A Study of the Effect of a Reading Comprehension Strategy on High School Students with Learning Disabilities

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a particular text explicit comprehension strategy called, stop and think. The strategy taught students to pause briefly while reading to note in their own words what has happened so far in the reading before they continue. This technique is intended to help students to self-monitor their own comprehension and to determine if they need to re-read. Students in a control group and an experimental group were used for the study. Both groups consisted often ninth-grade students with learning disabilities enrolled in a suburban high school. Students in the experimental group were all participants in a corrective reading program which met for 40 minutes every day. Direct instruction on the use of the strategy and the students’ implementation of the strategy lasted approximately nine weeks. Activities involving the use of the stop and think strategy were incorporated two to three times per week. When the strategy was first introduced the students used narrative short stories to maintain motivation while becoming efficient at using it. Students practiced the strategy as a whole group and then individually. During the sixth week of instruction, students began using the strategy with content area readings. Students in the control group did not receive formal reading instruction. To determine the effectiveness of the stop and think strategy, a pretest and a posttest of text-explicit reading comprehension was given to the experimental group and the control group. Two sections from a ninth-grade Global Studies book were used for the pretest and the posttest. For the pretest, students were randomly given one of two sections from the textbook. For the posttest they were give the section they had not done for the pretest. A t test was used to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in the text-explicit reading comprehension level of the experimental group and the control group. The findings indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the posttest scores of the experimental group, who received the stop and think strategy instruction, and the control group, who did not receive the instruction, favoring the experimental group

Environmental analysis of the habitat (biotic and abiotic factors) associated with Broadleaf Barbara\u27s Buttons (Marshallia trinervia)

In June 2009 I conducted a study of the habitat associated with Broadleaf Barbara\u27s Buttons (Marshallia trinervia) along Bird\u27s Creek in Vernon Parish, LA. Twenty two plots were sampled for all vascular plants. Of these, 17 samples were from the area where M. trinervia was present and 5 samples were from the area where M. trinervia was absent. From each sampling plot a soil sample was collected and analyzed. There were significant differences in the species richness of all plant groups (p=0.0075), herbaceous plants (p=0.056), and woody vines (p=0.083) between the two locations. The soil texture was also significantly different in the percentage of sand (p=0.021), silt (p=0.029), and clay (p=0.089) between the study locations. The study found that the samples associated with M. trinervia were higher in species richness for all plant groups and the soils from these locations had a higher mean percentage of silt and clay particles

More or less than kind: Brothers and sisters in nineteenth-century American literature

This dissertation investigates the under-examined relationships between sibling characters in nineteenth-century American literature (1852-1900). Focusing on the depictions of siblinghood in such works as Herman Melville\u27s Pierre, Louisa May Alcott\u27s Little Women, Charles Chesnutt\u27s The House Behind the Cedars, and Edith Wharton\u27s Bunner Sisters, I explore how nineteenth-century American authors construct, comment on, and use the sibling bond as an attempt to reconcile tensions of personal and collective identity and the competing drives for family ties and individual experience. In these fictions and others, I argue, siblinghood is a space where the rules of relation are negotiable and unfixed---where brothers and sisters use each other variously as partners in sympathetic union, extensions of their selves, and objects of identification, and do so in ways both supportive of and detrimental to one another. I read these texts with an eye on siblinghood to suggest new perspectives on major nineteenth-century fictions, as well as new ways of thinking about the nineteenth-century family.;In the first chapter, I argue that Melville\u27s Pierre is a seduction novel, in which the site of seduction is the double promise of siblinghood to offer a close and sympathetic relation and the opportunity for virtuous or heroic performance. My second chapter looks at how Louisa May Alcott\u27s Little Women exposes a significant (yet largely unacknowledged) cruelty at the heart of the nineteenth-century American family: that siblings are taught to invest their energies and their affections in one another in youth, but they are also taught that marriage is their goal-which takes them out of their home, and away from their brothers and sisters. Chapter Three explores the significance of the many adult and elderly sister pairs in local color literature of the late nineteenth century, arguing that the depiction of siblings living in close, marriage-like relationships---far beyond the period of time that most siblings share an intimate bond under the same roof---is part of these fictions\u27 larger project of describing and preserving a United States in the midst of massive and rapid change. and Chapter Four investigates the many nineteenth-century authors who set their novels and stories in motion by separating two siblings on opposite sides of the color line, then exploring their relationships and identities as a result of this split

Lived Experiences of Adult Children Who Have a Parent Diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease

Little is known about the experience among adult children who have a parent with Parkinsons Disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to explore, appreciate, and describe their experiences using a phenomenological methodology. Narratives were collected from seven participants who have a parent diagnosed with PD and analyzed according to Colaizzis (1978) phenomenological data analysis method. Seven thematic clusters were identified and an exhaustive description is presented to summarize the essence of their lived experience. The study indicates a strong sense of essential positivism from the participants stories, and overall, it seems PD has brought some degree of biological, psychological, socially, and/or spiritual meaning to their lives that they may not have otherwise noticed or experienced

Supportive Communication, Sense of Virtual Community and Health Outcomes in Online Infertility Groups

Women are turning to online health groups to deal with the stresses and complications of infertility. Online groups may provide a resource that is potentially absent in their face-to-face communities. This study examines how the sense of virtual community (SOVC) that develops in these groups serves as a buffer between perceived stress and physical health symptoms. A sample of 122 women from two virtual communities completed an online survey. Results show that observing the exchange of emotional support was positively related to SOVC while observing informational support was negatively related to SOVC. Further, SOVC was negatively related to physical health symptoms and additionally, served as a buffer between stress and physical health symptoms. Implications for SOVC and virtual health community research are discussed

Can a two-hour lecture by a pharmacist improve the quality of prescriptions in a pediatric hospital? A retrospective cohort study

Background: A high rate of prescription errors exists in pediatric teaching hospitals, especially during initial training.Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of a two-hour lecture by a pharmacist on rates of prescription errors and quality of prescriptions.Methods: A two-hour lecture led by a pharmacist was provided to 11 junior pediatric residents (PGY-1) as part of a one-month immersion program. A control group included 15 residents without the intervention. We reviewed charts to analyze the first 50 prescriptions of each resident.Results: Data were collected from 1300 prescriptions involving 451 patients, 550 in the intervention group and 750 in the control group. The rate of prescription errors in the intervention group was 9.6% compared to 11.3% in the control group (p=0.32), affecting 106 patients. Statistically significant differences between both groups were prescriptions with unwritten doses (p=0.01) and errors involving overdosing (p=0.04). We identified many errors as well as issues surrounding quality of prescriptions.Conclusion: We found a 10.6% prescription error rate. This two-hour lecture seems insufficient to reduce prescription errors among junior pediatric residents. This study highlights the most frequent types of errors and prescription quality issues that should be targeted by future educational interventions

Levels of growth factors from platelet-rich fibrin from chronic periodontitis versus periodontally healthy subjects: a pilot study

Objectives This study aimed to (1) compare the amounts of growth factors from platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) between chronic periodontitis and periodontally healthy subjects and (2) evaluate the relationships between the amounts of growth factors from PRF with complete blood counts (white blood cell (WBC) and platelet counts) and the serum concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Materials and methods Venous blood was collected from chronic periodontitis (test) and periodontally healthy subjects (control). PRF and serum were collected from the centrifuged blood. Liquid exudates from the compression of PRF were collected. The compressed PRF membranes were incubated in saline, and eluted aliquots were collected at 1, 24, and 72 h, and the membranes were then digested with trypsin. Epidermal growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-1, platelet-derived growth factor-BB, transforming growth factor-β1, and vascular endothelial growth factor in the exudates and eluents were quantified by ELISA. Serum was used for IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α quantifications. Complete blood counts were measured. Results There were no significant differences in the amounts of growth factors from PRF exudates and membranes measured between groups (all p > 0.05). The test group had significantly higher WBC (p  0.05). Conclusions PRF can be utilized as an autologous source of growth factors not affected by periodontal condition and WBC level

Regional distributon of mercury in sediments of the main rivers of French Guiana

International audienceUse of mercury (Hg) for gold-mining in French Guiana (up until 2006) as well as the presence of naturally high background levels in soils, has led to locally high concentrations in soils and sediments. The present study maps the levels of Hg concentrations in river sediments from five main rivers of French Guiana (Approuague River, Comté River, Mana River, Maroni River and Oyapock River) and their tributaries, covering more than 5 450 km of river with 1 211 sampling points. The maximum geological background Hg concentration, estimated from 241 non-gold-mined streams across French Guiana was 150 ng g-1. Significant differences were measured between the five main rivers as well as between all gold-mining and pristine areas, giving representative data of the Hg increase due to past gold-mining activities. These results give a unique large scale vision of Hg contamination in river sediments of French Guiana and provide fundamental data on Hg distribution in pristine and gold-mined areas

Sea Ice Prediction Has Easy and Difficult Years

Arctic sea ice follows an annual cycle, reaching its low point in September each year. The extent of sea ice remaining at this low point has been trending downwards for decades as the Arctic warms. Around the long-term downward trend, however, there is significant variation in the minimum extent from one year to the next. Accurate forecasts of yearly conditions would have great value to Arctic residents, shipping companies, and other stakeholders and are the subject of much current research. Since 2008 the Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) (http://www.arcus.org/search-program/seaiceoutlook) organized by the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) (http://www.arcus.org/search-program) has invited predictions of the September Arctic sea ice minimum extent, which are contributed from the Arctic research community. Individual predictions, based on a variety of approaches, are solicited in three cycles each year in early June, July, and August. (SEARCH 2013)

Developing a Literature-Based Interview Script to Explore Mentorship Models in Medical Education Scholarship: A Collaboration Among Six Medical Institutions

Purpose Medical education scholarship (MES), including medical education research, is meaningful work that benefits faculty, as well as learners and their institutions. Negotiating the terrain of MES – which often includes new languages, systems, and thought processes – requires consistent and effective mentorship. Unfortunately, effective mentorship for MES is lacking and an effective mentorship model has not been identified. The purpose of this project was to conduct a literature search to inform and refine an interview script as the first part of a larger project that will identify elements of a model for MES. This abstract describes the systematic search process and recurring themes that emerged. Methods This project is funded by the Northeastern Group on Educational Affairs (NEGEA) and is a collaborative effort among 6 different medical institutions and 9 individuals with diverse professional backgrounds (physicians, librarians, educators). The librarians created a search strategy using the grant proposal’s research question and inclusion/exclusion criteria, as well as additional terms provided by the team. Articles initially identified as focusing on basic and clinical science research mentorship in medicine also guided the creation of the strategy. PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched. Results Search results were divided up among the 9 individuals and have gone through two stages of screening. After the second screening, a form was used to extract recurring themes. The final analysis of the themes was conducted by 2 members of the team and discussed by the whole team. The result includes an interview script grounded in evidence based practice. Conclusion The overall efforts of this project will provide a model for mentorship in MES. The model will enhance faculty development efforts in scholarship. Aside from the project’s purpose, this collaborative experience provided a unique faculty development opportunity for the researchers