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Chironian Fall/Winter 2007, New York Medical College

The Chironian

No abstract provided.

Are Human Embryos One Of Us? An Exploration Of Personhood, James Rusthoven

Pro Rege

This article was originally an address presented by Dr. James Rusthoven at Dordt College, April 12, 2007.

The Relationship Between Pragmatic Language And Behavior Subtypes In Typically Developing Children, Lisa Jeppson Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between syntactic and pragmatic language and reticence, solitary-active passive withdrawal, solitary-passive withdrawal, prosocial skills, and likeability. The Children's Communication Checklist (CCC-2), a language checklist, and Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS), a behavior checklist, were completed by three 2nd-grade teachers and three 4th-grade teachers about each of their students. Factor analysis was used to determine two composite language measures from the CCC-2 scales. The results of two hierarchal regression analyses indicated that social behaviors were significant predictors of pragmatic language, but not structural language. In particular, solitary-passive withdrawal and reticence were significant predictors of pragmatic language …

Work Stress, Non-Work Stress And Mental Health Among School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists: Effects Of Social Support, Lena Gloria Caesar

Dissertations

This study utilized secondary data from the Work and Well-being of SLPs survey (Caesar, 2004) to examine possible sources (predictors) of work stress, job satisfaction, and psychological distress among 409 speech-language pathologists (SLPs) employed in public school settings in Michigan. This study also investigated the relationship of work-related and non-work-related stress to the mental health status of SLPs and sought to determine the mediating and/or moderating effects of varied types of social support on the mental health of respondents. Data analysis was done in three stages. First, each of the dependent and independent variables were described statistically. Secondly, correlation analyses …

Social Outcomes Of Students With Language Impairment: An Eight-Year Follow-Up Study, Meghan A. Baldridge

Theses and Dissertations

This study re-examined the language and social skills of four females with language impairment who were initially studied eight years ago (Brinton, Fujiki, Montague, & Hanton, 2000; Fujiki, Brinton, Isaacson, & Summers, 2001). Language measures included the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition (Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003) and a thirty minute language sample. Social measures included the UCLA Loneliness Scale-Version 3 (Russell, 1996), parent, teacher and student forms of the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990), and an interview with each participant's teacher or speech-language pathologist. Results of the current assessment were compared to results from the …

The Effect Of Language Ability Of Internalizing Students On Improvement In Strong Kids: A Social And Emotional Learning Curriculum For Students In Grades 4-8, Shelby Carrera Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

This study assessed the influence of language on the ability of children identified as being at risk for internalizing behavior disorders to successfully participate in a social skills intervention program. Fourth and fifth grade students participated in Strong Kids: A Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum in Grades 4-8, a program which promotes emotional resiliency. The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition (CELF-4) and Children's Communication Checklist-Second Edition (CCC-2) were both completed to obtain a global language score and pragmatic language score. The Teacher's Report Form (TRF), a shortened 10-item version of the Internalizing Student Symptom Scale (ISSC), and a 20-item …

Narrative Skills In Children With Spina Bifida And Hydrocephalus, Melissa Ann Halliday

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how 22 children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus (SBH) and 22 matched control children with the same vocabulary age (VA) performed on story retelling and story generation tasks. The children were asked to retell two stories of different lengths (Stein and Glenn's Melvin, the Skinny Mouse and The Tiger's Whisker) and generate two stories from different stimuli (wordless picture book and verbal story starter). Analyses were conducted in terms of global narrative organization (story structure), local connection of ideas (cohesion), and productivity (number of words and utterances). Two-way ANOVAs were conducted to analyze how the stories and …

English Literacy Development For English Language Learners: Does Spanish Instruction Promote Or Hinder?, Brenda K. Gorman, Connie Summers, Kelly M. Thomason

Speech Pathology and Audiology Faculty Research and Publications

In this brief, the authors consider whether instruction in a child's native language (particularly Spanish) hinders or promotes learning of literacy in English. The authors conduct a four-step process for identifying research on this topic, examining this literature, and then determining the answer to this clinical question. The results suggest that supporting a child's home/native language promotes rather than hinders development of English literacy skills.

Patterns Of Anticipatory Coarticulation In Adults And Typically Developing Children, Kurtt R. Boucher

Theses and Dissertations

Coarticulation is the kinematic and spectral overlap between adjacent sounds during speech production. Coarticulation patterns in typical adults have been well established; however, the manner in which coarticulation is developed in children is still unclear. Research has provided conflicting views, showing that children exhibit more, less, or an equal degree of coarticulation when compared to adult speakers. Considering the divergent findings present in the literature regarding coarticulation in children, the purpose of the present study is to further investigate anticipatory coarticulation in typically developing young children between the ages of three and six years. This study focuses on the acoustic …

Language Use And Sexual Communication Among Xhosa Speakers In Cape Town, South Africa, Demetria Cain

UCHC Graduate School Masters Theses 2003 - 2010

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Communication On Adolescent Sexual Behavior In Eastern Europe, Sharon Mieras Perugini

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

HIV/AIDS rates have continued to rise in Eastern Europe where adolescents are particularly vulnerable. The theory of reasoned action (TRA) has successfully been applied to understanding adolescent sexual risk behavior and provides a theoretical framework for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. According to TRA, attitudes and subjective norms predict behaviors via the mediating role of intentions, and in order to have an impact on behavior, changes must occur at the attitude and subjective norm level. Because parents have been found to influence their children's attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions, the moderating effects of parent communication on sexual risk behavior of adolescents …

Transcultural Nursing Care Journey To Ecuador: Designing A Transcultural Education Course For Registered Nurses, Debra S. Zaffke

Theses and Graduate Projects

This paper describes an educational program for Registered Nurses to learn transcultural nursing care while in Ecuador. The program is based on Leininger's Culture Care Diversity and Universality nursing theory. The project framework is based on her Sunrise Enabler to Discover Culture Care. The Observation-Participation-Reflection enabler from Leininger's ethnonursing research methods is utilized as a technique to learn about the people and lifeways of Ecuador and it serves as a reliable tool to tease out information that relates to the general principles of transcultural care nursing. The paper outlines the necessity of transcultrual nursing education for practicing nurses, the scope …

Temperament And Early Communication In Premature Children., Nina King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Premature children are at greater risk for developing communication delays than full-term children, although it is not inevitable. Recent research links specific temperament characteristics to early language development. Thus, temperament may provide a way to identify premature children who are at increased risk. The first purpose of this study was to determine if temperament characteristics of premature children are the same as full-term children when measured by the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised. The second purpose was to determine if temperament and language acquisition, as measured by the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Gestures, are linked in premature infants …

Developing A Pharmacy Professional Elective Course: Underserved Populations, Courtney Ann Hedrick

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Objectives. To ascertain the current curriculum exposure, knowledge, and interest in medically underserved populations of 3rd and 4th year professional pharmacy students enrolled at Butler University. Methods. An eleven item survey was designed, involving multiple choice, Likert scale, and open response questions. The survey was administered through the web-based survey software company, Survey Monkey, utilizing the Butler College of Pharmacy and health Sciences email listserv to all P3 and p4 students. Results. P3 and P4 students showed a high degree of interest in taking a professional elective focusing on medically underserved populations. Many of these students also felt the current …

Health Barriers, Health Perceptions, And Cardiovascular Risk Factors Of Adolescent Black American Males, Desmarie Jackson Decuir

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Area of Investigation: Cardiovascular (CV) diseases are the leading cause of death among Black American adult males. Health behaviors that contribute to CV disease are probably learned during adolescence yet few researchers have studied the factors that influence health promotion behaviors in adolescent Black American males. This study described the health barriers, health perceptions (health self-efficacy and health status), and CV risk factors reported by and the influence of these variables on health promotion behaviors of a sample of Black American adolescent males without known CV disease.

Methods and Procedures: A descriptive correlation study design was used to …

Psychometrically Equivalent Trisyllabic Words For Speech Reception Threshold Testing In Cantonese, Misty Noelani Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and equate Cantonese trisyllabic words which could then be used in the measurement of the speech reception threshold. A selection of 90 frequently utilized trisyllabic words were selected and then digitally recorded by male and female talkers of Standard Cantonese and presented to 20 subjects with normal hearing beginning at 6 dB below their pure-tone average (PTA) and ascending in 2 dB increments until one of the following criteria had been met: (a) the participant responded correctly to 100% of the test items, or (b) the presentation level reached …

Comprehension Of Health Plan Language For Denial Of Benefit Claims, E. Kiernan Mcgorty

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

ERISA requires that plan administrators provide consumers with understandable health plan documents. The present study assessed the readability and comprehensibility of medical necessity and claims procedure clauses. For Study 1, I collected 40 summary plan descriptions from a diverse sample of employers and ran readability tests on the medical necessity and claims procedure clauses. Scores on the Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch Grade Level, and Fog Index indicated that the clauses were, in violation of ERISA’s disclosure requirement, written at reading levels beyond those one might expect the average plan participant to possess.

In Studies 2 and 3, employees read either …

Gsbs News, Spring 2007, Graduate School Of Biomedical Sciences, University Of Texas Health Science Center At Houston/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

GSBS News

No abstract provided.

Strengthening Ontario's System Of Housing For People With Serious Mental Illness, John Sylvestre, Lindsey George, Tim Aubry, Janet Durbin, Geoffrey Nelson, John Trainor

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article describes recent work to support recommendations for improving Ontario’s system of housing for people with serious mental illness. This multifaceted project engaged stakeholders in discussions concerning strategies for improving the system based on (a) values that underlie housing programs, (b) evidence of effective housing practices, (c) the current status of the system, and (d) international practices for monitoring community mental health systems. Stakeholders reviewed summaries of the work and discussed implications for improving the provincial system of housing and supports. Recommendations are made for improving the system, focusing on both regional and provincial level actions.

Classroom Acoustics And Intervention Strategies To Enhance The Learning Environment, Christal Savage

Doctoral Dissertations

The classroom environment can be an acoustically difficult atmosphere for students to learn effectively, sometimes due in part to poor acoustical properties. Noise and reverberation have a substantial influence on room acoustics and subsequently intelligibility of speech. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA, 1995) developed minimal standards for noise and reverberation in a classroom for the purpose of providing an adequate listening environment. A lack of adherence to these standards may have undesirable consequences, which may lead to poor academic performance.

The purpose of this capstone project is to develop a protocol to measure the acoustical properties of reverberation time and …

Prevalence Of Parent-Rated Hyperkineticdisorder And Associated Risk Factors In Aschoolgoing Population, Ehsanullah Syed, Sajida Abdul Hussein

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

No abstract provided.

Multi-Level Evaluation Of A Perinatal Health Program In Rural Southeast Georgia, Swati Raychowdhury, Stuart H. Tedders, Greta O'Steen, Sarah Jones

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Problem: Infant mortality has declined steadily in the past decade, however, significant disparities associate with lack of adequate perinatal health services and barriers to access disproportionately impact women residing in rural areas. In Georgia, data suggest significant challenges with respect to birth outcomes, and this problem seems to be exacerbated in rural regions of state. The objective of this presentation is to report on the impact of a regional perinatal health care collaborative implemented in rural southeast Georgia.

Method: Analysis of pre-intervention and post-intervention birth outcomes (gestational age, birth weight and infant mortality) served as the focal point programmatic evaluation. …

Estimating The Supply Of And Demand For Bilingual Nurses In Northwest Arkansas, Katherine A. Deck

Publications and Presentations

In 2004, researchers at the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas prepared a report that detailed the projected shortage of minority nurses in the four county region of Northwest Arkansas. The study focused particularly on the Hispanic residents of Northwest Arkansas, as projections showed the estimated proportion of the total population for that ethnicity increasing from 9.5 percent in 2005 to 16.0 percent in 2025. A separate set of projections in the report estimated that the proportion of the nursing workforce with Hispanic ethnicity would increase …

A Day In The Life Of Pubmed: Analysis Of A Typical Day's Query Log, Jorge R Herskovic, Len Y Tanaka, William Hersh, Elmer V Bernstam

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: To characterize PubMed usage over a typical day and compare it to previous studies of user behavior on Web search engines. DESIGN: We performed a lexical and semantic analysis of 2,689,166 queries issued on PubMed over 24 consecutive hours on a typical day. MEASUREMENTS: We measured the number of queries, number of distinct users, queries per user, terms per query, common terms, Boolean operator use, common phrases, result set size, MeSH categories, used semantic measurements to group queries into sessions, and studied the addition and removal of terms from consecutive queries to gauge search strategies. RESULTS: The size of …

The Rise And Fall Of The Latino Dentist Supply In California: Implications For Dental Education, David Hayes-Bautista, Miriam Iya Kahramanian, Erin G. Richardson, Paul Hsu, Lucette Sosa, Cristina Gamboa, Robert M. Stein

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine the number of Latino dentists in California, identify the schools and countries where they were educated, and compare Latino dentist demographics with that of the state’s new demographics. From the 2000 California Department of Consumer Affairs list of 25,273 dentists, we identified Latino U.S. dental graduates (USDGs) by “heavily Hispanic” surnames and Latino international dental graduates (IDGs) by country and school of graduation. From the 2000 U.S. census Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), we described Latino dentist characteristics such as Spanish language capacity and practice location. The number of Latino dentists acquiring …

Neurophysiologic And Behavioral Measures Of Phonetic Perception In Adult Second Language Speakers Of Spanish, Jaden D. Hellewell

Theses and Dissertations

Infants 6-8 months old are able to identify nearly every speech sound contrast on which they have been tested, regardless of whether that contrast represents an across-category (two different phonemes) phonetic change in their native language or not. A child's ability to identify non-native consonant contrasts greatly diminishes by 11-12 months of age. The present study examined speech sound discrimination in three groups of listeners. Adult second language (L2) listeners of Spanish were compared with native English listeners with no knowledge of Spanish and native Mexican listeners to determine if they would show the ability to discriminate phonetic distinctions that …

Linguistic Factors In The Overall Aviation Safety Framework, S. Bourgeois-Bougrine, V. Normier, R. Mollard, O. Ferrante, Y. Pouliquen

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2007

Feedback on occurrences and some safety studies prompted ICAO to recommend new language proficiency requirements. This paper focuses on the type of data that influenced this effort to reduce accidents involving the “language barrier”. It also proposes to better define and record the linguistic factors in databases. A literature review on the main linguistic contributory factors to air-ground miscommunications breaks them down into sub-categories. Subsequently, the paper discusses the “language barrier” as a potential “safety barrier”. It seems essential to better track and record these successful safety barriers (or nets) related to human behaviors. They should be expanded through a …

The Effects Of Multimodal Collaboration Technology On Subjective Workload Profiles Of Tactical Air Battle Management Teams, Victor S. Finomore, Benjamin A. Knott, W. Todd Nelson, Scott M. Galster, Robert S. Bolia

International Symposium on Aviation Psychology - 2007

A tactical air battle management task required a team of two weapons directors, two strike operators, and a tanker operator to communicate with each other in order to coordinate offensive and defensive air attacks, and aerial refuelling. This study compared the impact of two types of communication modalities (Voice or Picture Chat) and the number of enemy targets (4 or 6) on team performance and perceived team workload. Three subjective workload scales were evaluated in their ability to characterize task difficulty, communication demands, and demands of the different team roles. The results are discussed with respects to the descriptive and …

Challenges Facing A Complementary-Systems Approach To Abstract And Episodic Speech Perception, Conor T. Mclennan

Psychology Faculty Publications

It has been nearly a decade since the publication of Goldinger’s [4] Psych. Review paper in which he presented his episodic theory of lexical access. Moreover, Goldinger’s (and others’) empirical work [3, 14] providing evidence for episodic representations predates the formal presentation of his episodic theory. This is an appropriate time to note how the field has progressed in the past decade with respect to the debate over the nature of lexical representations. As evidenced by the two main papers, the emphasis is no longer on whether there are abstract and/or episodic representations. Instead, the focus is now on the …

Evaluation Of Sentence List Equivalency For The Timit Sentences By Cochlear Implant Recipients, Sarah E. King

Independent Studies and Capstones

The equivalency of 34 TIMIT sentence lists was evaluated using adult cochlear implant recipients to determine if they should be recommended for future clinical or research use. Because these sentences incorporate gender, dialect and speaking rate variations, they have the potential to better represent speech recognition abilities in real-world communication situations.