This study examines the relationships between three accommodation strategies—Extended Time (ET) only, breaks only, and breaks bundled with ET—and academic performance, test-taking behavior, and attitudes among eighth-grade students with disabilities who participated in the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment. Utilizing propensity score analysis to mitigate selection bias, the study finds that students receiving only breaks tend to exhibit lower performance and engagement compared to those receiving ET alone or those receiving breaks bundled with ET. In addition, results suggest that bundling breaks with ET is associated with lower performance compared to ET alone. These findings highlight the complexities of interactions between accommodations and support the need for reevaluating current accommodation policies to enhance their effectiveness for students with disabilities.
Ng Kwok, Venckuniene Kristina, Klavina Aija
et al.
Across many countries, an increasing number of schools include children with and without disabilities in the same environment, learning in the same class which can be challenging for primary school teachers when teaching physical education (PE). The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of technology for inclusive PE by primary school teachers in Northern European countries. A convenience sample of primary school teachers was asked to complete an online survey with measures on (technological pedagogical and content knowledge, PE version (TPACK-21-PE), inclusive PE teacher efficacy, and the use of technology for teaching. Mediation analyses were conducted to explore TPACK-21-PE on the association between technology use and teacher efficacy. Teachers in general (n = 119) and special education classes or schools (SECS; n = 90) responded to the survey, with the most common technologies including videos and integration into PE. Teachers in general schools reported more use of technology and had a higher TPACK-21-PE score than SECS teachers. Teacher efficacy was highest for students with intellectual disabilities and lowest with visual impairments and was highest among SECS teachers. TPACK-21-PE mediated teacher-efficacy for all three types of students, but negatively for TPK for students with physical disabilities. This study has highlighted the important role of building pedagogical competencies in teachers using technology in PE. More training is needed to build on this knowledge so that technology can enhance teachers’ abilities, and thus the learning outcomes of students in their class, particularly for children with disabilities.
Guohua Demonstration Zone for Ecological Restoration of Desertification (hereinafter referred to as Guohua Demonstration Zone) is located in Guohua town, Pingguo City, Guangxi, with a total area of 30 km2. It is a typical area of karst peak-cluster depression. Before the treatment of rocky desertification, Guohua Demonstration Zone suffered from severe rocky desertification and soil erosion. Few crop varieties grew there with low land productivity. This area was covered with less than 10% of vegetation and less than 1% of forest. Consequently, it was extremely fragile in ecological environment. After more than 20 years of systematic governance, the vegetation coverage in the demonstration area has increased to 85%, and the proportion of rocky desertification area has decreased from the original 76% to 12%. The ecological environment has been greatly improved.This study aims to further provide a scientific basis for the ecological protection and restoration in the demonstration area, and to provide reference for the development of ecological governance strategies in karst areas based on the results of ecosystem vulnerability evaluation at a micro scale. With these purposes, this study has established an index system for ecosystem vulnerability evaluation. Based on the "cause-effect" model, this study selected seven indicators including rock type, slope, comprehensive soil nutrient level, land use status, vegetation coverage, soil erosion intensity, and degree of rocky desertification. In a 10 m×10 m grid taken as a unit, GIS technology and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were used to conduct a high-resolution ecosystem vulnerability evaluation in Guohua Demonstration Zone. By single parameter analysis, the contribution rate of each evaluation index to ecosystem vulnerability was calculated to analyze the main influencing factors causing ecosystem vulnerability in the study area.The results showed that the proportions of areas with micro, mild, moderate, severe, and extremely fragile ecosystem in the study area were 36.43%, 33.90%, 18.91%, 9.34%, and 1.43%, respectively. The main factor causing micro vulnerability of ecosystem in the study area is natural background, and ecological treatment in micro-vulnerable area should mainly focus on the maintaining of current situation, especially the protection of existing forest and grass vegetation. The main factors causing mild and moderate vulnerability of the ecosystem in the study area are natural background and human activities. Ecological treatment in mild and moderate vulnerable areas should focus on the protection of existing forest and grass vegetation and the limiting of human activities. The main factor causing severe and extremely vulnerability of the ecosystem in the study area is degradation of ecological environment. Ecological treatment in severe and extremely vulnerable areas should focus on the strict restriction of human activities and the restoration of forest and grass vegetation. According to statistical analysis of the overall vulnerability of ecosystem in different land uses in the study area, the main directions in ecological treatment for different land uses were proposed. Paddy fields should be mainly developed and utilized. Dry land, grassland and gardens should be developed and utilized under the premise of protection and restoration. The existing vegetation in forest land should be protected to achieve a positive vegetation succession, with appropriate development and utilization. Mining land should be restored ecologically. Other land types should be maintained in their current status.Based on the slope and land area, the study area was divided into nine zones: the mountainous zone closed off for afforestation, the artificial afforestation zone, the under-forest planting zone, the zone for grassland improvement, the zone for garden transformation, the zone for special economic plants, the zone for returning cropland back to forests, mining restoration zone, and non-treatment zone. Specific measures for treatment were proposed for each zone. To protect existing vegetation and promote natural positive succession of vegetation, human activities such as land reclamation, grazing, and firewood cutting should be prohibited in the mountainous zone closed off for afforestation. In the artificial afforestation zone, heliophilous species such as Dalbergia odorifera T. Chen., Delavaya toxocarpa Franch. and Leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit, which need light in plots with low vegetation coverage can be planted. In plots with high vegetation height and moderate coverage, neutral and sciophilous species such as Cyclobalanopsis Oerst. and Caesalpinia sappan L., which need some shade can be planted. Vine shrubs such as Euonymus fortunei (Turcz.) Hand.-Mazz. and Ficus pumila L. can be planted on side slopes and steep slopes to form plant hedges. In the under-forest planting zone, characteristic economic plants suitable for karst areas, such as Erythropalum scandens Bl. and Lonicera japonica Thunb can be introduced. In the zone for grassland improvement, high-quality perennial grass with strong resistance such as Guimu No.1, Cichorium intybus L. and Pennisetum purpureum, can be cultivated to develop livestock husbandry. In the zone for garden transformation, low-stem economic crops such as Erythropalum scandens Bl. and Lonicera japonica Thunb. can be intercropped under the forest. In the zone for special economic plants, evergreen wild vegetables suitable for growing in karst areas, such as Erythropalum scandens Bl. and Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr. can be introduced to replace traditional crops such as corn. In the zone for returning farmland to forest, afforestation and grass planting should be carried out to promote the restoration for forest and grass vegetation according to local conditions. Ecological slope protection, site leveling, greening, and backfilling with netted soil can be implemented for reclamation and greening in the mining restoration zone. In non-treatment zone, the current situation can be maintained.
Straight accusations are considered a normal case for accusations with special accusation types referring to other forms of accusations. Three special accusation types wil be considered: anonymous accusations, non-evidential accusations, and self-accusations. Anonymous accusations (AA's) are accusations with an anonymous accuser. We describe the remarkable effects which anonymous accusations may have, and we propose various key properties of anonymous accusations: (i) the viral character of AA's, (ii) the potentially explosive effect of AA's, and (iii) the forensic challenge creation characteristic of AA's. These characteristics suggest, and in may contexts impose, rather restrictive rules of engagement for dealing with AA's. Secondly we describe non-evidential accusations (NEA's). Such accusations do not allow any meaningful form of validation of the body of the accusation. Nevertheless NEA's play a significant role nowadays. Finally we provide some remarks on self-accusations. A self-accusation may also be non-evidential.
The article emphasizes that Eidetic is one of the effective methods of forming the cognitive interests of preschool children with special educational needs (SEN). Eidetic methods include chain, acroverbal, pictographic, phonetic associations, the method of loci (based on visual associations), nonverbal associations, paradoxical verbal transformations, enlarged structuring of educational material. Their use helps to transform incomprehensible information into an achievable and understandable form to them. Due to Eidetic, various analyzers are involved in cognitive activity at the same time. The child can see and hear and touch, smell, and even taste. At the same time, children's mastery of new knowledge is based on already well-known images, so Eidetic creates a boundless play space in which children's imagination has a wide field for development. The authors note that a characteristic feature of the cognitive interest of preschool children is a selective focus on interest in phenomena, objects, and environmental processes. For students with special educational needs the subject of cognitive interest, as well as for their peers with normative development, is not the whole environment, but only some of its elements, which are personally relevant, attractive, and valuable. The cognitive interest of preschoolers can be both situational and sustainable. It occurs in the process of performing a certain action but may disappear immediately after its completion. At the same time, with systematic pedagogical support, it can become a relatively stable personal quality of a child with special educational needs.
An important positive aspect of the use of Eidetic in working with preschool children with SEN is that it creates a psychological situation of success, activates the neurodynamics of brain activity. As a result, the problem areas of the central nervous system and children's deviant behavior are corrected. Eidetic performs a dual developmental and educational function. Due to its application, such mental processes of personality as attention, imagination, memory, different types of thinking are developed, and thus the mastery of educational material is activated. Thanks to the methods of Eidetic, all the child's analyzers are involved, which allows him/her to see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and perceive something new and unknown through the channels of learning about the surrounding reality available to the child with SEN.
Due to the wide existence of neonicotinoid insecticides (neonics) and their potential impact on ecosystems and human health, they have received special attention in recent years. Soil is not only a sink of neonics but also a source of neonics, so it plays a key role in the ubiquity of neonics in the environment. The purpose of this research was to compare neonics residues in soils of different types of land use and estimate their exposure to different populations via ingestion. A total of 130 soil samples from six different types were collected. The concentrations of seven neonics in soil were simultaneous determined using isotope-dilution ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. The results showed that at least one neonic was analyzed in all samples. The highest average concentration was 3.42 ng/g (clothianidin), followed by 3.39 ng/g (thiamethoxam), 3.06 ng/g (acetamiprid), 2.84 ng/g (imidacloprid), 2.66 ng/g (nitenpyram), 2.43 ng/g (thiacloprid), and 1.89 ng/g (dinotefuran). IMI and ACE were the most commonly found neonics in soil. The neonic levels in different soils varied significantly. The integrated neonic residue in cropland was much higher than that in other types of land. The risk assessment revealed that the average daily dose (ADD) through ingestion contact with soil was acceptable to children and adults. With the increasing evidence that neonics could cause a variety of toxic effects on mammals and humans, ingestion exposure caused by neonics in soil should also receive continuous attention in future studies.
Aim and introduction: Today's businesses strongly influenced by environmental changes and change is always present as a constant parameter, what enables an organization or business to survive effectively and efficiently is its ability to respond in a timely manner, appropriate to developments and changes. One of the main concerns of managers in this turbulent and complex situation is how to minimize the effect of external stimuli on their organization, promote market share, customer satisfaction and ultimately steal the competition from competitors. Business owners have always sought appropriate responses to these stimuli, including reviewing the business and improving business processes, as well as the use of appropriate technology.Enterprise Architecture is a set of business processes that help the organization in transforming its vision and mission of business to effective change at the organizational level, through a clear understanding of the current situation and improving it to a better situation in the future. Enterprise Architecture is more than just an organizational design; it takes into account all aspects of an organizational system. The process of Enterprise Architecture should done in a turbulent business environment with the least cost and the least time and in an optimal way.In Enterprise Architecture, one of the main skills of an architect is to identify emerging technologies that have likely benefits for the business and embrace those technologies. Enterprise Architects also understand how business events, such as integration, acquisitions, etc, can lead to the development of new architecture. However, although less well known, Enterprise Architecture in general known as a tool to deal with the risks of the business environment and take a better performance.The purpose of the present study is to investigate investigating the impact of Technical Benefits of Enterprise Architecture on Organizational Performance in respect to the mediating role of Business Process Benefits.Methodology: The research method applied in terms of purpose and descriptive Correlational in terms of data collection. The statistical population consists of experts from NIOC. The sample size estimated at 356 by Cochran formula. Questionnaires were distributed and collected by unrandom sampling available among experts. The validity of the questionnaire confirmed using experts' opinions and its reliability confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient before distributing. Structural Equation Modeling LISREL and SPSS software used for data analysis. Findings: The results showed that the technical benefits of Enterprise Architecture had a positive effect on organizational performance. The technical benefits of Enterprise Architecture have a positive impact on business process reform. Business process reform has a positive impact on organizational performance. The technical benefits of Enterprise Architecture with the mediating role of business process reform have a positive impact on organizational performance.Discussion and Conclusion: Enterprise Architecture is one of the most important and widely used for strategic alignment of information technology with the business of the organization and a powerful tool for organizing complex information systems and achieving better performance. Obviously, the more agile the Enterprise Architecture can meet the needs of business stakeholders in complex and volatile conditions, surely the better the business goals will be achieved, and it means better performance.Enterprise Architecture influenced by the principles defined for agile software development and agile management. With the difference, that agile Enterprise Architecture has its own characteristics. Classical Enterprise Architecture frameworks prescribe a framework for different types of business, and the documentation is done according to a specific format and a specific level of detail, and usually are produced a large volume of documentation, regardless of business needs and their prioritization. Agile methods enable users and stakeholders to participate more actively and effectively in the process. Agile methods consider all architectural stakeholders, such as architects, developers and project managers, as part of the teamwork and try to strengthen and improve business processes by using innovative methods.Agile Enterprise Architecture is able to use special models, techniques and methods to describe the status quo and the desired situation of the turbulent organization. In addition, the agile Enterprise Architecture contains a special plan called the transition plan, which determines how to achieve the desired state of a turbulent organization. Agile Enterprise Architecture is results-oriented and focuses more on creativity and initiative of individuals. The importance and necessity of Enterprise Architecture is when due to unforeseen changes in technology and mission on a turbulent organization, existing methods of Enterprise Architecture suffer from many problems. In practice, this framework seeks to improve the organization's resource management and performance, from the beginning of entering the organization and strategies, goals and processes.Changes in business processes, due to rapid developments in technology, especially information technology, have created a competitive environment that inattention to it can lead to endangering the life of the organization, and this is where Enterprise technical Architecture will be critical to achieving higher business performance.
Computing the empirical Wasserstein distance in the Wasserstein-distance-based independence test is an optimal transport (OT) problem with a special structure. This observation inspires us to study a special type of OT problem and propose a modified Hungarian algorithm to solve it exactly. For the OT problem involving two marginals with $m$ and $n$ atoms ($m\geq n$), respectively, the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is $O(m^2n)$. Computing the empirical Wasserstein distance in the independence test requires solving this special type of OT problem, where $m=n^2$. The associated computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is $O(n^5)$, while the order of applying the classic Hungarian algorithm is $O(n^6)$. In addition to the aforementioned special type of OT problem, it is shown that the modified Hungarian algorithm could be adopted to solve a wider range of OT problems. Broader applications of the proposed algorithm are discussed -- solving the one-to-many assignment problem and the many-to-many assignment problem. We conduct numerical experiments to validate our theoretical results. The experiment results demonstrate that the proposed modified Hungarian algorithm compares favorably with the Hungarian algorithm, the well-known Sinkhorn algorithm, and the network simplex algorithm.
We consider a continuous-time branching random walk on a multidimensional lattice with two types of particles and an infinite number of initial particles. The main results are devoted to the study of the generating function and the limiting behavior of the moments of subpopulations generated by a single particle of each type. We assume that particle types differ from each other not only by the laws of branching, as in multi-type branching processes, but also by the laws of walking. For a critical branching process at each lattice point and recurrent random walk of particles, the effect of limit spatial clustering of particles over the lattice is studied. A model illustrating epidemic propagation is also considered. In this model, we consider two types of particles: infected and immunity generated. Initially, there is an infected particle that can infect others. Here, for the local number of particles of each type at a lattice point, we study the moments and their limiting behavior. Additionally, the effect of intermittency of the infected particles is studied for a supercritical branching process at each lattice point. Simulations are presented to demonstrate the effect of limit clustering for the epidemiological model.
The exploration of two small planetary bodies by the Dawn mission revealed multifaced surfaces showing a diverse geology and surface features. Impact crater are the most distinctive features on these planetary bodies. The surfaces of asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres reveal craters with an individual appearance as caused by different formation processes. Special topographic and subsurface conditions on both bodies have led to the development of special crater types. This chapter present the three most characteristic crater forms fund on both bodies. Asymmetric craters are found on both bodies, whereas ring-mold craters and floor-fractured craters are only visible on Ceres.
The gastrointestinal tract (GIT) can be broadly divided into several regions: the stomach, the small intestine (which is subdivided to duodenum, jejunum, and ileum), and the colon. The conditions and environment in each of these segments, and even within the segment, are dependent on many factors, e.g., the surrounding pH, fluid composition, transporters expression, metabolic enzymes activity, tight junction resistance, different morphology along the GIT, variable intestinal mucosal cell differentiation, changes in drug concentration (in cases of carrier-mediated transport), thickness and types of mucus, and resident microflora. Each of these variables, alone or in combination with others, can fundamentally alter the solubility/dissolution, the intestinal permeability, and the overall absorption of various drugs. This is the underlying mechanistic basis of regional-dependent intestinal drug absorption, which has led to many attempts to deliver drugs to specific regions throughout the GIT, aiming to optimize drug absorption, bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, and/or pharmacodynamics. In this Editorial we provide an overview of the Special Issue "Regional Intestinal Drug Absorption: Biopharmaceutics and Drug Formulation". The objective of this Special Issue is to highlight the current progress and to provide an overview of the latest developments in the field of regional-dependent intestinal drug absorption and delivery, as well as pointing out the unmet needs of the field.
Emotional intelligence is an important factor in the well-being of students, whether regular students or students with learning disabilities. The category of students with LDs always face challenges to adapt and adjust in society and in the school environment. This study aimed at revealing the emotional intelligence of English language students with learning disabilities in Aseer region. The study sample consisted of (140) students with learning difficulties. To achieve the objectives of the study, the emotional intelligence questionnaire was developed and consisted of (45) items, divided into five areas: knowledge of emotions, emotional management, sympathy, empathy, and social competence. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was ensured before application and data analysis. The results showed that the overall degree of emotional intelligence among students with learning disabilities was low. The results also found that regular students have higher emotional intelligence than students with LDs. The study recommended developing training programs to develop emotional intelligence for students with learning difficulties, and conducting a descriptive and experimental study dealing with other types of intelligence among students with learning disabilities and other special education categories and comparing them with regular students.
Desmiwati Desmiwati, Thomas Oni Veriasa, Aam Aminah
et al.
Agroforestry activities in Forest Areas with Special Purpose (FASP) have been implemented since 2000 in Parungpanjang, West Java, which was subsequently reinforced by the Decree of the Minister of Environment and Forestry concerning the Recognition and Protection of Forest Partnerships (Kulin KK) for the Harapan Sejahtera and Guna Bakti Forest Farmer Groups in 2019. This study investigates the contribution of agroforestry systems to farmer income using a household survey in the Parungpanjang Research Forest. The study aims to analyze: 1) the contribution of agroforestry to farmer income from a household structured income analysis; 2) factors of agroforestry that influence total farmer household income using multiple regression analysis. The results show that agroforestry systems contributed 15.8% to farmer household income. The highest agroforestry productivity occurs in the age group of 41-45 years with an average of managed land area of 0.65 hectares and average annual income of IDR 16,780,000 (USD 1,198.6)/farmer/year. The statistical model showed that agroforestry income does not have a significant influence on total farmer household income due to differences in the types of commercial crops, motivation, and skill, as well as age related to physical abilities. There are only two agroforestry factors, namely age and land area, that have a significant influence on total farmer income, whereby the direction of the age variable has a negative influence.
Raphael Watschinger, Michal Merta, Günther Of
et al.
We present a novel approach to the parallelization of the parabolic fast multipole method for a space-time boundary element method for the heat equation. We exploit the special temporal structure of the involved operators to provide an efficient distributed parallelization with respect to time and with a one-directional communication pattern. On top, we apply a task-based shared memory parallelization and SIMD vectorization. In the numerical tests we observe high efficiencies of our parallelization approach.
Jan Zapletal, Raphael Watschinger, Günther Of
et al.
The presented paper concentrates on the boundary element method (BEM) for the heat equation in three spatial dimensions. In particular, we deal with tensor product space-time meshes allowing for quadrature schemes analytic in time and numerical in space. The spatial integrals can be treated by standard BEM techniques known from three dimensional stationary problems. The contribution of the paper is twofold. First, we provide temporal antiderivatives of the heat kernel necessary for the assembly of BEM matrices and the evaluation of the representation formula. Secondly, the presented approach has been implemented in a publicly available library besthea allowing researchers to reuse the formulae and BEM routines straightaway. The results are validated by numerical experiments in an HPC environment.
There has never been a more urgent time to engage with the Environmental Humanities and the other
Posthumanities. This engagement is creative as well as critical and it touches upon some fundamental issues within what I have called the posthuman convergence. That is the intersection of two concurrent but contradictory phenomena: the unprecedented technological developments that have also become known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the acceleration of the climate change emergency, also known as the Sixth Extinction. This complex
intersection of events triggers multiple fractures, ethical dilemmas, affective perturbations, political concerns, and
critical lines of inquiry. I have summarized them as the convergent critiques of Humanism on the one hand and the rejection of anthropocentrism on the other. This is neither a simple nor a harmonious intersection of critical lines, but rather an encounter fraught with painful contradictions and challenging problems.
Environmental protection, Special types of environment
We define the intersection complex for the universal cover of a compact weakly special square complex and show that it is a quasi-isometry invariant. By using this quasi-isometry invariant, we study the quasi-isometric classification of 2-dimensional right-angled Artin groups and planar graph 2-braid groups. Our results cover two well-known cases of 2-dimensional right-angled Artin groups: (1) those whose defining graphs are trees and (2) those whose outer automorphism groups are finite. Finally, we show that there are infinitely many graph 2-braid groups which are quasi-isometric to right-angled Artin groups and infinitely many which are not.