A growing body of research indicates imitation is a skill that is significantly impaired in young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Relationships between imitation skills and other social and communication skills, such as joint attention and play, have been discovered, leading early intervention service providers to focus on teaching imitation skills to young children with ASD in order to foster related skill development. Parent-implemented interventions can eliminate or reduce the need for outside service providers, which can reduce costs to families and have been shown to have positive effects on parent mental health. They can also yield similar benefits to therapist-implemented intervention when implemented with a high degree of fidelity. Parent-implemented Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) has been effective in increasing both object and gestural imitation skills in young children with ASD. This study aimed to replicate those findings. Three young children with ASD were exposed to parent-implemented RIT in two phases targeting object and gestural imitation, and all three increased their rates of both object and gestural imitation during the intervention. / Special Education

In this study, we examined the effect of peer-implemented script fading procedures on the frequency of independent statements of play by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a classroom setting. The target children included five 5-year-old individuals with ASD with the ability to speak in three- to five-word phrases but did not initiate play with peers. We trained typically developing peers, ages 5 to 6, on how to implement procedures, prompt correct responses, systematically fade scripts, and interact with the target children. We used a script-fading intervention, including auditory scripts that prompted initiation of play with peers. We conducted sessions in an open area of a classroom using a preferred toy set and two additional toy sets for generalization. Following training, we found that peers implemented procedures with fidelity and target participants showed an increase in independent statements of play, both scripted and unscripted.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-05-16T12:35:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Daiane Westhpal Padilha_.pdf: 2739784 bytes, checksum: 392dc0c8117ea5cb2c898b78f9d8a6fc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-16T12:35:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daiane Westhpal Padilha_.pdf: 2739784 bytes, checksum: 392dc0c8117ea5cb2c898b78f9d8a6fc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-23 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / FINEP - Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia / PROSUP - Programa de Suporte à Pós-Gradução de Instituições de Ensino Particulares / O objetivo da pesquisa foi analisar as formas de gerenciamento implementadas na empresa, estudo de caso, que executava a desmontagem, descaracterização e tratamento de REEE no Vale do Rio dos Sinos, no Rio Grande do Sul. Para o desenvolvimento deste estudo foi necessário organizar, complementar e analisar os dados disponibilizados pela empresa para atender os objetivos específicos relativo ao mapeamento da cadeia pós-consumo relacionada à empresa, para o balanço de massa da empresa. Enquanto que para propor melhorias no leiaute e no fluxo produtivo fez-se medições no prédio e análises no local para depois aplicar a metodologia de Muther (1978). Ao mapear a cadeia de pós-consumo relacionada à empresa identificou-se que 75% dos geradores que descartam REEE junto a empresa estavam localizadas na Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio dos Sinos (BHRS) concentrando-se nos municípios de Novo Hamburgo e São Leopoldo com 52% e 14% do total de resíduos, respectivamente. As atividades econômicas que mais geraram resíduos, dentre os encaminhados para a empresa foram as relativas a indústria de transformação e comércio com representatividade acima de 25%. Ao efetuar o balanço de massa da empresa verificou-se que foram recolhidos 88% de REEE, 9% de resíduos classe II B – não perigosos - inerte e 2% de resíduos classe I - perigosos. Após a segregação dos resíduos verificou-se que a empresa expediu 71% de resíduos classe II B, 26% de REEE saíram inteiros (sem desmontagem) e 3% foram de resíduo classe I. Dentre os REEE, verificou-se que as linhas marrom (11%) e verde (83%) foram as mais representativa, assim como o metal (84%) foi entre os resíduos classe II B o que apresentou maior quantidade dentre os descartados na empresa. Após a segregação dos REEE houve acréscimo de 470% nos resíduos classe II B. Por meio da metodologia SLP (Systematic Layout Planning ou Sistema de Planejamento de Leiaute), fez-se a reorganização do fluxo produtivo e uma proposta de melhorias para o leiaute da empresa, para o qual foi obtido acréscimos nas áreas de armazenamentos de 17% para os REEE, 16% para os resíduos classe II B, 215% para os televisores e monitores. Conclui-se, desta forma, que a metodologia utilizada neste estudo foi adequada no desenvolvimento de melhorias de leiautes da empresa, já que foi possível demonstrar que com a reorganização das áreas internas obteve-se um melhor fluxo no processo produtivo. Palavras-chave: Gestão de resíduos, REEE. Leiute. SLP. / The objective of this research was to analyze the implemented management forms in the company, case study, which carried out the disassembly, decharacterization and treatment of WEEE in Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Rio Grande do Sul. For the development of this study it was necessary to organize, complement and analyze the data segregation of provided by the company. To meet the specific objectives related to mapping of the post-consumer chain related to the company, to the company's mass balance. While in order to propose improvements in the layout and productive flow, measurements were taken in the building and on-site analyzes to later apply Muther's methodology (1978). When mapping the company's post-consumer chain, it was identified that 75% of the generators that dispose WEEE with the company were located in the Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio dos Sinos (BHRS), focused in the cities of Novo Hamburgo and São Leopoldo with 52 % and 14% of total waste, respectively. The economic activities that generated the most waste, among those sent to the company were those related to the manufacturing and trade industry, with a share of more than 25%. When company’s mass balance was perfomed, it was identified 88% of WEEE, 9% of class II B waste - non-hazardous - inert and 2% of class I hazardous waste were collected. After the residue segregation, it was verified that the company shipped 71% of class II B waste, 26% of WEEE were left intact (without disassembly) and 3% were waste class I. Among the WEEE, it was found that brown (11%) and green (83%) lines were the most representative, as metal (84%) was among class II B residues, which presented the highest amount among the discarded items by the company. After the WEEE’s segregation, there was an increase of 470% in class II B waste. Through the Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) methodology, a reorganization of the production flow and a proposal for improvements were made to the company's layout, for which increases were achieved in the storage areas of 17% for WEEE, 16% for Class II B waste, 215% for televisions and screen monitors. It is concluded that the methodology used in this study was suitable for the development of improvements of company layouts, since it was possible to demonstrate that with the reorganization of the internal areas a better flow in the productive process was obtained. Key-words: Waste management. WEEE. Layout. SLP.

Exploring the interventions that promote expressive, verbal language for preschool-aged children with autism is essential. When a child is lacking the ability to communicate, parents express that they would like their child to speak. B.F. Skinner (1957) proposed that the mand repertoire (communicative requests) should be an initial focus of language training. Mand training has been shown to be effective for teaching children with autism to communicate. However, many studies exploring mand training utilize highly trained instructors for intervention implementation. Early childhood best practices recommend the use of family-centered interventions and teaching within the natural environment. This study followed these recommendations. This research utilized a single subject multiple baseline across participants design with two parents and their preschool aged children with autism. The purpose of this dissertation study was two fold: (1) to examine the effects of a verbal mand with direct trial instruction intervention on the verbal communication skills for children with autism, and (2) to investigate if a parent can reliably implement the intervention. Using written instructions, role play, video models, and performance feedback, the researcher taught parents how to implement the intervention with their child. The goal of the intervention was to increase verbal communication skills, specifically the production of independent verbal mands. The intervention under question involved verbal mand training using direct trial instruction (DTI). During DTI the parent taught the child to use mands utilizing a time delay, verbal prompting, and sign language. The researcher collected data during the baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases. In addition to the intervention results, the researcher collected and analyzed social validity, treatment fidelity, and parent competence data. Results from the intervention effects did not show a functional relation between the treatment and the target behavior. However, both participants increased their ability to use verbal and sign language communication. The parents were able to implement the intervention with fidelity and gained high competence scores related to intervention delivery expertise and behavioral responsiveness. The parents also reported that the intervention was extremely useful for their family. The parents generalized the intervention procedures and their children communicated more throughout their daily routines.

Due to the continuously decreasing feature sizes and the increasing complexity of integrated circuits, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware is becoming less and less reliable. However, dedicated reliable hardware is expensive and usually slower than commodity hardware. Thus, economic pressure will most likely result in the usage of unreliable COTS hardware in safety-critical systems. The usage of unreliable, COTS hardware in safety-critical systems results in the need for software-implemented solutions for handling execution errors caused by this unreliable hardware. In this thesis, we provide techniques for detecting hardware errors that disturb the execution of a program. The detection provided facilitates handling of these errors, for example, by retry or graceful degradation. We realize the error detection by transforming unsafe programs that are not guaranteed to detect execution errors into safe programs that detect execution errors with a high probability. Therefore, we use arithmetic AN-, ANB-, ANBD-, and ANBDmem-codes. These codes detect errors that modify data during storage or transport and errors that disturb computations as well. Furthermore, the error detection provided is independent of the hardware used. We present the following novel encoding approaches: - Software Encoded Processing (SEP) that transforms an unsafe binary into a safe execution at runtime by applying an ANB-code, and - Compiler Encoded Processing (CEP) that applies encoding at compile time and provides different levels of safety by using different arithmetic codes. In contrast to existing encoding solutions, SEP and CEP allow to encode applications whose data and control flow is not completely predictable at compile time. For encoding, SEP and CEP use our set of encoded operations also presented in this thesis. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first ones that present the encoding of a complete RISC instruction set including boolean and bitwise logical operations, casts, unaligned loads and stores, shifts and arithmetic operations. Our evaluations show that encoding with SEP and CEP significantly reduces the amount of erroneous output caused by hardware errors. Furthermore, our evaluations show that, in contrast to replication-based approaches for detecting errors, arithmetic encoding facilitates the detection of permanent hardware errors. This increased reliability does not come for free. However, unexpectedly the runtime costs for the different arithmetic codes supported by CEP compared to redundancy increase only linearly, while the gained safety increases exponentially.

This diploma thesis focuses on the curriculum topic of insects from two perspectives. The first view is intended (presumed) curriculum, the second implemented (achieved) curriculum. To determine the intended curriculum, a curriculum analysis of the insects contained in 6th grade primary biology textbooks and the corresponding level for grammar schools was used. Based on the analysis a didactic test is compiled, in order to determine the mastery of the subject matter by pupils the implemented curriculum. The results show a lower value of the intended (about 53%) than the implemented curriculum. In addition, the rate of the implemented curriculum, depending on the individual sub-circuits curriculum about insects, was found to be unbalanced.

Students who display reading difficulties/disabilities at the end of third grade are less likely to succeed in content areas and graduate from high school than their reading-proficient peers. Literature suggests that students in rural school districts lag behind their suburban peers in terms of their reading levels and accessibility to resources. Furthermore, students from low socioeconomic status (SES) households and those who have disabilities exhibit greater learning loss during the summer break. This exploratory study examined the effects of two parent-implemented computer-based reading programs on the reading skills of 20 students at-risk for reading failure during a summer break. Parental and students’ perceptions regarding the effectiveness and desirability of the programs were elicited. Results suggested that both programs facilitated gains in phonemic awareness and phonics. Furthermore, students in the Funnix group exhibited large gains in vocabulary and oral reading fluency, and the students in the PLATO group exhibited large gains in comprehension. Most of the students indicated they liked the programs and the programs helped them read. Similarly, most of the parents agreed that the programs were useful, and they were comfortable using the programs. A description of the computer programs, results, implications, and limitations of the study are discussed.

Parent-implemented interventions (PIIs) can be useful in promoting parents’ knowledge of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and in transferring necessary skills to children with ASD. Individuals with ASD can directly and indirectly benefit from PIIs in terms of academics, ASD symptom severity, behavior improvement, cognition, communication, and social skills. Many studies have explored the efficacy of PIIs; however, they have tended to report mixed effects. Previous meta-analyses and systematic reviews have been characterized by limited search terms and literature search procedures, emphases on published manuscripts, dependency on parent reports, dated findings, and comparisons across of different types of control groups. This study attempts to improve on the methodology of prior meta-analyses and to update findings of the effectiveness of PIIs for children and youth with ASD. We located 1925 studies at initial manuscript search in 9 databases. After additional search from other sources, 43 studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies with same participants were merged that yield 40 records for final data coding. Eligible studies coded in Dyches et al.’s meta-analysis (2018) combined with current data resulted in 53 randomized controlled trials for data analysis. The random effects model meta-analysis found a moderate and statistically significant effect (g = 0.55, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.65, p < 0.00001) on overall weighted effect size across 53 studies included. PIIs can improve child outcomes in positive behavior/social skill (g = 0.603), maladaptive behavior (g = 0.519), adaptive behavior/life skills (g = 0.239), and language/communication (g = 0.545). These findings are inconclusive and should be interpreted with caution, especially adaptive behavior/life skill because only six studies reported outcomes on that variable. No moderating variables were identified in post hoc random effects weighted analyses. Implications for future research are discussed.

Number restrictions are concept constructors that are available in almost all implemented description logic systems. However, even though there has lately been considerable effort on integrating expressive role constructors into description logics, the roles that may occur in number restrictions are usually of a very restricted type. Until now, only languages with number restrictions on atomic roles and inversion of atomic roles, or with number restrictions on intersection of atomic roles have been investigated in detail. In the present paper, we increase the expressive power of description languages by allowing for more complex roles in number restrictions. As role constructors, we consider composition of roles (which will be present in all our languages), and intersection, union and inversion of roles in different combinations. We will present one decidability result (for the basic language that extends ALC by number restrictions on roles with composition), and three undecidability results for three different extensions of the basic language.

No description available.