bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of an iPad® Multimedia Shared Story Intervention on Vocabulary Acquisition for an English Language Learner
Authors: Rivera Christopher J. , Mason Lee , Moser Jennifer , Ahlgrim-Delzell Lynn
Published: December 2015

The current research explored the use of a multimedia shared story to increase the number of correct English and Spanish vocabulary words used by an English language learner with a moderate intellectual disability. A 10-year-old elementary student in a self-contained special education classroom participated in this research. Utilizing the iBooks Author software, personalized shared stories were created on an iPad® for the participant in both English and Spanish. Each story incorporated pictures of items for which the student could not provide a corresponding vocabulary word in either language. The multimedia shared stories were then used to teach these vocabulary words in both English and Spanish. Results showed that the student initially acquired Spanish vocabulary words more quickly, but his English vocabulary words accelerated at a faster rate over the course of the investigation. To support the quantitative data, the students' teacher and paraprofessional were interviewed to determine their experiences and to discuss nuances that occurred over the course of the intervention. Results and implications for future research are discussed.
Using Robot-Assisted Instruction to Teach Students with Intellectual Disabilities to Use Personal Narrative in Text Messages
Authors: Pennington Robert , Saadatzi Mohammad Nasser , Welch Karla C. , Scott Renee
Published: December 2015

In the current investigation, we evaluated the effectiveness of a multi-component package (i.e., robot, simultaneous prompting, self-graphing) for teaching three students, ages 19–21, with intellectual disabilities (ID) to write text messages that included a greeting, personal narrative, and closing. Data suggest that the package was effective in increasing correct performance for all participants. In addition, participants demonstrated their newly acquired texting skills across different communicative partners.
Innovations in Behavioral Intervention Preparation for Paraprofessionals Working with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Authors: Serna Richard W. , Lobo Harold E. , Fleming Cindy K. , Fleming Richard K. , Curtin Carol , Foran Michelle M. , Hamad Charles D.
Published: December 2015

Given the empirically validated success of behavioral intervention based on applied behavior analysis for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities, the demand for knowledgeable and skilled paraprofessional teaching staff is very high. Unfortunately, there currently exists a widely recognized shortage of such practitioners. This article describes the development of an online training program aimed at preparing paraprofessionals for face-to-face training and supervision as part of a solution to the growing demand. The focus of the program has been on moving beyond traditional online pedagogy, which has limited interactivity. Instead, the approach to teaching fundamental knowledge and implementation skills in behavioral intervention methods incorporates first-person simulations, typical of live mentor/mentee training. Preliminary program evaluation data are also described.
Review of Research on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Use of Technology
Authors: Virnes Marjo , Kärnä Eija , Vellonen Virpi
Published: December 2015

This article presents the results of a review of research on children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and the use of technology. The review included 255 peer-reviewed research articles published between 2000 and 2010, archived in the ACM, IEEE, EBSCO, and ERIC databases. Content analysis was a method for analyzing articles. The results of the review indicated a clear growth in the number of research articles published during the last decade that addressed the issue of technologies for children with autism. Natural settings and field experiments were a typical methodology of the research, which reflected a strong link between academia and the field. On the other hand, the development of technologies took place separately from the user and children with ASD who participated in research activities in the latter stages of research and development. The results also indicated a strong research focus on the identification and provision of solutions to the problems typically related to ASD. Since the review only considered research focusing on problems related to ASD, future research should focus on the emergence of the capabilities and strengths of children with these disorders.
The Effects of Computer Graphic Organizers on the Narrative Writing of Elementary School Students with Specific Learning Disabilities
Authors: Gonzalez-Ledo Mary , Barbetta Patricia M. , Unzueta Caridad H.
Published: December 2015

This study used a multiple baseline across subjects design to explore the effects of using a computer graphic organizer program during planning on the narrative writing compositions of four fourth- and fifth-grade boys with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD). Four dependent variables were measured: total number of words, total minutes planning, number of common story elements, and overall organization. Baseline planning was done with paper and pencil, while intervention planning was done using the computer graphic organizer program Kidspiration 3.0 (2011). Compositions in both conditions were written and edited using paper and pencil. The results indicated that computer graphic organizers used during planning had a positive effect on three of four dependent measures. When looking at mean scores, participants wrote more words (from 20.25 to 41.86 more), planned for longer periods of time (from 1.00 to 5.00 more minutes), and included more story elements in their compositions (from 0.80 to 3.10 more out of a possible 6.00). There were nominal to no improvements in overall organization across the four participants. The results suggest that teachers of students with SLD should consider using computer graphic organizers for narrative writing planning. Future research should investigate the effects of computer graphic organizers with other writing genres, across multiple writing days per composition, with participants of varied demographics, and/or in combination with other remedial composition instruction.
A Multimedia Tool to Deliver Professional Development of Vocabulary Instruction
Authors: Ely Emily , Pullen Paige C. , Kennedy Michael J. , Williams Mira Cole
Published: December 2015

Supporting teachers' implementation of evidence-based vocabulary practices with fidelity during instruction is critical. In this study, researchers investigated a multimedia-based intervention that integrates a modeling video and a Content Acquisition Podcast (i.e., video plus CAP) to teach elementary teachers how to implement a vocabulary intervention to students performing below grade level. The video plus CAP tool was created based on theories of cognitive learning. Researchers observed teachers during a four-week span following professional development using this intervention. Results demonstrated that teachers consistently increased their use of practices associated with an evidence-based vocabulary intervention. The video plus CAP tool has promising implications for teacher professional development as a way of bridging the research to practice gap.
Blending Research and Practice
Authors: Lovitt Thomas C.
Published: December 2015

In this particular article I intend to make an argument for the merger of teachers and researchers, particularly in respect to the education of mildly handicapped youngsters. The first part of the paper is a commentary on the current relationships between educational researchers and teachers. The second part is an outline of a new model for conducting and disseminating educational research.
Adult and Child Directed Social Behavior Training: Trained and Generalized Outcomes
Authors: Apolloni Tony , Cooke Thomas P. , Shores Richard E. , Simberg Stewart
Published: December 2015

Withdrawn TMR children were randomly assigned to three sessions of adult directed (N = 10) or peer directed (N = 10) social response training. Data regarding the subjects' social responding were collected in training settings and in the subjects' classrooms, before and after training, during free-play (generalization) sessions. No significant differences were apparent between the groups' social responding as a function of the type of training agent in either the training settings or in the generalization settings. Pretraining to posttraining comparisons of the subjects' classroom setting behavior indicated no significant generalization of the trained response (ball rolling) for either group. A significant pretraining to posttraining increase (p <.01) was found in the generalization settings, however, regarding the rates at which the subjects in both groups emitted peer interaction responses that were never directly trained. The results suggested that nonretarded agemates may be as effective as adults when teaching specific social skills to retarded children.
Applying Programming Principles to Remedial Handwriting Practice
Authors: Stowitschek Joseph J.
Published: December 2015

The use of a validation research strategy applied to the evaluation of a remedial handwriting instruction package is described The main feature of the package is a programming procedure used to adapt conventional worksheets and workbook pages that emphasize repetitive practice on manuscript letter formation. The main feature of the evaluation is that teachers in classes for learning disabled children used the package entirely under their own direction and under the prevailing classroom conditions. Thirty-four children and eleven teachers participated in the study which employed a pretest/posttest control group design. Results indicated that although teachers did not use the package as consistently or extensively as it had been used by the experimenters in a laboratory setting, they did achieve an acceptable rate of improvement in the manuscript letter formation performance of their students. These findings support the premise of validation researchers that results obtained on an instruction procedure or program when used under more or less laboratory conditions can not necessarily be expected to generalize to field conditions and that field evaluation must, as closely as possible, approximate projected condtions of use following dissemination.
The Modification and Maintenance of Time Spent Attending Using Social Reinforcement, Token Reinforcement and Response Cost in an Applied Restaurant Setting
Authors: Rusch Frank R. , Connis Richard T. , Sowers Jo Ann
Published: December 2015

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate a series of program variables used to modify the time a subject spent attending in an experimental restaurant setting. Selective behaviors of a mildly retarded, female young adult were evaluated, based on combinations of three treatment variables (social reinforcement, token reinforcement and response cost) in modifying the time spent attending to task. Further, the addition of an intermittent schedule of cost contingency, delayed token exchange, delayed performance feedback, and a final weekly pay check were evaluated, and resulting levels of response maintenance were investigated. Combinations of social reinforcement, tokens and response cost were found less effective in increasing percent of time spent attending to task than were simultaneous application of all treatment variables. Relationships were established between maintenance of appropriate attending behavior and the selective withdrawal of both token reinforcement and cost contingency. Data collected suggested that an intermittent schedule of response cost, weekly token exchanges, minimal feedback on performance earning and weekly checks, in that order, were effective in maintaining response gains. Follow-up measures indicated that treatment gains were maintained after all contingencies were removed. Limitations of the present investigation and future areas of research were outlined.

Descriptors: Response cost, token economy, social reinforcement, response maintenance, mentally retarded, vocational training.
Functional Criteria in Basic Math Skill Proficiency
Authors: Wood Stillman , Burke Linda , Kunzelmann Harold , Koenig Carl
Published: December 2015

Proficiency standards for thirty-nine critical math skills were developed based on the performance of 49 adults whose chosen careers required mathematical skills. These standards will help regular education teachers write and meet basic skill objectives. Also, special education teachers can use these standards in individualized education plans and to improve mainstreaming efforts.
Teaching Language to the Truly Naive Learner — An Analog Study Using a Tactual Vocoder
Authors: Williams Paul , Granzin Alex , Engelmann Siegfried , Becker Wesley C.
Published: December 2015

A theoretical model for the analysis of sets of unfamiliar language stimuli is presented and some implications for the programming of language learning are discussed. An experiment is described illustrating research questions raised by the model In the experiment highly unfamiliar word discriminations were taught to 20 subjects distributed in four groups. Each group learned to discriminate the same 12 words presented through a tactual vocoder. The experimental conditions were: (1) low and high criteria of performance before new words were cumulatively added to the known set, and (2) “easy” and “hard” sequences. The hard sequence required more difficult discriminations to be made during learning of the first six words. The results show that difficult tactual discriminations could be learned by most subjects in the time limits allowed. The best performance was shown by the Hard Sequence-Easy Criterion group. This finding is consistent with the expectation that the “Hard Sequence” would produce faster learning by requiring a focus on critical discriminations early in the training, and the likelihood that lower criterion facilitated faster introduction of the larger set and avoided over learning of false discriminations. On a location transfer test (the vibrators were moved from the arms to the legs), the group was correct 72.1 percent of the time, demonstrating a central integrative explanation for the learning going on. The study also showed that unfamiliar problems are difficult learning tasks, even for college level adults.
Direct Instruction Research in Australia
Authors: Maggs Alex , Maggs Robyn K.
Published: December 2015

A series of studies in metropolitan and rural areas involving Direct Instruction methods (Becker, Engelmann, and Thomas, 1971, 1975) have been conducted in Australian schools over the past eight years. These studies involved the use of DISTAR®, Corrective Reading, and Morphographic Spelling instructional programs with children in regular classes, special classes, withdrawal classes (e.g., pull out groups), and special schools at the elementary and junior high levels. Retarded, migrant, aboriginal, learning disabled, and socially disadvantaged children have participated in these investigations.

The results demonstrate that the Direct Instruction programs have been effective across settings and populations when independently evaluated against norm-referenced and criterion-referenced dependent measures. In addition, the results exceeded the usual expectations held for these populations in relation to academic and intellectual achievement The positive learning outcomes achieved in all these studies, many of which were longitudinal, highlight the fact that there is now a body of data-based evaluations across settings and populations that show Direct Instruction programs to be effective. The implications for educational administrators, principals, teachers, teacher educators, and parents is clear. Effective instructional programs are now available which can reduce learning gaps, and in many instances completely close the gap between “normal” academic and intellectual development and learning deficits. The body of empirical data on Direct Instruction which now exists offers new options for the administrators, principals, teachers, and teacher educators who seek the best in teaching strategies for children.
A Microcomputer/Videodisc CAI System for the Moderately Mentally Retarded
Authors: Thorkildson Ron , Bickel Warren K. , Williams Joseph G.
Published: December 2015

A study is currently being conducted at Utah State University's Exceptional Child Center to develop, and investigate the effectiveness of, a computer assisted instruction system designed for use with non-readers. The system will utilize the recently developed random access videodisc interfaced with a microcomputer. Software is being developed to utilize these new technological hardware advances. If the evaluation shows the system to be cost and instructionally effective it will provide a means of providing self-paced, individualized instruction to mentally handicapped non-readers without the direct attendance of the teacher and will provide an automated means of collecting, analyzing and reporting extensive student data.
Designing electronic information systems for the future: Social workers and the challenge of New Public Management
Authors: Gillingham Philip , Graham Timothy
Published: December 2015

There is a well-established critique of current forms of electronic information systems (IS) in social work organisations and attention is now turning to their redesign for the future. In this article we go beyond critiques that have established how this occurred to explore one of the reasons why current forms of IS have been observed to undermine frontline practice. In the same way that technological artefacts are observed to mediate human action by ‘configuring the user’, IS have also been developed, or configured, according to ideas about how things should be done, known as ‘embodied structures’. In this article, examples of IS functionality are drawn upon to demonstrate how the logics of New Public Management (NPM) have been embodied in current forms of IS. It is argued that the logics of NPM must be challenged if new forms of IS are to be developed that amplify the ability of practitioners.
The contingency of change in the Anthropocene: More-than-real renegotiation of power relations in climate change institutional transformation in Australia
Authors: McLean Jessica Emma
Published: December 2015

The Anthropocene, as a notion and a discursive field, is generating productive academic and broader debate. In this article, I analyse the creation of a crowdfunded climate change institution in Australia – the Climate Council – as an instance of everyday activism in the Anthropocene, and partly a function of the more-than-real. The more-than-real refers to the digital space that bore the Climate Council’s creation, and situates this spontaneous climate change activism. The broader context of this transformation included an abnormally hot spring season, a turn to conservative federal government, and already-active social media spaces. As an exploratory case study that introduces an example of activism steeped in desire, this research situates mainstream climate change activism squarely within the Anthropocene notion, where a large group of disaffected individuals transformed an organisation that they perceived as valuable. This type of climate change activism can be read as a productive possibility of the Anthropocene, and unsettles narratives of inevitable environmental devastation, while simultaneously raising questions of whether the Anthropocene concept can or should include digital spaces. The discourses working in, through and around the Climate Council transformation in the more-than-real are read as a disruption of the Anthropocene that may generate productive possibilities.
NS11821, a partial subtype-selective GABAA agonist, elicits selective effects on the central nervous system in randomized controlled trial with healthy subjects
Authors: Zuiker Rob GJA , Chen Xia , Østerberg Ole , Mirza Naheed R , Muglia Pierandrea , de Kam Marieke , Klaassen Erica S , van Gerven Joop MA
Published: December 2015

NS11821 is a partial GABAA agonist with relatively dominant α2,3 and α5 subtype efficacy but negligible α1 agonism. This first-in-human study was performed in healthy male subjects using a single-dose, parallel, double blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, dose-escalation study design. In total six cohorts ( N=48) were enrolled. The eight subjects of each cohort received NS11821 (10 mg, 30 mg, 75 mg, 150 mg, 300 mg or 600 mg) or placebo in a 6:2 ratio. At low dose levels, NS11821 had a relatively low exposure and a more-than-proportional increase of the area under the curve and maximum plasma concentrations, probably due to poor solubility. Saccadic peak velocity decreased in a dose-related manner while limited impairments were seen on body sway and the visual analogue scale for alertness. The most common adverse events were somnolence and dizziness, which were more prominent with the higher doses. Although no positive control was used in this study, the results were compared post hoc with a Centre for Human Drug Research dataset for lorazepam 2 mg. The maximum saccadic peak velocity effects seemed comparable to the typical effects of lorazepam, whereas the other central nervous system effects were smaller. These results support the pharmacological selectivity of NS11821 and show that pharmacodynamic effective doses of NS11821 were safe and well tolerated in healthy subjects.
Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Adolescent Alcohol Use
Authors: Herman-Stahl Mindy , Saavedra Lissette M. , Morgan-Lopez Antonio A. , Novak Scott P. , Warner Tara D. , Fishbein Diana H.
Published: December 2015

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of maternal depressive symptoms on adolescent alcohol use among a sample of Latino/Latina youth aged 10 to 16 years from a high-risk community. Direct and mediating effects of youth depressive symptoms, controlling for levels of concurrent emotion dysregulation, on alcohol use were examined. Participants consisted of 525 children and their mothers randomly sampled from low-income schools with high rates of substance use. The panel design included four waves, and we used structural equation modeling with a longitudinal mediational framework. Results indicated that the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent alcohol use was mediated by adolescents’ symptoms of depression for girls only. Findings are discussed in the context of the development of skills to cope with negative affect and the influence parental depressive symptoms may have on this process.
Affiliation With Antisocial Crowds and Psychosocial Outcomes in a Gang-Impacted Urban Middle School
Authors: Schwartz David , Hopmeyer Andrea , Luo Tana , Ross Alexandra C. , Fischer Jesse
Published: December 2015

This longitudinal study examined the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents who affiliate with antisocial crowds in a gang-impacted urban environment. We followed 405 adolescents (219 boys, 186 girls; average age of 11.51 years, SD = .61; 84% Latino, 9% Asian, and 7% other or unclassified) for one academic year. These youth attended a middle school located in an economically distressed neighborhood with documented high rates of gang violence. We assessed crowd membership with a structured focus group procedure. In addition, we administered a peer nomination inventory to assess aggression and social standing, obtained self-reports of depressive symptoms, and derived grade point averages (GPA) directly from school records. Adolescents used gang-related imagery to describe antisocial crowds in their school, referring to “cholos” and “taggers.” Membership in these crowds was associated with aggression and low GPA but, paradoxically, predicted small decreases in depression and increases in popularity over time. Taken together, our results highlight the complex role of affiliations with antisocial crowds in high-risk settings.
Prediction of anatomical lung volume using planimetric measurements on chest radiographs
Authors: Park Chul Hwan , Haam Seok Jin , Lee Sungsoo , Han Kyung Hwa , Kim Tae Hoon
Published: December 2015

Background

The anatomical lung volume is conventionally measured by computed tomography (CT). However, chest radiographs could be considered as an alternative method with low cost and low radiation.

Purpose

To predict the anatomical lung volume using planimetric measurements of chest radiographs.

Material and Methods

In total, 119 participants (M:F ratio = 66:53; age, 53.7 ± 9.6 years) who underwent chest CT for lung cancer screening were enrolled. The lung volume on CT was measured as a reference for the anatomical lung volume. To eliminate the bias from the degree of inspiration, virtual chest radiographs (posterior–anterior view and lateral view) were generated from the CT images using the thick multiplanar technique, and the lung area (cm2) was measured in the right (P), left (Q), and lateral (R) lungs according to the planimetric method. A regression equation predicting the anatomical lung volume from the planimetric measurements was generated. The correlation between the measured and estimated lung volumes was evaluated. The percentage error rate (%) was calculated and the equation was validated internally and externally.

Results

The equation predicting the anatomical lung volume (mL) was 9.6*S–1367, where the summed lung area (S) was defined as (P + Q + R). The measured and estimated lung volumes were highly correlated (R = 0.941, P < 0.001). The absolute error rate was 5.7 ± 4.9%. The root mean square error of the equation was 290.2. The root mean square errors on internal and external validation were 300.4 and 267.0.

Conclusion

The anatomical lung volume may be feasibly and accurately predicted from planimetric measurements of chest radiographs.
Effect of total intravenous anaesthesia and prophylactic ramosetron on postoperative nausea and vomiting after thyroidectomy: A prospective, randomized controlled study
Authors: Joe Han Bum , Lee Sook Young , Kim Jin-Soo , Chang Hyuk Soo , Jeong Yunyong , Jeong Haewon , Park Sung Yong
Published: December 2015

Objective

To investigate the effect of combined prophylactic ramosetron and total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) on postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), compared with sevoflurane anaesthesia without prophylactic antiemetics, in female patients undergoing thyroidectomy.

Methods

Female patients were randomized between the sevoflurane group (anaesthesia maintained with sevoflurane) or TIVA + ramosetron group (TIVAR; 0.3 mg ramosetron just before anaesthesia induction, remifentanil and propofol anaesthesia). Incidence and severity of PONV and use of rescue antiemetics were recorded during the first 24 h after surgery.

Results

In the early postoperative period (0–6 h), the incidence of PONV, severe emesis and rescue antiemetic use were significantly lower in the TIVAR group ( n = 36) than in the sevoflurane group ( n = 36). In the late postoperative period (6–24 h), the incidence of severe emesis was significantly lower in the TIVAR group than in the sevoflurane group.

Conclusions

A combination of TIVA and prophylactic ramosetron decreases early PONV and late postoperative severe emesis compared with sevoflurane anaesthesia.
Physical therapy for headaches
Authors: Fernández-de-las-Peñas César , Cuadrado María L
Published: December 2015

Background

Headache is the medical problem most commonly observed by neurologists. Non-pharmacological treatments are commonly demanded by individuals with headaches, but their evidence of effectiveness is conflicting.

Aim

The current review provides an updated discussion on what is supported by current scientific evidence about physical therapies for tension-type headache (TTH), migraine, and cervicogenic headache (CeH), and which gaps there still may be in our understanding of the interventions.

Methods

PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, CINAHL, EBSCO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Collaboration Trials Register, PEDro, and SCOPUS were searched from their inception through March 2015.

Results/Discussion

Several physical therapies including spinal joint manipulation/mobilization, soft tissue interventions, therapeutic exercises and needling therapies are proposed to be effective for the management of headaches. Current evidence has shown that the effectiveness of these interventions will depend on proper clinical reasoning since not all interventions are equally effective for all headache pain conditions. For instance, evidence of physical therapy in migraine is more controversial than in TTH, since migraine pathogenesis involves activation of sub-cortical structures and the trigemino-vascular system, whereas pathogenesis of TTH is more associated with musculoskeletal disorders, e.g. muscle pain. It seems that multimodal approaches including different interventions are more effective for patients with TTH, migraine and CeH.
Use of the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score in a Healthy United States Population
Authors: Williamson Tyler , Sikka Robby , Tompkins Marc , Nelson Bradley J.
Published: December 2015

Background:

Patient-reported outcome instruments are frequently used for assessing clinical outcomes after injury and surgery. Previously reported normative data for the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) are limited to a narrow subset of ages and demographics or have not included patients who do not participate in sporting activities.

Purpose:

To provide normative data for the KOOS in an 18- to 64-year-old population in the United States.

Study Design:

Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods:

The KOOS was administered to 999 patients or accompanying family members seen in July 2014 at an outpatient orthopaedic clinic in a suburban metropolitan city for an orthopaedic issue unrelated to their knee. Participants were eligible if they self-reported a medical history negative for knee, ankle, or hip surgery and if they did not have a current issue with their knee, ankle, or hip. Means, SDs, medians, ranges, interquartile ranges, and percentiles on the KOOS were calculated by sex, age range, laterality, and history of knee injuries in the past year. Nonparametric statistical analysis and regression analysis were used to evaluate differences in KOOS values between 5 age ranges and between those with a history of knee injuries compared with uninjured participants.

Results:

There were 402 men and 597 women in the final study cohort. Men scored lower on the Symptoms subscale compared with other subscales (median score: 96.4 for Symptoms, 100.0 for all other subscales) in all age cohorts except the 56- to 64-year age group. Women also reported lower scores in the Symptoms subscale (median score: 96.4 for women aged 18-55 years, 92.9 for women aged 56-64 years). Median scores for the Pain and Knee-related Quality of Life subscales were lower in the 56- to 64-year female cohort (97.2 and 93.8, respectively), compared with the 18- to 55-year female cohort. The Symptoms, Pain, and Knee-related Quality of Life subscales showed the greatest variability for patients of both sexes, particularly in the youngest and oldest cohorts. Three percent of all participants reported a history of knee injuries in the past year, and all KOOS results were significantly lower ( P < .05) in this population compared with uninjured participants.

Conclusion:

This study provides normative reference values for the KOOS in an 18- to 64-year-old metropolitan United States population. Study findings can aid surgeons in counseling patients and in developing expectations after the treatment of injuries.
Synaptogenesis and Myelination in the Nucleus/Tractus Solitarius
Authors: Sarnat Harvey B. , Flores-Sarnat Laura
Published: December 2015

Fetuses as early as 15 weeks’ gestation exhibit rhythmical respiratory movements shown by real-time ultrasonography. The nucleus/tractus solitarius is the principal brainstem respiratory center; other medullary nuclei also participate. The purpose was to determine temporal maturation of synaptogenesis. Delayed synaptic maturation may explain neurogenic apnea or hypoventilation of prematurity and some cases of sudden infant death syndrome. Sections of medulla oblongata were studied from 30 human fetal and neonatal brains 9 to 41 weeks’ gestation. Synaptophysin demonstrated the immunocytochemical sequence of synaptogenesis. Other neuronal markers and myelin stain also were applied. The nucleus/tractus solitarius was similarly studied in fetuses with chromosomopathies, metabolic encephalopathies, and brain malformations. Synapse formation in the nucleus solitarius begins at about 12 weeks’ gestation and matures by 15 weeks; myelination initiated at 33 weeks. Synaptogenesis was delayed in 3 fetuses with different conditions, but was not specific for only nucleus solitarius. Delayed synaptogenesis or myelination in the nucleus solitarius may play a role in neonatal hypoventilation, especially in preterm infants and in some sudden infant death syndrome cases.
Noninvasive Brain Stimulation in Pediatric Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Authors: Rubio Belen , Boes Aaron D. , Laganiere Simon , Rotenberg Alexander , Jeurissen Danique , Pascual-Leone Alvaro
Published: December 2015

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders in the pediatric population. The clinical management of ADHD is currently limited by a lack of reliable diagnostic biomarkers and inadequate therapy for a minority of patients who do not respond to standard pharmacotherapy. There is optimism that noninvasive brain stimulation may help to address these limitations. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation are 2 methods of noninvasive brain stimulation that modulate cortical excitability and brain network activity. Transcranial magnetic stimulation can be used diagnostically to probe cortical neurophysiology, whereas daily use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation or transcranial direct current stimulation can induce long-lasting and potentially therapeutic changes in targeted networks. In this review, we highlight research showing the potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications of transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation in pediatric ADHD. We also discuss the safety and ethics of using these tools in the pediatric population.
Mapping the Knowledge Structure of Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy Over the Past Decade
Authors: Huang Jichong , Tang Jun , Qu Yi , Zhang Li , Zhou Yan , Bao Shan , Mu Dezhi
Published: December 2015

The aim of this study was to analyze the knowledge structure and report the evolution of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy research over the past decade based on co-word analysis. Scientific publications focusing on neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy were searched from the Web of Science database (January 2005 to December 2014). The keywords from these articles were extracted, and a knowledge network based on these keywords was built using Ucinet6.212 and NetDraw2.084 software. A total of 1892 papers were included, and 39 high-frequency keywords were defined. “HIE” and “neonate” located at the center of the knowledge network. Etiology and pathogenesis, clinical manifestation, and therapy were researched more widely in the network than other aspects of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. This co-word analysis provides an overview of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy research and suggests that the etiology, clinical manifestation, and therapy of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy have become research cores over the past decade.
Is Women’s Empowerment Associated With Help-Seeking for Spousal Violence in India?
Authors: Rowan Kathleen , Mumford Elizabeth , Clark Cari Jo
Published: December 2015

Violence against women by their husbands is a problem for women worldwide. However, the majority of women do not seek help. This article presents findings from a national survey in India on empowerment-related correlates of help-seeking behaviors for currently married women who experienced spousal violence. We examined individual-, relationship-, and state-level measures of empowerment on help-seeking from informal and formal sources. Findings indicate that help-seeking is largely not associated with typical measures of empowerment or socio-economic development, whereas state-level indicators of empowerment may influence help-seeking. Although not a target of this study, we also note that injury from violence and the severity of the violence were among the strongest factors related to seeking help. Taken together, the low prevalence of help-seeking and lack of strong individual-level correlates, apart from severe harm, suggests widespread barriers to seeking help. Interventions that affect social norms and reach women and men across social classes in society are needed in addition to any individual-level efforts to promote seeking help for spousal violence.
Value for money in UK healthcare public–private partnerships: A fragility perspective
Authors: Santandrea Martina , Bailey Stephen , Giorgino Marco
Published: December 2015

Healthcare private finance initiatives/public–private partnerships (PFI/PPPs) have favored the provision of health infrastructures and services, but they have been subjected to major criticisms since the value for money assessment of private finance initiatives/public–private partnerships does not consider uncertainties. Using a systematic literature review and content analysis, we identify the sources of uncertainty (i.e. fragilities) associated with UK healthcare private finance initiatives/public–private partnerships. Fragilities are rooted in their financial structure, inadequate ring-fencing of risks and contractual inflexibility. We then discuss such fragilities in light of the evolution of the private finance initiatives/public–private partnership policy in the UK, thus considering private finance 2 and non-profit distributing models. Although much has been done to overcome the shortfalls related to the financial structure of private finance initiatives/public–private partnerships, greater attention has to be paid to the adaptability of the infrastructure and to the risk governance of private finance initiatives/public–private partnerships. Based on these results we then identify new avenues of research considering the potential benefits stemming from diversification of the sources of funding, adaptability of both the contractual requirements and the physical infrastructure and the risk governance.
Utilization of Outpatient Health Care among the People of Rural Assam
Authors: Devi Dipanjali
Published: December 2015

The aim of this study was to identify the factors that actually guide people’s decision regarding kind of health care service chosen for outpatient treatment in rural Assam. For that, primary data have been collected from the rural areas of Goalpara as it is one of the representative districts of Assam. A total of 281 households were selected through multistage sampling in which 122 cases were found, where outpatient health care was utilized during the 30-day reference period. Bivariate analysis has been done in terms of Pearson’s correlation coefficient to see the relation between the explanatory variables and response variable. Further, multinomial logistic model has been used to find the factors responsible for people’s diverse choice regarding the utilization of outpatient health care. This study has identified the economic condition of the rural household which the patient belongs to; the level of education of the patient herself and severity of ailment are the major factors which actually guides the decision regarding the utilization of outpatient health care in rural Goalpara.
Performance Evaluation of Public Hospitals in Tamil Nadu
Authors: Prakash V. , Annapoorni D.
Published: December 2015

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to investigate the relative efficiency of a set of decision-making units (DMUs). Government departments, such as, medical sciences, public health and preventive medicine, are providing primary and secondary care to the people of Tamil Nadu. The units of these departments are expected to function as health centres in terms of preventive medicine, hygiene and other public health issues. This study aims to obtain the technical efficiency (TE) of 31 district hospitals in the state, which come under the department of medical sciences. Here, district hospitals in the state of Tamil Nadu are considered as DMUs. The variables chosen included number of beds, staff nurses, assistant surgeons/civil surgeons as inputs, and outpatients treated, major surgeries and total deliveries performed as outputs. An output-oriented Banker, Charnes and Cooper (BCC) model was considered for DEA, allowing variable return to scale (VRS), and units were marked according to the benchmarking approach. Results indicate that nine of the 31 hospitals (29 per cent) are efficient, while the remaining 22 (71 per cent) are relatively inefficient, and they need to improvise their performance with that of their peer group.
Physician Emotional Labour and Job Performance
Authors: Lin Yea-Wen , Chang Wei-Pin
Published: December 2015

This study explores the relationship between emotional labour and job performance and examines the mediation effects of emotional exhaustion on the relationship between the emotional labour and job performance of physicians.

Data were collected from a sample of 530 physicians in Taiwanese hospitals. To achieve these objectives a mediated model was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine if the hypothesized model fit the data.

The hypothesized model fits the data best (χ2 = 173.048, df = 69, p < 0.0001, goodness of fit index GFI = 0.956, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.968, root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.053). Path analysis showed that emotional exhaustion plays a fully mediated role on the relationship between deep acting and job performance as well as plays a partially mediated role on the relationship between surface acting and job performance.

We confirmed that surface acting for physicians has a direct impact on job performance and affected job performance through the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion. The influences of surface acting on physicians providing medical services are evident. The results deserve the attention of hospital management to better assist physicians to maintain the correct mindset, take appropriate emotional control and patient communication strategies, rather than simply setting rules that require physicians to suppress displays of emotion.
Spatial Segregation, Real Estate Markets and the Political Economy of Corruption in Lucknow, India
Authors: Susewind Raphael
Published: December 2015

A number of scholars have argued that discrimination against Muslims in India’s urban housing markets stems from long histories of Hindu–Muslim ‘communal’ violence, and that the resulting antagonism and discrimination against Muslim tenants and homebuyers leads to their permanent ‘ghettoization’. In such accounts, the state is portrayed as absent and unable to provide ethnic minorities with a sense of security, so that disenfranchised Muslims seek out the ‘safety in numbers’ of segregated and often traditional neighbourhoods, even when urban housing markets provide updated and modern accommodation elsewhere. Based on official property registration data and ethnographic fieldwork in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, I complicate this narrative, focusing on the productive practices of networking and collusion that enable a veritable building boom in ‘traditional’ Muslim neighbourhoods. The article shows that proximity to bureaucrats, the relative electoral strength of Muslims, and the existence of waqf property result in lower expenses for corruption and thus higher profit margins for Muslim developers in traditional Muslim areas. Irrespective of discrimination elsewhere, this arguably creates positive incentives for Muslims to stay put, and thus demonstrates that their continued segregation does not necessarily indicate blanket disenfranchisement—but rather a differential incorporation in the political economy of collusion.
Link Work
Authors: Cook Ian M.
Published: December 2015

In Mangaluru, a smaller rapidly urbanizing coastal city in southwest India, there is a broker on every street. They are skilled, reputation conscious figures, who interpret class, jati, age and gender characteristics into housing and land markets through their mediations. Their work is above all ‘link work’: the forming, maintaining and breaking of links between parties. I argue that links are a form of property. With the city’s changes over the last decades—including partially redistributive land reforms, industrialization, the opening of an all-weather port, a squeeze on land, a real estate ‘boom’ and the arrival of large numbers of out of town college students—the number of potential links has increased and diversified. The links’ sizeable and growing monetary value, the large numbers of brokers or potential brokers, and the temporal incongruities between buyers/tenants and sellers/landlords push brokers to continually search out new links and to move quickly in closing or dropping deals, thus driving the commodification of land and housing in the city.
The Politics of Property in Land
Authors: Raman Bhuvaneswari
Published: December 2015

Alongside the policy of promoting real estate in land as a vehicle for driving accumulation and financing urban development, the Government of India introduced a policy to provide property rights to squatters as part of Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) programme, an urban poverty alleviation scheme. Based on ethnographic research carried out in the Kathputli Colony, a squatter settlement in Delhi, this article examines the politics of creating in-situ property rights under the RAY. The article illustrates the manner in which property rights are produced and reconfigured through contestations over their meaning and boundaries. The making of property at the Kathputli Colony constitutes a fluid and conflictual process, influenced by several actors, including urban planning authorities, courts, non-governmental organizations and colony residents. My analysis of the process reveals how the planning authority mobilized a language of legal rights for squatters as well as participatory planning instruments to facilitate the transformation of land held by squatters into upmarket residential and commercial real estate. I chart how these manoeuvres have been contested by Kathputli Colony residents in an ongoing struggle to obtain land rights. Yet, the political space to negotiate such rights is curtailed by changing definitions of property rights and by closed institutional and legal framework underpinning RAY.
Gender Differences in Depression Symptoms Among Rice Farmers in Thailand
Authors: Hanklang Suda , Kaewboonchoo Orawan , Morioka Ikuharu , Plernpit Suwan-ampai
Published: December 2015

This study aimed to examine the prevalence of depression symptoms and risk factors by gender among rice farmers in Nakhon Ratchasima Province in Thailand. A cross-sectional study was designed using interviewed questionnaire on lifestyle, work, and depression symptoms. To examine the factors associated with depression symptoms, multiple logistic regression analysis was used. Depression symptoms were found in 39.0% of males and 48.1% of females. Eating healthy food, preparing to prevent the problem, having community integration, hearing loud machines, and using personal protective equipment during work with chemical substances were associated factors among males with depression symptoms. Having family connection, being an accepted person in community, hearing loud machines, and having work-related financial hardship were predictors among females with depression symptoms. The prevalence of depression symptoms among Thai rice farmers was high. To prevent mental health problems, it is important to give males the support for health action and working styles, and females an accepting atmosphere. Corresponding to the aim, we have to define the factor by gender.