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Using an extensive high-frequency data set, we investigate the transmission of financial crisis specifically focusing on the Panic of 1907, the final severe panic of the National Banking Era (1863-1913). We trace the transmission of the crisis from New York City trust companies to the New York City national banks through direct and indirect interconnections. Trust companies held cash balances at national banks and these balances were liquidated as trust companies suffered depositor runs. Secondly, trust companies and national banks were notable creditors to the New York Stock Exchange; when trusts were suffering runs, the call loan market on the stock exchange seized. The crisis spread to the interior banks after the New York Clearing House banks restricted the convertibility of deposits into cash. Bond returns were sharply negative in the 2 weeks following the suspension. The suspension of convertibility produced a currency premium, which in turn attracted gold imports from Europe. The New York Clearing House had only limited capability to fight the panic through its use of clearing house loan certificates. The gold imports ultimately restored liquidity to financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading Recovery(RR) is a constructivist reading intervention used to provide tier 3 instruction to struggling readers in the first grade. The program has been previously evaluated and found effective by Evidence for ESSA (John Hopkins University), What Works Clearing House (intervention report institute for education sciences 2013), and in a meta-analysis by D'Agostino et al. (J Educ Stud Placed Risk 21:29–46, 2016) However, the National Reading Panel (United States Government, 2000), showed some conflicting findings. Moreover, May et al. (CPRE Research Reports, 2016), suggested that RR might be detrimental over the long term, for student reading outcomes. This meta-analysis examined 19 experimental and quasiexperimental studies to evaluate the efficacy of RR over the short and long term. Cohen's d, effect sizes were calculated by subtracting the mean difference between the treatment groups and controls at post-test, then dividing by the pooled standard deviation. Effect sizes were then weighted by their inverse variance to account for sample size. For assessments taken within the assessment year, the meta-analysis showed a mean overall effect size of.19, a weighted mean effect size of.05, and 95% confidence intervals of = [-.16, 54.] For assessments taken more than 1 year after the intervention, the meta-analysis showed a mean negative effect size of -.14 and 95% confidence intervals of = [-.59,.31], with a weighted effect size of -.21. These results suggest that RR may not currently be the most effective approach, for literacy intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To function effectively, the international biodiversity Clearing House Mechanism (CHM), based on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), needs to be rooted at the regional and local levels. This article presents an example of how stakeholders of regional data and information can be encouraged to form networks linked to national biodiversity focal points (NFPs). We pay special attention to exploiting the geospatial properties of biodiversity data and information, and demonstrate how data and information can best be filtered, classified and labelled to facilitate geographically based information retrieval on the Internet. The geocodability of bibliographic reports proved to be poor, indicating an urgent need to reconsider the geographical properties of biodiversity information under production. Also, it is useful to utilise networking processes with information from fields other than biodiversity when initiating the network. Finally, we present and discuss problems of integrity and interoperability of data, and also the process of biodiversity information production from the point of view of general information theory and innovations offered by modern information technology.

Discusses the richness of biodiversity information in China. Key requirements for efficient decision making on biodiversity conservation; Categories covered in the large number of information databases developed in China; Problems in the way of Clearing-House Mechanism construction in China.

Inspired by Clower's conjecture that the necessity of trading through money in monetised economies might hinder convergence to competitive equilibrium, and hence, for example, cause unemployment, we experimentally investigate behaviour in markets where trading has to be done through money. In order to evaluate the properties of these markets, we compare their behaviour to behaviour in markets without money, where money cannot intervene. As the trading mechanism might be a compounding factor, we investigate two kinds of market mechanism: the double auction, where bids, asks and trades take place in continuous time throughout a trading period; and the clearing house, where bids and asks are placed once in a trading period, and which are then cleared by an aggregating device. We thus have four treatments, the pairwise combinations of non-monetised/monetised trading with double auction/clearing house. We find that: convergence is faster under non-monetised trading, implying that the necessity of using money to facilitate trade hinders convergence; that monetised trading is noisier than non-monetised trading; and that the volume of trade and realised surpluses are higher with the double auction than the clearing house. As far as efficiency is concerned, monetised trading lowers both informational and allocational efficiency, and while the double auction outperforms the clearing house in terms of allocational efficiency, the clearing house is marginally better than the double auction in terms of informational efficiency when trade is through money. Crucially we confirm the conjecture that inspired these experiments: that the necessity to use money in trading hinders convergence to competitive equilibrium, lowers realised trades and surpluses, and hence may cause unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the matching of workers to firms in which workers choose an observable and contractable effort after the match. If there are complementarities between a worker's ability and a firm's technology, positive assortative matching (PAM) is the only matching in any equilibrium and is the unique efficient matching. We investigate the effect of a policy that changes the matching of firms to workers from any matching to PAM, such as implementing a centralized clearing house. We characterize two sets of sufficient conditions on the production and cost functions under which the total output and welfare both increase. Under the first set of conditions, the increase in total output is an upper bound for the efficiency gain. In contrast, under the second set of conditions, the increase in total output is a lower bound for the efficiency gain. We identify a third set of conditions under which the total output decreases while welfare increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study minimal conditions for competitive behavior with few agents. We adapt a price-quantity strategic market game to the indivisible commodity environment commonly used in double auction experiments, and show that all Nash equilibrium outcomes with active trading are competitive if and only if there are at least two buyers and two sellers willing to trade at every competitive price. Unlike previous formulations, this condition can be verified directly by checking the set of competitive equilibria. In laboratory experiments, the condition we provide turns out to be enough to induce competitive results, and the Nash equilibrium appears to be a good approximation for market outcomes. Subjects, although possessing limited information, are able to act as if complete information were available in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To integrate and summarize the best evidence on perioperative management practices for hair transplantation patients, providing an evidence-based reference for clinical. Methods: An exhaustive literature search was conducted to identify the best evidence for managing patients undergoing hair transplantation during the perioperative period. The databases searched included Up To Date, BMJ Best Practice, UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, National Guideline Clearing House, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, Guidelines International Network, Cochrane Library, JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, PubMed, Web of Science, European Dermatology Forum, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, Medlive Guideline Network, and Sinomed. The search spanned publications from February 2013 to February 2024, focusing on clinical decisions, evidence summaries, guidelines, and expert consensus. Results: We finally identified 22 articles with high-quality results (consisting of 9 clinical decisions, 6 guidelines, 7 expert consensuses), providing 41 pieces of evidence across seven categories: assessment of transplantation conditions, transplant planning and preoperative preparation, anesthetic preparations, surgical methods and operation skills, postoperative wound management, medication-related guidance, optimization of nursing and treatment strategies. Special emphasis has been placed on the sections covering anesthesia preparation, surgical methods, and operational techniques, with detailed explanations provided. Conclusion: The summarized best evidence on perioperative management practices for hair transplantation patients can serve as evidence-based guidelines for clinical. It is recommended that clinical staff adopt evidence-based recommendations to improve and optimize patient outcomes and promote postoperative recovery. As these evidences came from different countries, factors such as the clinical environment should be evaluated before application. Level of Evidence V: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the mandate renewal of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy. Responsibilities on monitoring and catalyzing international scientific collaboration.

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School education in Germany is under the responsibility of the federal states and as a consequence average grades differ widely across regions. Since school leavers apply nationwide for admission to university, regional provenance may thus matter a lot for the success probability in the admission process. Using a comprehensive dataset of the German central clearing house for university admissions in 2006/2007, we show that success rates indeed differ dramatically between federal states, provided that grades are not made comparable across state boundaries. Most of the variation in success can be explained by state-level differences in grading. By defining quotas for federal states and restricting competition among applicants to the state-level, the link between state-level grading and success rates in the university admission process can be broken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genetics community is increasingly concerned that patents might lead to restricted access to research and health care. We explore various measures that are designed to render patented genetic inventions accessible to further use in research, and to diagnosis and/or treatment. They include the often-recited research or experimental-use exemption, conventional one-to-one licensing and compulsory licensing, as well as patent pools and clearing-house mechanisms. The last two alternatives deserve special attention in the area of human genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of decentralized finance and insurance technology, there has been growing interest in the financial industry for risk sharing mechanisms without a central authority or clearing house. In contrast with classic centralized risk sharing, a novel peer-to-peer risk sharing framework is proposed. The presented framework aims to devise a risk allocation mechanism that is structurally decentralized, Pareto optimal, and mathematically fair. An explicit form for the pool allocation ratio matrix is derived, and convex programming techniques are applied to determine the optimal pooling mechanism in a constrained variance reduction setting. A tiered hierarchical generalization is also constructed to improve computational efficiency. As an illustration, these techniques are applied to a flood risk pooling example. Flood risk is known to be difficult to cover in practice, which contributes to the stagnant development for a private insurance market. It is shown in this paper that peer-to-peer risk sharing techniques provide an economically viable alternative to traditional flood insurance policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Unterrichtswissenschaft (Springer Science & Business Media B.V.) is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background Tobacco use is a leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of tobacco use dependence are of varied scope and quality, making it challenging for users to select and apply recommendations. Objective The study objective is to identify and critically appraise the quality of existing clinical practice guidelines for tobacco cessation. Setting The study occurred between collaborative academic institutions located in Qatar and New Zealand. Methods A systematic literature search was performed for the period 2006–2018 through the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, ISI Web of Science, Scopus, National Guideline Clearing House, Campbell Library, Health System Evidence, Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Practice Database, Academic Search Complete, ProQuest, PROSPERO, and Google Scholar. Relevant professional societies' and health agencies' websites were also searched. Two reviewers independently extracted and assessed guidelines' quality using Appraisal of Guidelines, Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument. Main outcome measure Standardized domain scores according to the AGREE II instrument. Results 7741 hits were identified. After removing duplicates and screening, 24 guidelines were included. Highest guideline quality was for National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline with an overall ranking score of 87.56% and least quality was for Japanese Circulation Society Joint Working Group with an overall score of 29.34%. Domain 4 of AGREE II (clarity of presentation) had the highest average quality score (70.95%), while the lowest average quality scores were for Domain 2 (Rigour of Development) (50.21%) and Domain 5 (Applicability) (45.05%). Conclusion Seven guidelines were judged to be of high quality (overall score of ≥ 70%). Future guidelines for tobacco dependence treatment should use rigorous methods of development and provide applicable recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is good evidence that high-quality instruction targeting reading-related skills in the classroom leads to gains in reading. However, considerably less is known about the possible efficacy of remote instruction. This study evaluated the efficacy of an interactive evidence-based language-rich literacy programme. 184 children were randomly allocated either to an 8-week remotely delivered language-rich literacy programme or to a wait-list control group. Children in the programme arm (n = 77 at analysis) completed 16-lessons remotely targeting vocabulary, phonemic awareness, reading, spelling, and narrative skills. Children in the wait-list arm (n = 58 at analysis) received business-as-usal from their schools. Children's word reading accuracy and phonemic awareness was measured prior to and after the programme delivery period. Children receiving the literacy programme made significantly larger gains than the wait-list control group on reading accuracy (d = 0.32) and phonemic awareness (d = 0.63). This study demonstrates that a remotely-delivered literacy programme is effective. These findings have important implications for delivering specialist literacy instruction at scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surge in digital payment technologies and the swift transition to a cashless society have propelled the adoption of embedded payment systems, marking a significant shift in the payments landscape. Despite its increasing prevalence, the factors influencing the intention to use embedded payment systems remain underexplored in the academic literature. This study addresses this gap by analyzing the factors affecting young people's intention to use embedded payment systems in Türkiye. Through a questionnaire survey of 807 respondents, the data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The findings reveal that lifestyle compatibility, social influence, personal innovativeness, hedonic motivation, and perceived trust collectively account for 72.6% of the variation in the intention to use embedded payment systems. However, the statistical insignificance of perceived ease of use and facilitating conditions suggests that other factors may significantly influence the intention to use these systems. This empirical study is the first of its kind on embedded payment systems, providing valuable insights into digital payments literature and guiding private sector professionals in devising effective strategies to promote widespread adoption of this payment method in Türkiye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the variation in teachers' mathematical educational values between distance and traditional face-to-face teaching. Enabled by the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the research explored the impact of remote teaching on primary and secondary mathematics education in Hong Kong. An online survey, completed by 109 practicing mathematics teachers, assessed their pre-existing educational values and their adaptability to the shift towards distance teaching, as well as their teaching practices. Findings indicated that despite the multitude of digital teaching tools, the implementation of most mathematical educational values was more restricted in distance teaching. Rationalism and Control were prioritized, reflecting the challenges of assessing student progress remotely. Among the 13 values identified, Fun and Engagement, along with Thinking and Problem-solving, Achievement, and Reasoning, were significantly diminished, highlighting the shortcomings of one-way and superficial concept-based teaching. The study concludes that distance teaching, when completely isolated from traditional methods, may not offer the benefits suggested in the literature, impacting student engagement, motivation, and higher-order thinking. This necessitates a unique curriculum development model to effectively incorporate blended and self-directed learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to financial services, which is a component of financial inclusion, enables individuals and businesses to access the funds they need on favorable terms and at low cost, without time and place constraints. In this respect, access to finance is seen as an important tool for economic growth, employment and poverty reduction. The study aims to examine the role of the variables of shadow economy (SE), human development level (HDI), automatic teller machines usage (ATM) and inflation (INF) on access to financial services (AFS) in the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS). In the study, which covers the period 2004–2021, analyzes were conducted within the framework of the fixed-effect Method of Moment Quantile Regression (MM-QR). According to the results of the study, while the level of HDI and the use of ATMs have a positive effect on AFS, while the SE has a negative effect. Although the INF rate has a negative effect on AFS, this effect could not be confirmed at any quantile level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on school discipline disparities often examines the relationship between student behavior, student/teacher demographics, bias, policies, and practices on the likelihood of receiving a discipline outcome. However, often missing from the discourse is the role of repeat infractions and the time of the year that the discipline outcome was given. In this study, we investigate the relationship between race, severity of past disciplinary infractions, and the probability of receiving an exclusionary disciplinary outcome for infractions at the end of the school year. Utilizing data from the School-Wide Information System (SWIS) for the 2017–2018 academic year in 80 Georgian elementary schools, we conducted a binary logistic regression analysis with cluster robust standard errors to accommodate the clustering of students within schools. The final sample comprised 4075 students after applying exclusion criteria. The interaction between the severity of the most recent infraction and race was statistically significant (χ2(4) = 14.93, p = 0.0049). The model's AUC was 0.82, indicating a strong predictive capacity. The analysis revealed that Black and multi-racial students had a higher probability of receiving exclusionary outcomes compared to White students, even when controlling for previous infractions and the severity of the most recent infraction. The results suggest significant racial disparities in the administration of school discipline. These findings suggest the need for systemic investigation of, and changes in, disciplinary practices to support equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial disparities in access to educational opportunity have been an enduring issue in the United States. In recent decades, neighborhood and school racial segregation have remained robust, while economic segregation has increased, reinforcing disparate access to educational opportunities and quality schooling. Using a nationally representative sample of White (52.2%), Black (13.3%), Latinx (25.0%), and Asian (4.1%) children entering kindergarten in 2010 (drawn from the ECLS-K 2011, N≈17,100) merged with national administrative data, we provide a rich descriptive portrait of racial, socioeconomic, and intersectional disparities in young children's access to neighborhood educational opportunity, considering three measures of educational opportunity focused on key developmental stages. Unadjusted differences evidenced moderate to large racial and socioeconomic disparities in access to educational opportunity assessed through neighborhood-level early childhood education enrollment, primary school achievement, and secondary school attainment, with Asian and White children having greater access to neighborhood educational opportunity than their Black and Latinx peers. These patterns were largely replicated adjusting for child, family, and contextual covariates. Results further indicated that returns to family socioeconomic status were strongest among Asian and Latinx children versus their White and Black peers. The greater socioeconomic inequality in neighborhood educational opportunity among Asian and Latinx children may reflect the heightened heterogeneity in nationality, generational status, ethnicity, and culture among these diverse pan-ethnic groups. Results indicating that SES payoffs in neighborhood educational opportunity are not shared across all racial groups highlight the need for continuing efforts to increase equitable opportunities for all children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "Investigating changes in preservice teachers' conceptions of technological literacy" which appeared in the September 27, 2022 issue.

This paper contributes to the literature on default in general equilibrium. Borrowing and lending takes place via a clearing house (bank) that monitors agents and enforces contracts. Our model develops a concept of bankruptcy equilibrium that is a direct generalization of the standard general equilibrium model with financial markets. Borrowers may default in equilibrium and returns on loans are determined endogenously. Restricted to a special form of mean variance preferences, we derive a version of the capital asset pricing model with bankruptcy. In this case, we can characterize equilibrium prices and allocations and discuss implications for credit risk modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological capacity of earth is limited. While it is obvious at first glance, it has been ignored for decades. Policy makers attempt to overcome the persistent depletion of the human livelihood base through the establishment of protected areas. However, the financial means to sustainably manage a representative network of protected areas on a global scale do not yet exist, and particularly, private sector investment is extremely modest. One option for increasing private investment flows is the development of a market place for protected area certificates (PACs) issued for geographical areas managed according to social and environmental best practices. This paper utilizes semi-structured expert interviews with 39 German companies to analyze major product and market requirements for the sound implementation of an international certification scheme for PACs. Based on a triangulation approach that combines quantitative and qualitative evaluations with the two-step clustering procedure for strategic investor groups, seven design principles are determined that might encourage voluntary investment funds from the private sector, and thus support the sustainable management of protected areas. Having a look at existing markets for protected areas, one scheme provides a good foundation for the defined design principles: the LifeWeb initiative—an online clearing house for protected area developers and potential investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant teacher shortage exists in the US, particularly in STEM teaching fields. Professionals in STEM fields make higher wages while teachers manage intense and challenging work conditions. Teacher dissatisfaction and shortage negatively impacts students' learning outcomes. This paper examines how teacher self-efficacy developed for university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors who participated in an internship and the shifts in their career path decisions to teaching STEM. Self-efficacy in potential teachers is key to future teachers' perception of lowered levels of emotional exhaustion and higher job satisfaction influencing their transition to the teaching profession This study identifies how STEM major interns developed multiple sources of self-efficacy that transitioned half of the intern's career choice to enter teaching STEM fields. Results reveal early exposure to teaching experiences and responsibilities influenced the decisions of the STEM majors to enter the teaching profession. This study contributes to teacher self- efficacy with insights into how early teaching experiences cultivate self-efficacy. Mastery teaching practice in authentic settings through the internships built self-efficacy. Additionally, relationships with peers as co-teaching assisted interns to develop their teaching self-efficacy. Findings point to lessons learned from curriculum and instruction in STEM teacher education that bridges research and practice for STEM education improvement and demonstrate teacher education programs benefit from early, authentic field-based experiences which motivate STEM majors' desire to teach. It is crucial for future students to uncover how teacher-efficacy is developed for STEM teachers and their decisions to teach and persist in the teaching profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moving towards a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable future, expanding electric vehicles (EVs) adoption is inevitable. However, uncontrolled charging of EVs, especially with their increased penetration among the utility grid, imposes several negative technical impacts, including grid instability and deteriorated power quality in addition to overloading conditions. Hence, smart and coordinated charging is crucial in EV electrification, where Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology is gaining much interest. Owing to its inherited capability of bi-directional power flow, V2G is capable of enhancing grid stability and resilience, load balancing, and congestion alleviation, as well as supporting renewable energy sources (RESs) integration. However, as with most emerging technologies, there are still technical research gaps that need to be addressed. In addition to these technical impacts, other multidisciplinary factors must be investigated to promote EVs adoption and V2G implementation. This paper provides a detailed demonstration of the technical problems associated with EVs penetration in distribution networks along with quantifiable insights into these limitations and the corresponding mitigation schemes. In addition, it discusses V2G benefits for power systems and consumers, as well as explores their technical barriers and research directions to adequately regulate their services and encourage EV's owners to its embracement. Moreover, other factors, including regulatory, social, economic and environmental ones that affect EV market penetration are being studied and related challenges are analyzed to draw recommendations that aid market growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital payment gateways have become an essential part of the modern economy, facilitating online transactions and enabling e-commerce activities. The centralization of these gateways has led to a lack of transparency, long processing time, high fees, a central point of failure and a significant risk of fraud. Blockchain technology has the potential to address these problems and revolutionize the way to handle digital transactions. In this paper, a blockchain-based solution, named EasyPay, is proposed to create a simple, easy-to-use, decentralized, secured and transparent digital payment gateway with a good user-friendly interface. In EasyPay, a MetaMask account is used as a crypto wallet that interacts with the Ethereum blockchain network, and a smart contract is designed using Solidity to validate transactions. The accessibility and security of the proposed payment gateway are increased by integrating a QR code with EasyPay. Experimental results show 95% performance and 100% accessibility with an SEO score of 80% of the proposed EasyPay system from GooglePageInsights. The proposed EasyPay system offers a superior market segment and accessibility, according to comparison data between it and other cryptocurrency platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the emerging trend in e-commerce, an increasing number of people have adopted cashless payment methods, especially credit cards for buying products online. However, this ever-rising usage of credit cards has also led to an increase in the malicious users attempting to gain financial profits by committing fraudulent activities resulting in huge losses to the card issuer as well as the customer. Credit Card Frauds (CCFs) are pervasive worldwide, and so efficient methods are required to detect CCFs to minimize financial losses. This research presents an efficient CCF Detection (CCFD) approach based on Deep Learning. In this work, CCFD is performed based on the features obtained from the credit card fused based on Wave Hedge distance, and the Wave Hedge coefficient utilized for fusion is estimated using the Deep Neuro-Fuzzy Network. Further, detection is performed using the Zeiler and Fergus Network (ZFNet), whose trainable factors are adjusted using the Dwarf Mongoose–Shuffled Shepherd Political Optimization (DMSSPO) algorithm. Moreover, the DMSSPO_ZFNet is analyzed based on accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity, and the experimental outcomes reveal that the values attained are 0.961, 0.961, and 0.951. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching language has challenges for many reasons, including learners' backgrounds, learning styles, motivation, and socio-economic status. However, EFL students can benefit from differentiation across the learning continuum to a large extent. This study investigated Afghan EFL learners' perceptions of differentiated instruction and the factors that contributed to catering to their needs. This study revolved around five main elements of differentiated instruction: learning environment, content, process, product, and assessment. In this study, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 102 EFL students at Herat University, Afghanistan, to record their perceptions of differentiated instruction in their classes. Three teachers of the English department at the same university were also interviewed to understand their experiences implementing differentiated instruction and identify their tensions. Data from the survey and interviews highlight that while DI requires significant teacher commitment and time, properly designed classes catering to learner specifics can enhance efficiency and be reused in future heterogeneous settings. The study's results suggested that it is practical to implement differentiated instruction in mixed-level, large, heterogeneous classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated the impact popular novels have on knowledge about and attitudes towards Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), compared to that of traditional college textbooks. Study 1 found that participants in the novel condition chose fewer correct and fewer incorrect responses to questions about ASD. Participants did not differ in their desired social distance from individuals with ASD. Study 2 found that participants in the novel and textbook conditions both showed the same amount of learning, with higher scores on the post-test assessment of knowledge than the pre-test. Participants in the novel condition showed significant improvement in their attitudes towards individuals with ASD after reading, while those in the textbook condition showed more negative attitudes after reading the textbook chapter. These findings add to our understanding of the potential of popular fiction to impact consumers' knowledge about ASD while improving our attitudes towards individuals with ASD. These findings also raise concerns about traditional educational material used to teach about ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]