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One of the standards for life science addressed in the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) is "Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics" (HS-LS2). A critical concept included in this core idea is biodiversity. To show competency, students are expected to design investigations, collect data, and perform mathematical analyses to explain how biodiversity changes or remains the same in ecosystems with different factors (Figure 1, p. 26). To this end, this article describes an ecosystem biodiversity investigation, posing the research question: How do two wooded areas of different ages compare in species biodiversity? Students collected plants in two areas of a local wooded ecosystem and calculated Simpson's biodiversity index (Figure 2, p. 26) to compare the relative abundance of organisms in each area. Simpson's biodiversity index gauges the number of species present and the relative abundance of each species. The Simpson index, named for Edward H. Simpson, a British statistician, was chosen because it can compare data sets of unequal size and is based in probability, and research has demonstrated that students using it better comprehend relative abundance of species, or species evenness (Dor-Haim, Amir, and Dodick 2011). As the focus in science education shifts to integrating authentic scientific practices with content learning, so must teaching. The biodiversity lesson described here can help achieve that goal.

Summary: This study was designed to investigate the potential role of ultrasound in the diagnosis of cysts of the true vocal fold. Materials and Methods: Grayscale ultrasound of the larynx [...]

Objective. Recent evidence suggests that autistic children may have significant gastrointestinal symptoms. Although constipation occurs in 2% to 5% of healthy children, its clinical diagnosis is often difficult in children with behavioral disorders. We thus aimed to assess the prevalence of fecal loading in autistic children with gastrointestinal symptoms and to identify possible predictors of constipation. Methods. We studied abdominal radiographs of 103 autistic children (87 boys) who were referred for gastroenterological assessment, in comparison with 29 control radiographs from children who were referred to the emergency department, most with abdominal pain. Radiographs were scored independently, in blinded manner, by 4 pediatric gastroenterologists and a radiologist. The severity of constipation was determined using a validated index. Details of stool habit, abdominal pain, dietary history, and laxative use were obtained from case notes. Results. The incidence of constipation in the control subjects with abdominal pain was higher than reported for normal children. Despite this, moderate or severe constipation was more frequent in the autistic group than in the control subjects (36% vs 10%). Analysis of rectosigmoid loading showed more striking differences (54.4% of autistic children had moderate/severe loading or acquired megarectum compared with 24.1% of control subjects). Multivariate regression analysis showed consumption of milk to be the strongest predictor of constipation in the autistic group, whereas stool frequency, gluten consumption, soiling, and abdominal pain were not predictive of constipation. Conclusions. Constipation is a frequent finding in children with gastrointestinal symptoms and autism, particularly in the rectosigmoid colon, often with acquired megarectum. The absence of any correlation between the clinical history and the degree of fecal impaction in autistic children confirms the importance of an abdominal radiograph in the assessment of their degree of constipation. Pediatrics 2003;112:939-942; autism, neurodisability, constipation, child, abdominal radiographs., Pervasive developmental disorders are a group of disorders of which childhood autism remains the prototype. (1) Typical features are qualitative impairments in social interaction and communication and a restricted repertoire [...]

In this study, I investigate whether the effectiveness of rewarding performance of nonfinancial measures varies across levels of task complexity. I use a multi-period experiment where participants are assigned a highly or moderately complex task and an incentive contract where only financial measures or both financial and nonfinancial measures are rewarded. I find that in a moderately complex task, individuals perform better when only the financial measures are rewarded in the incentive contract. However, in a highly complex task, individuals perform better when both financial and nonfinancial measures are rewarded. Collectively, the results identify task complexity as an important task characteristic that impacts the effectiveness of incentives on nonfinancial measures of performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When employees share knowledge with their colleagues, the efficiency of the colleagues' performance improves, which positively affects their productivity. However, employees can engage in counterproductive behavior by choosing not to share knowledge (passive behavior) or by choosing to share inaccurate knowledge with their colleagues (active behavior). In this study, we examine how providing relative performance information (RPI) and rewarding individuals with performance-based incentives can jointly affect individuals' choices to engage in counterproductive knowledge sharing behavior. Using an experiment, we identify an interactive effect of RPI and individual incentives, such that participants engage in counterproductive knowledge sharing behavior most frequently when they receive RPI and are assigned individual performance-based incentives. We also observe that RPI increases the frequency of both active and passive counterproductive knowledge sharing behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]