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The purpose of this varied replication study was to evaluate the effects of a supplemental reading intervention on the beginning reading performance of kindergarten students in a different geographical location and in a different instructional context from the initial randomized trial. A second purpose was to investigate whether students who received the intervention across both the initial and replication studies demonstrated similar learning outcomes. Kindergarten students (n = 162) identified as at risk of reading difficulty from 48 classrooms were assigned randomly at the classroom level either to a commercial program (i.e., Early Reading Intervention; Pearson/Scott Foresman, 2004) that included explicit/systematic instruction (experimental group) or school-designed typical practice intervention (comparison group). Both interventions were taught by classroom teachers for 30 min per day in small groups for approximately 100 sessions. Multilevel hierarchical linear analyses revealed no statistically significant differences between conditions on any measure. Combined analyses that included students from both the initial and replication studies suggested that differences in the impact of the intervention across studies were largely explained by mean differences in the comparison group students' response to school-designed intervention. (Contains 10 tables, 1 figure, and 1 footnote.)

Silicon, which has high theoretical capacity (3570 mA h g−1) and low discharge potential, is gaining attention as a next-generation high-capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because it can overcome the limited capacity of commercially available graphite. Nevertheless, silicon exhibits a volumetric change of approximately 400% in the process of repeated charging and discharging, and simultaneously, an unstable solid electrolyte interface (SEI) is continuously formed. Consequently, the battery life decreases rapidly, leading to capacity loss; thus, commercialization is difficult. In this study, hydrophobic reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was introduced onto a silicon surface modified with tannic acid (TA) to induce uniform dispersion in a silicone oil precursor, and then a silicon-based composite was embedded without agglomeration in a silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) matrix (Si/rGO/SiOC) via a simple pyrolysis process. In the Si/rGO/SiOC composite, rGO supported the uniform distribution of silicon and improved the electrical conductivity. SiOC showed its potential as a buffer matrix by sufficiently overcoming the problems of silicon with mechanical stability. As a result, the Si/rGO/SiOC composite exhibited a high reversible capacity of approximately 1230 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 and demonstrated excellent electrochemical properties with a cycle stability of 97.3% even after the 100th cycle, proving its potential as a high-efficiency anode material for LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identified the spatial and temporal patterns of national park visitors by combining global positioning system (GPS) technologies and surveys using the sequence alignment method (SAM) based on the concept of space–time path of time geography. Data were collected from a sample of 344 GPS tracks and questionnaires obtained from Gyeryongsan National Park in South Korea. A complex random stratified sampling method was employed to represent a national sample based on mobile positioning data. The result of the SAM analysis revealed that the derived visitor typologies constituted three groups from 83 unique paths extracted from 341 sequences. Significant intergroup differences were found for the paths based on average travel distance, average visit duration, and average travel speed. The main theoretical contribution of this study is in expanding the application of the theory by providing methodological improvements using SAM and GPS analysis of the theoretical basis of time geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes the use of genetic analysis as a complementary method for species identification in the genus Pinus, particularly in cases where anatomical identification is challenging. Pinus species were grouped based on anatomical similarities, and the efficacy of using ycf1b, which is the most variable for Pinus species identification, and rbcL, which is a suggested DNA barcode for land plants, was evaluated within each group. Sequences for each species were obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information database and were used to perform phylogenetic analysis. Among the species in Group 1 (P. echinata, P. elliottii, P. ponderosa, P. radiata, P. rigida, P. taeda, and P. virginiana), rbcL was only effective in identifying P. radiata and P. ponderosa, while ycf1b classified five species. An additional DNA barcode, trnH-psbA, was needed to identify P. radiata and P. taeda. In Group 2 (P. densiflora, P. sylvestris, and P. thunbergii), most species were identified using both rbcL and ycf1b, with the exception of possible hybrids of P. densiflora and P. sylvestris. In Group 3 (P. koraiensis and P. strobus), two species were identified using rbcL and ycf1b. Combining genetic species identification with anatomical identification can accurately identify species of the genus Pinus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the effects of integrating science and social studies vocabulary instruction into shared book reading with low-income preschool children. Twenty-one preschool teachers and 148 children from their classrooms were randomly assigned at the class level to either the Words of Oral Reading and Language Development (WORLD) intervention or a practice-as-usual condition. Children were screened and selected to approximate three vocabulary levels (15th, 30th, and 50th). WORLD teachers implemented the intervention in small groups of 5 to 6 students, 5 days per week, 20 minutes per session, for 18 weeks. Findings from multilevel models indicated statistically and practically significant effects of the WORLD intervention on standardized measures of receptive vocabulary (delta[subscript T] = 0.93) and on researcher-developed measures of expressive (delta[subscript T] = 1.01) and receptive vocabulary (delta[subscript T] = 1.41). The WORLD intervention had an overall main effect, regardless of entry-level vocabulary, a finding that speaks to its potential applicability in preschool classrooms. (Contains 3 tables.)