Application of Statistical Shape Analysis to the Classification of Renal Tumours Appearing in Childhood

Scientific Conference (2009, April 23)

Inclusive Education for All in Germany?

Article for general public (2009)

As the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities took effect in Germany in late February, DAAD/AICGS Fellow Dr. Justin J.W. Powell takes a look at Germany's educational system ... [more ▼]

As the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities took effect in Germany in late February, DAAD/AICGS Fellow Dr. Justin J.W. Powell takes a look at Germany's educational system and outlines the hurdles the country faces in meeting the inclusive education goals outlined by the Convention. [less ▲]

Does goal orientation affect the salience of the means or the outcomes of a goal - Preliminary results

Poster (2009, April)

Entrée dans les métiers techniques et insertion sur la place de travail : enjeux des interactions en formation professionnelle initiale

Presentation (2009, April)

Cyber bullying: Current research findings

Scientific Conference (2009, April)

Working memory and learning: Evidence from a population of trilingual children

Poster (2009, April)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the contribution of two working memory systems (the phonological loop and the central executive) to children’s learning in the areas of vocabulary, language ... [more ▼]

The aim of the present study was to investigate the contribution of two working memory systems (the phonological loop and the central executive) to children’s learning in the areas of vocabulary, language comprehension, reading, writing, mathematical skills, and foreign language acquisition. The term working memory refers to the ability to store and manipulate information in mind for a brief period of time, in the course of ongoing cognitive activities (Baddeley, 2000). A sample of 119 Luxembourgish children, learning German and French as secondary languages were assessed longitudinally over a 3-year time period. In Luxembourg, children learn to speak, read, and write in 2 languages that are different from their native language Luxembourgish. A battery of working memory, native and foreign language tests was administered. Mathematical ability was assessed via a teacher assessment questionnaire. Children were tested in Kindergarten (5 years of age), in 1st, and in 2nd grade with a one year interval between each testing wave. Multiple assessments of each construct made it possible to construct latent variables, and apply structural equation modeling techniques to explore the underlying theoretical structure of working memory in young children, and possible links with learning. Results indicate that relations between the working memory measures were best characterized by a model consisting of two related but separable constructs – corresponding to the phonological loop and the central executive. Examination of the correlation estimates between each construct with itself across the three measurement occasions revealed that individual differences in phonological loop and central executive are remarkably stable from Kindergarten through second grade. The data further showed that assessments of the phonological loop in Kindergarten were strongly associated with vocabulary knowledge and comprehension in native and foreign languages in 1st and 2nd grade and manifested a weaker, but significant, relationship with reading, writing, and mathematics up to two years later. Central executive in Kindergarten significantly predicted reading in 1st grade. The findings lend strong support to the position that the phonological loop is one of the main contributors to new word learning in both native and non-native languages by supporting the formation of stable phonological representations of new words in longterm memory. Phonological loop processing also seems to play a significant role in the syntactic comprehension of sentences. The heard material might be kept active in the phonological loop while the child is listening to the sentence and processing it for comprehension. Finally, working memory appears to make significant contributions to reading, writing, and mathematic skills. Literacy and math classroom activities often impose heavy demands on working memory, the capacity of which therefore might have a direct effect on the frequency of task failure or success in these classroom activities. In conclusion, the presented evidence of (a) the stability of individual differences in young children’s working memory capacity and, (b) causal relations of working memory with learning reinforces the value of early screening of working memory abilities to identify children who are at risk of poor academic progress over the coming years. [less ▲]

On the Smoothed eXtended Finite Element Method for Continuum

Scientific Conference (2009, April)

In this paper, we combine the strain smoothing technique proposed by Liu et al [1] coined as the smoothed finite element method (SFEM) to partition of unity methods, namely the extended finite element ... [more ▼]

In this paper, we combine the strain smoothing technique proposed by Liu et al [1] coined as the smoothed finite element method (SFEM) to partition of unity methods, namely the extended finite element method (XFEM) [2] to give birth to the smoothed extended finite element method (SmXFEM) [3]. SmXFEM shares properties both with the SFEM and the XFEM. The proposed method eliminates the need to compute and integrate the derivatives of shape functions (which are singular at the tip for linear elastic fracture mechanics). The need for isoparametric mapping is eliminated because the integration is done along the boundary of the finite element or smoothing cells, which allows elements of arbitrary shape. We present numerical results for various differential equations that have singularity or steep gradient at the boundary. The method is verified on several examples and comparisons are made to the conventional XFEM. [less ▲]

Evaluation of PGM2007A by comparison with globally and locally estimated gravity solutions from CHAMP

in Newton's Bulletin (2009), 4

Laurent Menager. Problèmes d’édition de ses œuvres

Scientific Conference (2009, April)

New Technical Expertises of Multi-Sensor Analysers for Odour Evaluation and Applications in Liquid Measuring Instruments

Scientific Conference (2009, March 30)