Background Music: The Effects of Lyrics and Tempo on Reading Comprehension and Speed

The purpose of this research was to assess the effects of lyrical and non-lyrical music on reading comprehension in college students, especially when tempo was taken into consideration. There were several major research questions approached. First, the current study examined a main effect of lyrics, assessing whether lyrical music hinders reading comprehension scores compared to non-lyrical music. Second, it was predicted that there would be a main effect of tempo, such that music with a fast tempo would also hinder reading comprehension scores compared to slow tempo music. Finally, it was predicted that there would be an interaction of lyrics, and tempo with passage difficulty, such that music with lyrics and a fast tempo would hinder reading comprehension the most in the presence of a difficult passage. An experiment was conducted involving 80 college students who completed a reading comprehension task, in conditions involving lyrics with slow tempo, lyrics with a fast tempo, no lyrics with a slow tempo, and no lyrics with a fast tempo, while reading passages at easy and difficult levels. The measured variables included reading comprehension and speed. Results showed that lyrical music was more detrimental to reading comprehension than non-lyrical music, and that harder passage difficulty was more detrimental than easy passage difficulty, however, music with a fast tempo was not more detrimental than music with a slow tempo. Implications of these findings suggest that language and reading comprehension processes of working memory are affected by the language component of lyrical music. These results could aid in launching more research into the study habits of young adults at the collegiate level, and help to create a more successful, healthy learning environment

Assessment Best Practices: A Review of Current Best Practices at the Secondary and Local Level

Assessment is a critical component of being an educator. Research has shown that educators put more of their trust in their local assessments’ data, rather than that of state mandated testing. Therefore educators must be well educated on the best practices that surround assessments, in order to ensure that the data in which they are trusting is the most accurate and appropriate measure of their student’s success. This capstone project reviews the current literature surrounding such practices in order to answer the question: Is it possible to extend the knowledge of current research, to educators, through the form of a professional development workshop, with regards to best practice for assessments, and related instructional practices, at the secondary level? Ultimately, the conclusion is yes, there are best practices suggested by the current research that can be easily articulated to and practiced by educators, in the form of a professional development. A majority of the best practices surround the sub-category of formative assessment, rather than prior knowledge and summative assessments. The resulting professional development is designed to be implemented in a small charter school, at the secondary level, in the upper midwest of the United States. Additionally, it is meant to give the participants ample time and opportunity to collaborate with their colleagues, practice, and reflect on the best practices surrounding assessment

The Life of a Physician in the Vietnam War

David Cromwell is currently 74 years of age and was born in Middletown, New York. He had his own medical practice in New York before retiring in Florida. His relation to Amanda Reed is that he is her great uncle on her father’s side. David Cromwell served for a year in the Vietnam as a physician working at a clinic in a relatively safe part of Vietnam before being shipped off to the Ashah Valley where he encountered very difficult circumstances

Companion animals as being-objects: the role of the self/other binary in the human-animal bond

This research project is an investigation into the human-dog bond and the practice of pet adoption and pet surrender at the East Baton Rouge Parish Animal Control Center. The human-dog bond is an excellent vehicle for an investigation into how we create categories of other because it is a highly complex and intersubjective relationship with deep evolutionary roots that is often reduced to a relationship between possessor and possessed in which cultural, historical, and biological contexts are not considered. It is a relationship in which constructed meaning is taken for fact. This thesis explores how animal control centers both resist and reinforce the perception of companion animals as being-objects. The term being-objects is used to denote the tactic we employ by categorizing companion animals as beings when convenient and as disposable objects when necessary. When we categorize companion animals as objects, we other them. We create an unfair identity for them in order to distance ourselves from an uncomfortable confrontation with the reality of pet euthanasia. The author of this thesis will explore how meaning is socially constructed in the E.B.R.P. Animal Control Center through a discussion of the way we speak about animal control centers, the location and arrangement of the E.B.R.P. Animal Control Center, and the performance of adoption and surrender processes within the center

The Sexual Image of Women in Television: The Effect on Young Women in America

The purpose of this study was to look at the portrayal of the sexual image of women on television from 1970 through 2000 by rating the main female character on an appearance and communication score, which was done by the two experimenters. We hypothesized that the stereotypical appearance and communication score would increase from 1970 to 2000. However, the trend analysis showed that the appearance score decreased, implying that the stereotypical appearance of women has lessened through the years. The communication score increased from 1980 to 2000, implying a more stereotypical portrayal of women. If future, more thorough research finds the same communication trend, then this could potentially imply that adolescent women’s self-esteem is negatively affected by the media

The Effect of Vascularization and Tissue Type on Cryosurgical Procedures

Cryosurgery is a minimally-invasive surgical procedure that is used in the treatment of multiple types of cancer. Although cryosurgical treatments, which involve the application of extreme cold to diseased or cancerous tissue, are often used in the treatment of near-surface skin cancer, they have also been used to treat several other types of internal cancers, including those in the prostate, liver, and kidney. Although fundamentally similar, many of these tissues differ significantly in properties such as density, vascularization, and thermal conductivity. A major issue in cryosurgery is adapting the procedure to different tissue types. In this study, the effect of tissue perfusivity on the outcomes of cryosurgery was modeled using the COMSOL software. For the purposes of comparison, the properties of lung tissue, which is highly perfused and not as conductive, and liver tissue, which is mildly perfused and more conductive, were used. The procedure was modeled as a 10 mm diameter cryoprobe set at a temperature of -196?C in a cylindrical region of tissue 8 cm in height and 8 cm in diameter. The time required for a 26mm diameter spherical tumor to reach -45?C was determined in four scenarios, lung tissue and liver tissue both with and without blood perfusion. Although metabolic heat generation was also included, sensitivity analysis showed it to be a minor factor in the cooling process. Results showed blood perfusivity to have a significant effect on freezing time in lung tissue and a relatively minor one in liver tissue: although the addition of perfusion caused freezing time in the liver to increase from 200 to 250 seconds, the addition of perfusion in the lung tissue caused the freezing front to never reach the tumor edge. Sensitivity analyses also revealed the freezing process to be highly sensitive to conductivity as well. It was therefore concluded that although blood perfusion is one of the most important heat transfer processes in cryosurgery, tissue conductivity is just as, if not more important. We recommend that cryosurgery continue to be used as a treatment for liver tumors, but further studies are needed to determine its efficacy in highly perfused, porous tissue such as the lung

Treatment, Diagnostic, Demographic, and Historical Factors Affecting Mental Health Diversion Outcomes

The deinstitutionalization movement, which began in the 1950s and culminated in the closure of most psychological institutions by the 1980s, promised to usher in a new era of community mental health (Torrey et al., 2010). While the movement, which began largely due to advances in psychological treatment and the exposure of widespread abuses in asylums, was well-intentioned, it ultimately created new problems for people experiencing mental illness. Many of the programs designed to handle the influx of newly-released patients were never fully funded or well-received (Human Rights Watch, 2003). The criminal justice landscape also changed dramatically around the same time, including new tough on crime policies and the war on drugs (Human Rights Watch, 2003; Primeau et al., 2013). With no clinical alternatives to arrest, people experiencing mental illness were more likely to be processed through the criminal justice system (Seltzer, 2005). Currently, people with mental illness are disproportionately represented in jails and prisons. One in seven state and federal prisoners and one in four people in jail meet criteria for having severe psychological distress (Bronson & Berzofsky, 2017). In order to counter the unintended consequences of deinstitutionalization, mental health diversion courts have been developed. The courts are designed to provide targeted intervention for the special needs of people who are both justice-involved and experiencing mental illness. The goal of diversion programs is to link participants with mental health treatment and other community-based services in order to both increase the quality of life of participants and decrease their impact on overall public safety in the community (DeMatteo et al., 2013). Prior research has identified benefits to diversion participation, most notably a reduction in recidivism (Alarid & Rubin, 2018; Case et al., 2009; Dirks-Linhorst & Linhorst, 2012; Han & Redlich, 2015; Hiday & Ray, 2010; Hiday et al., 2015; Hiday et al., 2013; Moore & Hiday, 2006; Steadman et al., 2011). The current study sought to examine factors that might affect mental health diversion outcomes, including program completion and recidivism. Specifically, this study evaluated the effect of treatment type, demographic factors, diagnosis type, presence of substance use, and symptom severity on program outcomes. Participants who were assigned to receive residential treatment based on the typical evaluative process of the diversion program were less likely to complete the program. The presence of a substance use disorder and unstable housing appeared to contribute to the decision to assign a participant to residential treatment; those factors also predicted failure to complete the program. Ultimately, more research is needed to determine which aspects of the diversion intervention are most beneficial and appropriate

High resolution velocity map imaging photoelectron spectroscopy of the beryllium oxide anion, BeO−

The photodetachment spectrum of $\mathrm{BeO^{-}}$ has been studied using high resolution velocity map imaging photoelectron spectroscopy. The vibrational contours were imaged and compared with Franck-Condon simulations for the ground and excited states of the neutral. The electron affinity of BeO was measured for the first time, and anisotropies of several transitions were determined. Experimental findings are compared to high level \textit{ab initio} calculations

HIGH RESOLUTION VELOCITY MAP IMAGING PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY OF THE BERYLLIUM OXIDE ANION, BEO-

The photodetachment spectrum of $mathrm{BeO^{-}}$ has been studied for the first time using high resolution velocity map imaging photoelectron spectroscopy. Vibrational contours were imaged and compared with Franck-Condon simulations for the ground and excited states of the neutral. The first measured electron affinity of BeO, and anisotropies of several transitions were also measured. Experimental findings are compared to high level textit{ab initio} calculations