Reading Capacity Research Articles

Design and implementation of ”ECG challenge” educational game APP

ECG is a highly practical discipline, not only requires students to have a solid theoreti-cal foundation, but also requires them to have a wealth of clinical practice (graph reading) capacity. This study aims to improve the students' ability of reading ECG, and introduces the game logic and mechanism, to design and implement the educational games APP. The structure of this APP includes learning module, test module, and evaluation and feedback module, which can realize the three functions of independent inquiry, cooperation plus communication, and test challenge. By the development and application of this kind of inquiry medical education game on the mobile terminal, we can provide learners with adaptive, fragmented, and game-based mobile learning environment. Key words: Application; Educational game; Gamification; Electrocardiogram; Recognize map capacity

Descriptive epidemiology of prenatal and perinatal risk factors in a Chinese population with reading disorder.

Several prenatal and perinatal factors have been found to be associated with developmental dyslexia (reading disorder) in alphabetic language. Given the absence of relevant studies of Chinese children, the present study tries to investigate these risk factors. A total of 45,850 students were recruited from grades three to six, from seven cities of Hubei province. Dyslexia in Chinese was diagnosed based on children’s clinical symptoms. The clinical symptoms of children’s reading performance were assessed by Dyslexia Checklist for Chinese Children (DCCC) and Pupil Rating Scale Revised Screening for Learning Disabilities (PRS) which were completed by parent/guardian and header teacher respectively. Chinese language exam was used to screen children with poor reading capacity. Questionnaires about prenatal and perinatal factors were completed by parent or guardian. Among the 34,748 eligible participants, 1,200 (3.45%) were diagnosed with dyslexia in Chinese. More boys suffered from dyslexia than the girls and the gender ratio was 3:1. Family history of neuropsychiatric diseases, maternal infectious diseases, difficult vaginal delivery, preterm birth, and neonatal asphyxia were found to increase the risk of developmental dyslexia in China. Closer longitudinal developmental monitoring and preventive measures should be taken for high risk children.

The contribution of short-term memory capacity to reading ability in adolescents with cochlear implants

ObjectiveThis study aimed to establish the relationship between short-term memory capacity and reading skills in adolescents with cochlear implants. Methods and materialsA between-groups design compared a group of young people with cochlear implants with a group of hearing peers on measures of reading, and auditory and visual short-term memory capacity. The groups were matched for non-verbal IQ and age. The adolescents with cochlear implants were recruited from the Cochlear Implant Programme at a specialist children's hospital. The hearing participants were recruited from the same schools as those attended by the implanted adolescents. Participants were 18 cochlear implant users and 14 hearing controls, aged between 12 and 18 years. All used English as their main language and had no significant learning disability or neuro-developmental disorder.Short-term memory capacity was assessed in the auditory modality using Forward and Reverse Digit Span from the WISC IV UK, and visually using Forward and Reverse Memory from the Leiter-R. Individual word reading, reading comprehension and pseudoword decoding were assessed using the WIAT II UK. ResultsA series of ANOVAs revealed that the adolescents with cochlear implants had significantly poorer auditory short-term memory capacity and reading skills (on all measures) compared with their hearing peers. However, when Forward Digit Span was entered into the analyses as a covariate, none of the differences remained statistically significant. ConclusionsDeficits in immediate auditory memory persist into adolescence in deaf children with cochlear implants. Short-term auditory memory capacity is an important neurocognitive process in the development of reading skills after cochlear implantation in childhood that remains evident in later adolescence.

The impact of typical neovascular age-related macular degeneration and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy on vision-related quality of life in Asian patients

AimsTo determine the impact of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) on vision-related quality of life (VRQoL) in an Asian population.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 162 subjects with nAMD from the Asian...

Cross-species mind-reading

Cross-species mind-reading

A Hybrid Quorum Protocol for Improved Availability, Capacity, Load and Reduced Overhead

Data replication is playing a vital role in the design of distributed information systems. This paper presents a novel and efficient distributed algorithm for managing replicated data and for better performance and availability. This paper presents an extension to existing wheel protocol for improved performance. Wheel protocol imposes a logical wheel structure on the set of copies of an object and gives smallest read quorum. In addition to small read quorum size for read intensive applications, it is necessary to have good write availability as well. This paper proposes two hybrid wheel protocols, which superimpose logarithmic and ring protocols on top of the wheel protocol. It shows that, both protocols help in improving write availability, read capacity, load and message overhead and also compare their performances with wheel and other protocols. Hybrid protocols expand usage of wheel protocol to different type of applications.

Reading and Dementia

The reading capacities of older adults living with dementia are difficult to assess and determine. In this paper, we discuss the challenges that conventional print present to people with dementia. We expand upon what it takes to produce highly readable material for this group of older adults and the conditions necessary to stimulate their preserved reading abilities. We elaborate on the benefits and applications of reading for many older adults, especially those living in long-term care facilities.

Decentralization of Acid Fast Bacilli(AFB) External Quality Assurance Using Blind Rechecking for Sputum Smear Microscopy in Ethiopia

IntroductionEthiopia achieved a rapid expansion of TB microscopic centers for acid fast bacilli (AFB). However, external quality assurance (EQA) services were, until recently, limited to few regional and sub-regional laboratories. In this paper, we describe the decentralization experience and the result of EQA using random blinded rechecking.Materials and MethodsThe routine EQA quarterly report was compiled and analyzed. A positive result by the microscopic center while the EQA center reported negative result is categorized as false positive (FP). A negative result by the microscopic center while the EQA center reported positive is considered false negative (FN). The reading of EQA centers was considered a gold standard to compute the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV) of the readings of microscopic centers.ResultsWe decentralized sputum smear AFB EQA from 4 Regional Laboratories (RRLs) to 82 EQA centers and enrolled 956 health facilities in EQA schemes. Enrollment of HFs in EQA was gradual because it required training and mentoring laboratory professionals, institutionalizing internal QA measures, equipping all HFs to perform diagnosis, and establishing more EQA centers. From 2012 to 2014 (Phase I), the FP rate declined from 0.6% to 0.2% and FN fell from as high as 7.6% to 1.6% in supported health facilities (HFs). In HFs that joined in Phase II, FN rates ranged from 5.6 to 7.3%. The proportion of HFs without errors has increased from 77.9% to 90.5% in Phase I HFs and from 82.9% to 86.9% in Phase II HFs. Overall sensitivity and specificity were 95.0% and 99.7%, respectively. PPV and NPV were 93.3% and 99.7%, respectively.ConclusionDecentralizing blinded rechecking of sputum smear microscopy is feasible in low-income settings. While a comprehensive laboratory improvement strategy enhanced the quality of microscopy, laboratory professionals’ capacity in slide reading and smear quality requires continued support.

A inter-relação leitura & escrita: o papel do conhecimento prévio e das estratégias leitoras

Este artigo propõe a inter-relação sistemática entre leitura e escrita para planejar o ensino de língua materna ou LE, no Ensino Básico, pois, socialmente, a interdependência entre essas duas práticas é usual na distribuição dos atos de ler e escrever, nos diferenciados nichos sociais. Seu objetivo é destacar a necessidade de seleção do gênero textual a ser lido e escrito na escola, na turma X ou Y, de vez que há muitas variedades, em decorrência da atual convergência das mídias, não sendo possível conhecer e utilizar todos os gêneros em circulação. O recurso à associação de maneira sistemática pode, no entanto, propiciar a superação de dificuldades do contexto escolar e acadêmico e, de modo amplo, atender a demandas sociais de diferentes ordens. Assim, sugere-se a inter-relação, de vez que a leitura facilita o processo de escrita e vice-versa, além do que se destaca o papel da mobilização do conhecimento prévio e o da utilização de estratégias de leitura, para melhorar a capacidade de ler e escrever.

Integrated photonics with programmable non-volatile memory.

Silicon photonics integrated circuits (Si-PIC) with well-established active and passive building elements are progressing towards large-scale commercialization in optical communications and high speed optical interconnects applications. However, current Si-PICs do not have memory capabilities, in particular, the non-volatile memory functionality for energy efficient data storage. Here, we propose an electrically programmable, multi-level non-volatile photonics memory cell (PMC) fabricated by standard complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible processes. A micro-ring resonator (MRR) was built using the PMC to optically read the memory states. Switching energy smaller than 20 pJ was achieved. Additionally, a MRR memory array was employed to demonstrate a four-bit memory read capacity. Theoretically, this can be increased up to ~400 times using a 100 nm free spectral range broadband light source. The fundamental concept of this design provides a route to eliminate the von Neumann bottleneck. The energy-efficient optical storage can complement on-chip optical interconnects for neutral networking, memory input/output interfaces and other computational intensive applications.

Short-term Working Memory and Chunking in SLA

After elaborating the definition of working memory, the relationship between short-term memory and working memory, chunking in SLA and the relationship between short-term memory and chunking, this paper proves the importance of chunking through the experiment: the students’ capacity in fast reading, reading in depth, listening and cloze from experimental group was affected by vocabulary depth through learning the theory of chunking and states how to apply chunking to second language acquisition.

Enhancing Youth Outcomes and Organizational Practices Through a Camp-Based Reading Program

Many children experience summer learning loss during the summer as measured by grade-level equivalents on standardized tests. Camp-based reading programs are a promising strategy to reduce summer learning loss. Situated within a positive youth development (PYD) theoretical approach, this study explored the efficacy of a U.S. camp-based reading program called Explore 30 and examined promising practices for reading interventions in camps as a mechanism for enhancing youth reading outcomes. Youth and director surveys were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data about program impacts. Approximately 70% of participants read for at least 30 min each day. A paired-samples t test found a significant difference (in the positive direction) in feelings about reading from pretest ( M = 2.09, SD = 1.20) to posttest ( M = 1.89, SD = 1.08), t(590) = 5.96, p < .001. Findings suggest that the program was an appropriate model for enhancing camp organizational capacity for summer reading. Implications for practice and recommendations for research are addressed.

Development of Ontology for Information Literary

It has been 20 years since the Internet, Internet crimes have been moving to the second stage in recent years. The awareness raising activities that are being conducted by various industry associations greatly contribute to reducing the troubles that are taking place now; these activities are to be favorably evaluated to a certain extent. However, they fall short of establishing systematic knowledge or leading to systematic learning to proactively prevent damage that could occur in the future. The field of “information” is still new and even the definition of information is not well known. The present study therefore defines what “information” is and clarifies the concept of the capacity of reading and writing information (information literacy). The aim of this paper is to develop ontology for information literacy, which is paramount for everyone to create a future in the field of “information” and acquire the wisdom to proactively prevent troubles that could take place in the future.

Paragraph-reading comprehension ability in Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants.

1) To investigate different aspects of paragraph reading in Mandarin-speaking students with cochlear implants (CIs) and the factors associated with unfavorable outcomes, and 2) to understand the replaceability of a paragraph-reading test with a sentence-reading test. Cross-sectional, case-controlled study. Fifty-three students with CIs (aged 11.0 ± 1.4 years) and 53 grade- and gender-matched children with normal hearing (NH) participated in the study. A paragraph-reading comprehension test was conducted. Sentence and word reading, speech perception, language skills, and child/family characteristics were examined. An unfavorable paragraph-reading outcome was defined as a score lower than one standard deviation below the NH mean. The CI subjects had significantly worse paragraph-reading comprehension than did the NH controls (P = 0.017, d = 0.54). Their performance in grades 5 to 6 was not significantly higher than of those with NH in grades 2 to 4. The CI children's abilities to understand semantics (P = 0.012) and syntax (P = 0.020) significantly fell behind the NH controls in grades 2 to 4, and the lag continued in grades 5 to 6 (P = 0.039, P = 0.002, respectively). Grade and sentence reading were independently associated with unfavorable paragraph-reading outcomes (R(2) = 0.453). The optimal sensitivity and specificity of the sentence-reading test in identifying unfavorable paragraph-reading outcomes were 90.9% and 90.0%, respectively (area under the curve = 0.923). Specialists should pay attention to CI students' development of different reading skills. Paragraph-reading tests enable a multidimensional evaluation of reading competence. Use of sentence-reading tests is suggested only as a tool for preliminary screening for basic reading capacities. 3b.

English

The deaf community is less well informed compared to hearing groups and this communication difficulty hampers not only the acquisition of accurate general information but also puts the deaf community at a health risk. When profound deaf students were asked about their sources of information, a younger group mentioned friends and family, and an older group answered newspapers, television, and internet as their first sources of information. However, when this second group, aged between 17-36 years old, were evaluated in relation to their capacity of reading and understanding a short piece of news it became clear in many occasions that they ignored the meaning of more than 30% of the words. This older group of students could, however, discuss certain issues that had been extensively covered by the different media. This limited access to accurate information is a problem in issues involving sexual topics. Using the school system to cover this gap, it became clear that there was a lack of knowledge related to anatomy and basic physiologic concepts, as well as sexually transmitted diseases. The questions of virginity, homosexuality, pregnancy and drug abuse were also important discussion points. The need to overcome some of these problems led to the production of DVDs and illustrated magazines with the help of the young deaf community. The deaf community deserves being better informed and different approaches should be considered to overcome this problem. Key words: Information, young deaf community, sources of information, communication.&nbsp

The influences of working memory representations on long-range regression in text reading: an eye-tracking study.

The present study investigated the relationship between verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) capacity and long-range regression (i.e., word relocation) processes in reading. We analyzed eye movements during a “whodunit task”, in which readers were asked to answer a content question while original text was being presented. The eye movements were more efficient in relocating a target word when the target was at recency positions within the text than when it was at primacy positions. Furthermore, both verbal and visuospatial WM capacity partly predicted the efficiency of the initial long-range regression. The results indicate that WM representations have a strong influence at the first stage of long-range regression by driving the first saccade movement toward the correct target position, suggesting that there is a dynamic interaction between internal WM representations and external actions during text reading.

Effects of Variations in Reading Span Task Design on the Relationship Between Working Memory Capacity and Second Language Reading

Relationships between working memory (WM)—measured by reading span tasks (RSTs)—and second language (L2) reading are explored by probing the effects of differences in secondary task design (semantic vs. morphosyntactic) and the language of the task (first or second). Participants were 98 Turkish late adult learners of English as an L2 with moderate proficiency in the language. They completed a reading comprehension test in English and four RSTs (two in Turkish, two in English) whose processing tasks required judging whether there was an anomaly, morphosyntactic or semantic, depending on the RST. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the storage component of span tasks loaded on the same factor, suggesting that storage is task‐ and language‐independent. By contrast, L2 learners' processing was affected by the linguistic nature of the task and the language in which it was presented. Additionally, findings point to a significant relationship between L2 reading and learners' storage capacity. As for processing, resources underlying L1 and L2 semantic and L2 morphosyntactic processes contribute to L2 reading, unlike those underlying L1 morphosyntactic processes. These findings attenuate the notion of construct equivalency in WM measurement through RSTs, dependent on secondary task type and language used.

Multidisciplinary Collaboration to Support Struggling Readers: Centering Culture in Concerns About Process and Outcomes

Our commentary responds to the five articles of the special issue on multidisciplinary collaboration to support struggling readers. From our perspectives informed by experiences working with diverse student and family populations in urban settings, preparing pre- and in-service educators and specialists to do the same, and working in federally funded technical assistance and dissemination centers focused on equity issues in general and special education, we highlight themes and raise issues across the articles. Accordingly, we discuss learning to read in the broader context of literacy acquisition, and examine issues of effectiveness, power, and privilege within consultative and collaborative professional relationships aimed at addressing diverse learners' reading capacities and outcomes.

Marking Twain

The first of the following two narratives is a personal reflection by the instructor of "Narrative Approaches to Bioethics," an elective in the PhD program at the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University. The author argues that perhaps the primary goal of medical ethics education should be to show how to construct plausible and defensible interpretations of human experience and sensibly resolve the problems that these happenings occasion. To that end, the author engaged the sympathetic reading capacities of his students by "thwarting" their expectations for medicalized case studies to "dissect" and instead chose works that invited careful readings of morally-complex literary works. One such reading was Huckleberry Finn, which the class read on the book's 100(th) anniversary. Huckleberry Finn chronicles Huck's search for truth, goodness and justice on the Mississippi River-a location the class explored on a field trip. The second narrative is the personal reflection of one of the students in this class and attests to the moral pedagogical power of Huck Finn. He relates the insights gleaned from a particular passage where Huck confronts moralistic dogmas.

LEITURA DE IMAGENS: A ANÁLISE DE UMA PROVA DE VESTIBULAR

In order to reflect about the official discourse related to the ability of image reading in high school, it is done an analysis of a vestibular test (the entrance exam) of the Universidade Federal de Goias considered here as the materialization of the official discourse that enables the observation of the required reading capacities and abilities. The research is based on the French Discourse Analysis and some concepts of Foucault, Bakhtin, Maingueneau and others are here appropriated. Due to the necessity of a limit the corpus, is the 2011-1 entrance exam. This work is part of a broader reflection on the reading, considering the reading and interpretation of multimodal texts. Keywords: Discourse. Universidade Federal de Goias. Reading. Multimodal.