Prenatal auditory experience with melodies : effects on postnatal auditory preferences in human newborns

It has recently been demonstrated that human newborns prefer a story their mothers had read aloud while pregnant over an unfamiliar story. It is unclear from these results, however, whether the newborns were using word information, non-word information (e.g., rhythmic structure) or both in their postnatal recognition of the story. The present study was conducted to determine if prenatal experience with non-word information was sufficient to produce a postnatal preference. Pregnant women who were close to term sang a melody everyday for the rest of their pregnancies. Their infants were tested postnatally with a choice procedure in which they could listen to the familiar melody or an unfamiliar melody. The melodies differed only in their prosodic characteristics (eg., frequency contours). A previous experiment had demonstrated that non-experienced newborns could discriminate between these two melodies. Analyses of preferential responding showed that the prenatally experienced newborns preferred the familiar melody over the unfamiliar melody whereas a control group of non-experienced newborns showed no systematic preference. These results are consonant with our understanding of the fetal auditory system and the intrauterine sound environment

A history of the department of physical education at Winthrop College, 1886-1970

It was the objective of this study to construct a historical narrative concerning the origin and development of the physical education program at Winthrop College, Rock Hill, South Carolina. Winthrop, the South Carolina College for Women, was founded in 1886. Physical education has always been included in the college curriculum. The Department of Physical Education was formally established in 1910 and a professional preparation program was initiated in 1919. After materials related to the topic had been located and examined, eleven questions were formulated as a guide for further research. The questions were concerned with the establishment of the college, the origin of its physical education program, the beginning of the professional preparation program, the facilities occupied by the Department of Physical Education, the influence of national trends on the program, and outstanding persons in the history of the department. The material assembled in the process of answering these questions was synthesized into a narrative which provided a reconstruction of past events relating to the Department of Physical Education at Winthrop College

INSTRUCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND PREDICTORS FOR EIGHTH GRADE STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AS MEASURED BY THE NORTH CAROLINA END OF GRADE COMPREHENSIVE READING SCORES TO THE NUMBER OF VISUAL ARTS CLASSES COMPLETED DURING MIDDLE SCHOOL

The purpose of the researcher was to test for any significant relationships existing among the physical number of visual arts courses completed by 8th grade students during the middle school years to the actual academic performance as measured by the 2012-2013 North Caroling End of Grade (EOG) examination, specifically the Reading Comprehensive component. Scale scores from 125 students’ unnamed, archival files from a school in a district in the southern Piedmont of North Carolina were selected for the study. Student files were chosen using systematic sampling from a middle school which was representative of the population in the school system. The researcher analyzed data using a hierarchical multiple regression model in which the researcher first entered gender, sex, and socioeconomic status into the regression model to control for any effects on the number of years of art courses completed. The researcher determined that the results of the hierarchical regression analysis were not supportive of the research hypothesis. Beta coefficients for the predictive number of visual art courses completed, B = -.10, SE B = .65, ß = -.01, t = -.16, p = .88 lacked any predictive value to the core academic area of reading as had been believed by art and reading teachers for decades, at least as was discovered in this study. Some factors beyond the control of the researcher could cause some concern such as changing data systems and changing to a new version of the North Carolina End of Grade examination. Perhaps of most interest to all teachers is the need to check the whys in the justification of any one area as being so inclusive in the overall implementation of the Common Core Standards. Ease of personalization that art courses can offer to all students is just one idea. Perhaps legislatures and school boards members should commission studies to find other advantages or disadvantages

Reconceptualizing the influence of empathic capacity and emotional numbing on perceptions of social support in female survivors of interpersonal violence: an initial investigation into the implications of neurophysiology for trauma recovery

An estimated 80 percent of individuals living in the United States have experienced at least one traumatic event during their lifetime, with nearly one in eight developing symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result (Breslau & Kessler, 2001). Prevalence rates, however, are higher among females, particularly female survivors of interpersonal trauma (Kessler, 2000; Olff, Langeland, Draijer, & Gersons, 2007; Tolin & Foa, 2006). Of the numerous factors that influence PTSD, social support has been identified as one of the foremost predictors of both symptom severity and duration (Brewin, Andrews, & Valentine, 2000; Ozer, Best, Lipsey, & Weiss, 2003). However, research routinely assesses social support based solely on subjective measures of perceived support and has yet to elucidate whether individuals with PTSD have the neurophysiological capacity to accurately perceive and maintain available support networks. Following trauma, the compromised ability of the prefrontal cortex to optimally regulate affective processing centers of the brain, accompanied by the dysregulation of an individual's autonomic nervous system, underlie the hyperarousal and affective numbing characteristic of PTSD (Garfinkel & Liberzon, 2009; Glover, 1992; Ogden, Minton, & Pain, 2006; Porges, 2011; Siegel, 1995; van der Kolk, 2006). Further still, such dysregulated neurological functioning occurs in tandem with a maladaptive cascade of regulatory hormones known to influence social functioning as well as empathy (Hurlemann et al., 2010; Porges, 2003; Seng, 2010; Steuwe et al., 2012). In this way, neurophysiological corollaries of trauma may inhibit an individual's ability to both experience and express empathy, preventing survivors from recognizing and drawing upon the viable social support available to them (Nietlisbach & Maercker, 2009). As such, the present study explored the relationship between PTSD symptom severity, emotional numbing, empathy, and perceived social support in female survivors of interpersonal trauma. Findings revealed that the difficulties in empathy experienced among survivors were directly related to PTSD symptom severity. However, such impairments appeared to be dictated by the survivor's degree of emotional numbing rather than the severity of the PTSD symptoms specifically. Emotional numbing, and difficulty perceiving or expressing positive emotions in particular, was found to also predict perceptions of social support. Furthermore, although empathy exhibited a direct relationship with perceived support, impairments in empathy did not mediate the relationship between positive emotional numbing and perceptions of the social support availability and valence as originally hypothesized. However, the severity of a survivor's comorbid depression appeared to confound nearly all of the relationships between the study variables. Nevertheless, emotional numbing, a condition common to both depression and PTSD, continued to show a strong relationship with empathy even when accounting for depression. Such insights have marked implications on the way counselors understand and work with female survivors of interpersonal trauma and suggest that experiences of emotional numbing and comorbid depression should be central foci in early therapeutic interventions. Interventions aimed at regulating the autonomic nervous system have shown success in alleviating both emotional numbing and struggles with depression and may be appropriate in this regard. The need to assess for and work with symptoms of emotional numbing and depression early in therapy may serve to enhance empathic capacity in survivors, facilitate the development of a strong therapeutic relationship and cultivate the interpersonal resources necessary for lasting change and healing to occur. Future research will serve to expand the many potential advantages that such findings can have on better conceptualizing the influence of interpersonal trauma on a survivor's ability to experience and express empathy and a full range of emotional experiences and benefit from the positive social support that exists around her

Threshold concepts in relational leadership and Leadership Identity Development

Threshold concepts are new understandings within a discipline that create a significant shift in awareness. They are transformative, troublesome, irreversible, integrative, and bounded. Grasping a threshold concept leads to an epistemological shift and students move into a deeper understanding of a specific subject. It also results in an ontological shift as students come to personally identify with the discipline. Within the Leadership Identity Development model of leadership studies, a key transition occurs when students start to see leadership as a relational process rather than a position of power or authority. The literature is ripe with studies exploring the experiences that lead to this new understanding. While this knowledge is useful for leadership educators there is a gap in the research identifying the more complex concepts that students struggle with along their journey. This study explored the specific concepts that students themselves identified as transformational in their understanding of leadership and their subsequent identification as a relational leader. The phenomenological study utilized student interviews and reflections to explore the threshold concepts within leadership development that moved them along the path

Effect of a heart health nutrition program on elementary school children in Piedmont North Carolina

The purposes of this study were to determine the effect of a heart health nutrition education program on knowledge and behavior of third grade students enrolled in a public school in Piedmont North Carolina and to assess the differential effect of parent participation in such a program. Seventy-two male and female third grade students enrolled in an elementary school located in a non-metropolitan school district in Piedmont North Carolina were the subjects of this study. Data were collected using pre- and post measures. The heart health nutrition program consisted of six sessions presented over a six week period. Parents of the subjects in the treatment group received a weekly report of the classes including key concepts related to heart healthy foods. When data related to behavior as measured by subjects' indication of food preferences on selected test items were analyzed using analysis of covariance, only slightly significant differences were found for the control group. No significant differences were found for knowledge of heart health nutrition or in the total gain scores of the treatment and control groups

Promoting Community Preparedness: Lessons Learned From the Implementation of a Chemical Disaster Tabletop Exercise

Health educators are frequently called on to facilitate community preparedness planning. One planning tool is community-wide tabletop exercises. Tabletop exercises can improve the preparedness of public health system agencies to address disaster by bringing together individuals representing organizations with different roles and perspectives in specific disasters. Thus, they have the opportunity to identify each other’s roles, capabilities, and limitations and to problem-solve about how to address the gaps and overlaps in a low-threat collaborative setting. In 2005, the North Carolina Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response developed a series of exercises to test the preparedness for chemical disasters in a metropolitan region in the southeastern United States. A tabletop exercise allowed agency heads to meet in an environment promoting inter- and intraagency public—private coordination and cooperation. The evaluation results reported here suggest ways in which any tabletop exercise can be enhanced through recruitment, planning, and implementation

Multidisciplinary top management teamwork: Effects on local health department performance.

Local health departments often use multidisciplinary top management teams (TMTs) to organize the work of the agency. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of TMTs in North Carolina local health departments and how TMTs use affected agency performance. TMT diversity and TMT performance positively affected the local health departments' (LHDs) performance. As well, the TMTs' agenda affected LHD performance. The more that TMTs discussed community health assessment and political changes in the community, the better the LHD performance on the core functions. Implications for public health practice and leadership in local health departments are discussed

A study of attitudes of selected public school music teachers toward the integration of handicapped students into music classes

Public Law 94-142, Education of the Handicapped Act, mandates that handicapped students be educated, to the maximum extent possible, in the regular classroom with children who are not handicapped. Because of the association of music with therapy, it seems probable that the music classroom will be one area in which handicapped children will be placed with nonhandicapped children. A review of the literature reveals that many educators believe that successful implementation of mainstreaming handicapped children into regular classes may be dependent upon the attitudes of the teacher. The purposes of this study were, first, to assess the attitudes of selected North Carolina public school music educators toward mentally and physically handicapped students, and second, to determine their willingness to have these students mainstreamed or integrated into their music classes. The research questions investigated were: (l) Are there differences in attitudes expressed by the music educators as a function of age, sex, years of teaching experience, educational level, previous experience with handicapped students, course work and training in areas of exceptionality, or area of teaching responsibility? (2) Is strength of opinion related to years of teaching experience, previous experience with handicapped students, or with course work and training in areas of exceptionality? (3) Are teachers from any one area of teaching responsibility more willing to accept handicapped students into their music classes or performance groups