Showing papers by "University of Nebraska Omaha published in 1988"

Elements of death anxiety and meanings of death

Abstract: The objectives of this study were: (1) to test hypotheses that women would have higher death anxiety than men and that older persons would have lower death anxiety than younger people; and (2) to probe for meanings of death among a large, heterogeneous sample. A group of 599 adolescents and adults completed a death anxiety scale; factor analysis of the resultant data revealed seven orthogonal factors. Both hypotheses were supported at acceptable levels of significance. Item analysis revealed additional information on meanings of death: Older respondents indicated a concern over the existence of an afterlife and over loss of personal control; women expressed more fear of pain and bodily decomposition. The strongest finding was variation in death anxiety by age, which confirms Butler's contention that the life review helps the aged to resolve conflicts and relieve anxiety.

Possible origins of high-T(c) superconductivity

Abstract: A mechanism to explain high-T{sub c} superconductivity, based on the double-well motion of the oxygen ions in such systems, is extended to predict T values of for (La, Ba){sub 2}CuO{sub 4} and Ba{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7}. This gives lower bounds on T{sub c} of 53K for the former and 44K for the latter. Since the second number, in particular, could be markedly enhanced by full allowance for the large amplitudes of the oxygen motions, it is argued that large T{sub c} values have a purely vibronic origin.

Beliefs and behaviours of kindergarten teachers

Abstract: Summary This study examines relationships between the cognitive styles of kindergarten teachers and their tendency to endorse or manifest a child‐centred vs a teacher‐structured approach to kindergarten. Subjects were 51 kindergarten teachers who completed self‐report instruments assessing cognitive style, teaching ideology, classroom behaviour, and occupational stress. An outside rater observed each classroom for two hours, recording the frequencies of two kinds of teacher behaviour: verbal interactions, and ‘mapping’ data indicating the positions of teacher and students within the classroom. Teachers’ self‐reported beliefs and behaviours were strongly consistent with outside raters’ observations. In addition, a cluster of observed classroom behaviours was associated with a child: centred ideology: working and communicating with individuals or with small groups of children rather than with large groups; and using few negative comments. Teachers who endorsed and exhibited these child‐centred behaviours te...

Organizations as Multiple Cultures: A Rules Theory Analysis

Abstract: This essay articulates the utility of the coordinated management of meaning(CMM) theory of rules for identifying different cultures within an organization and for conceptualizing the complex interaction between them. In CMM, rules are conceptualized as cognitions that individuals employ to create action in interpersonal episodes. The utility of CMMas a theoretical and an analytical frame is specifically demonstrated through applying the perspective to one view of multiple cultures in organizations: the interplay between a dominant culture, one whose central values are espoused by top management and are widely shared, and three specific types of subcultures: enhancing, orthogonal, and a counterculture. The roles of structural vs. content factors in organizational cultures as well as the dynamic meshing of intrapersonal meanings to create interpersonal action are also addressed in terms of CMM.

Decoupling as an alternate model for transpression during the initial opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea

Abstract: Transpressive plate motions during the opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea were in some manner responsible for the development of Spitsbergen's Tertiary fold-and-thrust belt A flower model has been proposed for the large-scale structural architecture of Tertiary deformation (Lowell 1972) An alternate model of decoupling, where convergent and transcurrent motions were accommodated in totally or partially separated, subparallel belts is suggested

Use of vancomycin and tobramycin polymethylmethacrylate impregnated beads in the management of chronic osteomyelitis

Abstract: Over the past several years there has been a growing interest in the use of locally implanted beads containing antibiotics for the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis. This method has been popularized in Europe and, with few exceptions, gentamicin has been the only antibiotic used. There have been only a few reports from the U.S. and there is little information regarding the pharmacokinetics of antibiotics used in this fashion. To our knowledge this is the first report using vancomycin. Three patients with chronic osteomyelitis were treated with vancomycin and/or tobramycin polymethylmethacrylate beads. These beads were extemporaneously compounded and implanted for up to six weeks. From the site of bead implantation local fluid aliquots were collected for the measurement of antibiotic concentrations. In two patients, initial tobramycin concentrations exceeded 400 mg/L. In one patient receiving vancomycin, initial localized concentrations were approximately 100 mg/L. In all three patients therapeutic concentrations of localized antibiotic were maintained with immeasurable systemic concentrations throughout the period of bead placement. Localized antibiotic therapy for the management of chronic osteomyelitis represents a potential therapeutic alternative to long-term parenteral therapy. Data presented here suggest that other antibiotics, such as vancomycin and tobramycin, can be used successfully in polymethylmethacrylate beads and provide preliminary facts for future investigations of such applications.

Comparison of a Clinical Gait Analysis Method Using Videography and Temporal-Distance Measures with 16-mm Cinematography

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare a clinical gait analysis method using videography and temporal-distance measures with 16-mm cinematography in a gait analysis laboratory. Ten children with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy ( age = 8.8 ± 2.7 years) and 9 healthy children ( age = 8.9 ± 2.4 years) participated in the study. Stride length, walking velocity, and goniometric measurements of the hip, knee, and ankle were recorded using the two gait analysis methods. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine significant differences between the data collected using the two methods. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were determined to examine the relationship between the measurements recorded by the two methods. The consistency of performance of the subjects during walking was examined by intraclass correlation coeffi­ cients. No significant differences were found between the methods for the variables studied. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients ranged from .79 to .95, and intraclass coefficients ranged from .89 to .97. The clinical gait analysis method was found to be a valid tool in comparison with 16-mm cine­ matography for the variables that were studied.

Dual-task performance as a function of adult age and task complexity.

Abstract: A dual-task procedure was used to examine capacity demands of letter-matching in younger and older adults Older subjects generally were slower on both tasks than were younger adults, but this difference was especially pronounced for the late stages of category matching, suggesting that retrieval and comparison of category information is particularly demanding for older adults

Science as a rational enterprise

Abstract: Scientists often disagree about whether a new theory is better than the current theory. From this some (e.g., Thomas Kuhn) have inferred that the values of science are changing and subjective, and hence that science is an ‘irrational’ enterprise. As an alternative, this paper develops a ‘rational’ model of the scientific enterprise according to which the scope and elegance of theories are important elements in the scientist's utility function. The varied speed of acceptance of new theories by scientists can be explained in terms of the optimal allocation of time among different scientific activities. The model thus accounts for the ‘rationality’ of science in a way that is broadly consistent with the empirical evidence on the history and practice of science.

Feedback Dependence among Low Confidence Preadolescent Boys and Girls

Abstract: Previous research has suggested that self-confidence of females may be lacking in certain types of physical activity achievement situations. One circumstance in which females are said to lack confidence is when performance feedback is not present because females may be dependent on others to supply feedback in situations involving performance of a physical task. Recent research has questioned whether the lack of feedback is more likely to undermine confidence of females as opposed to males if confidence levels among the gender groups are equal. Specifically, it was the purpose of this study to determine if the self-confidence of females and males was different among groups receiving performance feedback versus no feedback when preperformance self-confidence levels were held constant within gender groups. Results indicated that both males and females in the low preperformance self-confidence groups had lower postperformance self-confidence when feedback was not present. Low preperformance self-con...

Implications of Lexical Ambiguity Resolution for Word Recognition and Comprehension

Abstract: Publisher Summary The implications of the lexical ambiguity problem go far beyond words with multiple dictionary entries. The issues involved in lexical ambiguity research are applicable to a wide range of comprehension phenomena. The selection processes that typify ambiguous words are, to some extent, relevant to all lexical access because all words normally have more information associated with them than is required in any particular context. Word-level ambiguity only exemplifies in an obvious way, because of characteristics that exist at virtually all levels of language comprehension. It is suggested in the chapter that phenomena such as metaphor, idiom, and indirect requests present a comprehender with essentially the same interpretive dilemma occasioned by words with more than one possible meaning. The chapter reviews briefly some of the recent research in lexical ambiguity and additionally discusses extensions of lexical ambiguity research to other issues of word recognition. It also describes a series of studies using lexical ambiguity to explore qualitative changes that occur with development of the ability to use context in facilitating word recognition, a problem to which the methodology of ambiguity seems very well suited.

Sexual functioning as a topic in occupational therapy training: a survey of programs.

Abstract: To investigate the current status of sex education in occupational therapy curricula, a questionnaire survey was mailed to department chairs of 67 university programs that were either accredited or in the application process. A total of 50 programs returned usable responses. The results indicate that occupational therapy may be in a transition period: A significant minority of the respondents were either undecided about or against including sexual functioning in occupational therapy, but the majority were of the opinion that the patient's sexual functioning is an important domain of occupational therapy practice. A high percentage of programs reported that instructional time was being devoted to the basics of sexual functioning, but programs varied considerably in the amount of time allocated for this topic.

Neuropsychology of Lexical Ambiguity Resolution: The Contribution of Divided Visual Field Studies

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter proposes a tentative model of lexical ambiguity resolution that integrates the different lexical access patterns of the two cerebral hemispheres, and discusses this model in the context of the current understanding of lexical access and contextual constraints. It describes the divided visual field method, suggesting a frequency-coded multiple access model of lexical retrieval. The chapter also discusses the role of the left and right cerebral hemispheres in the access of ambiguous word meanings. The single access model proposes that the meanings of an ambiguous word are retrieved serially, according to their frequency.The most frequent meaning is retrieved first, and the search stops if that meaning is appropriate in context. If it is not, then the next most frequent meaning is selected. This serial self-terminating search continues until it fits with the context. In the absence of context, retrieval favors the dominant. The multiple access model states that all word meanings are retrieved upon the presentation of an ambiguous word, after which context influences the selection of the appropriate meaning.

Test generation by fault sampling

Abstract: The authors present a novel technique of generating tests from a random sample of faults. The entire fault population of the circuit is randomly divided into two groups. Only one group, usually the smaller one, is used for test generation by the test-generator and fault-simulator programs. This group is known as the sample and its coverage is deterministic. The coverage of faults in the remaining group is similar to that of random vectors and is estimated from the distribution of fault detection probabilities in the circuit. As the sample size increases, the fraction of unsampled faults reduces. At the same time, a larger sample yields more test vectors to increase the random coverage. For a circuit with high testability, a sample of just 5% faults, will provide tests for a 95% coverage. On the other hand, for a circuit with a relatively poor testability, one may have to sample 33% faults for the same coverage. For most practical cases, the sampling approach will mean significant saving in the computation and storage needs of fault simulation. >

The Polywater Episode and the Appraisal of Theories

Abstract: Instead of only examining how often a thesis about scientific change is confirmed in cases of scientific advance, it would be better to examine both how often the thesis is true in cases of scientific advances and how often it is true in cases of scientific mistakes. (For the purpose of this paper, a ‘mistake’ is defined as a scientific claim that is initially accepted by a sizable proportion of specialists, but is shown to be false before being integrated into the prevailing interpretation of the research area in question.) One could then conclude that the higher the success to failure ratio (out of the total number of successful and mistaken episodes in which the thesis was true), the greater the warrant for affirming the thesis as a normative standard for how good science should be done. The main criterion for choosing an episode for this study was that the episode be an exemplary mistake. For the purposes of this study, the polywater episode has several advantages over other mistakes that could be studied: (a) the episode occurred recently enough for biographical and citation data to be available, and (b) the number of identifiable scientists involved was larger than for most other mistakes that could be studied.

Research on teaching styles of teachers of the gifted

Abstract: Various research studies have attempted to compare cognitive learning and teaching styles in terms of learning effectiveness, but results have proven to be inconclusive. However, cognitive styles of teachers are different from teaching strategies with strategies being part of the total teaching profile. To obtain a profile, this study used the Silver and Hanson Teaching Style Inventory with 157 area teachers. The profiles were then used to compute the correlations between the preferred teaching styles and three selected demographic variables. The collected data yielded some statistically significant results about the preferred teaching styles of teachers of gifted students.

Photointerpretation of Tertiary structures in platform cover strata of interior Oscar II Land, Spitsbergen

Abstract: A structural map of Oscar II Land compiled using black and white, stereo-pair air photos and other available information sources suggests the existence of three structural zones within the deformed platform cover strata. The western zone consists of basement involved overthrusts of complex geometry in the north large-scale folds of platform cover strata with a stepped, down to the east profile in the south. The central zone consists primarily of folds within Kapp Starostin Fm. and overlying Triassic strata that likely formed above a subhorizontal decollement within Gipshuken Fm. strata. Farther to the east thrusts emplace Permian Kapp Starostin Fm. strata over Triassic strata. This zone probably represents stratigraphic climb of the basal decollement. Conservative estimates of shortening for the central and eastern zones are in the 15-25% range. The contribution of the western zone structures to overall Tertiary shortening depends on the geometry of faults underlying the stepped folds and is uncertain at present. Changes along strike are in part due to differential levels of erosion and changes in transport direction, but also probably important was variable thickness of the platform cover strata involved (less to the north) and the availability of incompetent horizons along which thrust-fiats could form. Two areas with anomalous structural trends may represent oblique ramps.

Aging and Performance: A Mental Workload Analysis

Abstract: It is estimated that by the year 2000, 31 million Americans will be 65 years of age or older (Ward, 1979). It is not surprising, therefore, that psychology has seen an increased interest in aging, in terms of basic psychological processes as well as the practical problems of dealing with an aging population. Of particular importance are the presumed effects of aging, both physical and cognitive, that may affect the elderly’s role in society in general, and in the work force in particular. For example, questions of job advancement for older workers, and even mandatory retirement, are based on (possibly erroneous) assumptions about age-related declines in performance capacity.

Prevention of Contraction of Patched Intestinal Defects

Abstract: • Neomucosal growth on a serosal patch might increase intestinal surface area in the short-bowel syndrome but is limited by contraction of the patched defect. Our aim was to reduce contraction by mechanical or pharmacologic means. Ileal defects (2×5 cm) were patched with colon serosa in 14 rabbits. Group 1 (n=5) had a plastic splint sutured to the defect edge. Group 2 (n=4) received hydrocortisone acetate and vitamin A. Group 3 (n=5) was the control group. Four weeks after patching there was significantly less contraction in groups 1 and 2 compared with group 3 (72.3%±5.6% and 50.0%±5.8% vs 31.9%±1.8% initial defect size). Epithelial coverage of the defect was greater in groups 1 and 3 than in group 2. Disaccharidase activity of neomucosa and surrounding mucosa was significantly decreased in the steroid-treated rabbits. Contraction of a serosal patch can be reduced by mechanical and pharmacologic measures that may enhance the clinical applicability of this technique. ( Arch Surg 1988;123:428-430)

Does transfer of training help children learn juggling

Abstract: The effectiveness of four different learning sequences in teaching juggling to 5th grade students was investigated. Practice schedules using combinations of scarves, weighted scarves, beanbags, and balls allowed both identical task elements and learners' time-on-task to be varied during a 3-wk. practice period. The exclusive use of beanbags for practice, prior to testing with balls, resulted in significantly better juggling scores than did the other combinations. While transfer of training occurred for other groups, the amount of students' time-on-task during practice appeared to be a strong influence on final performance.

Stress and the Instructional Environment.

Abstract: (1988). Stress and the Instructional Environment. College Teaching: Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 75-81.

Medical students' edwards personal preference schedule norms

Abstract: Summay.-Three consecutive classes of freshman medical students completed the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule; results were compared to published norms for male and female college students. 171 male medical students scored significantly lower on the traits of Order, Exhibition, and Dominance and were higher on Affiliation, Succorance, Nurturance, and HecerosexuaLty. 51 female medical students scored significantly lower on the traits of Exhibition, Affiiation, and Abasement; they were hgher on Achievement, Succorance, and Nurturance.

An application of Nienhuys-Thiemann's theorem to Ring derivations on H(G)

Abstract: In this paper as an application of Nienhuys-Thiemann's theorem we show that a ring derivation on H(G), the algebra of analytic functions on a region G, is linear.