Preliminary Case Study Research Articles

Improving Reading Comprehension for Adolescents With Language and Learning Disorders

The present case study illustrates the use of explicit text structure intervention for expository reading comprehension with three adolescents with language learning disabilities (LLD). We investigated whether it was feasible to provide direct instruction on the identification of signal words that denote compare–contrast relations between concepts, the purpose and nature of expository text structures, and the use of graphic organizers to assist in retell of target passages and compare–contrast text comprehension. The intervention was effective in improving participants’ text structure identification, signal word recognition, and comprehension of compare–contrast text. This preliminary case study demonstrates that a short-term text structure intervention is feasible and can benefit adolescents with LLD who struggle with expository reading comprehension. Implications for clinical and educational services and future directions for research are provided.

Predicting road quality using high resolution satellite imagery: A transfer learning approach.

Recognizing the importance of road infrastructure to promote human health and economic development, actors around the globe are regularly investing in both new roads and road improvements. However, in many contexts there is a sparsity-or complete lack-of accurate information regarding existing road infrastructure, challenging the effective identification of where investments should be made. Previous literature has focused on overcoming this gap through the use of satellite imagery to detect and map roads. In this piece, we extend this literature by leveraging satellite imagery to estimate road quality and concomitant information about travel speed. We adopt a transfer learning approach in which a convolutional neural network architecture is first trained on data collected in the United States (where data is readily available), and then "fine-tuned" on an independent, smaller dataset collected from Nigeria. We test and compare eight different convolutional neural network architectures using a dataset of 53,686 images of 2,400 kilometers of roads in the United States, in which each road segment is measured as "low", "middle", or "high" quality using an open, cellphone-based measuring platform. Using satellite imagery to estimate these classes, we achieve an accuracy of 80.0%, with 99.4% of predictions falling within the actual or an adjacent class. The highest performing base model was applied to a preliminary case study in Nigeria, using a dataset of 1,000 images of paved and unpaved roads. By tailoring our US-model on the basis of this Nigeria-specific data, we were able to achieve an accuracy of 94.0% in predicting the quality of Nigerian roads. A continuous case estimate also showed the ability, on average, to predict road quality to within 0.32 on a 0 to 3 scale (with higher values indicating higher levels of quality).

The Politics of Policy Reformulation: Implementing Social Policy in Provincial China

ABSTRACT How do Chinese provincial governments reformulate the general central policies into implementable local policy outputs? How does this vary across provinces? Despite considerable research on policy implementation in China, strategies of policy reformulation remain understudied. To better understand these strategies, this article proposes a four-scenario typology: an innovative strategy, a defensive strategy, a conservative strategy, and a perfunctory strategy. Using a novel 2003–2017 dataset of provincial documents that were reformulated from central social policy mandates, as well as a preliminary case study of the Household Registration System reform, this article explores the spatial and temporal dynamics of policy reformulation in provincial China. The findings shed light on the complexity of policy implementation in China.

FROM ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY TO CONTINUOUS MONITORING: GRAPH-BASED DATA MANAGEMENT FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION WITH DIGITAL TWINS

Abstract. Continuous monitoring procedures are becoming even more crucial for assessing the potential deterioration of architectural structures, due to the many inducted advantages. A cultural heritage site, in fact, is constantly subject to degradation, due in particular to atmospheric agents. Preserving it with preventive analyses is an important goal for the scientific community. In this context, data collection methodologies, together with Artificial Intelligence, play a central role for the analysis of surface degradation. This study aims to present a proposal for the automated analysis of the state of degradation of an artefact, exploiting a novel solution including a combination of a graph database and a dynamic Digital Model. In this regard, a preliminary case study is presented, based on the Quadriportico of the Cathedral of San Matteo in Salerno, Italy.

Towards the development of a cyber-physical measurement system (CPMS): case study of a bioinspired soft growing robot for remote measurement and monitoring applications

The most effective expression of the 4.0 Era is represented by cyber-physical systems (CPSs). Historically, measurement and monitoring systems (MMSs) have been an essential part of CPSs; however, by introducing the 4.0 enabling technologies into MMSs, a MMS can evolve into a cyber-physical measurement system (CPMS). Starting from this consideration, this work reports a preliminary case study of a CPMS, namely an innovative robotic platform to be used for measurement systems in confined and constrained remote environments. The innovative system is a soft growing robot composed of a robot base, to be placed outside the remote environments and a robot body that accesses the site through growth. A pneumatic actuation mechanism enables the controllable growth of the system through lengthening at its tip, as well as its controllable steering. The system can be endowed with sensors to enable remote measurement and monitoring tasks, or can be used to transport sensors in remote locations. A digital twin of the system is developed for simulation of a practical measurement scenario. The ultimate goal is to achieve a self-adapting, fully autonomous system for remote monitoring operations to be used reliably and safely for the inspection of unknown and/or constrained environments.

Beyond The Ordinary: Designing a Mobile-assisted Funds-of-Knowledge-Featured Instructional Framework for English Learners

The design and implementation of hybrid, technology-enhanced learning environments is a sophisticated process, especially when incorporating relevant sociocultural factors to support culturally and linguistically diverse students’ learning. In this paper, I review and provide a description of an iterative design process for a mobile-assisted funds-of knowledge (FoK)-featured instructional framework that aims to facilitate middle-school-aged Latinx English Learners’ (ELs) literacy development in writing. The sociocultural lens of FoK considers ELs’ ordinary experiences as assets in creating inclusivity and engaging flow in learning, which are further enhanced by affordances of mobile-based writing applications. More specifically, this design process was achieved through fieldwork situated in a Latinx community and school district in a rural town in the Midwestern United States. The design process was contextualized into four stages: the precedent stage focusing on the formation of the design idea, the framing stage focusing on the preliminary design outline, the co-evolution stage focusing on the development of the designed product, and the prototype stage focusing on experimenting with the designed product through the ELs’ classroom writing practice. This instructional framework emphasizes the transformation of diverse ELs’ ordinary experiences by guiding them through five sequential learning steps: discovering, connecting, writing, sharing, and preserving culture. Formative and summative evaluation techniques were embedded through different research phases, such as a preliminary instrumental case study, an ethnographic case study, and the ELs’ classroom writing practice. This design case provides an example of socioculturally contextualizing the application of emerging technology to mediate learning for diverse student populations.

Text Structure Strategy for Expository Reading Comprehension: Case Study With an Adolescent With Noonan Syndrome

Purpose This article describes the implementation of a text structure strategy approach to reading comprehension intervention to improve comprehension of expository texts for an adolescent with Noonan Syndrome and a history of developmental language disorder and reading disability. Method The text structure intervention program was created for a feasibility study with adolescents who have language and literacy disorders. In the present case study, we investigated whether it was possible to improve expository text comprehension in a client with Noonan Syndrome and a history of significant needs in literacy. The text structure program leveraged the participant's progressive knowledge and awareness of specific text structures and structure signal words for improved comprehension of compare-contrast texts. The participant attended 60-min sessions twice weekly for three weeks at a university clinic. Results The participant demonstrated an increase in signal word identification as well as compare-contrast text comprehension. Conclusions This preliminary case study demonstrates that a short-term, explicit text structure strategy intervention is feasible for treatment of reading comprehension difficulties. This study also provides support for future text structure research with adolescent language and literacy deficits secondary to medical complexities.

A Data Scope Management Service to Support Privacy by Design and GDPR Compliance

In order to empower user data protection and user rights, the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been enforced. On the positive side, the user is obtaining advantages from GDPR. However, organisations are facing many difficulties in interpreting GDPR, and to properly applying it, and, in the meanwhile, due to their lack of compliance, many organisations are receiving huge fines from authorities. An important challenge is compliance with the Privacy by Design and by default (PbD) principles, which require that data protection is integrated into processing activities and business practices from the design stage. Recently, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) released an official document with PbD guidelines, and there are various efforts to provide approaches to support these. However, organizations are still facing difficulties in identifying a flow for executing, in a coherent, linear and effective way, these activities, and a complete toolkit for supporting this. In this paper, we propose the design of such flow, and our comprehensive supporting toolkit, as part of the DEFeND EU Project platform. Within DEFeND, we identified candidate tools, fulfilling specific GDPR aspects, and integrated them in a comprehensive toolkit: the DEFeND Data Scope Management service (DSM). The aim of DSM is to support organizations for continuous GDPR compliance through model-based Privacy by Design analysis. Here, we present DSM, its design, flow, and a preliminary case study and evaluation performed with pilots from the healthcare, banking, public administration and energy sectors.

Analysis of Pupils´ Higher and Lower Order Thinking Skills in Traffic Education

The effectiveness of education process from teachers´ perspective, as well as application of teaching strategies for enhancing Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), is becoming an increasingly frequent subject of discussion across various fields. Bloom's taxonomy is known as the classification of educational goals. This has become the groundwork for many educators worldwide, who are using it to design activities for developing HOTS. This preliminary casestudy analyses knowledge of traffic and road safety within pupils, as well as their level of thinking skills in this field with emphasis on analytical skills and risk assessment in traffic. A didactic test was assembled to examine the level of thinking of 4th grade primary school pupils. The results showed that pupils´ level of knowledge in the field is age-adequate; however, in application of HOTS, as well as risk assessment, there is room for improvement.

Classifying Reasonability in Retellings of Personal Events Shared on Social Media: A Preliminary Case Study with /r/AmITheAsshole

People regularly share retellings of their personal events through social media websites to elicit feedback about the reasonability of their actions in the event's context. In this paper, we explore how learning approaches can be used toward the goal of classifying reasonability in personal retellings of events shared on social media. We collect 13,748 community-labeled posts from /r/AmITheAsshole, a subreddit in which Reddit users share retellings of personal events which are voted upon by community members. We build and evaluate a total of 21 machine learning models across seven types of models and three distinct feature sets. We find that our best-performing model can predict the reasonability of a post with an F1 score of .76. Our findings suggest that features derived from the post and author metadata were more predictive than simple linguistic features like the post sentiment and types of words used. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of our findings as they relate to sharing retellings of personal events on social media and beyond.

Non-linearity in Marginal LCA: Application of a Spatial Optimization Model

Typical applications of LCA assume that the magnitude of life-cycle impact grows proportionally to the volume of demand, while in reality the additional impact due to marginal increase in demand may differ from the average impact. In the literature, the calculation of marginal life-cycle impacts often involves the use of optimization models, where typically the total economic costs are minimized. However, modeling spatially explicit marginal responses of a system involving multiple producers and consumers has not been discussed in LCA literature. In this paper, we demonstrate a spatial optimization technique for modeling marginal responses of a multi-producer, multi-consumer system. Our model determines the optimal production-by-location mix and associated environmental stressor at minimum systems cost. We demonstrate the model using a preliminary case study on blue water consumption by potato. We collected state-by-state data on potato yield, cost of potato production, and water use for irrigation, as well as interstate transportation fuel costs. We also estimated the marginal increase in demand for potato following USDA's recommended diet. The results show that the cradle-to-gate blue water consumption of potatoes based on 2016 demand was 96 m3/ton potato, which changes non-linearly along with the growth of potato demands. In order to meet the USDA's recommended diet, the additional demand on potato (530,000 ton per year) would result in a 29% lower blue water consumption per ton of potato (68 m3/ton) as compared to the average result of the current production system. In addition, we tested the model to analyze the marginal impacts under two scenarios: (1) high fuel tax and (2) high water price. The preliminary results indicate that water pricing is more effective than a fuel tax increase in reducing the marginal blue water consumption of potato based on our scenarios of the recommended diet demand. The results demonstrate that our model can be used to understand the non-linear behavior of marginal effect over demand crease, and for testing alternative policy scenarios involving a system with multiple producers and consumers across regions.

Massed Prolonged Exposure for PTSD in Two Firefighters: Preliminary Case Study Findings.

Military service members and first responders experience significant trauma exposure in the line of duty. Service members who transition to first-responder positions may be at an increased risk for developing PTSD due to the cumulative effects of trauma exposure. A common criticism of the standard delivery methods for most evidence-based treatments for PTSD is high dropout rates. Massed-prolonged exposure (Massed-PE) has been demonstrated to be efficacious and reduces dropouts by about 50%. This case study is the first of its kind to specifically assess the clinical utility of using Massed-PE to treat PTSD in two firefighters. Results from this case study indicate that both firefighters had significant reductions in their PTSD symptoms. Massed-PE may be an effective approach to treating PTSD in firefighters and may help overcome some of the barriers of conventional treatment delivery. Additional controlled research is needed to further evaluate this promising treatment approach in firefighter populations.

“Parichaarikaa” The Health Droid

The following document contain data accumulation of the final year project “Parichaarikaa” The Health Droid. Topics such as dilemma of the project that caused it to be so important at time the idea was proposed as the solutions. Followed by the aim and objective that countering the problem statement in direct and upmost way possible, the approach paths for each of tasked assigned and completed, followed by the frame work and observation including working, maintenance and post-scheduled results. The preliminary case-studies and references provided an excellent knowledge underpinning to excel in the right direction.

Analogy to the chaos theory applied to the study of rockfalls

Abstract Chaos Theory is a mathematical theory devoted to study dynamic systems presenting very peculiar characteristics – sensitivity to initial conditions, positive or close to zero Lyapunov exponents, statistics governed by gaussian or non-gaussian distributions, among others - which make them, in the long run, unpredictable in time and space. This article aims at applying Chaos Theory to rockfall phenomenon. More precisely, the fall of unstable rock blocks was simulated through the RocFall 6.0 program by four preliminary case studies, having different rock slope geometry, different heights of the fall and blocks with different size and shapes. Moreover, the trajectories and reaches of gneissic rock blocks in a section of a phacoidal augen gneiss slope located in Morro do Cantagalo, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, were also simulated from the perspective of Chaos Theory. More precisely, the results suggest that the statistics of the number of fallen blocks at each end point of the trajectories located downstream of the respective slopes can be described by distributions derived from Chaos Theory. In addition, weakly or strongly chaotic behavior seems to be very specially associated with the concavity or convexity of the slopes.

DiceCT applied to fossilized hard tissues: A preliminary case study using a miocene bird.

Iodine-based contrasting agents for computed tomography (CT) have been used for decades in medicine. Agents like Lugol's iodine enhance the contrasts between soft tissues and mineralized (skeletal) tissues. Because a recent study on extant avian heads showed that iodine-ethanol (I2 E) is a better contrast enhancer overall than the standard Lugol's iodine, here, we tested if I2 E could also enhance the CT contrasts of two fossilized skeletal tissues: bone and calcified cartilage. For this, we used a partial ankle joint from an extinct pheasant from the Late Miocene of Northwest China (Linxia Basin). The pre-staining CT scans showed no microstructural details of the sample. After being immersed into a solution of 1% I2 E for 8 days and scanned a second time, the contrasts were drastically enhanced between the mineralized tissues (bony trabeculae and calcified cartilage) and the sediments and minerals inside vascular spaces. After three other staining-scanning cycles in 2%, 3%, and 6% I2 E solutions, the best contrasts were obtained after immersion in 6% I2 E for 7 days. Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy showed that iodine was preferentially absorbed by the mineralized tissues and the minerals in the vascular spaces, but not by the sediments. This method not only effectively increased the contrasts of two different fossilized skeletal tissues, it was also non-destructive and reversible because part of the fossil was successfully de-stained after a few days in pure ethanol. These preliminary results indicate that iodine-ethanol has the potential to be used widely in vertebrate paleontology to improve CT imaging of fossilized tissues.

Development of a Low-Cost, Modular Muscle-Computer Interface for At-Home Telerehabilitation for Chronic Stroke.

Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability in the United States. Recent studies have shown that high doses of repeated task-specific practice can be effective at improving upper-limb function at the chronic stage. Providing at-home telerehabilitation services with therapist supervision may allow higher dose interventions targeted to this population. Additionally, muscle biofeedback to train patients to avoid unwanted simultaneous activation of antagonist muscles (co-contractions) may be incorporated into telerehabilitation technologies to improve motor control. Here, we present the development and feasibility of a low-cost, portable, telerehabilitation biofeedback system called Tele-REINVENT. We describe our modular electromyography acquisition, processing, and feedback algorithms to train differentiated muscle control during at-home therapist-guided sessions. Additionally, we evaluated the performance of low-cost sensors for our training task with two healthy individuals. Finally, we present the results of a case study with a stroke survivor who used the system for 40 sessions over 10 weeks of training. In line with our previous research, our results suggest that using low-cost sensors provides similar results to those using research-grade sensors for low forces during an isometric task. Our preliminary case study data with one patient with stroke also suggest that our system is feasible, safe, and enjoyable to use during 10 weeks of biofeedback training, and that improvements in differentiated muscle activity during volitional movement attempt may be induced during a 10-week period. Our data provide support for using low-cost technology for individuated muscle training to reduce unintended coactivation during supervised and unsupervised home-based telerehabilitation for clinical populations, and suggest this approach is safe and feasible. Future work with larger study populations may expand on the development of meaningful and personalized chronic stroke rehabilitation.

Treatment and Effective Utilization of Greywater: A Preliminary Case Study

Greywater has been identified as a valuable alternative water source over recent years. Few practices (i.e., recycling and reuse) of greywater have attracted global attention in meeting the future water demand. However, essential parameters should be analyzed for reliable reuse and treatment. The present study addresses the possibilities of the alternative source with the treated greywater. Gravity—governed flow methods through a column containing gravel, sand, and activated carbon was applied. The quality of treated greywater from the university campus, which included physical, chemical, and biological parameters, was assessed to check non-potable reuse suitability. The reduction percentage of organics in biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand was 64% and 42%, respectively. Similarly, the reduction percentage was obtained at 74% and 66% for turbidity and electrical conductivity. The removal efficiency was 57%, 77%, 48%, and 44% for total dissolved solids, alkalinity, chlorides, and total hardness. The pH of treated water samples was found in the neutral range suggesting its suitability for reuse. Hence, the proposed greywater treatment method is a cost-effective and straightforward approach to reuse greywater for irrigation, watering the lawns, and car washing. The greywater collected can be disinfected immediately and reused with minimal possibility of regrowth of microorganisms.

Stress Response of Miscanthus Plants and Soil Microbial Communities: A Case Study in Metals and Hydrocarbons Contaminated Soils

Second-generation biofuel crop miscanthus is one of the most promising plants tested for phytomanagement of contaminated sites. In this preliminary pot case study, the most used hybrid Miscanthus x giganteus was cultivated in three different real contaminated soils: agricultural soil contaminated with Cd; post-military soil slightly contaminated with Zn, Pb and Cd; and soil contaminated by petroleum industry with metals and hydrocarbons. The stress response of plants and soil microbial communities was monitored to receive data that are important for successful phytomanagement application. With metals only, the plant grew well, and chlorophyll fluorescence measurement proved their good vitality. Changes in leaf anatomy (leaf thickness and sclerenchyma cells area) were additionally determined in post-military soil compared to agricultural. On the contrary, in petroleum-contaminated soil, the biomass yield was too reduced and also physiological parameters were significantly decreased. The response of microbial communities also differed. In agricultural soil, no microbial stress was determined. In post-military soil, it became reduced during the experiment, and in petroleum contamination, it increased year-on-year. It could be concluded that miscanthus is suitable for cultivation in metals contaminated soils with potential for microbial communities support, but in soil contaminated by the petroleum industry, its application did not seem meaningful.

Feasibility study of MK-based geopolymer binder for RAC applications: Effects of silica fume and added CaO on compressive strength of mortar samples

The results of a preliminary case study of the effects of silica fume and additional calcium oxide (CaO) on the compressive strength of a metakaolin-based geopolymer binder developed to exhibit appropriate properties for use in recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) are presented. Using recycled aggregates in new concrete has significant environmental benefits but also presents significant challenges to the applicability of the technology, and using geopolymer binders in place of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) has the potential to solve some of these challenges. The study presented in this paper suggests that partial replacement of metakaolin with silica fume results in increased strength while additional CaO may only have limited effectiveness in certain applications. Additionally, it was observed that the activator-to-binder ratio has a much more significant effect on the strength than the water-to-binder ratio. It is concluded that, with some optimization, a geopolymer binder with appropriate strength can be developed for use in RAC applications.

Mazes in Spanish-English dual language learners after language enrichment: a case study

ABSTRACT The number of Spanish-English dual language learners (DLLs) in the United States continues to increase every year. In the absence of developmental language norms for DLLs it is important to learn more about typical language production characteristics to distinguish typical from atypical language characteristics. An area of language production with conflicting results in the literature is the production of mazes. Mazes are interruptions in the forward flow of language in the form of interjections, repairs or revisions of words and phrases. At elevated rates, mazes may interrupt the communication process. A common practice in classroom settings is to provide support for DLLs through small group activities such as language enrichment. It is unknown if maze patterns may change as a result of structured language input meant to increase linguistic skills. This preliminary case study explored maze patterns in four Spanish-English DLLs between the ages of 5;4 and 6;1 before and after two structured language enrichment sessions in English. Pretest and posttest narratives in English and Spanish were analyzed for maze patterns and measures of language productivity using conventional language sample analysis metrics. Maze patterns yielded mixed results. Certain maze types increased from pre to posttest while some decreased. Participants exhibited increases in measures of language productivity in English and Spanish. Language productivity and maze patterns demonstrated changes after two structured language enrichment sessions. Implications for further study of maze patterns in Spanish-English DLLs are discussed.