Caregiver-conducted experimental functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior

The purpose of the current study was to replicate the use of parents as therapists for experimental functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior with multiple participants while measuring procedural integrity. Clear functions were identified, and high percentages of procedural integrity were obtained.     

Using stimulus variation to increase reinforcer efficacy of low preference stimuli

Recent research findings suggest that low preference stimuli can be effective reinforcers. This study compared responding to high preference and low preference stimuli under continuous reinforcement. Results demonstrated that responding was greater when a high preference stimulus was presented. Other research findings suggest that stimulus variation increases the potency of reinforcers perceived to be of high preference. This study extended this line of research by evaluating whether stimulus variation would increase the potency of low preference stimuli. Results demonstrated that when three low preference stimuli were presented in a varied fashion, responding corresponded with the levels obtained when a high preference stimulus was presented. Furthermore, a varied reinforcer presentation of low preference stimuli was found to increase and maintain high percentages of correct responding and on‐task behavior to levels equal to those obtained with a high preference stimulus during a discrete trial preparation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-esteem among college students from four Arab countries

This study had three objectives: (a) to compare undergraduates from four Arab countries on self-esteem, (b) to explore the sex-related differences in self-esteem in these four Arab countries, and (c) to examine the association of self-esteem with both per-capita income and unemployment rate. Four samples of 2,643 students were recruited from Egypt (n = 576), Kuwait (n = 674), Lebanon (n = 826), and Oman (n = 567). They responded to the Arabic version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Kuwaiti and Omani men had a significantly higher mean score on self-esteem than did Egyptian and Lebanese men. Egyptian women scored significantly lower than the Omani women, but the effect size was small. Regarding the sex-related differences in self-esteem, Kuwaiti men had a significantly higher mean score than did their female peers, but the effect size was small, whereas there were no significant sex differences in the other samples. The sex-related difference in self-esteem is a controversial result and it may not be replicable in different countries. It was suggested that self-esteem is associated with high per-capita income and low unemployment rate.     

Sufficient completeness verification for conditional and constrained TRS

We present a procedure for checking sufficient completeness of conditional and constrained term rewriting systems containing axioms for constructors which may be constrained (by e.g. equalities, disequalities, ordering, membership, …). Such axioms allow to specify complex data structures like e.g. sets, sorted lists or powerlists. Our approach is integrated into a framework for inductive theorem proving based on tree grammars with constraints, a formalism which permits an exact representation of languages of ground constructor terms in normal form.The procedure is presented by an inference system which is shown sound and complete. A precondition of one inference of this system refers to a (undecidable) property called strong ground reducibility which is discharged to the above inductive theorem proving system. We have successfully applied our method to several examples, yielding readable proofs and, in case of negative answer, a counter-example suggesting how to complete the specification. Moreover, we show that it is a decision procedure when the TRS is unconditional but constrained, for an expressive class of constrained constructor axioms.     

COMPARISON OF DATA‐COLLECTION METHODS IN A BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS: A REPLICATION

Cummings and Carr (2009) compared two methods of data collection in a behavioral intervention program for children with pervasive developmental disorders: collecting data on all trials versus only the first trial in a session. Results showed that basing a child's progress on first‐trial data resulted in identifying mastery‐level responding slightly sooner, whereas determining mastery based on all trials resulted in slightly better skill maintenance. In the current replication, no such differences in indication of mastery or maintenance were observed when data were collected on all trials or the first trial.     

A neural network simulator for supercomputers

Connectionist modeling is computationally intensive. Until parallel computers become more widely available, supercomputing resources can be exploited. This paper describes a neural network simulator (NNS) written in FORTRAN for supercomputers. The present simulation engine consists of code for the backpropagation method of changing weights in connectionist models. A file interface reports simulation results in a variety of formats. The file interface also contains an interpreter for an input file through which the network structure is defined, the problem is represented, and various parameters are set. The input-file syntax is described in detail. NNS has been used both as an instructional aid and as a research tool. A simulation of “recovery of unrehearsed associations” is used to illustrate the use of the input file and to demonstrate the performance of NNS. Versions of NNS have been written for the Cray X-MP/48 and for the IBM 3090.     

Teaching children with autism to tell socially appropriate lies

This study used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the use of rules, role‐play, and feedback for teaching 3 children with autism spectrum disorder to tell socially appropriate lies when (a) presented with an undesired gift and (b) someone's appearance changed in an undesired way. The intervention was effective in teaching use of socially appropriate lies, and generalization to untrained people and gifts or appearances was observed.     

The Effects of Vocabulary Enhancement Exercises and Group Dynamic Assessment on Word Learning Through Lexical Inferencing

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - The study aimed to explore the effect of group dynamic assessment on word learning through lexical inferencing and to compare it to that of vocabulary...