliferation, differentiation, morphogenesis and cell death. These diverse responses may be due to the dose-dependent activities of signalling factors, or to intrinsic differences in the response of cells to a given signal—a phenomenon called differential cellular competence. In this review, we focus on temporal and spatial differences in competence for Hedgehog (HH signalling, a signalling pathway that is reiteratively employed in embryos and adult organisms. We discuss the upstream signals and mechanisms that may establish differential competence for HHs in a range of different tissues. We argue that the changing competence for HH signalling provides a four-dimensional framework for the interpretation of the signal that is essential for the emergence of functional anatomy. A number of diseases—including several types of cancer—are caused by malfunctions of the HH pathway. A better understanding of what provides differential competence for this signal may reveal HH-related disease mechanisms and equip us with more specific tools to manipulate HH signalling in the clinic.

Analysis of Undergraduate Training Given to Students with Hearing Impairment in their Acquisition of Professional Competences

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Mariona DALMAU MONTALÀ

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to understand how university graduates with a hearing impairment in Spain perceived their studies. The method used was quantitativequalitative and descriptive. The participating sample consisted of 84 Spanish university graduates with a hearing impairment. The results allow us to confirm that: university graduates with a hearing impairment, in general, are not provided with appropriate/ sufficient support at university to develop their professional competence; these graduates believe that employers consider good command of professional competences to be pivotal; professionalizing practices during university studies are an opportunity for the employment of graduates with hear impairment; finally, it is highlighted that university lecturers lack knowledge of the needs and difficulties of students with hearing impairment.

Exophiala (Wangiella dermatitidis Prosthetic Aortic Valve Endocarditis and Prosthetic Graft Infection in an Immune Competent Patient

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Jay S. Berger

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Exophiala (Wangiella dermatitidis is an emerging dematiaceous fungus associated with high mortality rates and is a rare cause of endocarditis. We describe the first case of E. dermatitidis endocarditis of a prosthetic aortic valve and aortic graft in an immune competent patient with no clear risk factors of hematological acquisition.

Educational Psychologist Training for Special and Developmental Teaching as Professional Activity

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Gavrilushkina O.P.

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The article presents the experience of designing the educational module "Special and Developmental Teaching" of School Psychology Master’s program. The modular-sized program includes practical training and research activity in each module in a networking, it complies with Federal State Educational Standard and professional teaching and educational psychology standarts. Practice-oriented education Master’s training model based on the activity and competence approaches is productive. We have shown the advantages of networking and the need to divert more resources towards practical training and to include research activity in particular module. It is necessary to teach educational psychologists not only to "know", but also to "knows how", to have professional thinking and metasubject competencies, to have the capacity for reflection, i. e. to operate in an uncertain environment for new schemes on the basis of the scientific method. It is important that the modular principle design allows adding training subjects from one of educational program to other and so developing new programs.

Regulatory competence and social communication in term and preterm infants at 12 months corrected age. Results from a randomized controlled trial.

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Olafsen, Kåre S; Rønning, John A; Handegård, Bjørn Helge; Ulvund, Stein Erik; Dahl, Lauritz Bredrup; Kaaresen, Per Ivar

2012-02-01

Temperamental regulatory competence and social communication in term and preterm infants at 12 months corrected age was studied in a randomized controlled intervention trial aimed at enhancing maternal sensitive responsiveness. Surviving infants communication with the Early Social Communication Scales. Preterm intervention infants with low regulatory competence had higher responding to joint attention than preterm control infants. A sensitizing intervention may moderate the association between temperament and social communication, and thus allow an alternative functional outlet for preterm infants low in regulatory competence. The finding may have implications for conceptualizations of the role of early sensitizing interventions in promoting important developmental outcomes for premature infants. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evolutionary developmental perspective for the origin of turtles: the folding theory for the shell based on the developmental nature of the carapacial ridge.

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Kuratani, Shigeru; Kuraku, Shigehiro; Nagashima, Hiroshi

2011-01-01

The body plan of the turtle represents an example of evolutionary novelty for acquisition of the shell. Unlike similar armors in other vertebrate groups, the turtle shell involves the developmental repatterning of the axial skeleton and exhibits an unusual topography of musculoskeletal elements. Thus, the turtle provides an ideal case study for understanding changes in the developmental program associated with the morphological evolution of vertebrates. In this article, the evolution of the turtle-specific body plan is reviewed and discussed. The key to understanding shell patterning lies in the modification of the ribs, for which the carapacial ridge (CR), a turtle-specific embryonic anlage, is assumed to be responsible. The growth of the ribs is arrested in the axial part of the body, allowing dorsal and lateral oriented growth to encapsulate the scapula. Although the CR does not appear to induce this axial arrest per se, it has been shown to support the fan-shaped patterning of the ribs, which occurs concomitant with marginal growth of the carapace along the line of the turtle-specific folding that takes place in the lateral body wall. During the process of the folding, some trunk muscles maintain their ancestral connectivities, whereas the limb muscles establish new attachments specific to the turtle. The turtle body plan can thus be explained with our knowledge of vertebrate anatomy and developmental biology, consistent with the evolutionary origin of the turtle suggested by the recently discovered fossil species, Odontochelys. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Social Studies, Social Competence and Citizenship in Early Childhood Education: Developmental Principles Guide Appropriate Practice

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Kemple, Kristen M.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this article is to examine the nature of appropriate social studies education in the Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten years. The importance of social competence development as a basic foundation of the social studies in the early years of schooling is examined, with particular attention to the commonalities shared between goals and…

Competency-Based Training and Worker Turnover in Community Supports for People with IDD: Results from a Group Randomized Controlled Study

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Bogenschutz, Matthew; Nord, Derek; Hewitt, Amy

2015-01-01

Turnover among direct support professionals (DSPs) in community support settings for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) has been regarded as a challenge since tracking of this workforce began in the 1980s. This study utilized a group randomized controlled design to test the effects of a competency-based training…

Constructive, Self-Regulated, Situated, and Collaborative Learning: An Approach for the Acquisition of Adaptive Competence

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de Corte, Erik

2012-01-01

In today's learning society, education must focus on fostering adaptive competence (AC) defined as the ability to apply knowledge and skills flexibly in different contexts. In this article, four major types of learning are discussed--constructive, self-regulated, situated, and collaborative--in relation to what students must learn in order to…

Acquiring and refining CBT skills and competencies: which training methods are perceived to be most effective?

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Bennett-Levy, James; McManus, Freda; Westling, Bengt E; Fennell, Melanie

2009-10-01

A theoretical and empirical base for CBT training and supervision has started to emerge. Increasingly sophisticated maps of CBT therapist competencies have recently been developed, and there is evidence that CBT training and supervision can produce enhancement of CBT skills. However, the evidence base suggesting which specific training techniques are most effective for the development of CBT competencies is lacking. This paper addresses the question: What training or supervision methods are perceived by experienced therapists to be most effective for training CBT competencies? 120 experienced CBT therapists rated which training or supervision methods in their experience had been most effective in enhancing different types of therapy-relevant knowledge or skills. In line with the main prediction, it was found that different training methods were perceived to be differentially effective. For instance, reading, lectures/talks and modelling were perceived to be most useful for the acquisition of declarative knowledge, while enactive learning strategies (role-play, self-experiential work), together with modelling and reflective practice, were perceived to be most effective in enhancing procedural skills. Self-experiential work and reflective practice were seen as particularly helpful in improving reflective capability and interpersonal skills. The study provides a framework for thinking about the acquisition and refinement of therapist skills that may help trainers, supervisors and clinicians target their learning objectives with the most effective training strategies.

Incidental learning of sound categories is impaired in developmental dyslexia.

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Gabay, Yafit; Holt, Lori L

2015-12-01

Developmental dyslexia is commonly thought to arise from specific phonological impairments. However, recent evidence is consistent with the possibility that phonological impairments arise as symptoms of an underlying dysfunction of procedural learning. The nature of the link between impaired procedural learning and phonological dysfunction is unresolved. Motivated by the observation that speech processing involves the acquisition of procedural category knowledge, the present study investigates the possibility that procedural learning impairment may affect phonological processing by interfering with the typical course of phonetic category learning. The present study tests this hypothesis while controlling for linguistic experience and possible speech-specific deficits by comparing auditory category learning across artificial, nonlinguistic sounds among dyslexic adults and matched controls in a specialized first-person shooter videogame that has been shown to engage procedural learning. Nonspeech auditory category learning was assessed online via within-game measures and also with a post-training task involving overt categorization of familiar and novel sound exemplars. Each measure reveals that dyslexic participants do not acquire procedural category knowledge as effectively as age- and cognitive-ability matched controls. This difference cannot be explained by differences in perceptual acuity for the sounds. Moreover, poor nonspeech category learning is associated with slower phonological processing. Whereas phonological processing impairments have been emphasized as the cause of dyslexia, the current results suggest that impaired auditory category learning, general in nature and not specific to speech signals, could contribute to phonological deficits in dyslexia with subsequent negative effects on language acquisition and reading. Implications for the neuro-cognitive mechanisms of developmental dyslexia are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

Language-universal sensory deficits in developmental dyslexia: English, Spanish, and Chinese.

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Goswami, Usha; Wang, H-L Sharon; Cruz, Alicia; Fosker, Tim; Mead, Natasha; Huss, Martina

2011-02-01

Studies in sensory neuroscience reveal the critical importance of accurate sensory perception for cognitive development. There is considerable debate concerning the possible sensory correlates of phonological processing, the primary cognitive risk factor for developmental dyslexia. Across languages, children with dyslexia have a specific difficulty with the neural representation of the phonological structure of speech. The identification of a robust sensory marker of phonological difficulties would enable early identification of risk for developmental dyslexia and early targeted intervention. Here, we explore whether phonological processing difficulties are associated with difficulties in processing acoustic cues to speech rhythm. Speech rhythm is used across languages by infants to segment the speech stream into words and syllables. Early difficulties in perceiving auditory sensory cues to speech rhythm and prosody could lead developmentally to impairments in phonology. We compared matched samples of children with and without dyslexia, learning three very different spoken and written languages, English, Spanish, and Chinese. The key sensory cue measured was rate of onset of the amplitude envelope (rise time), known to be critical for the rhythmic timing of speech. Despite phonological and orthographic differences, for each language, rise time sensitivity was a significant predictor of phonological awareness, and rise time was the only consistent predictor of reading acquisition. The data support a language-universal theory of the neural basis of developmental dyslexia on the basis of rhythmic perception and syllable segmentation. They also suggest that novel remediation strategies on the basis of rhythm and music may offer benefits for phonological and linguistic development.

Changes in children's self-competence and values: gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve.

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Jacobs, Janis E; Lanza, Stephanie; Osgood, D Wayne; Eccles, Jacquelynne S; Wigfield, Allan

2002-01-01

This study extended previous research on changes in children's self-beliefs by documenting domain-specific growth trajectories for 761 children across grades 1 through 12 in a longitudinal study of perceptions of self-competence and task values. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to (1) describe changes in beliefs across childhood and adolescence within the domains of mathematics, language arts, and sports; (2) examine the impact of changes in competence beliefs on changes in values over time in the same domains; and (3) describe gender differences in mean levels and trajectories of change in competence beliefs and values. The most striking finding across all domains was that self-perceptions of competence and subjective task values declined as children got older, although the extent and rate of decline varied across domains. For example, in language arts, competence beliefs declined rapidly during the elementary school years, but then leveled off or increased to some extent; whereas the decline in self-competence beliefs in sports accelerated during the high school years. Significant gender differences in beliefs were found in most domains; however, the gender differences in developmental trajectories appeared to be domain specific rather than global. Importantly, the gender differences between boys and girls did not systematically increase with age, as predicted by some socialization perspectives. Adding competence beliefs as an explanatory variable to the model for task values revealed that changes in competence beliefs accounted for much of the age-related decline in task values. In addition, competence beliefs accounted for most of the gender differences in task values for language arts and sports.

The effect of an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention in children with developmental coordination disorder

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Noordstar, Johannes J; van der Net, Janjaap; Voerman, Lia; Helders, Paul J M; Jongmans, Marian J

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Children with DCD have lower self-perceptions and are less physically active than typically developing children. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate whether an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention affects DCD children's motor

Developmental Asynchrony in the Acquisition of Subject Properties in Child L2 English and Spanish

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Pladevall-Ballester, Elisabet

2016-01-01

Given that L1A of subject properties in non-null subject languages emerges later than that of null subject languages, this study aims at determining to what extent the same pattern of acquisition is observed in early child L2A in bilingual immersion settings where English and Spanish are both source and target languages. Using an elicited oral…

Cues and regulatory pathways involved in natural competence and transformation in pathogenic and environmental Gram-negative bacteria.

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Seitz, Patrick; Blokesch, Melanie

2013-05-01

Bacterial genomics is flourishing, as whole-genome sequencing has become affordable, readily available and rapid. As a result, it has become clear how frequently horizontal gene transfer (HGT) occurs in bacteria. The potential implications are highly significant because HGT contributes to several processes, including the spread of antibiotic-resistance cassettes, the distribution of toxin-encoding phages and the transfer of pathogenicity islands. Three modes of HGT are recognized in bacteria: conjugation, transduction and natural transformation. In contrast to the first two mechanisms, natural competence for transformation does not rely on mobile genetic elements but is driven solely by a developmental programme in the acceptor bacterium. Once the bacterium becomes competent, it is able to take up DNA from the environment and to incorporate the newly acquired DNA into its own chromosome. The initiation and duration of competence differ significantly among bacteria. In this review, we outline the latest data on representative naturally transformable Gram-negative bacteria and how their competence windows differ. We also summarize how environmental cues contribute to the initiation of competence in a subset of naturally transformable Gram-negative bacteria and how the complexity of the niche might dictate the fine-tuning of the competence window. © 2012 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developmental biology of Streptomyces from the perspective of 100 actinobacterial genome sequences

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Chandra, Govind; Chater, Keith F

2014-01-01

To illuminate the evolution and mechanisms of actinobacterial complexity, we evaluate the distribution and origins of known Streptomyces developmental genes and the developmental significance of actinobacteria-specific genes. As an aid, we developed the Actinoblast database of reciprocal blastp best hits between the Streptomyces coelicolor genome and more than 100 other actinobacterial genomes (http://streptomyces.org.uk/actinoblast/). We suggest that the emergence of morphological complexity was underpinned by special features of early actinobacteria, such as polar growth and the coupled participation of regulatory Wbl proteins and the redox-protecting thiol mycothiol in transducing a transient nitric oxide signal generated during physiologically stressful growth transitions. It seems that some cell growth and division proteins of early actinobacteria have acquired greater importance for sporulation of complex actinobacteria than for mycelial growth, in which septa are infrequent and not associated with complete cell separation. The acquisition of extracellular proteins with structural roles, a highly regulated extracellular protease cascade, and additional regulatory genes allowed early actinobacterial stationary phase processes to be redeployed in the emergence of aerial hyphae from mycelial mats and in the formation of spore chains. These extracellular proteins may have contributed to speciation. Simpler members of morphologically diverse clades have lost some developmental genes. PMID:24164321

A Simplified Method for Three-Dimensional (3-D Ovarian Tissue Culture Yielding Oocytes Competent to Produce Full-Term Offspring in Mice.

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Carolyn M Higuchi

Full Text Available In vitro growth of follicles is a promising technology to generate large quantities of competent oocytes from immature follicles and could expand the potential of assisted reproductive technologies (ART. Isolated follicle culture is currently the primary method used to develop and mature follicles in vitro. However, this procedure typically requires complicated, time-consuming procedures, as well as destruction of the normal ovarian microenvironment. Here we describe a simplified 3-D ovarian culture system that can be used to mature multilayered secondary follicles into antral follicles, generating developmentally competent oocytes in vitro. Ovaries recovered from mice at 14 days of age were cut into 8 pieces and placed onto a thick Matrigel drop (3-D culture for 10 days of culture. As a control, ovarian pieces were cultured on a membrane filter without any Matrigel drop (Membrane culture. We also evaluated the effect of activin A treatment on follicle growth within the ovarian pieces with or without Matrigel support. Thus we tested four different culture conditions: C (Membrane/activin-, A (Membrane/activin+, M (Matrigel/activin-, and M+A (Matrigel/activin+. We found that the cultured follicles and oocytes steadily increased in size regardless of the culture condition used. However, antral cavity formation occurred only in the follicles grown in the 3-D culture system (M, M+A. Following ovarian tissue culture, full-grown GV oocytes were isolated from the larger follicles to evaluate their developmental competence by subjecting them to in vitro maturation (IVM and in vitro fertilization (IVF. Maturation and fertilization rates were higher using oocytes grown in 3-D culture (M, M+A than with those grown in membrane culture (C, A. In particular, activin A treatment further improved 3-D culture (M+A success. Following IVF, two-cell embryos were transferred to recipients to generate full-term offspring. In summary, this simple and easy 3-D ovarian

The effect of an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention in children with developmental coordination disorder

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Noordstar, Johannes J.; van der Net, Janjaap; Voerman, Lia; Helders, Paul J M; Jongmans, Marian J.

2017-01-01

Background and aims Children with DCD have lower self-perceptions and are less physically active than typically developing children. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate whether an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention affects DCD children's motor performance,

I. DEVELOPMENTAL METHODOLOGY AS A CENTRAL SUBDISCIPLINE OF DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE.

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Card, Noel A

2017-06-01

This first chapter introduces the main goals of the monograph and previews the remaining chapters. The goals of this monograph are to provide summaries of our current understanding of advanced developmental methodologies, provide information that can advance our understanding of human development, identify shortcomings in our understanding of developmental methodology, and serve as a flagpost for organizing developmental methodology as a subdiscipline within the broader field of developmental science. The remaining chapters in this monograph address issues in design (sampling and big data), longitudinal data analysis, and issues of replication and research accumulation. The final chapter describes the history of developmental methodology, considers how the previous chapters in this monograph fit within this subdiscipline, and offers recommendations for further advancement. © 2017 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Linking the Prevention of Problem Behaviors and Positive Youth Development: Core Competencies for Positive Youth Development and Risk Prevention

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Guerra, Nancy G.; Bradshaw, Catherine P.

2008-01-01

In this chapter, we present a brief review of the developmental literature linking healthy adjustment to five core competencies: (1) positive sense of self, (2) self-control, (3) decision-making skills, (4) a moral system of belief, and (5) prosocial connectedness. A central premise of this chapter and the rest of the volume is that promoting…

Physiotherapists' perceptions of workplace competency: a mixed-methods observational study.

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Sturt, Rodney; Burge, Angela T; Harding, Paula; Sayer, James

2017-06-22

Objectives Workplace-based competency is increasingly considered fundamental to patient safety and quality healthcare. The aim of the present study was to identify and describe physiotherapists' perceptions of workplace competency. Methods The present study was a mixed-methods cross-sectional observational study. Thematic and descriptive analysis of qualitative and survey data were undertaken. Forty-six physiotherapists employed at a metropolitan acute public hospital participated in interviews or focus groups; a subgroup of 31 participants also completed an online survey. Results Five main themes were identified: (1) despite the availability of workplace learning opportunities and supports, less-experienced staff reported limited confidence; (2) assessment and feedback around workplace competency was limited, predominantly informal and unstructured, with less than half of the cohort (42%) agreeing feedback received was useful for improving their workplace skills; (3) practicing within individual scope is an important aspect of workplace competency as a physiotherapist; (4) most (81%) agreed it was important for them to self-determine their learning and development goals, and they relied primarily on informal discussion to achieve these goals; and, (5) physiotherapists felt motivated regarding workplace learning, with 97% interested in developing their workplace skills however, nearly half (45%) did not feel they had sufficient time to do so. Conclusions The perceptions of physiotherapists working in a metropolitan acute public hospital are reflected in five themes. These themes elucidate how workplace competency is supported, maintained and developed among physiotherapists in this setting. These themes also highlight key challenges of workplace learning faced by this cohort of physiotherapists and allude to methods that may assist with improving feedback mechanisms and knowledge acquisition. What is known about this topic? Studies investigating employee

Do educational outcomes correspond with the requirements of nursing practice: educators' and managers' assessments of novice nurses' professional competence

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Numminen, Olivia; Laine, Tuija; Isoaho, Hannu; Hupli, Maija; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Meretoja, Riitta

2014-01-01

Objective This study evaluated weather educational outcomes of nurse education meet the requirements of nursing practice by exploring the correspondence between nurse educators' and nurse managers' assessments of novice nurses' professional competence. The purpose was to find competence areas contributing to the acknowledged practice–theory gap. Design A cross-sectional, comparative design using the Nurse Competence Scale was applied. Subjects The sample comprised nurse educators (n = 86) and nurse managers (n = 141). Methods Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the data analysis. Main outcome measures Educators assessed novice nurses' competence to a significantly higher level than managers in all competence areas (p competencies related to immediate patient care, commitment to ethical values, maintaining professional skills and nurses' care of the self. The biggest differences were in competencies related to developmental and evaluation tasks, coaching activities, use of evidence-based knowledge and in activities which required mastering a comprehensive view of care situations. However, differences between educators' and managers' assessments were strongly associated with their age and work experience. Active and improved collaboration should be focused on areas in which the differences between educators' and managers' assessments greatly differ in ensuring novice nurses′ fitness for practice. PMID:24512685

Do educational outcomes correspond with the requirements of nursing practice: educators' and managers' assessments of novice nurses' professional competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Numminen, Olivia; Laine, Tuija; Isoaho, Hannu; Hupli, Maija; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Meretoja, Riitta

2014-12-01

This study evaluated weather educational outcomes of nurse education meet the requirements of nursing practice by exploring the correspondence between nurse educators' and nurse managers' assessments of novice nurses' professional competence. The purpose was to find competence areas contributing to the acknowledged practice-theory gap. A cross-sectional, comparative design using the Nurse Competence Scale was applied. The sample comprised nurse educators (n = 86) and nurse managers (n = 141). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the data analysis. Educators assessed novice nurses' competence to a significantly higher level than managers in all competence areas (p competencies related to immediate patient care, commitment to ethical values, maintaining professional skills and nurses' care of the self. The biggest differences were in competencies related to developmental and evaluation tasks, coaching activities, use of evidence-based knowledge and in activities which required mastering a comprehensive view of care situations. However, differences between educators' and managers' assessments were strongly associated with their age and work experience. Active and improved collaboration should be focused on areas in which the differences between educators' and managers' assessments greatly differ in ensuring novice nurses' fitness for practice. © 2014 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic College of Caring Science.

Developmental changes in the role of different metalinguistic awareness skills in Chinese reading acquisition from preschool to third grade.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tong-Qi Wei

Full Text Available The present study investigated the relationship between Chinese reading skills and metalinguistic awareness skills such as phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness for 101 Preschool, 94 Grade-1, 98 Grade-2, and 98 Grade-3 children from two primary schools in Mainland China. The aim of the study was to examine how each of these metalinguistic awareness skills would exert their influence on the success of reading in Chinese with age. The results showed that all three metalinguistic awareness skills significantly predicted reading success. It further revealed that orthographic awareness played a dominant role in the early stages of reading acquisition, and its influence decreased with age, while the opposite was true for the contribution of morphological awareness. The results were in stark contrast with studies in English, where phonological awareness is typically shown as the single most potent metalinguistic awareness factor in literacy acquisition. In order to account for the current data, a three-stage model of reading acquisition in Chinese is discussed.

An SDN based approach for the ATLAS data acquisition network

CERN Document Server

Blikra, Espen; The ATLAS collaboration

2016-01-01

ATLAS is a high energy physics experiment in the Large Hadron Collider located at CERN. During the so called Long Shutdown 2 period scheduled for late 2019, ATLAS will undergo several modifications and upgrades on its data acquisition system in order to cope with the higher luminosity requirements. As part of these activities, a new read-out chain will be built for the New Small Wheel muon detector and the one of the Liquid Argon calorimeter will be upgraded. The subdetector specific electronic boards will be replaced with new commodity-server-based systems and instead of the custom serial-link-based communication, the new system will make use of a yet to be chosen commercial network technology. The new network will be used as a data acquisition network and at the same time it is intended to allow communication for the control, calibration and monitoring of the subdetectors. Therefore several types of traffic with different bandwidth requirements and different criticality will be competing for the same underl...

Foundation observation of teaching project--a developmental model of peer observation of teaching.

Science.gov (United States)

Pattison, Andrew Timothy; Sherwood, Morgan; Lumsden, Colin James; Gale, Alison; Markides, Maria

2012-01-01

Peer observation of teaching is important in the development of educators. The foundation curriculum specifies teaching competencies that must be attained. We created a developmental model of peer observation of teaching to help our foundation doctors achieve these competencies and develop as educators. A process for peer observation was created based on key features of faculty development. The project consisted of a pre-observation meeting, the observation, a post-observation debrief, writing of reflective reports and group feedback sessions. The project was evaluated by completion of questionnaires and focus groups held with both foundation doctors and the students they taught to achieve triangulation. Twenty-one foundation doctors took part. All completed reflective reports on their teaching. Participants described the process as useful in their development as educators, citing specific examples of changes to their teaching practice. Medical students rated the sessions as better or much better quality as their usual teaching. The study highlights the benefits of the project to individual foundation doctors, undergraduate medical students and faculty. It acknowledges potential anxieties involved in having teaching observed. A structured programme of observation of teaching can deliver specific teaching competencies required by foundation doctors and provides additional benefits.

The relationship between competencies acquired through Swiss academic sports science courses and the job requirements.

Science.gov (United States)

Schlesinger, T; Studer, F; Nagel, S

2016-01-01

In view of the changes in and growing variety of sports-related occupations, it is highly relevant for educational institutions to know how well the educational contents of their sport science courses meet the professional requirements. This study analyses the relationship between the competencies acquired through academic sports science courses and the requirements of the relevant jobs in Switzerland. The data for this empirical analysis were drawn from a sample of n = 1054 graduates of different academic sport science programmes at all eight Swiss universities. The results show that academic sport science courses primarily communicate sports-specific expertise and practical sports skills. On the other hand, most graduates consider that the acquisition of interdisciplinary competencies plays a comparatively minor role in sport science education, even though these competencies are felt to be an important requirement in a variety of work-related environments and challenges.

Competence for Contract and Competence to Consent to Treatment

OpenAIRE

前田, 泰

2008-01-01

This paper analyzes assessing competence to consent to treatment. It focuses on problems of competence for contract and competence to consent to treatment. Finally, it discusses the degree of assessing competence to consent to treatment.

Reduced developmental competence of immature, in-vitro matured and postovulatory aged mouse oocytes following IVF and ICSI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trounson Alan

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The present study highlights basic physiological differences associated with oocyte maturation and ageing. The study explores the fertilizing capacity and resistance to injury of mouse oocytes at different stages of maturation and ageing following IVF and ICSI. Also, the study examines the developmental competence of embryos obtained from these oocytes. The outcome of the study supports views that the mouse can be a model for human IVF suggesting that utilizing in-vitro matured and failed fertilized oocytes to produce embryos mainly when limited number of oocytes is retrieved in a specific cycle, should be carefully considered. Methods Hybrid strain mouse oocytes were inseminated by in-vitro fertilization (IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI. Oocytes groups that were used were germinal vesicle (GV in-vitro matured metaphase II (IVM-MII, freshly ovulated MII (OV-MII, 13 hrs in-vitro aged MII (13 hrs-MII and 24 hrs in-vitro aged MII (24 hrs-MII. Fertilization and embryo development to the blastocyst stage were monitored up to 5 days in culture for IVF and ICSI zygotes. Sperm head decondensation and pronuclear formation were examined up to 9 hrs in oocytes following ICSI. Apoptotic events in blocked embryos were examined using the TUNNEL assay. Differences between females for the number and quality of GV and OV-MII oocytes were examined by ANOVA analyses. Differences in survival after ICSI, fertilization by IVF and ICSI and embryo development were analysed by Chi-square test with Yates correction. Results No differences in number and quality of oocytes were identified between females. The findings suggest that inability of GV oocytes to participate in fertilization and embryo development initiates primarily from their inability to support initial post fertilization events such as sperm decondensation and pronuclei formation. These events occur in all MII oocytes in similar rates (87–98% for IVF and ICSI. Following

Group dynamics for the acquisition of competences in Project Management

Science.gov (United States)

Taguas, E. V.; Aguilar, M. C.; Castillo, C.; Polo, M. J.; Pérez, R.

2012-04-01

The Bologna Process promotes European citizens' employability from teaching fields in the University which implies the design of activities addressed to the development of skills for the labor market and engagement of employers. This work has been conceived for improving the formation of Engineering Project Management through group dynamics focused on: 1) the use of the creativity for solving problems; 2) promoting leadership capacities and social skills in multidisciplinary/multicultural work groups; 3) the ethical, social and environmental compromise; 4) the continuous learning. Different types of activities were designed: short activities of 15-30 minutes where fragments of books or songs are presented and discussed and long activities (2 h) where groups of students take different roles for solving common problems and situations within the Engineering Projects context. An electronic book with the content of the dynamics and the material for the students has been carried out. A sample of 20 students of Electronic Engineering degree which had participated at least in two dynamics, evaluated the utility for improving their formation in Engineering Project Management with a mark of 8.2 (scale 0-10, standard deviation equal to 0.9). On the other hand, the teachers observed how this type of work, promotes the interdisciplinary training and the acquisition of social skills, usually not-included in the objectives of the subjects.

Ten-Competence: Life-Long Competence Development and Learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koper, Rob; Specht, Marcus

2006-01-01

Koper, R., & Specht, M. (2008). Ten-Competence: Life-Long Competence Development and Learning. In M-A. Cicilia (Ed.), Competencies in Organizational e-learning: concepts and tools (pp. 234-252). Hershey: IGI-Global.

Nonverbal learning disabilities and developmental dyscalculia: Differential diagnosis of two Brazilian children

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Magda Solange Vanzo Pestun

Full Text Available Nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD, a clinical condition still little reported in Brazil, are characterized by damages in the visual spatial domains, visual motor integration, fine motor skills, math skills and social and emotional difficulties. Developmental Dyscalculia (DD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects basic arithmetic skills acquisition, including storage and recovery of arithmetic facts, calculation fluency and precision and number sense domain. Although both are persistent Math learning disorder/disability, they cause different damages. The objective of this case report is to describe, compare and analyze the neuropsychological profile of two Brazilian children with similar complaints but distinct diagnosis.

Tendências da aquisição lexical em crianças em desenvolvimento normal e crianças com Alterações Específicas no Desenvolvimento da Linguagem Trends on lexical acquisition in children within normal development and children with developmental language disorder

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Juliana Perina Gândara

2010-01-01

Full Text Available O objetivo do presente estudo foi descrever as semelhanças e diferenças encontradas ao longo da aquisição lexical por crianças em desenvolvimento normal e crianças com Alterações Específicas no Desenvolvimento da Linguagem (AEDL, por meio de um amplo levantamento bibliográfico em bases de dados (SciELO, Lilacs, PubMed, Web of Science, Dedalus, que abrangeu as últimas décadas de estudos na área. Os estudos selecionados, de natureza observacional ou experimental, mostraram grande variedade de achados relacionados ao desenvolvimento do vocabulário, abrangendo as tendências e variações e também outras habilidades envolvidas no processo de aquisição lexical. De maneira geral, os resultados sugerem que as alterações lexicais que constituem um dos marcos inicialmente observados em crianças com AEDL são justificadas por dificuldades observadas em habilidades e/ou características influenciadas ou diretamente relacionadas aos mecanismos envolvidos no processamento da informação, que comprometem a qualidade e a recuperação das representações fonológicas e semânticas correspondentes a um novo item lexical. Entretanto, vários estudos sugerem que situações ostensivas e de grande suporte contextual que enfoquem poucas novas palavras favorecem a aquisição lexical de crianças com AEDL.The aim of the present study was to describe the similarities and differences found throughout lexical acquisition between normally developing children and children with developmental language disorder through an extensive literature review. The search was carried out in the databases SciELO, Lilacs, PubMed, Web of Science and Dedalus, and covered the last decades of studies in the area. The selected studies, of observational or experimental nature, showed great variability of findings related to vocabulary development, describing tendencies and variations, and also other abilities enrolled in the lexical acquisition process. Generally, the

Label-free proteome profiling reveals developmental-dependent patterns in young barley grains.

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Kaspar-Schoenefeld, Stephanie; Merx, Kathleen; Jozefowicz, Anna Maria; Hartmann, Anja; Seiffert, Udo; Weschke, Winfriede; Matros, Andrea; Mock, Hans-Peter

2016-06-30

Due to its importance as a cereal crop worldwide, high interest in the determination of factors influencing barley grain quality exists. This study focusses on the elucidation of protein networks affecting early grain developmental processes. NanoLC-based separation coupled to label-free MS detection was applied to gain insights into biochemical processes during five different grain developmental phases (pre-storage until storage phase, 3days to 16days after flowering). Multivariate statistics revealed two distinct developmental patterns during the analysed grain developmental phases: proteins showed either highest abundance in the middle phase of development - in the transition phase - or at later developmental stages - within the storage phase. Verification of developmental patterns observed by proteomic analysis was done by applying hypothesis-driven approaches, namely Western Blot analysis and enzyme assays. High general metabolic activity of the grain with regard to protein synthesis, cell cycle regulation, defence against oxidative stress, and energy production via photosynthesis was observed in the transition phase. Proteins upregulated in the storage phase are related towards storage protein accumulation, and interestingly to the defence of storage reserves against pathogens. A mixed regulatory pattern for most enzymes detected in our study points to regulatory mechanisms at the level of protein isoforms. In-depth understanding of early grain developmental processes of cereal caryopses is of high importance as they influence final grain weight and quality. Our knowledge about these processes is still limited, especially on proteome level. To identify key mechanisms in early barley grain development, a label-free data-independent proteomics acquisition approach has been applied. Our data clearly show, that proteins either exhibit highest expression during cellularization and the switch to the storage phase (transition phase, 5-7 DAF), or during storage

Do Perceptions of Competence Mediate The Relationship Between Fundamental Motor Skill Proficiency and Physical Activity Levels of Children in Kindergarten?

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Crane, Jeff R; Naylor, Patti J; Cook, Ryan; Temple, Viviene A

2015-07-01

Perceptions of competence mediate the relationship between motor skill proficiency and physical activity among older children and adolescents. This study examined kindergarten children's perceptions of physical competence as a mediator of the relationship between motor skill proficiency as a predictor variable and physical activity levels as the outcome variable; and also with physical activity as a predictor and motor skill proficiency as the outcome. Participants were 116 children (mean age = 5 years 7 months, 58% boys) from 10 schools. Motor skills were measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 and physical activity was monitored through accelerometry. Perceptions of physical competence were measured using The Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children, and the relationships between these variables were examined using a model of mediation. The direct path between object control skills and moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was significant and object control skills predicted perceived physical competence. However, perceived competence did not mediate the relationship between object control skills and MVPA. The significant relationship between motor proficiency and perceptions of competence did not in turn influence kindergarten children's participation in physical activity. These findings support concepts of developmental differences in the structure of the self-perception system.

Computers in Education of Children with Intellectual and Related Developmental Disorders

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Valentina Kirinic

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Children suffering from intellectual deficiency and disorders arising from such a condition tend to be provided with a specific form of education, depending on the deficiency type and degree. Apart from the disorder itself, the acquisition of knowledge, skills and learning habits depends on the children’s motivation for learning, as well as the accessibility of the computer. When used in conformance with pedagogical, didactic and clinical standards, the computer as an educational aid may prove helpful for education and training of children with developmental disorders. Using computers also enables communication and fosters communication skills resulting in the development of self-confidence.

Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, Depression, and Self-and Other-Assessments of Social Competence: A Developmental Study

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Ostrander, Rick; Crystal, David S.; August, Gerald

2006-01-01

This study examined whether others (i.e., teachers and parents) and self-appraisals of social competence mediated the relationship between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and depression. To determine whether age moderated the effects of the mediation, the total sample was divided into younger (under 9) and older (at or above 9…

Incremental and developmental perspectives for general-purpose learning systems

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Fernando Martínez-Plumed

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The stupefying success of Articial Intelligence (AI for specic problems, from recommender systems to self-driving cars, has not yet been matched with a similar progress in general AI systems, coping with a variety of (dierent problems. This dissertation deals with the long-standing problem of creating more general AI systems, through the analysis of their development and the evaluation of their cognitive abilities. It presents a declarative general-purpose learning system and a developmental and lifelong approach for knowledge acquisition, consolidation and forgetting. It also analyses the use of the use of more ability-oriented evaluation techniques for AI evaluation and provides further insight for the understanding of the concepts of development and incremental learning in AI systems.

Speed in Acquisitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meglio, Olimpia; King, David R.; Risberg, Annette

2017-01-01

The advantage of speed is often invoked by academics and practitioners as an essential condition during post-acquisition integration, frequently without consideration of the impact earlier decisions have on acquisition speed. In this article, we examine the role speed plays in acquisitions across...... the acquisition process using research organized around characteristics that display complexity with respect to acquisition speed. We incorporate existing research with a process perspective of acquisitions in order to present trade-offs, and consider the influence of both stakeholders and the pre......-deal-completion context on acquisition speed, as well as the organization’s capabilities to facilitating that speed. Observed trade-offs suggest both that acquisition speed often requires longer planning time before an acquisition and that associated decisions require managerial judgement. A framework for improving...

Association of Self-Perceived Physical Competence and Leisure-Time Physical Activity in Childhood-A Follow-Up Study.

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Hamari, Lotta; Heinonen, Olli J; Aromaa, Minna; Asanti, Riitta; Koivusilta, Leena; Koski, Pasi; Laaksonen, Camilla; Matomäki, Jaakko; Pahkala, Katja; Pakarinen, Anni; Suominen, Sakari; Salanterä, Sanna

2017-04-01

The basis of self-perceived physical competence is built in childhood and school personnel have an important role in this developmental process. We investigated the association between initial self-perceived physical competence and reported leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) longitudinally in 10-, 12-, and 15-year-old children. This longitudinal follow-up study comprises pupils from an elementary school cohort (N = 1346) in the city of Turku, Finland (175,000 inhabitants). The self-perceived physical competence (fitness and appearance) and LTPA data were collected with questionnaires. The full longitudinal data were available from 571 pupils based on repeated studies at the ages of 10, 12, and 15 years in 2004, 2006, and 2010. We analyzed the association of self-perceived physical competence and LTPA using regression models. Self-perceived physical competence was positively associated with LTPA at all ages (10 years p fitness scores was likely to associate with higher LTPA at each age point (10 years [odds ratio, OR] = 1.18, 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.09-1.27; 12 years [OR] = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.18-1.37; and 15 years [OR] = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.19-1.38). Self-perceived physical competence is associated with LTPA in children and adolescents, and the association is strengthened with age. © 2017, American School Health Association.

Programme evaluation training for health professionals in francophone Africa: process, competence acquisition and use

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Banza Baya

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background While evaluation is, in theory, a component of training programmes in health planning, training needs in this area remain significant. Improving health systems necessarily calls for having more professionals who are skilled in evaluation. Thus, the Université de Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso and the Université de Montréal (Canada have partnered to establish, in Burkina Faso, a master's-degree programme in population and health with a course in programme evaluation. This article describes the four-week (150-hour course taken by two cohorts (2005–2006/2006–2007 of health professionals from 11 francophone African countries. We discuss how the course came to be, its content, its teaching processes and the master's programme results for students. Methods The conceptual framework was adapted from Kirkpatrick's (1996 four-level evaluation model: reaction, learning, behaviour, results. Reaction was evaluated based on a standardized questionnaire for all the master's courses and lessons. Learning and behaviour competences were assessed by means of a questionnaire (pretest/post-test, one year after adapted from the work of Stevahn L, King JA, Ghere G, Minnema J: Establishing Essential Competencies for Program Evaluators. Am J Eval 2005, 26(1:43–59. Master's programme effects were tested by comparing the difference in mean scores between times (before, after, one year after using pretest/post-test designs. Paired sample tests were used to compare mean scores. Results The teaching is skills-based, interactive and participative. Students of the first cohort gave the evaluation course the highest score (4.4/5 for overall satisfaction among the 16 courses (3.4–4.4 in the master's programme. What they most appreciated was that the forms of evaluation were well adapted to the content and format of the learning activities. By the end of the master's programme, both cohorts of students considered that they had greatly improved their

USMC Contingency Contracting Force: An Analysis of Transient Officers in a Rapidly Changing Acquisition Environment

Science.gov (United States)

2016-06-01

and skills needed to manage the department’s acquisition system” (2008, p. 268). Relating back to the CCF, an overpopulation of lieutenant colonels...an individual task. Officers should subsequently be deployed in real world operations based upon the levels of technical competency they have...therefore, officers that transfer to the ECP need to be engaged in real- world operations as soon as possible to retain the skills obtained during

Guidelines on Devising a Programme for Competence Acquisition and Development among Nuclear Regulators (Spanish Edition)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2016-05-01

This publication provides the outline of a programme to strengthen regulatory competences, based on the operating experience of countries with a developed nuclear programme and which are members of the Forum of Radiological and Nuclear Regulatory Agencies (FORO). The guidelines are designed to optimize the resources of the Ibero-American region and they complement and supplement the IAEA’s Safety Reports Series No. 79 as a frame of reference.

Social anxiety disorder in adolescence: How developmental cognitive neuroscience findings may shape understanding and interventions for psychopathology

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Simone P.W. Haller

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Social anxiety disorder represents a debilitating condition that has large adverse effects on the quality of social connections, educational achievement and wellbeing. Age-of-onset data suggests that early adolescence is a developmentally sensitive juncture for the onset of social anxiety. In this review, we highlight the potential of using a developmental cognitive neuroscience approach to understand (i why there are normative increases in social worries in adolescence and (ii how adolescence-associated changes may ‘bring out’ neuro-cognitive risk factors for social anxiety in a subset of individuals during this developmental period. We also speculate on how changes that occur in learning and plasticity may allow for optimal acquisition of more adaptive neurocognitive strategies through external interventions. Hence, for the minority of individuals who require external interventions to target their social fears, this enhanced flexibility could result in more powerful and longer-lasting therapeutic effects. We will review two novel interventions that target information-processing biases and their neural substrates via cognitive training and visual feedback of neural activity measured through functional magnetic resonance imaging.

The Arabic Language in Israel: official language, mother tongue, foreign language. Teaching, dissemination and competence

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Letizia Lombezzi

2018-02-01

All this proves the need to intentionally teach colloquial Arabic and assign to it priority for being ‘the language in use‘, which detains a strongest communicative power. The Israeli education system remains based on the acquisition of skills in standard Arabic only. It is proved that standard Arabic it is not enough for developing the necessary competence in our students, in Israel as well as in Europe.

Role of gap junctions and protein kinase A during the development of oocyte maturational competence in Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis)

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Yamamoto, Y.; Yoshizaki, G.; Takeuchi, T.; Soyano, K.; Patino, R.

2008-01-01

Meiotic resumption in teleost oocytes is induced by a maturation-inducing hormone (MIH). The sensitivity of oocytes to MIH, also known as oocyte maturational competence (OMC), is induced by LH via mechanisms that are not fully understood. A previous study of Ayu (Plecoglossus altivelis) showed the presence of functional heterologous gap junctions (GJs) between oocytes and their surrounding granulosa cells. The objectives of this study were to determine the role of ovarian GJs and of protein kinase A (PKA) during the acquisition of OMC. We examined the effects of the specific GJ inhibitor carbenoxolone (CBX) and 18??-glycyrrhetinic acid (??-GA) on the LH-(hCG)-dependent acquisition of OMC and on MIH-(17,20??-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one)-dependent meiotic resumption; measured the cAMP content of ovarian follicles during the hCG-dependent acquisition of OMC; and determined the effects of PK activators and inhibitors on hCG-dependent OMC. Production of follicular cAMP increased during the hCG-dependent acquisition of OMC. Both GJ inhibitors and the PKA inhibitor H8-dihydrochloride, but not the PKC inhibitor GF109203X, suppressed the hCG-dependent acquisition of OMC in a dose-dependent manner. The PKA activator forskolin induced OMC with a similar potency to hCG. Unlike previous observations with teleosts where disruption of heterologous GJ either blocks or stimulates meiotic resumption, treatment with GJ inhibitors did not affect MIH-dependent meiotic resumption in maturationally competent follicles of Ayu. These observations suggest that ovarian GJs are essential for LH-dependent acquisition of OMC but not for MIH-dependent meiotic resumption, and that the stimulation of OMC by LH is mediated by cAMP-dependent PKA. They are also consistent with the view that a precise balance between GJ-mediated signals (positive or negative) and oocyte maturational readiness is required for hormonally regulated meiotic resumption. ?? 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Intercultural Competence – Key Competence of Multicultural Teams

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Diana Bebenova - Nikolova

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The article deals with intercultural competence of multicultural teams elaborating European projects. Firstly, it discusses basic theoretical aspects of the related concepts: culture and intercultural competence, then presents its impact on multicultural team effectiveness and models for improving it. The article finds ground on studies of intercultural competence as a set of strategic, personal, social and professional competences. The paper uses the project cycle management theory and proves that in multi-ethnic surroundings, the project membersř communication skills might not be sufficient to generate mutual understanding. Provisionally, the study performed a standardized Internet survey on self-assessment of intercultural competence among 50 experts on European projects. Another applied approach is field observation (attendance and note-taking of the 5- day training "To become diplomats between cultures", based on Bennettřs theoretical model for "Development of Intercultural Sensitivity". A training model for improving intercultural competence of multicultural team members. Possible approach for improvement of project management of crossborder or trans-border funding programs. Building intercultural competence in European project management is important, timely and necessity-driven, especially under the framework of the Danube Region Strategy.

Age-related differences in acquisition of perceptual-motor skills: working memory as a mediator.

Science.gov (United States)

Kennedy, Kristen M; Partridge, Ty; Raz, Naftali

2008-03-01

Aging is associated with reduced performance on information processing speed, memory, and executive functions tasks. Although older adults are also less apt in acquiring new perceptual-motor skills, it is unclear whether and how skill acquisition difficulties are associated with age-related general cognitive differences. We addressed this question by examining structural relations among measures of cognitive resources (working memory) and indices of perceptual-motor skill acquisition (pursuit rotor and mirror tracing) in 96 healthy adults aged 19-80 years of age. Three competing structural models were tested: a single (common) factor model, a dual correlated factors model, and a hierarchical dual-factor model. The third model provided the best fit to the data, indicating age differences in simple perceptual-motor skill are partially mediated by more complex abilities.

Analysis Influence of Managerial Competence, Technical Competence, and Strategic Competence on Firm Performance in Electrical Engineering Company in Bandung

Science.gov (United States)

Wijaya, E. R.; Irianto, D.

2018-03-01

The industry sectors that have an important role in the era of globalization is the electro engineering sector. The era of globalization led to intense competition. One of the negative effects of the intense competition is declining profits. Drop in profits caused many firms reduces their employees without seeking the root cause of declining profits in detail. Whereas, employee is the important resources to maintain competitive advantage. Competitive advantage can be measured by the performance of which is owned by the firm. The firm's performance can be formed of competencies that is unique, rare, irreplaceable, and difficult to imitate within the firm, one of them is the competence of the individual. According to a competency-based approach and the resource- based approach, individual competence that affect the performance of the firm is managerial competence, technical competence, and strategic competence. Questionnaire is built based on the dimensions of the firm's performance, managerial competence, technical competence, and strategic competence, are processed using partial least squares application. The results indicate that managerial competence negatively impact firm’s performance with weak ties. The technical competence and strategic competence positively affect firm’s performance with moderate ties.

Competency Standards for Bachelor of Industrial Technology Graduates for the Construction Industry in Region IV-A: Inputs For Curriculum Enhancement

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George P. Compasivo

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this study was to develop competency standards for Industrial Technology graduates for employment in the construction industry in Region IV-A, Philippines. It specifically identified the basic and core competency standards for industrial technology and determined the degree of importance of competencies needed in the construction industry sector. The study identified 28 common competencies for three areas of specializations in industrial technology namely: electrical, civil and drafting technology. There were 39 core competencies for electrical, 31 for drafting and 38 items for civil technology. A total of 50 panel of experts were carefully selected using the purposive sampling as respondents in the study. Experts are selected based on their technical know-how or proficiency and currently practicing their line of profession in the construction industry. The study used the descriptive-developmental method of research. The Delphi technique was applied to determine if the competency under investigation reached the general agreement of opinions by the panel of experts involved. The findings implied that the newly developed competency standards were good input for curriculum enhancement in the area of civil, drafting and electrical technology. The study recommended the newly developed competencies may be followed by the faculty in the course they teach and the new competency items suggested by the panel of experts for inclusion in the curriculum for the three areas of specializations may be considered during the curriculum revision.

Leisure, recreation, and play from a developmental context.

Science.gov (United States)

Caldwell, Linda L; Witt, Peter A

2011-01-01

Participation in activities and experiences defined as play, recreation,and leisure has important developmental implications for youth. Elements and characteristics of leisure experiences contribute directly to the development of identity, autonomy, competence,initiative, civic duty, and social connections. Whether in informal or formal, appropriately structured and organized programs,leisure experiences can help facilitate adolescent development in these areas. For example, one of the defining elements of leisure is that it is characterized by free choice and self-determination. Programs that promote leadership, choice, autonomy, and initiative can help adolescents deal with developmental challenges associated with this age group. Leisure experiences can also promote civic engagement and provide important peer-to-peer, peer to-adult, and peer-to-community connections. The social context of leisure is important to adolescent development in that it provides opportunities to learn empathy, loyalty, and intimacy in their group activities, as well as to negotiate with peers, resolve conflict,and work together for communal goals. In addition, adolescents often report positive emotional experiences in leisure, which can serve as a relief from the stress they feel in other areas of their lives and contribute to positive psychological adjustment and well-being. A case study is used to show how planned, purposive programs can be used as critical components of efforts to contribute to adolescent development. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company.

The Domain of Developmental Psychopathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Sroufe, L. Alan; Rutter, Michael

1984-01-01

Describes how developmental psychopathology differs from related disciplines, including abnormal psychology, psychiatry, clinical child psychology, and developmental psychology. Points out propositions underlying a developmental perspective and discusses implications for research in developmental psychopathology. (Author/RH)

Differences in basic digital competences between male and female university students of Social Sciences in Spain

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Esteban Vázquez-Cano

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract This article analyses the differences in basic digital competences of male and female university students on Social Education, Social Work and Pedagogy courses. The study of gender differences in university students’ acquisition of digital competence has considerable didactic and strategic consequences for the development of these skills. The study was carried out at two public universities in Spain (UNED – the National Distance-Learning University, and the Universidad Pablo de Olavide on a sample of 923 students, who responded to a questionnaire entitled “University Students’ Basic Digital Competences 2.0” (COBADI – registered at the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. The research applied a quantitative methodology based on a Bayesian approach using multinomial joint distribution as prior distribution. The use of Bayes factors also offers advantages with respect to the use of frequentist p-values, like the generation of information on the alternative hypothesis, that the evidence is not dependent on the sample size used. The results show that men have greater perceived competence in digital cartography and online presentations, whereas women prefer to request personal tutorials to resolve doubts about technology and have greater perceived competence in corporate emailing. There is also evidence that the men have greater perceived competence in developing “online presentations” than women do. Regarding to, “Interpersonal competences in the use of ICT at university”, we observed that the female students opted for personal sessions with tutors in greater numbers than the male students did.

Developmental gene expression profiles of the human pathogen Schistosoma japonicum

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McManus Donald P

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The schistosome blood flukes are complex trematodes and cause a chronic parasitic disease of significant public health importance worldwide, schistosomiasis. Their life cycle is characterised by distinct parasitic and free-living phases involving mammalian and snail hosts and freshwater. Microarray analysis was used to profile developmental gene expression in the Asian species, Schistosoma japonicum. Total RNAs were isolated from the three distinct environmental phases of the lifecycle – aquatic/snail (eggs, miracidia, sporocysts, cercariae, juvenile (lung schistosomula and paired but pre-egg laying adults and adult (paired, mature males and egg-producing females, both examined separately. Advanced analyses including ANOVA, principal component analysis, and hierarchal clustering provided a global synopsis of gene expression relationships among the different developmental stages of the schistosome parasite. Results Gene expression profiles were linked to the major environmental settings through which the developmental stages of the fluke have to adapt during the course of its life cycle. Gene ontologies of the differentially expressed genes revealed a wide range of functions and processes. In addition, stage-specific, differentially expressed genes were identified that were involved in numerous biological pathways and functions including calcium signalling, sphingolipid metabolism and parasite defence. Conclusion The findings provide a comprehensive database of gene expression in an important human pathogen, including transcriptional changes in genes involved in evasion of the host immune response, nutrient acquisition, energy production, calcium signalling, sphingolipid metabolism, egg production and tegumental function during development. This resource should help facilitate the identification and prioritization of new anti-schistosome drug and vaccine targets for the control of schistosomiasis.

Competency Analytics Tool: Analyzing Curriculum Using Course Competencies

Science.gov (United States)

Gottipati, Swapna; Shankararaman, Venky

2018-01-01

The applications of learning outcomes and competency frameworks have brought better clarity to engineering programs in many universities. Several frameworks have been proposed to integrate outcomes and competencies into course design, delivery and assessment. However, in many cases, competencies are course-specific and their overall impact on the…

Life Span Developmental Approach

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Ali Eryilmaz

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The Life Span Developmental Approach examines development of individuals which occurs from birth to death. Life span developmental approach is a multi-disciplinary approach related with disciplines like psychology, psychiatry, sociology, anthropology and geriatrics that indicates the fact that development is not completed in adulthood, it continues during the life course. Development is a complex process that consists of dying and death. This approach carefully investigates the development of individuals with respect to developmental stages. This developmental approach suggests that scientific disciplines should not explain developmental facts only with age changes. Along with aging, cognitive, biological, and socioemotional development throughout life should also be considered to provide a reasonable and acceptable context, guideposts, and reasonable expectations for the person. There are three important subjects whom life span developmental approach deals with. These are nature vs nurture, continuity vs discontinuity, and change vs stability. Researchers using life span developmental approach gather and produce knowledge on these three most important domains of individual development with their unique scientific methodology.

Expression pattern and developmental behaviour of cellular nucleic acid-binding protein (CNBP) during folliculogenesis and oogenesis in fish.

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Liu, Jing-Xia; Gui, Jian-Fang

2005-08-15

In vertebrates, folliculogeneis establishes an intricate system for somatic cell-oocyte interaction, and ultimately leads to the acquisition of their respective competences. Although the formation process and corresponding interactions are strikingly similar in diverse organisms, knowledge of genes and signaling pathways involved in follicle formation is very incomplete and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain enigmatic. CNBP has been identified for more than ten years, and the highest level of CNBP transcripts has been observed in adult zebrafish ovary, but little is known about its functional significance during folliculogeneis and oogenesis. In this study, we clone CNBP cDNA from gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio), and demonstrate its predominant expression in gibel carp ovary and testis not only by RT-PCR but also by Western blot. Its full-length cDNA is 1402 bp, and has an ORF of 489 nt for encoding a peptide of 163 aa. And its complete amino acid sequence shared 68.5%-96.8% identity with CNBPs from other vertebrates. Based on the expression characterization, we further analyze its expression pattern and developmental behaviour during folliculogeneis and oogenesis. Following these studies, we reveal an unexpected discovery that the CagCNBP is associated with follicular cells and oocytes, and significant distribution changes have occurred in degenerating and regenerating follicles. More interestingly, the CagCNBP is more highly expressed in some clusters of interconnected cells within ovarian cysts, no matter whether the cell clusters are formed from the original primordial germ cells or from the newly formed cells from follicular cells that invaded into the atretic oocytes. It is the first time to reveal CNBP relevance to folliculogeneis and oogenesis. Moreover, a similar stage-specific and cell-specific expression pattern has also been observed in the gibel carp testis. Therefore, further studies on CNBP expression pattern and developmental

Competencies in Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring the Student Teachers’ Views

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Gisela Cebrián

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In the context of higher education, over 100 universities have signed international declarations and have committed to embed sustainability within their operations, outreach, education and research. However, despite the declaration of good intentions and policy developments at the national, regional and international level, little has been achieved in terms of embedding education for sustainable development holistically in the curriculum. To date, a number of research studies have focused on the perceptions and views of university students in relation to sustainable development knowledge, skills and competencies; however, few studies have focused on student teachers’ perceptions of education for sustainable development. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and views of a group of thirty-two student teachers in relation to education for sustainable development competencies. The research instrument used was a questionnaire. This study provides evidence on the education for sustainable development (ESD competencies that student teachers would prioritize in a school project related to ESD: acquisition of knowledge and practical skills related to nature and natural sciences, to the detriment of other types of learning, such as the promotion of ethical values, positive attitudes towards sustainability and the management of emotions among their future primary school students. Existing ESD theoretical frameworks need to become more alive and integrated within the existing teacher education curriculum to promote the awareness and development of ESD competencies amongst student teachers.

Intensive care nurses' perceptions of their professional competence in the organ donor process: a national survey.

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Meyer, Käthe; Bjørk, Ida Torunn; Eide, Hilde

2012-01-01

This paper is a report of a study that explored Norwegian intensive care nurses' perceptions of their professional competence to identify educational needs in the organ donor process. Intensive care professionals are requested to consider organ donation each time they care for patients with severe cerebral lesion to ensure donor organs for transplantation. The donor process challenges intensive care nurses' professional competence. Nurses' knowledge and experience may influence their professional competence in caring for organ donors and their relatives. METHODS.: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in all 28 Norwegian donor hospitals between October 2008 and January 2009. Intensive care nurses (N = 801) were invited to participate and the response rate was 71·4%. Dimensions of professional competence, learning needs and contextual and demographic variables were explored. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Few intensive care nurses had extensive experience of or competence and training in organ donation. Nurses working at university hospitals had more experience, but lesser training than nurses in local hospitals. Experience of donor acquisition had an impact on intensive care nurses' perceptions of their professional competence in the donor process. Discussions on the ward and educational input were seen as important for the further development of professional competence. Training provided by experienced colleagues and a culture that encourages discussion about aspects of the donor process can develop nurses' professional competence and communally defined professional practice. Educational input that cultivates various types of knowledge can be beneficial in organ donation. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Teacher competencies

OpenAIRE

Svatošová, Kateřina

2012-01-01

This diploma thesis deals with adult teacher competencies. It describes current situation in adult education and it focuses on measuring quality level of teacher competencies. There is given the main overview of adult education specifics. These are the prerequisites for defining adult teacher competencies. There is given specific adult teacher competencies and related roles which are generally based on teacher's activities during educational courses. Next part describes present conception of ...

Is perceived motor competence a constraint in children's action planning?

Science.gov (United States)

Gabbard, Carl; Caçola, Priscila; Cordova, Alberto

2009-06-01

A form of action representation of developmental interest is reach estimation-the perceptual and cognitive judgment of whether an object is within or out of reach. A common observation among children is overestimation, which, speculatively, has been linked to perceived motor competence (PMC). The authors examined the PMC effect on reachability among 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children. The authors predicted that with higher PMC, participants would display greater overestimation and that this outcome would show a developmental trend with younger children displaying greater overestimation complementing higher PMC scores. Results revealed no age differences in total error for reach, and all age groups overestimated. Regarding PMC, the 7-year-old childrens' scores were significantly higher than those of their older counterparts. However, relation analyses revealed no support for the idea that PMC was significantly associated with reachability. The findings suggested that a general measure of PMC is not a good predictor of childrens' action planning through reach estimation. Furthermore, if PMC in some form is a psychological constraint, future studies should be tied to context-specific measures of perceived abilities in relation to the specificity of the task.

Adjudicative Competence

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Dawes, Sharron E.; Palmer, Barton W.; Jeste, Dilip V.

2008-01-01

Purpose of review Although the basic standards of adjudicative competence were specified by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1960, there remain a number of complex conceptual and practical issues in interpreting and applying these standards. In this report we provide a brief overview regarding the general concept of adjudicative competence and its assessment, as well as some highlights of recent empirical studies on this topic. Findings Most adjudicative competence assessments are conducted by psychiatrists or psychologists. There are no universal certification requirements, but some states are moving toward required certification of forensic expertise for those conducting such assessments. Recent data indicate inconsistencies in application of the existing standards even among forensic experts, but the recent publication of consensus guidelines may foster improvements in this arena. There are also ongoing efforts to develop and validate structured instruments to aid competency evaluations. Telemedicine-based competency interviews may facilitate evaluation by those with specific expertise for evaluation of complex cases. There is also interest in empirical development of educational methods to enhance adjudicative competence. Summary Adjudicative competence may be difficult to measure accurately, but the assessments and tools available are advancing. More research is needed on methods of enhancing decisional capacity among those with impaired competence. PMID:18650693

Defense Acquisition Workforce: DOD Has Opportunities to Further Enhance Use and Management of Development Fund

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-01

engineering, and business . To ensure that DOD has the right people with the right skills to meet future needs, we recommended that DOD complete competency...years to address attrition in contracting and to hire engineers in new areas such as cybersecurity . • The Air Force’s March 2016 DAWDF guidance...planning.23 For example, in fiscal year 2015, the Defense Acquisition University, the Navy, and the Army each provided cybersecurity -related training

The acquisition of socio-motor improvisation in the mirror game.

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Gueugnon, Mathieu; Salesse, Robin N; Coste, Alexandre; Zhao, Zhong; Bardy, Benoît G; Marin, Ludovic

2016-04-01

Socio-motor improvisation is defined as the creative action of two or more people without a script or anticipated preparation. It is evaluated through two main parameters: movement synchronization and movement richness. Experts in art (e.g., dance, theater or music) are known to exhibit higher synchronization and to perform richer movements during interpersonal improvisation, but how these competences evolve over time is largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated whether performing more synchronized and richer movements over time can promote the acquisition of improvisation. Pairs of novice participants were instructed to play an improvisation mirror game in three different sessions. Between sessions, they performed an unintended interpersonal coordination task in which synchronization and richness were manipulated, resulting in four different groups of dyads. Our results demonstrate that synchronization during improvisation improved for all groups whereas movement richness only enhanced for dyads that performed synchronized movements during unintended coordination tasks. Our findings suggest that movement synchrony contributes more than movement richness to the acquisition of socio-motor improvisation in the mirror game. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The relation between intercultural competence, personality features and students’ intellectual development

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Gridunova Marina V.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In the light of globalisation processes accompanied by an increase in interethnic tensions, the research on personality features that contribute to a more efficient functioning in the intercultural context has become fairly topical. The aim of the conducted research was to explore the relation between intercultural competence, personality features and the level of intellectual development of students (N=121, 45% male students of a general education secondary school in Moscow. Bennett’s developmental model of intercultural sensitivity was used as the basis for studying intercultural competence, while the Scale of intercultural sensitivity was used as a diagnostic instrument. Personality features were defined in accordance with the Five Factor Model and diagnosed via the shorter version of the Five Factors questionnaire. The level of mental (intellectual development was measured using the normative School test of intellectual development (STID-2. Based on research results, it has been established that personality features such as conscientiousness, extraversion and neuroticism are related to the indicators of intercultural competence in the examined students, whereby the intensity of the relations is by far higher in the group of students with the lower level of intellectual development. At the same time, the students whose level of intellectual development is higher are more inclined towards accepting cultural differences, while those with the lower level of intellectual development tend to absolutise them.

Being at peace as an important factor in acquiring teaching competency by Iranian nurse teachers: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Emamzadeh Ghasemi, Hormat Sadat; Rafii, Forough; Farahani, Mansoureh A; Mohammadi, Nooreddin

2014-02-24

It is imperative to understand the factor that influence teaching competency. Therefore, it is necessary to study those that have an impact on the process of acquiring teaching competency. Competent nurse teachers have an important role in the achievement of nursing students and improving the quality of nursing education. However, few researches have focused specifically on the process of acquiring teaching competency in nurse teachers and its related factors. This study as a part of more extensive research aims to explore the factors influencing acquisition of teaching competency by Iranian nurse teachers. Grounded theory was chosen as the method. Eleven teachers from three nursing schools in Tehran were recruited. Data was generated by semi structured interviews during May 2011 to March 2013 and was analyzed through using constant comparison. Three main categories were emerged including "individual characteristics" (spirituality, professional interest, ethical conducts, knowledge expansion and reflective practice), "organizational factors" (management of educational systems, solidarity culture, student characteristics) and "socio-cultural factors" (social situations, and public definition of nursing). Nurse teachers who deal peacefully with the nursing profession and colleagues are responsible and committed to acquiring teaching competency. A suitable organization in nursing educational systems that is structured and ordered also encourages a peaceful approach by nurse teachers.

Informed consent instead of assent is appropriate in children from the age of twelve: Policy implications of new findings on children's competence to consent to clinical research.

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Hein, Irma M; De Vries, Martine C; Troost, Pieter W; Meynen, Gerben; Van Goudoever, Johannes B; Lindauer, Ramón J L

2015-11-09

For many decades, the debate on children's competence to give informed consent in medical settings concentrated on ethical and legal aspects, with little empirical underpinnings. Recently, data from empirical research became available to advance the discussion. It was shown that children's competence to consent to clinical research could be accurately assessed by the modified MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research. Age limits for children to be deemed competent to decide on research participation have been studied: generally children of 11.2 years and above were decision-making competent, while children of 9.6 years and younger were not. Age was pointed out to be the key determining factor in children's competence. In this article we reflect on policy implications of these findings, considering legal, ethical, developmental and clinical perspectives. Although assessment of children's competence has a normative character, ethics, law and clinical practice can benefit from research data. The findings may help to do justice to the capacities children possess and challenges they may face when deciding about treatment and research options. We discuss advantages and drawbacks of standardized competence assessment in children on a case-by-case basis compared to application of a fixed age limit, and conclude that a selective implementation of case-by-case competence assessment in specific populations is preferable. We recommend the implementation of age limits based on empirical evidence. Furthermore, we elaborate on a suitable model for informed consent involving children and parents that would do justice to developmental aspects of children and the specific characteristics of the parent-child dyad. Previous research outcomes showed that children's medical decision-making capacities could be operationalized into a standardized assessment instrument. Recommendations for policies include a dual consent procedure, including both child as well as parents

Parent-Adolescent Discrepancies in Perceived Parenting Characteristics and Adolescent Developmental Outcomes in Poor Chinese Families.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Janet T Y; Shek, Daniel T L

2014-01-01

We examined the relationships between parent-adolescent discrepancies in perceived parenting characteristics (indexed by parental responsiveness, parental demandingness, and parental control) and adolescent developmental outcomes (indexed by achievement motivation and psychological competence) in poor families in Hong Kong. A sample of 275 intact families having at least one child aged 11-16 experiencing economic disadvantage were invited to participate in the study. Fathers and mothers completed the Parenting Style Scale and Chinese Parental Control Scale, and adolescents completed the Social-Oriented Achievement Motivation Scale and Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale in addition to paternal and maternal Parenting Style Scale and Chinese Parental Control Scale. Results indicated that parents and adolescents had different perceptions of parental responsiveness, parental demandingness, and paternal control, with adolescents generally perceived lower levels of parenting behaviors than did their parents. While father-adolescent discrepancy in perceived paternal responsiveness and mother-adolescent discrepancy in perceived maternal control negatively predicted adolescent achievement motivation, mother-adolescent discrepancy in perceptions of maternal responsiveness negatively predicted psychological competence in adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage. The present findings provided support that parent-child discrepancies in perceived parenting characteristics have negative impacts on the developmental outcomes of adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage. The present study addresses parent-child discrepancies in perceived parental behaviors as "legitimate" constructs, and explores their links with adolescent psychosocial development, which sheds light for researchers and clinical practitioners in helping the Chinese families experiencing economic disadvantage.

Effect of Developmental Stimulation Program on the Developmental Measures of Toddlers

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Elahe Ghayebie

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Background: The variability in the developmental skills is reduced after the first three years of life; therefore, it is necessary to identify and manage early developmental delays. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of developmental stimulation program on the developmental measures of the toddlers. Method: The present randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 31 toddlers aged 1-3 years residing at Ali Asghar Foster Care Center within 2016-2017. Developmental interventions were carried out based on the modified guidelines of West Virginia Early Learning Standards Framework for eight weeks (three 2-hour sessions a week. The interventions included a range of age- and developmental-specific activities described in the given guidelines. Child development age was measured based on motor dimensions (i.e., gross and fine and language development (i.e., receptive and expressive before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 11 using independent t-test and Chi-square test. Results: The mean ages of the participants in the control and intervention groups were 19.9±5.5 and 20±6.02, respectively (P=0.62. The mean ages of receptive language development (P=0.003, expressive language development (P

AAOHN Competencies.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-11-01

The AAOHN Competency document is one of the core documents that define occupational health nursing practice. This article provides a description of the process used to update the competencies, as well as a description of the new competencies. © 2015 The Author(s).

Smart acquisition EELS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sader, Kasim; Schaffer, Bernhard; Vaughan, Gareth; Brydson, Rik; Brown, Andy; Bleloch, Andrew

2010-01-01

We have developed a novel acquisition methodology for the recording of electron energy loss spectra (EELS) using a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM): 'Smart Acquisition'. Smart Acquisition allows the independent control of probe scanning procedures and the simultaneous acquisition of analytical signals such as EELS. The original motivation for this work arose from the need to control the electron dose experienced by beam-sensitive specimens whilst maintaining a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio in the EEL signal for the extraction of useful analytical information (such as energy loss near edge spectral features) from relatively undamaged areas. We have developed a flexible acquisition framework which separates beam position data input, beam positioning, and EELS acquisition. In this paper we demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique on beam-sensitive thin films of amorphous aluminium trifluoride. Smart Acquisition has been used to expose lines to the electron beam, followed by analysis of the structures created by line-integrating EELS acquisitions, and the results are compared to those derived from a standard EELS linescan. High angle annular dark-field images show clear reductions in damage for the Smart Acquisition areas compared to the conventional linescan, and the Smart Acquisition low loss EEL spectra are more representative of the undamaged material than those derived using a conventional linescan. Atomically resolved EELS of all four elements of CaNdTiO show the high resolution capabilities of Smart Acquisition.

Smart acquisition EELS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sader, Kasim, E-mail: k.sader@leeds.ac.uk [SuperSTEM, J block, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 4AD (United Kingdom); Institute for Materials Research, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT (United Kingdom); Schaffer, Bernhard [SuperSTEM, J block, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 4AD (United Kingdom); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow (United Kingdom); Vaughan, Gareth [Institute for Materials Research, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT (United Kingdom); Brydson, Rik [SuperSTEM, J block, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 4AD (United Kingdom); Institute for Materials Research, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT (United Kingdom); Brown, Andy [Institute for Materials Research, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT (United Kingdom); Bleloch, Andrew [SuperSTEM, J block, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 4AD (United Kingdom); Department of Engineering, University of Liverpool, Liverpool (United Kingdom)

2010-07-15

We have developed a novel acquisition methodology for the recording of electron energy loss spectra (EELS) using a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM): 'Smart Acquisition'. Smart Acquisition allows the independent control of probe scanning procedures and the simultaneous acquisition of analytical signals such as EELS. The original motivation for this work arose from the need to control the electron dose experienced by beam-sensitive specimens whilst maintaining a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio in the EEL signal for the extraction of useful analytical information (such as energy loss near edge spectral features) from relatively undamaged areas. We have developed a flexible acquisition framework which separates beam position data input, beam positioning, and EELS acquisition. In this paper we demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique on beam-sensitive thin films of amorphous aluminium trifluoride. Smart Acquisition has been used to expose lines to the electron beam, followed by analysis of the structures created by line-integrating EELS acquisitions, and the results are compared to those derived from a standard EELS linescan. High angle annular dark-field images show clear reductions in damage for the Smart Acquisition areas compared to the conventional linescan, and the Smart Acquisition low loss EEL spectra are more representative of the undamaged material than those derived using a conventional linescan. Atomically resolved EELS of all four elements of CaNdTiO show the high resolution capabilities of Smart Acquisition.

Gender and motor competence affects perceived likelihood and importance of physical activity outcomes among 14 year olds.

Science.gov (United States)

Hands, B; Parker, H E; Rose, E; Larkin, D

2016-03-01

Perceptions of the effects of physical activity could facilitate or deter future participation. This study explored the differences between gender and motor competence at 14 years of age in the perceptions of likelihood and importance of physical activity outcomes. The sample comprised 1582 14-year-old adolescents (769 girls) from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Four motor competence groups were formed from a standardized Neuromuscular Developmental Index score (McCarron 1997). Perceptions of the likelihood and the importance of 15 physical activity outcomes were measured by a questionnaire developed for the NSW Schools Fitness and Physical Activity Survey (Booth et al. 1997). Gender (two) × motor competence (four) analyses of variance and Tukey post hoc were conducted on outcome scores (P importance of physical activity outcomes within competition, social friendships and injury domains. Motor competence was significant in the perceived likelihood of physical health (P importance was perceived for academic outcomes for 14 year olds categorized with low compared with high motor competence (P importance. Although level of motor competence at 14 years affected the perceived likelihood of health, social and fun outcomes from future participation in physical activity, adolescents highly valued these outcomes, whereas gender affected competition and winning, outcomes that were less valued. Physical activity that promotes these key and valued outcomes may encourage young people's ongoing involvement in physical activity, especially for those at risk of low participation. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Communicative competencies in foreign languages: new students starting a pre-graduate course of studies, FCE-UNaM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Inés Gervasoni

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The acquisition of communicative competences in English as a foreign Language is included in the study programs of English I and English II of the Administrative Secretarial Course at the FCE-UNaM, due to various regulations. Different levels of development are acquired by this inclusion. Professors in charge of these subjects have the impression that, according to the student’s previous knowledge, this development has an uneven impact on the actual classes. A complex panorama that requires a systematic study of the competences at the moment of entering the university and a closer look at a necessary articulation between the first year of the university and the preceding educational stages can be observed.

Competence and regulatory interactions during regeneration in plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ajai Joseph Pulianmackal

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The ability to regenerate is widely exploited by multitudes of organisms ranging from unicellular bacteria to multicellular plants for their propagation and repair. But the levels of competence for regeneration vary from species to species. While variety of living cells of a plant display regeneration ability, only a few set of cells maintain their stemness in mammals. This highly pliable nature of plant cells in-terms of regeneration can be attributed to their high developmental plasticity. De novo organ initiation can be relatively easily achieved in plants by proper hormonal regulations. Elevated levels of plant hormone auxin induces the formation of proliferating mass of pluripotent cells called callus, which predominantly express lateral root meristem markers and hence is having an identity similar to lateral root primordia. Organ formation can be induced from the callus by modulating the ratio of hormones. An alternative for de novo organogenesis is by the forced expression of plant specific transcription factors. The mechanisms by which plant cells attain competence for regeneration on hormonal treatment or forced expression remain largely elusive. Recent studies have provided some insight into how the epigenetic modifications in plants affect this competence. In this review we discuss the present understanding of regenerative biology in plants and scrutinize the future prospectives of this topic. While discussing about the regeneration in the sporophyte of angiosperms which is well studied, here we outline the regenerative biology of the gametophytic phase and discuss about various strategies of regeneration that have evolved in the domain of life so that a common consensus on the entire process of regeneration can be made.

ABC transporter content diversity in Streptococcus pneumoniae impacts competence regulation and bacteriocin production.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Charles Y; Patel, Nisha; Wholey, Wei-Yun; Dawid, Suzanne

2018-06-19

The opportunistic pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) uses natural genetic competence to increase its adaptability through horizontal gene transfer. One method of acquiring DNA is through predation of neighboring strains with antimicrobial peptides called "bacteriocins." Competence and production of the major family of pneumococcal bacteriocins, pneumocins, are regulated by the quorum-sensing systems com and blp , respectively. In the classical paradigm, the ABC transporters ComAB and BlpAB each secretes its own system's signaling pheromone and in the case of BlpAB also secretes the pneumocins. While ComAB is found in all pneumococci, only 25% of strains encode an intact version of BlpAB [BlpAB(+)] while the rest do not [BlpAB(-)]. Contrary to the classical paradigm, it was previously shown that BlpAB(-) strains can activate blp through ComAB-mediated secretion of the blp pheromone during brief periods of competence. To better understand the full extent of com - blp crosstalk, we examined the contribution of each transporter to competence development and pneumocin secretion. We found that BlpAB(+) strains have a greater capacity for competence activation through BlpAB-mediated secretion of the com pheromone. Similarly, we show that ComAB and BlpAB are promiscuous and both can secrete pneumocins. Consequently, differences in pneumocin secretion between BlpAB(+) and BlpAB(-) strains derive from the regulation and kinetics of transporter expression rather than substrate specificity. We speculate that BlpAB(-) strains (opportunists) use pneumocins mainly in a narrowly tailored role for DNA acquisition and defense during competence while BlpAB(+) strains (aggressors) expand their use for the general inhibition of rival strains. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Combined evaluations of competency to stand trial and mental state at the time of the offense: An overlooked methodological consideration?

Science.gov (United States)

Kois, Lauren; Wellbeloved-Stone, James M; Chauhan, Preeti; Warren, Janet I

2017-06-01

Combined evaluations of competency to stand trial (CST; competency) and mental state at the time of the offense (MSO; sanity) frequently co-occur. However, most research examines the 2 as discrete constructs without considering 4 potential combined evaluation outcomes: competent-sane, incompetent-sane, competent-insane, and incompetent-insane. External validity can be improved if research more closely mirrored practice. It may be incorrect to assume incompetent defendants are similar across CST-only and combined evaluations, and insane defendants are similar across MSO-only and combined evaluations. Using a sample of 2,751 combined evaluations, we examined demographic, clinical, offense, evaluation, and psycholegal characteristics associated with evaluators' combined evaluation opinions. Multinomial regression analyses revealed older defendants were more likely to be opined incompetent-insane. Defendants with psychotic disorders were more often opined insane, regardless of competency status. Affective diagnoses predicted competent-insane opinions. Developmental disorders were closely related to incompetence, regardless of sanity status. Defendants with organic disorders tended to have global psycholegal impairment, in that they were more often opined incompetent-insane, incompetent-sane, or competent-insane, relative to competent-sane. Prior hospitalization predicted competent-insane relative to competent-sane opinions. Defendants not under the influence of a substance during the offense or with no prior convictions were more likely to be opined insane, regardless of competency status. We interpret these findings in light of psycholegal theory and provide recommendations for research and practice. Collectively, results suggest incorporation of combined evaluations into CST and MSO research is an important methodological consideration not to be overlooked. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Genetic Competence Drives Genome Diversity in Bacillus subtilis

Science.gov (United States)

Chevreux, Bastien; Serra, Cláudia R; Schyns, Ghislain; Henriques, Adriano O

2018-01-01

Abstract Prokaryote genomes are the result of a dynamic flux of genes, with increases achieved via horizontal gene transfer and reductions occurring through gene loss. The ecological and selective forces that drive this genomic flexibility vary across species. Bacillus subtilis is a naturally competent bacterium that occupies various environments, including plant-associated, soil, and marine niches, and the gut of both invertebrates and vertebrates. Here, we quantify the genomic diversity of B. subtilis and infer the genome dynamics that explain the high genetic and phenotypic diversity observed. Phylogenomic and comparative genomic analyses of 42 B. subtilis genomes uncover a remarkable genome diversity that translates into a core genome of 1,659 genes and an asymptotic pangenome growth rate of 57 new genes per new genome added. This diversity is due to a large proportion of low-frequency genes that are acquired from closely related species. We find no gene-loss bias among wild isolates, which explains why the cloud genome, 43% of the species pangenome, represents only a small proportion of each genome. We show that B. subtilis can acquire xenologous copies of core genes that propagate laterally among strains within a niche. While not excluding the contributions of other mechanisms, our results strongly suggest a process of gene acquisition that is largely driven by competence, where the long-term maintenance of acquired genes depends on local and global fitness effects. This competence-driven genomic diversity provides B. subtilis with its generalist character, enabling it to occupy a wide range of ecological niches and cycle through them. PMID:29272410

Interaction and Self-Correction

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Glenda Lucila Satne

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper I address the question of how to account for the normative dimension involved in conceptual competence in a naturalistic framework. First, I present what I call the Naturalist Challenge (NC, referring to both the phylogenetic and ontogenetic dimensions of conceptual possession and acquisition. I then criticize two models that have been dominant in thinking about conceptual competence, the interpretationist and the causalist models. Both fail to meet NC, by failing to account for the abilities involved in conceptual self-correction. I then offer an alternative account of self-correction that I develop with the help of the interactionist theory of mutual understanding arising from recent developments in Phenomenology and Developmental Psychology.

Competence articulation: Alignment of competences and responsibilities in synchronous telemedical collaboration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Simon Bo; Bardram, Jakob Eyvind

2008-01-01

. In particular, we want to look at the dynamic quality of competences, and investigate how competence is mutually developed in coordinated work. We have termed this process competence articulation, a concept which tries to emphasize competence as well as social development of competence as part of cooperation......Many studies and concepts within CSCW deal with the temporal, spatial, social, and computational aspects of supporting collaborative work. In this paper we want to pay attention to another central aspect to the achievement of collaborative work, namely the competence of the people involved...... communication options for competence articulation, which again improve collaboration and thus the quality of the treatment....

Language Acquisition without an Acquisition Device

Science.gov (United States)

O'Grady, William

2012-01-01

Most explanatory work on first and second language learning assumes the primacy of the acquisition phenomenon itself, and a good deal of work has been devoted to the search for an "acquisition device" that is specific to humans, and perhaps even to language. I will consider the possibility that this strategy is misguided and that language…

Children with co-occurring anxiety and externalizing disorders: family risks and implications for competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Joan P; Brown, Pamela J; Luthar, Suniya S

2009-10-01

This study used data from 340 mother-child dyads to examine characteristics of children with co-occurring diagnoses of anxiety and externalizing disorders and compared them with children with a sole diagnosis or no diagnosis. Comparisons were made using 4 child-diagnostic groups: anxiety-only, externalizing-only, co-occurrence, and no-problem groups. Most mothers were characterized by low income and histories of psychiatric diagnoses during the child's lifetime. Analyses using multinomial logistic regressions found the incidence of co-occurring childhood disorders to be significantly linked with maternal affective/anxiety disorders during the child's lifetime. In exploring implications for developmental competence, we found the co-occurrence group to have the lowest level of adaptive functioning among the 4 groups, faring significantly worse than the no-problem group on both academic achievement and intelligence as assessed by standardized tests. Findings underscore the importance of considering co-occurring behavior problems as a distinct phenomenon when examining children's developmental outcomes. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

The Persian developmental sentence scoring as a clinical measure of morphosyntax in children

Science.gov (United States)

Jalilevand, Nahid; Kamali, Mohammad; Modarresi, Yahya; Kazemi, Yalda

2016-01-01

Background: Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) was developed as a numerical measurement and a clinical method based on the morphosyntactic acquisition in the English language. The aim of this study was to develop a new numerical tool similar to DSS to assess the morphosyntactic abilities in Persian-speaking children. Methods: In this cross-sectional and comparative study, the language samples of 115 typically developing Persian-speaking children aged 30 - 65 months were audio recorded during the free play and picture description sessions. The Persian Developmental Sentence Score (PDSS) and the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) were calculated. Pearson correlation and one – way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis. Results: The correlation between PDSS and MLU in morphemes (convergent validity) was significant with a correlation coefficient of 0.97 (p< 0.001). The value Cronbach's Alpha (α= 0.79) in the grammatical categories and the split-half coefficient (0.86) indicated acceptable internal consistency reliability. Conclusion: The PDSS could be used as a reliable numerical measurement to estimate the syntactic development in Persian-speaking children. PMID:28210600

Playing off the curve - testing quantitative predictions of skill acquisition theories in development of chess performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaschler, Robert; Progscha, Johanna; Smallbone, Kieran; Ram, Nilam; Bilalić, Merim

2014-01-01

Learning curves have been proposed as an adequate description of learning processes, no matter whether the processes manifest within minutes or across years. Different mechanisms underlying skill acquisition can lead to differences in the shape of learning curves. In the current study, we analyze the tournament performance data of 1383 chess players who begin competing at young age and play tournaments for at least 10 years. We analyze the performance development with the goal to test the adequacy of learning curves, and the skill acquisition theories they are based on, for describing and predicting expertise acquisition. On the one hand, we show that the skill acquisition theories implying a negative exponential learning curve do a better job in both describing early performance gains and predicting later trajectories of chess performance than those theories implying a power function learning curve. On the other hand, the learning curves of a large proportion of players show systematic qualitative deviations from the predictions of either type of skill acquisition theory. While skill acquisition theories predict larger performance gains in early years and smaller gains in later years, a substantial number of players begin to show substantial improvements with a delay of several years (and no improvement in the first years), deviations not fully accounted for by quantity of practice. The current work adds to the debate on how learning processes on a small time scale combine to large-scale changes.

Post-Acquisition IT Integration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henningsson, Stefan; Yetton, Philip

2013-01-01

The extant research on post-acquisition IT integration analyzes how acquirers realize IT-based value in individual acquisitions. However, serial acquirers make 60% of acquisitions. These acquisitions are not isolated events, but are components in growth-by-acquisition programs. To explain how...... serial acquirers realize IT-based value, we develop three propositions on the sequential effects on post-acquisition IT integration in acquisition programs. Their combined explanation is that serial acquirers must have a growth-by-acquisition strategy that includes the capability to improve...... IT integration capabilities, to sustain high alignment across acquisitions and to maintain a scalable IT infrastructure with a flat or decreasing cost structure. We begin the process of validating the three propositions by investigating a longitudinal case study of a growth-by-acquisition program....

Relationship between Children’s Intelligence and Their Emotional/Behavioral Problems and Social Competence: Gender Differences in First Graders

OpenAIRE

Tong, Lian; Shinohara, Ryoji; Sugisawa, Yuka; Tanaka, Emiko; Watanabe, Taeko; Onda, Yoko; Kawashima, Yuri; Yato, Yuko; Yamakawa, Noriko; Koeda, Tatsuya; Ishida, Hiraku; Terakawa, Shinako; Seki, Ayumi; Anme, Tokie

2010-01-01

Background The present study examines gender differences in the correlations between intelligence and developmental problems as well as social competence in first graders. Methods Ninety parent-child dyads participated in this study. The children comprised 7-year-olds recruited from the first grade of an elementary school. All the children were administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Third Edition (WISC-III), Parent-child Interaction Rating Scale (IRS), and the parent report...

Childhood developmental vulnerabilities associated with early life exposure to infectious and noninfectious diseases and maternal mental illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Melissa J; Kariuki, Maina; Dean, Kimberlie; Laurens, Kristin R; Tzoumakis, Stacy; Harris, Felicity; Carr, Vaughan J

2017-12-26

Fetal exposure to infectious and noninfectious diseases may influence early childhood developmental functioning, on the path to later mental illness. Here, we investigated the effects of in utero exposure to maternal infection and noninfectious diseases during pregnancy on offspring developmental vulnerabilities at age 5 years, in the context of estimated effects for early childhood exposures to infectious and noninfectious diseases and maternal mental illness. We used population data for 66,045 children from an intergenerational record linkage study (the New South Wales Child Development Study), for whom a cross-sectional assessment of five developmental competencies (physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and communication) was obtained at school entry, using the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). Child and maternal exposures to infectious or noninfectious diseases were determined from the NSW Ministry of Health Admitted Patients Data Collection (APDC) and maternal mental illness exposure was derived from both APDC and Mental Health Ambulatory Data collections. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine unadjusted and adjusted associations between these physical and mental health exposures and child developmental vulnerabilities at age 5 years. Among the physical disease exposures, maternal infectious diseases during pregnancy and early childhood infection conferred the largest associations with developmental vulnerabilities at age 5 years; maternal noninfectious illness during pregnancy also retained small but significant associations with developmental vulnerabilities even when adjusted for other physical and mental illness exposures and covariates known to be associated with early childhood development (e.g., child's sex, socioeconomic disadvantage, young maternal age, prenatal smoking). Among all exposures examined, maternal mental illness first diagnosed prior to childbirth conferred the greatest odds of developmental

Parental divorce and developmental progression: an inquiry into their relationship.

Science.gov (United States)

Wallerstein, J; Resnikoff, D

1997-02-01

The authors argue that the patterning of conscious and unconscious needs, wishes, and expectations that parents and children bring to each other is often profoundly altered under the impact of divorce and the parents' subsequent adult relationships. These changes, which are inherent in the divorce experience, have the power to modify significantly or derail the young child's developmental course. Clinical observations from an ongoing longitudinal research project show striking changes in the child's image of his parents, as portrayed here in the vivid play and fantasy of a psychologically sturdy child, concurrent with psychological changes in both parents and in their parenting. A follow-up, twelve years later, is reported. The authors suggest that the stable parenting of this child's first three years represented an internalised template of good relationships, which enabled him, despite the father's subsequent abandonment, the mother's grave acting out and the stepfather's rejection, to turn away from his disappointment in his parents, to wrest what was available from school, friends and others, and to propel himself forward at each point to the next developmental stage, moving increasingly away from his family towards independence and competence. The consistency of the child's inner life and integrity is contrasted with the depression of his parents and the instability of their parenting.

Restructuring a basic science course for core competencies: an example from anatomy teaching.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory, Jeremy K; Lachman, Nirusha; Camp, Christopher L; Chen, Laura P; Pawlina, Wojciech

2009-09-01

Medical schools revise their curricula in order to develop physicians best skilled to serve the public's needs. To ensure a smooth transition to residency programs, undergraduate medical education is often driven by the six core competencies endorsed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME): patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning, interpersonal skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice. Recent curricular redesign at Mayo Medical School provided an opportunity to restructure anatomy education and integrate radiology with first-year gross and developmental anatomy. The resulting 6-week (120-contact-hour) human structure block provides students with opportunities to learn gross anatomy through dissection, radiologic imaging, and embryologic correlation. We report more than 20 educational interventions from the human structure block that may serve as a model for incorporating the ACGME core competencies into basic science and early medical education. The block emphasizes clinically-oriented anatomy, invites self- and peer-evaluation, provides daily formative feedback through an audience response system, and employs team-based learning. The course includes didactic briefing sessions and roles for students as teachers, leaders, and collaborators. Third-year medical students serve as teaching assistants. With its clinical focus and competency-based design, the human structure block connects basic science with best-practice clinical medicine.

Competency champions in the clinical competency committee: a successful strategy to implement milestone evaluations and competency coaching.

Science.gov (United States)

Ketteler, Erika R; Auyang, Edward D; Beard, Kathy E; McBride, Erica L; McKee, Rohini; Russell, John C; Szoka, Nova L; Nelson, M Timothy

2014-01-01

To create a clinical competency committee (CCC) that (1) centers on the competency-based milestones, (2) is simple to implement, (3) creates competency expertise, and (4) guides remediation and coaching of residents who are not progressing in milestone performance evaluations. We created a CCC that meets monthly and at each meeting reviews a resident class for milestone performance, a competency (by a faculty competency champion), a resident rotation service, and any other resident or issue of concern. University surgical residency program. The CCC members include the program director, associate program directors, director of surgical curriculum, competency champions, departmental chair, 2 at-large faculty members, and the administrative chief residents. Seven residents were placed on remediation (later renamed as coaching) during the academic year after falling behind on milestone progression in one or more competencies. An additional 4 residents voluntarily placed themselves on remediation for medical knowledge after receiving in-training examination scores that the residents (not the CCC membership) considered substandard. All but 2 of the remediated/coached residents successfully completed all area milestone performance but some chose to stay on the medical knowledge competency strategy. Monthly meetings of the CCC make milestone evaluation less burdensome. In addition, the expectations of the residents are clearer and more tangible. "Competency champions" who are familiar with the milestones allow effective coaching strategies and documentation of clear performance improvements in competencies for successful completion of residency training. Residents who do not reach appropriate milestone performance can then be placed in remediation for more formal performance evaluation. The function of our CCC has also allowed us opportunity to evaluate the required rotations to ensure that they offer experiences that help residents achieve competency performance necessary

Factors Linking Childhood Experiences to Adult Romantic Relationships among African Americans

OpenAIRE

Simons, Leslie Gordon; Simons, Ronald L.; Landor, Antoinette M.; Bryant, Chalandra M.; Beach, Steven R.H.

2014-01-01

It is well known that a high quality relationship with a romantic partner is related to a variety of positive outcomes associated with health and well-being. Establishing such relationships is an important developmental task for young adults and past research indicates that there is a link between experiences in the family of origin and the success of later intimate relationships. It has been suggested that this association can be explained by the acquisition of social competencies (e.g., emo...

Timespacing competence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laursen, Helle Pia; Mogensen, Naja Dahlstrup

2016-01-01

-generated activity My linguistic world 2014, they are invited to map and talk about their lived experiences as multiple language users seen in the light of place and movement. By demythifying themselves and their linguistic worlds, the children also raise important questions about the notion of linguistic competence....... By perceiving competences from a subjective child perspective, we learn how children do what we call timespacing competence. On that basis, we suggest paying attention to how children themselves timespace competence by focusing (more consistently) on the subjective, social, spatial and temporal dimensions...

Validation of core competencies during residency training in anaesthesiology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Spies, Claudia

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Background and goal: Curriculum development for residency training is increasingly challenging in times of financial restrictions and time limitations. Several countries have adopted the CanMEDS framework for medical education as a model into their curricula of specialty training. The purpose of the present study was to validate the competency goals, as derived from CanMEDS, of the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine of the Berlin Charité University Medical Centre, by conducting a staff survey. These goals for the qualification of specialists stipulate demonstrable competencies in seven areas: expert medical action, efficient collaboration in a team, communications with patients and family, management and organisation, lifelong learning, professional behaviour, and advocacy of good health. We had previously developed a catalogue of curriculum items based on these seven core competencies. In order to evaluate the validity of this catalogue, we surveyed anaesthetists at our department in regard to their perception of the importance of each of these items. In addition to the descriptive acquisition of data, it was intended to assess the results of the survey to ascertain whether there were differences in the evaluation of these objectives by specialists and registrars. Methods: The questionnaire with the seven adapted CanMEDS Roles included items describing each of their underlying competencies. Each anaesthetist (registrars and specialists working at our institution in May of 2007 was asked to participate in the survey. Individual perception of relevance was rated for each item on a scale similar to the Likert system, ranging from 1 (highly relevant to 5 (not at all relevant, from which ratings means were calculated. For determination of reliability, we calculated Cronbach’s alpha. To assess differences between subgroups, we performed analysis of variance.Results: All seven roles were rated as relevant. Three of the seven

Building a developmental toxicity ontology.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Nancy; Boobis, Alan; Burgoon, Lyle; Carney, Edward; Currie, Richard; Fritsche, Ellen; Knudsen, Thomas; Laffont, Madeleine; Piersma, Aldert H; Poole, Alan; Schneider, Steffen; Daston, George

2018-04-03

As more information is generated about modes of action for developmental toxicity and more data are generated using high-throughput and high-content technologies, it is becoming necessary to organize that information. This report discussed the need for a systematic representation of knowledge about developmental toxicity (i.e., an ontology) and proposes a method to build one based on knowledge of developmental biology and mode of action/ adverse outcome pathways in developmental toxicity. This report is the result of a consensus working group developing a plan to create an ontology for developmental toxicity that spans multiple levels of biological organization. This report provide a description of some of the challenges in building a developmental toxicity ontology and outlines a proposed methodology to meet those challenges. As the ontology is built on currently available web-based resources, a review of these resources is provided. Case studies on one of the most well-understood morphogens and developmental toxicants, retinoic acid, are presented as examples of how such an ontology might be developed. This report outlines an approach to construct a developmental toxicity ontology. Such an ontology will facilitate computer-based prediction of substances likely to induce human developmental toxicity. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Moral competency: meta-competence of nursing care

Science.gov (United States)

Zafarnia, Niloofar; Abbaszadeh, Abbas; Borhani, Fariba; Ebadi, Abbas; Nakhaee, Nouzar

2017-01-01

Introduction To follow the progress of technology and increasing domain of nurses’ duties, ethical challenges can be observed more than ever. Therefore, the growing and dynamic system of nursing requires nurses with professional and ethical competence who can provide optimal care. The aim of the present study was to define and explain dimensions of moral competency among the clinical nurses of Iran. Methods This qualitative content analysis study was carried out in the years 2014 and 2015 in Iran. Data were collected through in-depth semistructured interviews and field notes. The resulting data were analyzed by Graneheim and Lundman’s method of conventional content analysis. The participants were 12 clinical nurses who were selected using purposive convenient sampling and continued interviews until data saturation. Results Themes obtained in the present study were posited in three main categories of “moral character,” with subcategories of altruism, search for meaning, be pioneering, perfectionism, self-control, honesty, and forgiveness; “moral care” with subcategories of dignified care, safe care, fair care, and holistic care; and “moral decision-making” with subcategories of moral sensitivity, moral thinking, moral reasoning, and moral courage. Conclusions Findings of the present study suggest that nurses’ moral competency is an adorable character with a wide range that includes moral virtues and character, moral decision-making, and ultimately providing moral care; therefore, moral competency is a meta-competence in the field of nursing. Because there are many competencies in different fields. PMID:28848630

Transgenerational developmental programming.

Science.gov (United States)

Aiken, Catherine E; Ozanne, Susan E

2014-01-01

The concept of developmental programming suggests that the early life environment influences offspring characteristics in later life, including the propensity to develop diseases such as the metabolic syndrome. There is now growing evidence that the effects of developmental programming may also manifest in further generations without further suboptimal exposure. This review considers the evidence, primarily from rodent models, for effects persisting to subsequent generations, and evaluates the mechanisms by which developmental programming may be transmitted to further generations. In particular, we focus on the potential role of the intrauterine environment in contributing to a developmentally programmed phenotype in subsequent generations. The literature was systematically searched at http://pubmed.org and http://scholar.google.com to identify published findings regarding transgenerational (F2 and beyond) developmental programming effects in human populations and animal models. Transmission of programming effects is often viewed as a form of epigenetic inheritance, either via the maternal or paternal line. Evidence exists for both germline and somatic inheritance of epigenetic modifications which may be responsible for phenotypic changes in further generations. However, there is increasing evidence for the role of both extra-genomic components of the zygote and the interaction of the developing conceptus with the intrauterine environment in propagating programming effects. The contribution of a suboptimal reproductive tract environment or maternal adaptations to pregnancy may be critical to inheritance of programming effects via the maternal line. As the effects of age exacerbate the programmed metabolic phenotype, advancing maternal age may increase the likelihood of developmental programming effects being transmitted to further generations. We suggest that developmental programming effects could be propagated through the maternal line de novo in generations

Army Acquisition and Contracting Personnel Requirements: How are the Army’s Current Recruitment, Development and Retention Programs Meeting Current and Future Personnel Requirements?

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-01

shaping the makeup of the workforce, but rather focused more on controlling the number of personnel. To improve the acquisition process, DoD implemented...including internal controls ), personnel, organizations, training, policy and regulations, as well as looked into legislative solutions, to establish...programs, telecommuting policy, physical wellness programs, mobility and cross-functional developmental opportunities, availability of mentoring, coaching

Bioinformatics approaches to single-cell analysis in developmental biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Yalcin, Dicle; Hakguder, Zeynep M; Otu, Hasan H

2016-03-01

Individual cells within the same population show various degrees of heterogeneity, which may be better handled with single-cell analysis to address biological and clinical questions. Single-cell analysis is especially important in developmental biology as subtle spatial and temporal differences in cells have significant associations with cell fate decisions during differentiation and with the description of a particular state of a cell exhibiting an aberrant phenotype. Biotechnological advances, especially in the area of microfluidics, have led to a robust, massively parallel and multi-dimensional capturing, sorting, and lysis of single-cells and amplification of related macromolecules, which have enabled the use of imaging and omics techniques on single cells. There have been improvements in computational single-cell image analysis in developmental biology regarding feature extraction, segmentation, image enhancement and machine learning, handling limitations of optical resolution to gain new perspectives from the raw microscopy images. Omics approaches, such as transcriptomics, genomics and epigenomics, targeting gene and small RNA expression, single nucleotide and structural variations and methylation and histone modifications, rely heavily on high-throughput sequencing technologies. Although there are well-established bioinformatics methods for analysis of sequence data, there are limited bioinformatics approaches which address experimental design, sample size considerations, amplification bias, normalization, differential expression, coverage, clustering and classification issues, specifically applied at the single-cell level. In this review, we summarize biological and technological advancements, discuss challenges faced in the aforementioned data acquisition and analysis issues and present future prospects for application of single-cell analyses to developmental biology. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European

Lessons with Living Harvest Mice: An empirical study of their effects on intrinsic motivation and knowledge acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Wilde, Matthias; Hußmann, Jona Samuel; Lorenzen, Simone; Meyer, Annika; Randler, Christoph

2012-12-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of living animals on pupils' intrinsic motivation and knowledge. Various studies from the late 1970s and 1980s stress the high effectiveness of authentic learning experiences in pupils' knowledge acquisition. However, there are only few current empirical studies on this topic. The research question of our study is to assess whether the use of living animals in the biology classroom supports intrinsic motivation and knowledge acquisition. In a pre-/post-test design, 185 fifth graders received two different treatments: the experimental group (N = 74) was taught with living harvest mice (Micromys minutus) and the control group (N = 111) received lessons with the same content which was presented in short film clips on laptop computers. Knowledge acquisition was assessed with open-ended and closed questions, while intrinsic motivation was tested with an adapted version of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI). There were no differences in knowledge acquisition between the treatments. However, the results of the IMI showed significant differences in favour of the experimental group in interest/enjoyment, perceived competence, and perceived autonomy. Thus, living animals exert a positive influence on motivation.

Interdisciplinarity in translation teaching: competence-based education, translation task-based approach, context-based text typology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edelweiss Vitol Gysel

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In the context of competence-based teaching, this paper draws upon the model of Translation Competence (TC put forward by the PACTE group (2003 to establish a dialogue between cognitive-constructivist paradigms for translation teaching and the model of the Context-based Text Typology (MATTHIESSEN et al., 2007. In this theoretical environment, it proposes a model for the design of a Teaching Unit (TU for the development of the bilingual competence in would-be-translators.To this end, it explores translation as a cognitive, communicative and textual activity (HURTADO ALBIR, 2011 and considers its teaching from the translation task-based approach (HURTADO ALBIR, 1999. This approach is illustrated through the practical example of the design of a TU elaborated for the subject ‘Introduction to Specialized Translation’,part of the curricular grid of the program ‘Secretariado Executivo’ at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Aspects such as the establishment of learning objectives and their alignment with the translation tasks composing the TU are addressed for this specific pedagogical situation. We argue for the development of textual competences by means of the acquisition of strategies derived from the Context-based Text Typology to solve problems arising from the translation of different text types and contextual configurations.

Advanced competencies mapping of critical care nursing: a qualitative research in two Intensive Care Units.

Science.gov (United States)

Alfieri, Emanuela; Mori, Marina; Barbui, Valentina; Sarli, Leopoldo

2017-07-18

Nowadays, in Italy, the nursing profession has suffered important changes in response to the needs of citizens' health and to improve the quality of the health service in the country.  At the basis of this development there is an increase of the nurses' knowledge, competencies and responsibilities. Currently, the presence of nurses who have followed post-basic training paths, and the subsequent acquisition of advanced clinical knowledge and specializations, has made it essential for the presence of competencies mappings for each specialty, also to differentiate them from general care nurses. The objective is to get a mapping of nurse's individual competencies working in critical care, to analyze the context of the Parma Hospital and comparing it with the Lebanon Heart Hospital in Lebanon. The survey has been done through a series of interviews involving some of the hospital staff, in order to collect opinions about the ICU nurses' competencies. What emerged from the data allowed us to get a list of important abilities, competencies, character traits and  intensive care nurse activities. Italians and Lebanese nurses appear to be prepared from a technical point of view, with a desire for improvement through specializations, masters and enabling courses in advanced health maneuvers. By respondents nurses can seize a strong desire for professional improvement. At the end of our research we were able to draw a list of different individual competencies, behavioral and moral characteristics. The nurse figure has a high potential and large professional improvement prospects, if more taken into account by the health system.

Competence Building

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Borrás, Susana; Edquist, Charles

The main question that guides this paper is how governments are focusing (and must focus) on competence building (education and training) when designing and implementing innovation policies. With this approach, the paper aims at filling the gap between the existing literature on competences...... on the one hand, and the real world of innovation policy-making on the other, typically not speaking to each other. With this purpose in mind, this paper discusses the role of competences and competence-building in the innovation process from a perspective of innovation systems; it examines how governments...... and public agencies in different countries and different times have actually approached the issue of building, maintaining and using competences in their innovation systems; it examines what are the critical and most important issues at stake from the point of view of innovation policy, looking particularly...

Competence-based education to develop digital competence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wesselink, R.; Giaffredo, Silvio

2015-01-01

The competence approach to learning and teaching has been described by several theoretical models. These formal models are often not integrated with concrete educational activity. On the contrary, this article proposes a practical implementation of the competence approach in education. The model of

"The Actualized Neurosurgeon": A Proposed Model of Surgical Resident Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Lipsman, Nir; Khan, Osaama; Kulkarni, Abhaya V

2017-03-01

Modern neurosurgical training is both physically and emotionally demanding, posing significant challenges, new and old, to residents as well as programs attempting to train safe, competent surgeons. Models to describe resident development, such as the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies and milestones, address the acquisition of specific skills but largely ignore the stresses and pressures unique to each stage of resident training. We propose an alternative model of resident development adapted from the developmental psychology literature. Our model identifies the challenges that must be met at each stage of junior, intermediate, and senior and chief residency, leading ultimately to an "actualized" neurosurgeon (i.e., one who has maximized his or her potential). Failure to overcome any 1 of these challenges can lead to specific long-lasting consequences, including regret, identity crisis, incompetence, and bitterness. In contrast, the actualized surgeon is one who has successfully acquired the virtues of hope, will, purpose, fidelity, productivity, leadership, competence, and wisdom. The actualized surgeon not only functions safely, confidently, and professionally, but also successfully navigates the challenges of residency and emerges from them having fulfilled his or her maximal potential. This developmental perspective provides an individualized description of healthy surgical development. Our model allows programs to identify the basis for residents who fail to progress, counsel residents during their training, and perhaps help identify resident candidates who are better prepared to meet the developmental challenges of residency training. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Integrating light-sheet imaging with virtual reality to recapitulate developmental cardiac mechanics.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Yichen; Abiri, Arash; Abiri, Parinaz; Li, Shuoran; Chang, Chih-Chiang; Baek, Kyung In; Hsu, Jeffrey J; Sideris, Elias; Li, Yilei; Lee, Juhyun; Segura, Tatiana; Nguyen, Thao P; Bui, Alexander; Sevag Packard, René R; Fei, Peng; Hsiai, Tzung K

2017-11-16

Currently, there is a limited ability to interactively study developmental cardiac mechanics and physiology. We therefore combined light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) with virtual reality (VR) to provide a hybrid platform for 3D architecture and time-dependent cardiac contractile function characterization. By taking advantage of the rapid acquisition, high axial resolution, low phototoxicity, and high fidelity in 3D and 4D (3D spatial + 1D time or spectra), this VR-LSFM hybrid methodology enables interactive visualization and quantification otherwise not available by conventional methods, such as routine optical microscopes. We hereby demonstrate multiscale applicability of VR-LSFM to (a) interrogate skin fibroblasts interacting with a hyaluronic acid-based hydrogel, (b) navigate through the endocardial trabecular network during zebrafish development, and (c) localize gene therapy-mediated potassium channel expression in adult murine hearts. We further combined our batch intensity normalized segmentation algorithm with deformable image registration to interface a VR environment with imaging computation for the analysis of cardiac contraction. Thus, the VR-LSFM hybrid platform demonstrates an efficient and robust framework for creating a user-directed microenvironment in which we uncovered developmental cardiac mechanics and physiology with high spatiotemporal resolution.

Evidence for a developmental role for TLR4 in learning and memory.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eitan Okun

Full Text Available Toll-like receptors (TLRs play essential roles in innate immunity and increasing evidence indicates that these receptors are expressed in neurons, astrocytes and microglia in the brain where they mediate responses to infection, stress and injury. Very little is known about the roles of TLRs in cognition. To test the hypothesis that TLR4 has a role in hippocampus-dependent spatial learning and memory, we used mice deficient for TLR4 and mice receiving chronic TLR4 antagonist infusion to the lateral ventricles in the brain. We found that developmental TLR4 deficiency enhances spatial reference memory acquisition and memory retention, impairs contextual fear-learning and enhances motor functions, traits that were correlated with CREB up-regulation in the hippocampus. TLR4 antagonist infusion into the cerebral ventricles of adult mice did not affect cognitive behavior, but instead affected anxiety responses. Our findings indicate a developmental role for TLR4 in shaping spatial reference memory, and fear learning and memory. Moreover, we show that central TLR4 inhibition using a TLR4 antagonist has no discernible physiological role in regulating spatial and contextual hippocampus-dependent cognitive behavior.

Competence, competency-based education, and undergraduate dental education: a discussion paper.

Science.gov (United States)

Chuenjitwongsa, S; Oliver, R G; Bullock, A D

2018-02-01

The aim of undergraduate dental education is to provide competent dentists to serve societal needs and improve population oral healthcare. Competency-based education has influenced the development of dental education for decades but this term is problematic. This article explores components of competency-based undergraduate health professional education in order to help the dental profession have a better understanding of the context and purposes of undergraduate dental education. This is a discussion paper based on a wide reading of the literature on the education of health professionals with a specific focus on competency-based undergraduate education. Competence comprises an integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes indicating a capability to perform professional tasks safely and ethically. The process of becoming a competent practitioner is complex. Four characteristics of competency-based education are: curriculum components and content shaped by societal needs; focused on student-centred learning; learning achievement; and limited attention to time-based training and numerical targets. Alongside a competency-based approach, undergraduate dental education can be influenced by institutional features and external factors but these receive little consideration in the literature. Understanding competence, competency-based education, and institutional and external factors will help to improve educational quality, define roles and professional development for the dental educator, and inform further research. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Mergers and Acquisitions

OpenAIRE

Frasch, Manfred; Leptin, Maria

2000-01-01

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are booming a strategy of choice for organizations attempting to maintain a competitive advantage. Previous research on mergers and acquisitions declares that acquirers do not normally benefit from acquisitions. Targets, on the other hand, have a tendency of gaining positive returns in the few days surrounding merger announcements due to several characteristic on the acquisitions deal. The announcement period wealth effect on acquiring firms, however, is as cle...

Ensuring the sustainability of EDF power plant operating capacity; Assurer la perennite des competences d'exploitation des centrales d'EDF

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francois, J. [Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (IRSN), Service d' Etude des Facteurs Humains, 92 - Clamart (France)

2009-07-15

The life extension of the power plants is considered whereas EDF must face an acceleration of the retirement rates due to the fact that the first generations of the baby-boom are ageing 60 years, now. Between 2000 and 2006, EDF gradually set up a system of management of competencies. On the one hand, EDF moved from logic of relatively standardized training to a more individualized logic of acquisition of competencies. In addition, the objective of maintenance of internat competencies defined in 2000 was supplemented in 2003 by a prospective dimension intended to anticipate the departures in inactivity. Then in 2006 competencies of sub-contractors were taken into account. During this period I.R.S.N. has assessed 3 times this system of management. This article briefly presents the principal lessons driven from these evaluations. It accounts for the undeniable effort made by EDF to ensure the maintenance of its competencies. However, it stresses that a high level of vigilance is still needed because it is not stabilized already. (author)

The effectiveness of parent participation in occupational therapy for children with developmental delay

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Lin CL

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Chien-Lin Lin1,2 Chin-Kai Lin,3 Jia-Jhen Yu4 1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, China Medical University Hospital, 2School of Chinese Medicine, College of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, 3Program of Early Intervention, Department of Early Childhood Education, National Taichung University of Education, 4Occupation Therapy Unit of Rehabilitation Techniques Section, Lin Shin Medical Corporation Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan Introduction: This study aims to explore the impact of Parent Participation Program on the development of developmental delay children. Methods: Pretest-posttest equivalent-group experimental design study was used in this paper. A total of 30 pairs of developmental delay children aged 0–72 months and their parents participated into this study. They were divided into two groups, namely control group and experimental group, according to parents’ wishes. The objects of study in control group received 16 courses of direct rehabilitation therapy; those in experimental group received 8 courses of direct rehabilitation therapy and 8 courses of instruction and tracking of Parent Participation Program. The duration of the intervention was 8 weeks. All cases should be evaluated before and after the intervention, to analyze the difference before and after intervention and among groups. The statistical methods in this paper included descriptive analysis, Chi-square test, independent sample t-test, pair-sample t-test. Results and conclusion: The intervention of Parent Participation Occupational Program has positive impact on the development of developmental delay children in various fields. Among all the intervention results, the progress of the experimental group is 1.895 times more than that of the control group. With parent involvement, Parent Participation Occupational Therapy can promote the cognitive ability, language ability, action ability (gross and fine movement, social competence and

Connecting development of pragmatic competence with the CEFR

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Marija Kusevska

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to look at how The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR can facilitate research of pragmatic competence development. Central to developing pragmatic competence are the language functions (or speech acts and the conventions of politeness. In particular, we focus on how Macedonian learners of English at B2 level express their disagreement, and we put their performance in relation to the functions and the politeness maxims postulated in Vantage (van Ek/Trim 2001 and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001. Data for the analysis was compiled by means of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT consisting of nine tasks which required the students to express an opposing view to the one given in the tasks. In our analysis, we classified disagreement as strong, weak, direct and hints. We focus on the linguistic means that learners used to express and to modify their disagreement. In particular, we discuss the use of lexical and syntactic modifiers, putting more emphasis on the use of modal verbs and I think. We end the paper with a conclusion that the CEFR and the accompanying books provide a valuable tool not only because they list the exponents of the functions, but also because they explain the principles that these exponents are motivated by. Finally, we raise two issues that we believe are important for further consideration. One is development of further research across all levels with the aim of better understanding the processes governing the acquisition of pragmatic competence. The other is developing research on what teaching methods and techniques should be employed to facilitate it.

The Interrelations between Competences for Sustainable Development and Research Competences

Science.gov (United States)

Lambrechts, Wim; Van Petegem, Peter

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how competences for sustainable development and research interrelate within a context of competence-based higher education. Specific focus is oriented towards strengthening research competences for sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: Following a hermeneutic-interpretive methodology, this…

REST controls self-renewal and tumorigenic competence of human glioblastoma cells.

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Luciano Conti

Full Text Available The Repressor Element 1 Silencing Transcription factor (REST/NRSF is a master repressor of neuronal programs in non-neuronal lineages shown to function as a central regulator of developmental programs and stem cell physiology. Aberrant REST function has been associated with a number of pathological conditions. In cancer biology, REST has been shown to play a tumor suppressor activity in epithelial cancers but an oncogenic role in brain childhood malignancies such as neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma. Here we examined REST expression in human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM specimens and its role in GBM cells carrying self-renewal and tumorigenic competence. We found REST to be expressed in GBM specimens, its presence being particularly enriched in tumor cells in the perivascular compartment. Significantly, REST is highly expressed in self-renewing tumorigenic-competent GBM cells and its knock down strongly reduces their self-renewal in vitro and tumor-initiating capacity in vivo and affects levels of miR-124 and its downstream targets. These results indicate that REST contributes to GBM maintenance by affecting its self-renewing and tumorigenic cellular component and that, hence, a better understanding of these circuitries in these cells might lead to new exploitable therapeutic targets.

Ethical climate and nurse competence - newly graduated nurses' perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Numminen, Olivia; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Isoaho, Hannu; Meretoja, Riitta

2015-12-01

Nursing practice takes place in a social framework, in which environmental elements and interpersonal relations interact. Ethical climate of the work unit is an important element affecting nurses' professional and ethical practice. Nevertheless, whatever the environmental circumstances, nurses are expected to be professionally competent providing high-quality care ethically and clinically. This study examined newly graduated nurses' perception of the ethical climate of their work environment and its association with their self-assessed professional competence, turnover intentions and job satisfaction. Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational research design was applied. Participants consisted of 318 newly graduated nurses. Data were collected electronically and analysed statistically. Ethical approval and permissions to use instruments and conduct the study were obtained according to required procedures. Data were rendered anonymous to protect participant confidentiality. Completing the questionnaire was interpreted as consent to participate. Nurses' overall perception of the ethical climate was positive. More positive perceptions related to peers, patients and physicians, and less positive to hospitals and managers. Strong associations were found between perceived ethical climate and self-assessed competence, turnover intentions in terms of changing job, and job satisfaction in terms of quality of care. Nurses at a higher competence level with positive views of job satisfaction and low turnover intentions perceived the climate significantly more positively. Nursing management responsible for and having the power to implement changes should understand their contribution in ethical leadership, as well as the multidimensional nature of nurses' work environment and the interaction between work-related factors in planning developmental measures. Future research should focus on issues in nurse managers' ethical leadership in creating ethical work environments. There

Navigating the pathway to robotic competency in general thoracic surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Seder, Christopher W; Cassivi, Stephen D; Wigle, Dennis A

2013-01-01

Although robotic technology has addressed many of the limitations of traditional videoscopic surgery, robotic surgery has not gained widespread acceptance in the general thoracic community. We report our initial robotic surgery experience and propose a structured, competency-based pathway for the development of robotic skills. Between December 2008 and February 2012, a total of 79 robot-assisted pulmonary, mediastinal, benign esophageal, or diaphragmatic procedures were performed. Data on patient characteristics and perioperative outcomes were retrospectively collected and analyzed. During the study period, one surgeon and three residents participated in a triphasic, competency-based pathway designed to teach robotic skills. The pathway consisted of individual preclinical learning followed by mentored preclinical exercises and progressive clinical responsibility. The robot-assisted procedures performed included lung resection (n = 38), mediastinal mass resection (n = 19), hiatal or paraesophageal hernia repair (n = 12), and Heller myotomy (n = 7), among others (n = 3). There were no perioperative mortalities, with a 20% complication rate and a 3% readmission rate. Conversion to a thoracoscopic or open approach was required in eight pulmonary resections to facilitate dissection (six) or to control hemorrhage (two). Fewer major perioperative complications were observed in the later half of the experience. All residents who participated in the thoracic surgery robotic pathway perform robot-assisted procedures as part of their clinical practice. Robot-assisted thoracic surgery can be safely learned when skill acquisition is guided by a structured, competency-based pathway.

Reasoning process characteristics in the diagnostic skills of beginner, competent, and expert dentists.

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Crespo, Kathleen E; Torres, José E; Recio, María E

2004-12-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate qualitative differences in the diagnostic reasoning process at different developmental stages of expertise. A qualitative design was used to study cognitive processes that characterize the diagnosis of oral disease at the stages of beginner (five junior students who had passed the NBDE I), competent (five GPR first-year residents), and expert dentists (five general dentists with ten or more years of experience). Individually, each participant was asked to determine the diagnosis of an oral condition based on a written clinical case, using the think aloud technique and retrospective reports. A subsequent interview was conducted to obtain the participants' diagnostic process model and pathophysiology of the case. The analysis of the verbal protocols indicated that experts referred to the patient's sociomedical context more frequently, demonstrated better organization of ideas, could determine key clinical findings, and had an ability to plan for the search of pertinent information. Fewer diagnostic hypotheses were formulated by participants who used forward reasoning, independent of the stage of development. Beginners requested additional diagnostic aids (radiographs, laboratory tests) more frequently than the competent/expert dentists. Experts recalled typical experiences with patients, while competent/beginner dentists recalled information from didactic courses. Experts evidenced cognitive diagnostic schemas that integrate pathophysiology of disease, while competent and beginner participants had not achieved this integration. We conclude that expert performance is a combination of a knowledge base, reasoning skills, and an accumulation of experiences with patients that is qualitatively different from that of competent and beginner dentists. It is important for dental education to emphasize the teaching of cognitive processes and to incorporate a wide variety of clinical experiences in addition to the teaching of

Predicting Species-Resolved Macronutrient Acquisition during Succession in a Model Phototrophic Biofilm Using an Integrated ‘Omics Approach

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Stephen R. Lindemann

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The principles governing acquisition and interspecies exchange of nutrients in microbial communities and how those exchanges impact community productivity are poorly understood. Here, we examine energy and macronutrient acquisition in unicyanobacterial consortia for which species-resolved genome information exists for all members, allowing us to use multi-omic approaches to predict species’ abilities to acquire resources and examine expression of resource-acquisition genes during succession. Metabolic reconstruction indicated that a majority of heterotrophic community members lacked the genes required to directly acquire the inorganic nutrients provided in culture medium, suggesting high metabolic interdependency. The sole primary producer in consortium UCC-O, cyanobacterium Phormidium sp. OSCR, displayed declining expression of energy harvest, carbon fixation, and nitrate and sulfate reduction proteins but sharply increasing phosphate transporter expression over 28 days. Most heterotrophic members likewise exhibited signs of phosphorus starvation during succession. Though similar in their responses to phosphorus limitation, heterotrophs displayed species-specific expression of nitrogen acquisition genes. These results suggest niche partitioning around nitrogen sources may structure the community when organisms directly compete for limited phosphate. Such niche complementarity around nitrogen sources may increase community diversity and productivity in phosphate-limited phototrophic communities.

The developmental trajectory of children's auditory and visual statistical learning abilities: modality-based differences in the effect of age.

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Raviv, Limor; Arnon, Inbal

2017-09-12

Infants, children and adults are capable of extracting recurring patterns from their environment through statistical learning (SL), an implicit learning mechanism that is considered to have an important role in language acquisition. Research over the past 20 years has shown that SL is present from very early infancy and found in a variety of tasks and across modalities (e.g., auditory, visual), raising questions on the domain generality of SL. However, while SL is well established for infants and adults, only little is known about its developmental trajectory during childhood, leaving two important questions unanswered: (1) Is SL an early-maturing capacity that is fully developed in infancy, or does it improve with age like other cognitive capacities (e.g., memory)? and (2) Will SL have similar developmental trajectories across modalities? Only few studies have looked at SL across development, with conflicting results: some find age-related improvements while others do not. Importantly, no study to date has examined auditory SL across childhood, nor compared it to visual SL to see if there are modality-based differences in the developmental trajectory of SL abilities. We addressed these issues by conducting a large-scale study of children's performance on matching auditory and visual SL tasks across a wide age range (5-12y). Results show modality-based differences in the development of SL abilities: while children's learning in the visual domain improved with age, learning in the auditory domain did not change in the tested age range. We examine these findings in light of previous studies and discuss their implications for modality-based differences in SL and for the role of auditory SL in language acquisition. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kg35hoF0pw. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Competence Map of Regulatory Body: Personal and Interpersonal Effectiveness Competencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Volkov, E.

2016-01-01

Full text: The paper presents implementation stages and outcomes of the project “Nuclear Facility Competences” fulfilled in JSC “Rosenergoatom” and outcomes of the project “Knowledge Management, Training and Staff Retention” fulfilled for Romania regulatory authority. The goal of the project was a development of competence profiles for nuclear power plant and corporate inspectorate key job positions. The paper is focused on personal and interpersonal effectiveness competencies for inspectorate job positions which are a part of well-known 4-Quadrant Competence Model. Each competence is described by one or two behavior scales. One can consider those competencies like common ones for organizations implementing inspection activity and could be used in human resource management processes like personnel selection, job assessment, career planning, training, mentoring. (author

Developmental Science: Past, Present, and Future

Science.gov (United States)

Lerner, Richard M.

2012-01-01

The goal of developmental science is to describe, explain, and optimize intraindividual changes in adaptive developmental regulations and, as well, interindividual differences in such relations, across life. The history of developmental science is reviewed and its current foci, which are framed by relational developmental systems models that…

Mergers and Acquisitions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Risberg, Annette

Introduction to the study of mergers and acquisitions. This book provides an understanding of the mergers and acquisitions process, how and why they occur, and also the broader implications for organizations. It presents issues including motives and planning, partner selection, integration......, employee experiences and communication. Mergers and acquisitions remain one of the most common forms of growth, yet they present considerable challenges for the companies and management involved. The effects on stakeholders, including shareholders, managers and employees, must be considered as well...... by editorial commentaries and reflects the important organizational and behavioural aspects which have often been ignored in the past. By providing this in-depth understanding of the mergers and acquisitions process, the reader understands not only how and why mergers and acquisitions occur, but also...

Actual motor performance and self-perceived motor competence in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder compared with healthy siblings and peers.

Science.gov (United States)

Fliers, Ellen A; de Hoog, Marieke L A; Franke, Barbara; Faraone, Stephen V; Rommelse, Nanda N J; Buitelaar, Jan K; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria W G

2010-01-01

: Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently experience comorbid motor problems, developmental coordination disorder. Also, children with ADHD are said to overestimate their abilities in the cognitive and social domain, the so-called "Positive Illusory Bias." In this cross-sectional study, the relationship between actual motor performance and perceived motor competence was examined. Motor performance was assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children in 100 children and adolescents (age 6-17 years), including 32 children with ADHD combined type, 18 unaffected siblings, and 50 healthy control children. ADHD was diagnosed using Parent and Teacher questionnaires and a clinical interview. Perceived motor competence and interest in the motor domain were rated with the Dutch supplement scale to Harters' Self-Perception Profile for Children, especially focusing on the motor domain (m-CBSK). Children with ADHD had poorer motor performance than unaffected siblings and control children, especially in the field of manual dexterity. However, no relationship was found between motor performance and perceived motor competence. Only children with the very lowest motor performance had a significantly lowered perception of their motor competence. Interest in the motor domain and motor self-perception was positively correlated. Children with ADHD performed poorer on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, but generally overestimated their own motor competence.

Developing mathematical modelling competence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blomhøj, Morten; Jensen, Tomas Højgaard

2003-01-01

In this paper we introduce the concept of mathematical modelling competence, by which we mean being able to carry through a whole mathematical modelling process in a certain context. Analysing the structure of this process, six sub-competences are identified. Mathematical modelling competence...... cannot be reduced to these six sub-competences, but they are necessary elements in the development of mathematical modelling competence. Experience from the development of a modelling course is used to illustrate how the different nature of the sub-competences can be used as a tool for finding...... the balance between different kinds of activities in a particular educational setting. Obstacles of social, cognitive and affective nature for the students' development of mathematical modelling competence are reported and discussed in relation to the sub-competences....

Athletic Coaching Competencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Nathanson, Stephen J.

1979-01-01

This article describes a study conducted to identify the competencies appropriate for an athletic coach and to incorporate those competencies into a competency based coaching education program for the four-year colleges and universities within the New York state systems. (JMF)

An Interpretation of Part of Gilbert Gottlieb's Legacy: Developmental Systems Theory Contra Developmental Behavior Genetics

Science.gov (United States)

Molenaar, Peter C. M.

2015-01-01

The main theme of this paper concerns the persistent critique of Gilbert Gottlieb on developmental behavior genetics and my reactions to this critique, the latter changing from rejection to complete acceptation. Concise characterizations of developmental behavior genetics, developmental systems theory (to which Gottlieb made essential…

DESIGNING EDUCATIONAL PROCESS OF FORMING SOCIAL AND PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCE OF FUTURE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN INCLUSIVE SECONDARY SCHOOL

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Zoia Shevtsiv

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the issue of social and pedagogical competence of future primary school teacher in inclusive secondary schools. The aim of the article is to define the concept “design” and “pedagogical design”; to disclose methodological approaches and main features of pedagogical design of forming of social and pedagogical competence of future primary school teacher in inclusive secondary schools; to identify structural elements of social and pedagogical competence. The article analyzes the essence of the concept “design”. The process of designing educational system of social and pedagogical competence of future primary school teacher in inclusive secondary school is based on several interrelated methodological approaches, including systematic, axiological, active, person-centered, contextual acmeological, and competential ones. Important factors and theoretical starting positions are designing general principles of education: humanism and democracy; principles of teaching, scientific, professional orientation, integrity, communication theory and practice, consistency and systematic, variability, pedagogical creativity. The special principles are the following: problematic, technologizing, dialogization, and competence ones. Social and pedagogical competence of future primary school teachers in inclusive secondary school is structured by the cognitive, active, professional and personal components. Structure components are defined as a synthesis of social and pedagogical competences, educational and developmental, communicative, diagnostic, organizational, predictive, preventive, security and defense, correctional and rehabilitation, adaptation items. Established continuity of the educational process of forming social and pedagogical competence of future primary school teacher in inclusive secondary school takes place during the period of study in higher education establishments. The following conclusions are drawn that

Competence development: Key issues and trends in European competence policies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Milana, Marcella

  In recent years there has been a rising political attention on competence development both at national and international level. At European level in particular, since 2000, with the set of the Lisbon Agenda, different bodies representing the Union have been very productive in generating working...... papers, reports, and communications that led to directives and resolutions concerning the development and recognition of skills and competences in a lifelong learning perspective. In 2005 this process led to the definition of a European Framework on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning - covering those...... competences that are given priority within the Union - as well as a European Qualification Framework, a reference tool for making qualifications - here described in terms of progressive levels of competence - transparent and transferable within the European borders. The aim of the paper is to investigate...

Lifelong Competence Development: On the Advantages of Formal Competence-Performance Modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kickmeier-Rust, Michael D.; Albert, Dietrich; Steiner, Christina

2006-01-01

Please, cite this publication as: Kickmeier-Rust, M.D., Albert, D., & Steiner, C. (2006). Lifelong Competence Development: On the Advantages of Formal Competence-Performance Modeling. Proceedings of International Workshop in Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development, TENCompetence

Motor Skill Competence and Perceived Motor Competence: Which Best Predicts Physical Activity among Girls?

Science.gov (United States)

Khodaverdi, Zeinab; Bahram, Abbas; Khalaji, Hassan; Kazemnejad, Anoshirvan

2013-10-01

The main purpose of this study was to determine which correlate, perceived motor competence or motor skill competence, best predicts girls' physical activity behavior. A sample of 352 girls (mean age=8.7, SD=0.3 yr) participated in this study. To assess motor skill competence and perceived motor competence, each child completed the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 and Physical Ability sub-scale of Marsh's Self-Description Questionnaire. Children's physical activity was assessed by the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children. Multiple linear regression model was used to determine whether perceived motor competence or motor skill competence best predicts moderate-to-vigorous self-report physical activity. Multiple regression analysis indicated that motor skill competence and perceived motor competence predicted 21% variance in physical activity (R(2)=0.21, F=48.9, P=0.001), and motor skill competence (R(2)=0.15, ᵝ=0.33, P= 0.001) resulted in more variance than perceived motor competence (R(2)=0.06, ᵝ=0.25, P=0.001) in physical activity. Results revealed motor skill competence had more influence in comparison with perceived motor competence on physical activity level. We suggest interventional programs based on motor skill competence and perceived motor competence should be administered or implemented to promote physical activity in young girls.

Assessment of Innovation Competency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jan Alexis

2015-01-01

competency, and communication competency) as well as assessment criteria for a number of skills relevant to these subcompetencies. These assessment criteria, it is argued, largely resonate with existing literature and they provide a detailed glimpse into how assessment of innovation competency could...... of the recorded talk in interaction that occurred in teacher group discussion sessions at 5 upper secondary schools. Based on the analysis, it was possible to extrapolate assessment criteria for 5 subcompetencies relevant to innovation (creative competency, collaboration competency, navigation competency, action...

Role of Caspase-3 Cleaved IP3R1 on Ca2+ Homeostasis and Developmental Competence of Mouse Oocytes and Eggs

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Nan; Fissore, Rafael. A.

2014-01-01

Apoptosis in most cell types is accompanied by altered Ca2+ homeostasis. During apoptosis, caspase-3 mediated cleavage of the type 1 inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP3R1) generates a 95-kDa C-terminal fragment (C-IP3R1), which represents the channel domain of the receptor. Aged mouse eggs display abnormal Ca2+ homeostasis and express C-IP3R1, although whether or not C-IP3R1 expression contributes to Ca2+ misregulation or a decrease in developmental competency is unknown. We sought to answer these questions by injecting in mouse oocytes and eggs cRNAs encoding CIP3R1. We found that: 1) expression of C-IP3R1 in eggs lowered the Ca2+ content of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), although, as C-IP3R1 is quickly degraded at this stage, its expression did not impair pre-implantation embryo development; 2) expression of CIP3R1 in eggs enhanced fragmentation associated with aging; 3) endogenous IP3R1 is required for aging associated apoptosis, as its down-regulation prevented fragmentation, and expression of C-IP3R1 in eggs with downregulated IP3R1 partly restored fragmentation; 4) C-IP3R1 expression in GV oocytes resulted in persistent levels of protein, which abolished the increase in the ER releasable Ca2+ pool that occurs during maturation, undermined the Ca2+ oscillatory ability of matured eggs and their activation potential. Collectively, this study supports a role for IP3R1 and C-IP3R1 in regulating Ca2+ homeostasis and the ER Ca2+ content during oocyte maturation. Nevertheless, the role of C-IP3R1 on Ca2+ homeostasis in aged eggs seems minor, as in MII eggs the majority of endogenous IP3R1 remains intact and C-IP3R1 undergoes rapid turnover. PMID:24692207

Soft Skill Competencies, Hard Skill Competencies, and Intention to Become Entrepreneur of Vocational Graduates

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Benedicta Prihatin Dwi Riyanti

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to determine the effect of soft skill competencies and hard skill competencies to the intention to become entrepreneur in the vocational school graduates. Hard skill entrepreneurial competencies are competencies that are needed to running business. Meanwhile for soft skill competencies are competencies related to aspects of personality and cognitive style. Population in this research is vocational graduates in Jakarta and Jogjakarta. The sampling technique used is incidental sampling. We used measuring instruments as follow: the intention to become entrepreneur of Shapero & Sokol (in Riyanti, 2009. soft skill competencies of Spencer & Spencer (1993 and hard skill competencies of Chou. Shen. Hsiou & Chen. 2010. The regression analysis of the 258 respondents showed significant effect of soft skill competencies (initiative. self-confidence and assertiveness to the intention to become entrepreneur in the vocational school graduates. There are significant effect hard skill competencies (human resources capability competency and production capability competency to the intention to be entrepreneur. Based on the results. we suggested that the learning process should be more emphasis on direct practice so that more competencies can be formed on vocational school graduates.

An integrated approach for a higher success rate in mergers and acquisitions

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Andrej Bertoncelj

2007-05-01

Full Text Available The paper outlines the importance of balanced management of hard and soft key success factors, combining the economic logic of corporate performance and human capital through an integrated approach to mergers and acquisitions. The study, based on a questionnaire and interviews, suggests that the achievement level ofmergers and acquisitions’ objectives of acquiring companies in Slovenia should be comparable to findings of similar studies; namely, the objectives that drove the deal were met only half the time. The results indicate that five hard success factors – a professional target search and due diligence, a realistic assessment of synergies, theright mix of financial sources, a detailed post-acquisition integration plan already prepared in the pre-deal phase and its speedy implementation – and five soft success factors – a new “combined” organizational culture, a competent management team, innovative employees, efficient and consistent communication and a creative business environment – are becoming increasingly relevant. Even though they differ in their importance for individual companies in the sample, they are all considered essential to increasing the success rate of corporate combinations

Developmental pathways of change in health-related fitness and motor competence are related to obesity development in childhood

OpenAIRE

Rodrigues, Luis Paulo; Lopes, Vítor P.

2013-01-01

The epidemic obesity in chi1dhood is well acknowledged worldwide. Althongh researchers agree that explaining models for childhood obesity can include several risk factors, the question remains as to which speci fic predictors can be the touchstone to solving the probIem. In recent years, a modeI of developmental mechanisms influencing the physical activity and weight pathways of children has been presented by Stodden and colleagnes (2008). In this model it is predicted that children ...

THE INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGE COMPETENCE, WRITING COMPETENCE, AND CULTURAL COMPETENCE ON PRODUCING A SUCCESSFUL WRITING

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Hermanto Hermanto

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Writing is a skill derived from a long way of learning and exercises. Different from other language skills, writing is considered the difficult language skill to acquire since it involves many aspects of linguistics, social, and writing knowledge and conventions. There are at least three important elements of writing useful to produce a good piece of composition, language competence, writing competence and cultural competence. This paper shows the influence of these three elements in order to produce good, readable, communicative, and successful writing

Competence Models in Technology-enhanced Competence-based Learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sampson, Demetrios; Fytros, Demetrios

2008-01-01

Please cite as: Sampson, D., & Fytros, D. (2008). Competence Models in Technology-enhanced Competence-based Learning. In H. H. Adelsberger, Kinshuk, J. M. Pawlowski & D. Sampson (Eds.), International Handbook on Information Technologies for Education and Training, 2nd Edition, Springer, June 2008

Qualitative methodology in developmental psychology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Demuth, Carolin; Mey, Günter

2015-01-01

Qualitative methodology presently is gaining increasing recognition in developmental psychology. Although the founders of developmental psychology to a large extent already used qualitative procedures, the field was long dominated by a (post) positivistic quantitative paradigm. The increasing rec...... in qualitative research offers a promising avenue to advance the field in this direction.......Qualitative methodology presently is gaining increasing recognition in developmental psychology. Although the founders of developmental psychology to a large extent already used qualitative procedures, the field was long dominated by a (post) positivistic quantitative paradigm. The increasing...

Attentional networks in developmental dyscalculia

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Henik Avishai

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Very little is known about attention deficits in developmental dyscalculia, hence, this study was designed to provide the missing information. We examined attention abilities of participants suffering from developmental dyscalculia using the attention networks test - interactions. This test was designed to examine three different attention networks--executive function, orienting and alerting--and the interactions between them. Methods Fourteen university students that were diagnosed as suffering from developmental dyscalculia--intelligence and reading abilities in the normal range and no indication of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder--and 14 matched controls were tested using the attention networks test - interactions. All participants were given preliminary tests to measure mathematical abilities, reading, attention and intelligence. Results The results revealed deficits in the alerting network--a larger alerting effect--and in the executive function networks--a larger congruity effect in developmental dyscalculia participants. The interaction between the alerting and executive function networks was also modulated by group. In addition, developmental dyscalculia participants were slower to respond in the non-cued conditions. Conclusions These results imply specific attentional deficits in pure developmental dyscalculia. Namely, those with developmental dyscalculia seem to be deficient in the executive function and alertness networks. They suffer from difficulty in recruiting attention, in addition to the deficits in numerical processing.

Attentional networks in developmental dyscalculia.

Science.gov (United States)

Askenazi, Sarit; Henik, Avishai

2010-01-07

Very little is known about attention deficits in developmental dyscalculia, hence, this study was designed to provide the missing information. We examined attention abilities of participants suffering from developmental dyscalculia using the attention networks test - interactions. This test was designed to examine three different attention networks--executive function, orienting and alerting--and the interactions between them. Fourteen university students that were diagnosed as suffering from developmental dyscalculia--intelligence and reading abilities in the normal range and no indication of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder--and 14 matched controls were tested using the attention networks test-interactions. All participants were given preliminary tests to measure mathematical abilities, reading, attention and intelligence. The results revealed deficits in the alerting network--a larger alerting effect--and in the executive function networks--a larger congruity effect in developmental dyscalculia participants. The interaction between the alerting and executive function networks was also modulated by group. In addition, developmental dyscalculia participants were slower to respond in the non-cued conditions. These results imply specific attentional deficits in pure developmental dyscalculia. Namely, those with developmental dyscalculia seem to be deficient in the executive function and alertness networks. They suffer from difficulty in recruiting attention, in addition to the deficits in numerical processing.

Developmental Scaffolding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giorgi, Franco; Bruni, Luis Emilio

2015-01-01

. Within the developmental hierarchy, each module yields an inter-level relationship that makes it possible for the scaffolding to mediate the production of selectable variations. Awide range of genetic, cellular and morphological mechanisms allows the scaffolding to integrate these modular variations...... to the complexity of sign recognition proper of a cellular community. In this semiotic perspective, the apparent goal directness of any developmental strategy should no longer be accounted for by a predetermined genetic program, but by the gradual definition of the relationships selected amongst the ones...

Psychotherapy with people with developmental disabilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barbara Zafošnik

2011-08-01

Full Text Available People with developmental disabilities can experience any psychological abnormalitiy and psychiatric illness as do people without developmental disabilities. Due to different diagnostic criteria, assessment procedures and instruments, we lack definite prevalence rates for people with developmental disabilities, also suffering from mental health problems, eventhough most studies place the rate at 20 to 40%. One of the possible treatment alternatives for augmenting psychological well-being is psychotherapy, but is extremely rarely used for people with severe and profound disabilities, where speech cannot be the main therapeutic medium. So, those that are included in the psychotherapuetic process are predominantly clients with mild developmental disabilities, and they are mostly in cognitive-behavioral therapy. Recently, two models of (psychotherapy for persons with severe and profound developmental disabilities were developed: developmental-dynamic relationship therapy and attachment-based behaviour therapy for children. Conceptually, they both originate form developmental psychoanalytic theories.

Building Project Competence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pemsel, Sofia; Wiewiora, Anna

This research investigates the development of project competence, and particularly, three related dynamic capabilities (shifting, adapting, leveraging) that contribute to project competence development. In doing so, we make use of the emerging literature on knowledge governance and theorize how...... of dynamic capability building promoting project competence development....

CFP1 Regulates Histone H3K4 Trimethylation and Developmental Potential in Mouse Oocytes

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Chao Yu

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine-4 (H3K4me3 is associated with eukaryotic gene promoters and poises their transcriptional activation during development. To examine the in vivo function of H3K4me3 in the absence of DNA replication, we deleted CXXC finger protein 1 (CFP1, the DNA-binding subunit of the SETD1 histone H3K4 methyltransferase, in developing oocytes. We find that CFP1 is required for H3K4me3 accumulation and the deposition of histone variants onto chromatin during oocyte maturation. Decreased H3K4me3 in oocytes caused global downregulation of transcription activity. Oocytes lacking CFP1 failed to complete maturation and were unable to gain developmental competence after fertilization, due to defects in cytoplasmic lattice formation, meiotic division, and maternal-zygotic transition. Our study highlights the importance of H3K4me3 in continuous histone replacement for transcriptional regulation, chromatin remodeling, and normal developmental progression in a non-replicative system.

Future orientation and competence to stand trial: the fragility of competence.

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Kivisto, Aaron J; Moore, Todd M; Fite, Paula A; Seidner, Bruce G

2011-01-01

The current study examined the direct, indirect, and interactive effects of age, intellectual ability, psychiatric symptomatology, and future orientation on juvenile adjudicative competence utilizing a secondary sample of 927 youth from the MacArthur Juvenile Adjudicative Competence Study. Consistent with previous research, age, intellectual ability, and future orientation were found to be positively associated with competence, and psychiatric symptomatology was weakly negatively related to competence. Tests of indirect effects revealed that the development of an orientation toward future consequences partially explains the relationship between age and the capacity to reason about legal decision-making. Further, tests of invariance revealed that the competence of immature adolescents is particularly "fragile," in that smaller deficits in cognitive abilities appear to pose greater problems in youths regarding their adjudicative competence than in their more mature peers. Findings are discussed in regard to forensic practice as well as for future research.

Knowledge acquisition and creation in the high-tech industry

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Juliano Pavanelli Stefanovitz

2007-10-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the new challenges that come with the emergence of knowledge-based approaches on organizational studies. It is widely recognized, in this context, the increasing importance of understanding the processes through which companys acquire, storage, disseminate and create knowledge. This research analysis the knowledge creation and external acquisition processes in the high-tech industry, environment in which intensive use of knowledge is made. For that, it presents a case study of an R&D Division of a company present in the industrial automation market. In recognition of its innovative competence, this company won the FINEP Prize – Technological Innovation. In this study, besides the identification of the main external knowledge sources, an analysis of the knowledge types conversion observed in its product development activities is made.

Developmental considerations of anorexia nervosa and obesity.

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Bruch, H

1981-06-01

The differentiation of the distinct clinical syndrome of anorexia nervosa from atypical cases is based on the following distinguishing features: a relentless pursuit of thinness; an almost delusional disturbance of body image; an inability to correctly identify hunger from other bodily or tension states; a lack of an identity awareness; and a paralyzing sense of ineffectiveness. This sense of ineffectiveness, pervasive of all thought and action, is connected with the perception of the self as acting only in response to the demands of others and is camouflaged by negativism and defiance. The core developmental issues of being unable to experience the control over one's own body and of lacking the conviction of living one's own life are based on the severe deficits in autonomy and initiative, originating from the distortion and mislabeling of feelings, sensation and moods in early childhood. The treatment process focuses on evoking awareness in these patients of their impulses, feelings and needs as originating within themselves as an essential step in the development of a sense of competence and self-esteem.

[Clinical competence evaluation in undergraduate gynecology and obstetrics].

Science.gov (United States)

Larios Mendoza, Heriberto; Trejo Mejía, Juan Andrés; Gaviño Ambriz, Salvador; Cortés Gutiérrez, Ma Teresa

2002-11-01

Assess the clinical competence in Gynecology and obstetrics to the Internship students of the Faculty of Medicine, UNAM. The study design was descriptive, transverse type. We assessed 64 students, which had finished their gynecology field rotation with the objective structured clinical examination. The criteria to consider a competent performance level, was arbitrarily set up in 60%, both for individual problems and for the exam's global result. In 15 stations, the result was a 56.2 global average. The best performances were achieved in the following stations: take the pap smear (74.7), Pregnancy diagnostic (67.9), history of Gynecology and obstetrics (67.1), self examination of breast explanation (62.2) preclampsia (61.7) and cervicovaginitis (60). All the rest got a mark lower than 60. The results are lower than the ones obtained in written exams, because these cannot assess clinical skills. It could be observed that a student's performance in a clinical problem does not certainly predict his performance in other, so it seems to be determined more by the specific knowledge and the student's experience related to the case, than by a general problem-solving skill. The results show the advantages of this instrument to assess clinical skills, that justify its application in the formative process. This work evidences that its necessary to improve the acquisition of basic clinical skills trough systematic instructionals strategies and greater opportunities of learning.

Attitudes and beliefs of occupational therapists participating in a cultural competency workshop.

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Steed, Robin

2010-09-01

The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the subjective experience of 13 white, female occupational therapists in Louisiana as they participated in a 6-hour workshop on cultural competency. The study employed a mixed method design using qualitative data, obtained from structured reflection questions, and quantitative data, obtained from two objective outcome measures. Three themes emerged from the qualitative data regarding the participants' conflicting attitudes towards African American clients. Therapists believed that: (1) healthcare disparities are not due to racial discrimination; (2) therapists should listen to and educate African American clients; and (3) racial bias and stress contribute to health issues in African American clients. Results from the two outcome measures, the Racial Argument Scale and the Racial Attitude Implicit Association Test, indicate that overall, the study participants held significantly negative attitudes towards African Americans which was not ameliorated by the intervention. The small convenience sample in this study precludes generalization to a broader population, and further investigation into the attitudes of healthcare professionals in Louisiana is needed. Future instructional interventions should take into account the participants' developmental stage of cultural competence. Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Competences for All: Recognizing and Developing Competences of Young People with Fewer Opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Usakli, Hakan

2016-01-01

This qualitative study clarifies opinion of 32 European volunteer youth leaders on concepts of competence, fewer opportunities and enlargement strategies on competence of fewer opportunities. Leaders underline main competencies as follows: tongue, languages, mathematical, digital, learning, social, entrepreneurship, cultural. Key competences are…

Competencies for the 21st Century Information Professional: Translating the SLA Competencies into Business Competencies.

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Henczel, Sue

This paper examines how the Special Libraries Association competencies can be mapped to the broader business competencies of marketing (promoting), packaging (product development), persuading and performing (sales/customer service), and positioning (strategic maneuvering). It introduces a process whereby the skills, knowledge, understandings, and…

Soft Skill Competencies, Hard Skill Competencies, and Intention to Become Entrepreneur of Vocational Graduates

OpenAIRE

Benedicta Prihatin Dwi Riyanti; Christine Winstinindah Sandroto; M. Tri Warmiyati D.W

2016-01-01

This study aimed to determine the effect of soft skill competencies and hard skill competencies to the intention to become entrepreneur in the vocational school graduates. Hard skill entrepreneurial competencies are competencies that are needed to running business. Meanwhile for soft skill competencies are competencies related to aspects of personality and cognitive style. Population in this research is vocational graduates in Jakarta and Jogjakarta. The sampling technique used is incidental ...

COACHES' PERCEPTIONS OF COMPETENCE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TRAINING NEEDS RELATED TO PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sofia Santos

2010-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to examine coaches' perceptions of competence and acknowledgement of training needs related to professional competences according to the professional experience and academic education. The participants were 343 coaches from several sports, who answered to a questionnaire that includes a scale focused on perceptions of competence and another scale on acknowledgment of training needs. An exploratory factor analysis with Maximum Likelihood Factoring was used with Oblimin rotation for the identification of emergent factors. Comparison on coaches' perceptions in function of coaching experience and coaches' academic background were made applying One-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc multiple comparisons. Factor analysis on coaches' perceptions of competence and acknowledgement of training needs made apparent three main areas of competences, i.e. competences related to annual and multi-annual planning; competences related to orientation towards practice and competition; and personal and coaching education competences. Coaches' perceptions were influenced by their experience, as low experienced coaches rated themselves at lower levels of competence and with more training needs; also coaches with high education, in Physical Education or others, perceived themselves as more competent than coaches with no higher education. Finally, the majority of the coaches perceived themselves to be competent but, nevertheless, they indicated to have training needs, which brings an important feedback to coach education. This suggests that coaches are interested in increasing their knowledge and competence in a broad range of areas which should be considered in future coach education programs

2017 NAIP Acquisition Map

Data.gov (United States)

Farm Service Agency, Department of Agriculture — Planned States for 2017 NAIP acquisition and acquisition status layer (updated daily). Updates to the acquisition seasons may be made during the season to...

SAP Nuclear Competence Centre

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrlova, Z.

2009-01-01

In this issue we continue and introduce the SAP Nuclear Competence Centre and its head Mr. Igor Dzama. SAP Nuclear Competence Centrum is one of the fi rst competence centres outside ENEL headquarters. It should operate in Slovakia and should have competencies within the whole Enel group. We are currently dealing with the issues of organisation and funding. We are trying to balance the accountability to the NPP directors and to the management of the competence centres at Enel headquarters; we are looking at the relations between the competence centres within the group and defining the services that we will provide for the NPPs. author)

Beyond NAVMEC: competency-based veterinary education and assessment of the professional competencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Hodgson, Jennifer L; Pelzer, Jacquelyn M; Inzana, Karen D

2013-01-01

The implementation of competency-based curricula within the health sciences has been an important paradigm shift over the past 30 years. As a result, one of the five strategic goals recommended by the North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium (NAVMEC) report was to graduate career-ready veterinarians who are proficient in, and have the confidence to use, an agreed-upon set of core competencies. Of the nine competencies identified as essential for veterinary graduates, seven could be classified as professional or non-technical competencies: communication; collaboration; management (self, team, system); lifelong learning, scholarship, value of research; leadership; diversity and multicultural awareness; and adaptation to changing environments. Traditionally, the professional competencies have received less attention in veterinary curricula and their assessment is often sporadic or inconsistent. In contrast, the same or similar competencies are being increasingly recognized in other health professions as essential skills and abilities, and their assessment is being undertaken with enhanced scrutiny and critical appraisal. Several challenges have been associated with the assessment of professional competencies, including agreement as to their definition and therefore their evaluation, the fact that they are frequently complex and require multiple integrative assessments, and the ability and/or desire of faculty to teach and assess these competencies. To provide an improved context for assessment of the seven professional competencies identified in the NAVMEC report, this article describes a broad framework for their evaluation as well as specific examples of how these or similar competencies are currently being measured in medical and veterinary curricula.

Competency Maps: an Effective Model to Integrate Professional Competencies Across a STEM Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez Carracedo, Fermín; Soler, Antonia; Martín, Carme; López, David; Ageno, Alicia; Cabré, Jose; Garcia, Jordi; Aranda, Joan; Gibert, Karina

2018-05-01

Curricula designed in the context of the European Higher Education Area need to be based on both domain-specific and professional competencies. Whereas universities have had extensive experience in developing students' domain-specific competencies, fostering professional competencies poses a new challenge we need to face. This paper presents a model to globally develop professional competencies in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree program, and assesses the results of its implementation after 4 years. The model is based on the use of competency maps, in which each competency is defined in terms of competency units. Each competency unit is described by a set of expected learning outcomes at three domain levels. This model allows careful analysis, revision, and iteration for an effective integration of professional competencies in domain-specific subjects. A global competency map is also designed, including all the professional competency learning outcomes to be achieved throughout the degree. This map becomes a useful tool for curriculum designers and coordinators. The results were obtained from four sources: (1) students' grades (classes graduated from 2013 to 2016, the first 4 years of the new Bachelor's Degree in Informatics Engineering at the Barcelona School of Informatics); (2) students' surveys (answered by students when they finished the degree); (3) the government employment survey, where former students evaluate their satisfaction of the received training in the light of their work experience; and (4) the Everis Foundation University-Enterprise Ranking, answered by over 2000 employers evaluating their satisfaction regarding their employees' university training, where the Barcelona School of Informatics scores first in the national ranking. The results show that competency maps are a good tool for developing professional competencies in a STEM degree.

Developmental profile of speech-language and communicative functions in an individual with the preserved speech variant of Rett syndrome.

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Marschik, Peter B; Vollmann, Ralf; Bartl-Pokorny, Katrin D; Green, Vanessa A; van der Meer, Larah; Wolin, Thomas; Einspieler, Christa

2014-08-01

We assessed various aspects of speech-language and communicative functions of an individual with the preserved speech variant of Rett syndrome (RTT) to describe her developmental profile over a period of 11 years. For this study, we incorporated the following data resources and methods to assess speech-language and communicative functions during pre-, peri- and post-regressional development: retrospective video analyses, medical history data, parental checklists and diaries, standardized tests on vocabulary and grammar, spontaneous speech samples and picture stories to elicit narrative competences. Despite achieving speech-language milestones, atypical behaviours were present at all times. We observed a unique developmental speech-language trajectory (including the RTT typical regression) affecting all linguistic and socio-communicative sub-domains in the receptive as well as the expressive modality. Future research should take into consideration a potentially considerable discordance between formal and functional language use by interpreting communicative acts on a more cautionary note.

Developmental exposure to Passiflora incarnata induces behavioural alterations in the male progeny.

Science.gov (United States)

Bacchi, André D; Ponte, Bianca; Vieira, Milene L; de Paula, Jaqueline C C; Mesquita, Suzana F P; Gerardin, Daniela C C; Moreira, Estefânia G

2013-01-01

Passiflora incarnata is marketed in many countries as a phytomedicine and is prescribed mainly as a sedative and anxiolytic. Even though the directions of most marketed phytomedicines recommend them to be used under medical supervision, reproductive and developmental studies are sparse and not mandatory for regulatory purposes. To evaluate the reproductive and developmental toxicity of P. incarnata, Wistar female rats were gavaged with 30 or 300 mg kg(-1) of this herb from gestational Day (GD) 0 to postnatal Day (PND) 21. P. incarnata treatment did not influence dams' bodyweight or food intake or their reproductive performance (post-implantation loss, litter size, litter weight). There was also no influence on the physical development of pups (bodyweight gain, day of vaginal opening or preputial separation) or their behaviour in the open-field at PND 22, 35 and 75. Sexual behaviour was disrupted in adult male pups exposed to 300 mg kg(-1) of P. incarnata; in this group, only 3 out of 11 pups were sexually competent. This behavioural disruption was not accompanied by alterations in plasma testosterone levels, reproductive-related organs and glands weights or sperm count. It is hypothesised that aromatase inhibition may be involved in the observed effect.

Study of the Results in the Acquisition of Core Competencies in Schools That Integrate Primary Education and Music

Science.gov (United States)

Andreu Duran, Maria; Godall Castell, Pere; Amador Guillem, Miquel; Castro Morera, Maria

2017-01-01

The goal of this research was to carry out an exploratory study on how music education integrated into primary schooling (children from 6 to 12 years old) can help in acquiring the core competencies characteristic of this stage. The study was conducted by developing a validated instrument, pilot-tested for reliability, to assess the eight core…

Communication-Based Assessment of Developmental Age for Young Children with Developmental Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

DeVeney, Shari L.; Hoffman, Lesa; Cress, Cynthia J.

2012-01-01

Purpose: In this study, the authors compared a multiple-domain strategy for assessing developmental age of young children with developmental disabilities who were at risk for long-term reliance on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) with a communication-based strategy composed of receptive language and communication indices that may…