Search

Although letter naming fluency (LNF) and letter sound fluency (LSF) measures are widely available to educators for assessing early literacy skills of kindergarten children, better understanding of the contributions of these skills to reading development can help improve the interpretation of LNF and LSF data for instructional decisions. This study investigated the interrelations of growth in LNF and LSF across the kindergarten year and their unique roles in predicting later reading fluency. Piecewise parallel- process growth models indicated that although LNF and LSF were highly correlated at kindergarten entry, fall LNF status was positively predictive of LSF growth across the fall. Bidirectional effects were present, as initial LSF was also a positive predictor of LNF growth across the fall; however, its effects were not as strong as those of initial LNF on LSF growth. More importantly, both initial status and growth in LNF and LSF were uniquely predictive of first- grade reading fluency, indicating the independent effects of each on subsequent text reading skills. Indirect effects were also observed for kindergarten LNF and LSF growth on reading fluency in second and third grades. Implications for kindergarten assessment and instruction are discussed., Measures of alphabetic fluency, such as letter naming fluency (LNF) and letter sound fluency (LSF), are recommended for screening or progress monitoring purposes with kindergarten students (e.g., Fuchs & Fuchs, [...]

Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is a rare systemic vasculitis of small to medium vessels. Gastrointestinal involvement is uncommon and is associated with higher mortality. Treatment is based on empiric evidence. In this article, we report a case of EGPA-related pancolitis and stricturing small bowel disease managed with a combination of mepolizumab and surgical resection.

We have developed, manufactured, and tested a new feed design for interferometric radio telescopes with “large-N, small-D” designs. Such arrays require low-cost and low-complexity feeds for mass production on reasonable timescales and budgets, and also require those feeds to be compact to minimize obstruction of the dishes, along with having ultra-wide frequency bands of operation for most current and future science goals. The feed presented in this paper modifies the exponentially tapered slot antenna (Vivaldi) and quad-ridged flared horn antenna designs by having an oversized backshort, a novel method of maintaining a small size that is well-suited for deeper dishes (f∕D≤0.25). It is made of laser cut aluminum and printed circuit boards, such that it is inexpensive (≲75USD per feed in large-scale production) and quick to build; it has a 5:1 frequency ratio, and its size is approximately a third of its longest operating wavelength. We present the science and engineering constraints that went into design decisions, the development and optimization process, and the simulated performance. A version of this feed design was optimized and fabricated for the Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector (CHORD) prototypes. When simulated on CHORD’s very deep dishes (f∕D=0.21) and with CHORD’s custom first-stage amplifiers, the on-sky system temperature Tsysof the complete receiving system from dish to digitizer remains below 30K over most of the 0.3–1.5GHz band, and maintains an aperture efficiency ηAbetween 0.4 and 0.6. The entire receiving chain operates at ambient temperature. The feed is designed to slightly under-illuminate the CHORD dishes, in order to minimize coupling between array elements and spillover.