Using Neuroeducation as a Model to Evaluate the Effect of Imagery on Chinese Character Writing

Using imagery as a strategy for language learning may be helpful to encode linguistic forms into conceptual networks for long-term memory. Based on Arwood’s neuroeducation model of language learning, this research evaluated the effect of imagery in Chinese character writing by English-speaking adolescent students. After comparing imagery effects under three instructional conditions (i.e., English translation, pictorial presentation, and verbal-contextual interpretation), the results showed that the use of imagery predicted significantly better writing results in the immediate and one-week writing tests, but not in the four-week writing test. Cognitive analyses found that imagery was commonly used as a mediational strategy in the pictorial and verbal-contextual methods in the early learning phases. The pictorial method mainly elicited perceptual visual patterns which failed to support sustained memory. For a better character encoding and retrieval, images had to be generated associated with sufficient and relevant contextual information

South Dakota Municipalities: 1986 Population Estimates

More South Dakota towns lost people during the 6 years between 1980 and 1986 than during the 1970s. During the 70s 55% (171 of 312) of towns lost population. During the following 6 years, 63.8% (197 of 309) declined in population. In spite of these losses, the total population of South Dakota municipalities grew by 3 .3% (14, 526 persons). Metropolitan cities (Sioux Falls and Rapid City) grew by 19,995, offsetting much of the losses of the 197 municipalities that lost population

South Dakota Sex and Age Structure, 1980-1990

Age and sex structure of a population plays a critical role in determining the needs and lifestyle of that population. One community, for example, may have a high number of children and youth, a sure indicator of need for teachers and schools; another community may have a high proportion of elderly, indicating a greater need for medical services. People of different ages or gender also may have different consumer preferences. When business leaders and community leaders know the age and sex structure of their community, they can use that information to help direct resources toward meeting particular needs in education, housing, recreation, and medical and social services. Although no two communities are likely to have identical age and sex structures, there are general patterns that are helpful for identifying potential population needs. Population pyramids and indices are useful for illustrating these patterns

A Day at the Morgue: Student Interpretations of Death and Reality

This study involved the reflections of 15 college students six months after a visit to a morgue. After witnessing the various aspects of death at the morgue (e.g. morgue intake of bodies, significant time spent in a very large storage cooler for corpses, as well as an autopsy) a qualitative inquiry was conducted to determine whether or not the participants’ experiences were “real” or “surreal.” Analysis revealed that most determined their experience to be surreal. The students’ lack of experience with death, to the extent they experienced it at the morgue, no doubt resulted in more subjects determining the experience to be surreal

South Dakota Population, Housing and Farm Census Facts

Every day, school board officials, county agents, legislators, mayors, teachers, business men and women, and other community leaders make decisions that need to be based on reliable, up-to-date information. This report, an update of an earlier publication, provides social indicators- facts and trends which describe the social landscape-for each county in South Dakota

Stepmother Self-Role Incongruency in the Newly Formed Family: An Analysis of Stepmothers in the Great Plains

This study is a cross-sectional analysis of stepmothers from a Midwestern community in South Dakota. In this study, the relationships among six sets of variables are analyzed. The dependent variable is stepmother self-role incongruence index. The independent variables along with the strength of relationship in regards to stepmother self-role incongruence, are as follows; role ambiguity index (.393), anticipatory socialization index (-.203), wicked stepmother index (494), stepfamily/stepparent unfavorability index (.288), and a spousal disagreement index (.241). Hypothesis testing supported the hypotheses introduced in this study. Multiple regression analysis identified wicked stepmother beliefs as the best predictor of stepmother self-role incongruence (Beta = .355). Elaboration analysis revealed that the greater stepmother\u27s anticipatory socialization the lesser the belief the wicked stepmother, and the lower the level of self-role incongruence

Multi-Institutional Implementation of Clinical Decision Support for APOL1, NAT2, and YEATS4 Genotyping in Antihypertensive Management

(1) Background: Clinical decision support (CDS) is a vitally important adjunct to the implementation of pharmacogenomic-guided prescribing in clinical practice. A novel CDS was sought for the APOL1, NAT2, and YEATS4 genes to guide optimal selection of antihypertensive medications among the African American population cared for at multiple participating institutions in a clinical trial. (2) Methods: The CDS committee, made up of clinical content and CDS experts, developed a framework and contributed to the creation of the CDS using the following guiding principles: 1. medical algorithm consensus; 2. actionability; 3. context-sensitive triggers; 4. workflow integration; 5. feasibility; 6. interpretability; 7. portability; and 8. discrete reporting of lab results. (3) Results: Utilizing the principle of discrete patient laboratory and vital information, a novel CDS for APOL1, NAT2, and YEATS4 was created for use in a multi-institutional trial based on a medical algorithm consensus. The alerts are actionable and easily interpretable, clearly displaying the purpose and recommendations with pertinent laboratory results, vitals and links to ordersets with suggested antihypertensive dosages. Alerts were either triggered immediately once a provider starts to order relevant antihypertensive agents or strategically placed in workflow-appropriate general CDS sections in the electronic health record (EHR). Detailed implementation instructions were shared across institutions to achieve maximum portability. (4) Conclusions: Using sound principles, the created genetic algorithms were applied across multiple institutions. The framework outlined in this study should apply to other disease-gene and pharmacogenomic projects employing CDS

Pretest aerosol code comparisons for LWR aerosol containment tests LA1 and LA2

The Light-Water-Reactor (LWR) Aerosol Containment Experiments (LACE) are being performed in Richland, Washington, at the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory (HEDL) under the leadership of an international project board and the Electric Power Research Institute. These tests have two objectives: (1) to investigate, at large scale, the inherent aerosol retention behavior in LWR containments under simulated severe accident conditions, and (2) to provide an experimental data base for validating aerosol behavior and thermal-hydraulic computer codes. Aerosol computer-code comparison activities are being coordinated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For each of the six LACE tests, ''pretest'' calculations (for code-to-code comparisons) and ''posttest'' calculations (for code-to-test data comparisons) are being performed. The overall goals of the comparison effort are (1) to provide code users with experience in applying their codes to LWR accident-sequence conditions and (2) to evaluate and improve the code models

Planning and Conducting a Pharmacogenetics Association Study

Pharmacogenetics (PGx) association studies are used to discover, replicate, and validate the association between an inherited genotype and a treatment outcome. The objective of this tutorial is to provide trainees and novice PGx researchers with an overview of the major decisions that need to be made when designing and conducting a PGx association study. The first critical decision is to determine whether the objective of the study is discovery, replication, or validation. Next, the researcher must identify a patient cohort that has all of the data necessary to conduct the intended analysis. Then, the investigator must select and define the treatment outcome, or phenotype, that will be analyzed. Next, the investigator must determine what genotyping approach and genetic data will be included in the analysis. Finally, the association between the genotype and phenotype is tested using some statistical analysis methodology. This tutorial is divided into five sections; each section describes commonly used approaches and provides suggestions and resources for designing and conducting a PGx association study. Successful PGx association studies are necessary to discover and validate associations between inherited genetic variation and treatment outcomes, which enable clinical translation to improve efficacy and reduce toxicity of treatment