The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the presence of peers upon the oral reading performance of high achieving and low achieving students in a regular classroom setting.Related literature and research in the area of social facilitation has indicated that the presence of an audience serves to increase drive level. The interaction of drive level and habit strength results in the emission of dominant responses. During early stages of learning, incorrect responses are dominant since a response hierarchy has not been established. As learning occurs and mastery level is approached, correct responses become dominant.In order to relate these research findings to the classroom, subjects whose reading skills were below grade level were selected to represent those in the learning stage. Students whose reading skills placed them above grade level were selected to represent those in the mastery stage.The research hypotheses were as follows:1. The presence of peers will adversely affect a student's performance on an oral reading task when the instructional reading level of that student is below grade level.2. The presence of peers will enhance a student's performance on an oral reading task when the instructional reading level of that student is above grade level.Subjects were drawn from five fourth grade classes in two elementary schools in east central Indiana. A total of 76 subjects (34 low achievers and 42 high achievers) participated in the study. Participation in the study required that each student read orally at his instructional level a one hundred word passage in the presence of peers and again in isolation. Instructional levels were determined for each student through the administration of an initial placement test. This is a group test which is provided for each reading level to ensure that the student is placed at his/her instructional level. The passages read were d--aim from supplementary materials provided with the basal. reading series and designed for use at appropriate instructional levels. The passages were unfamiliar to the subjects. Data were collected in the classroom during the regularly schedule reading period in an effort to maintain normal classroom atmosphere. The subject's performance was tape recorded under each treatment condition. These tape recordings were later scored by a panel of judges. Responses which were scored as errors were miscues, repetitions, insertions, and omissions. The dependent variable was the subject's oral reading performance under each of the two treatment conditions. Oral reading performance was selected as the dependent variable because it represents not only an observable, measureable variable, but also an established classroom activity.A repeated measures design was utilized to investigate differences in performance of high achievers and of low achievers under audience present and audience absent conditions. Since the research hypotheses were directional in nature, a one tailed t test for correlated groups was selected to determine the statistical significance of the differences between means using the .05 level of confidence.Results of statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between the oral reading performance of either the low achieving or high achieving groups under audience present and audience absent conditions. Thus support was not found for the research hypotheses that the presence of an audience would adversely affect the oral reading performance of low achieving subjects and enhance the performance of high achieving subjects.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The rapid increase in human longevity has raised important questions about what implications this development may have for the variability of age at death. Earlier studies have reported evidence of a historical trend towards mortality compression. However, the period life table model, commonly used to address mortality compression, produces a compressed picture of mortality as a built-in feature of the model. To overcome this limitation, we base our study on an examination of the durations of exposure, in years of age, of birth cohorts and period life tables to selected short ranges of the death rate observed at old age. Overall, old-age mortality has been decompressing, cohort-wise, since the 1960s. This process may further indicate good prospects for ever-decreasing mortality. In the future, deaths may not be concentrated within a narrow age interval, but will instead become more dispersed, though at ever later ages on average.

A growing body of literature has elaborated the life-course and cohort patterns in the relationships between social factors and depression in Western societies. Nonetheless, far less research has focused on whether inequalities in social status have caused the inequality in misery over the life course in Eastern societies such as Taiwan, which is a collectivist society that has undergone tremendous social change. This research examines the life-course depression trajectories, with taking cohort variations into consideration, and assesses the multidimensional effects of education on depression in a network perspective. This study is based on the nationally representative samples from the repeated cross-sectional Taiwan Social Change Survey and from the longitudinal Survey of Health and Living Status of the Middle Aged and Elderly in Taiwan. Results reveal a U-shaped aging trajectory in depression: depression declines in early adulthood, bottoms out in middle age, and then rises again in late life. This trajectory is the composite outcome established by factors associated with historical trends in education, differential survivals, life stages, health decline, and maturity. Moreover, the direction of the trajectory depends on education. For the well-educated Taiwanese, depression decreases from early adulthood to middle life and maintains relatively stable in old age. For the less educated, depression increases steeply over the life course. Taken together, the education-based disparity increases with age and the pattern even strengthens across more recent cohorts, consistent with respectively the cumulative advantage theory and the rising importance theory. Although late-life convergence is found in cross-sectional analyses, aging vector analyses with FIML estimation and Gompertz survival analysis suggest that selective mortality is the plausible reason. Meanwhile, education is not the only root cause of psychological well-being in Taiwan. Social relationships factors--such as children’s education, co-residence, social support, and familial negative interaction--also demonstrate substantial influence on depression, but mediate educational effects slightly. However, in the aging vector analyses, education is the resource that consistently displays negative coefficients with respect to the slope of depression. Consistent with the resource substitution theory, educational effects are greater for those in disadvantageous statuses. Therefore, increased education is the most specific resource that suppresses the progression of depression over the life course and under difficult times. / text

This paper is an analysis of American's opinions on government spending on Social Security. The main objectives were to analyze the effect of year and cohort membership on the likelihood for American's to say that they think the government is spending too little on Social Security. The data was obtained from the General Social Survey. Results of the analysis conclude that year is statistically significant in predicting the likelihood of those who say the government is spending too little on Social Security. When comparing every year to 1994, 1996 is the only year that year that respondents were less likely to respond that the government was spending too little on Social Security. Every other test year, up to and including 2004, there is a growing likelihood of respondents indicating that the government is spending too little on Social Security. Finally, cohort membership was included in the analysis. Results conclude that the Swing cohort and the Babyboom cohort are statistically significant in predicting opinions on government spending on Social Security when being compared to the youngest cohort, the Babyboomlet-bust cohort. However, the results of the analysis show opposite direction in opinions between these two cohorts. Interestingly, the only cohort not statistically significant is the Silent generation.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2009. / Modern surfing dates as far back as the 1960’s when the first amateur and professional surfing competitions were held (1). Since these humble beginnings, surfing has enjoyed a sustained growth over the last half a century, principally through increased commercialization of surfing apparel and an increased positive association with the lifestyle of surfers. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine a retrospective cohort analysis of the injury profile of internationally competitive surfers and provide information on chronic, repetitive strain injuries suffered by them. Therefore, for the purpose of this study, the following information was gathered in order to create an injury profile: • Demographics of internationally competitive surfers competing in the Mr. Price Pro, Durban, South Africa, • Prevalence of surfing injuries, • Treatment received for injuries. Methods: This study was a retrospective, quantitative, epidemiological study (9), on the Chiropractic Student Sports Association’s (CSSA) questionnaire in order to produce a retrospective cohort analysis of the injury profile of internationally. On entry into the Chiropractic treatment facility, the surfer is requested to complete their portion of the CSSA questionnaire. Thereafter the senior intern then takes a brief case history, elaborating on the information provided by the surfer, followed by a standard clinical assessment related to the anatomical region or list of differential diagnoses based on the history. iv The study was limited to any surfer, male or female, who was competing on the World Championship Tour or the World Qualifying Series and registered to compete in the Mr. Price Pro. Results: Chronic injuries made up for 52.7% of surfing injuries, with the spine and surrounding musculature being the most commonly affected regions. Factors associated with injury were the repetitive nature of certain aspects of surfing and the age of the surfer. The findings in this study concurred with previous literature with the respect to sustaining of an injury related to surfing. However, many of the findings in this study differed to that of previous literature with respect to the common site of injury. The spine was the most common site of injury, as opposed to lower extremities as had been previously reported. The factors associated with injury also differed somewhat from previous literature. Therefore, this warrants further investigation with due consideration to the recommendations from this study.

Background Multimorbidity, the co-existence of multiple health conditions in an individual, is a significant Public Health challenge. However, it has no consensus definition or measure, and its determinants and outcomes are not fully understood. Resilience may be a mechanism by which the experience of multimorbidity can be improved but there has been little study of this. Aim To define and measure the prevalence of multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity, to assess the role of mental health and childhood socio-economic status (SES) and to investigate the long-term outcomes. Objectives 1. To determine how multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity should be defined and measured in Public Health research 2. To assess the prevalence of multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity using the measures identified in objective one 3. To assess the role of mental health conditions and childhood SES in the occurrence of multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity 4. To assess the impact of multimorbidity and resilience to multimorbidity on long-term outcomes Method Systematic reviews of the literature were conducted to address objective one. The analysis of two contrasting study populations was used to address objectives two to four. These were the Australian cross-sectional Diamond study and the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort study. Results Multimorbidity was defined as the presence of two or more conditions and was measured by patient self-report and healthcare administrative data. Resilience was the presence of good self-reported outcomes despite multimorbidity. Multimorbidity prevalence ranged from 3% to 38%. Mental health conditions led to an increased burden of multimorbidity and a reduced prevalence of resilience. Childhood SES and other SES factors were associated with multimorbidity. Childhood SES and other SES factors were associated with multimorbidity. Multimorbidity was associated with poorer outcomes. Conclusion The findings in this thesis can be used to improve consensus approaches to studying multimorbidity and resilience, and to develop interventions to tackle these.

The purpose of this research was to explore non-persistence by vocational students in the College of Career and Vocational Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage. A cohort of 156 students were identified and tracked from fall 1989 through spring 1992. In the first part of the study, using the University of Alaska Anchorage Institutional Research data base, demographic characteristics of the cohort, their patterns of enrollment and performance were identified. In the second part of the study, a sample of 12 non-persisters within the cohort were interviewed to learn about their motives for enrolling in postsecondary vocational education, factors contributing to their withdrawal and their perceptions regarding the quality of their educational experiences. Traditional-age (19 and under) students were the dominant age group, representing 46 percent of the cohort. Eighty percent of the students within the cohort were full-time students taking 12 or more credits. Over half (55 percent) of the students were "early-leavers" who discontinued their education at some point within the first year of the study. The graduation rate for the cohort was 3.8 percent and, at the conclusion of the study, 7.1 percent of the original cohort had maintained continuous enrollment, however, if students attending in stop-and-go patterns were included, 14.7 percent were still persisting. Implications for further study revealed by the interviews of "early-leavers" (i.e., students who did not persist beyond the first or second semesters of the study) included the following questions: 1. What retention strategies, policies and procedures can be implemented to encourage persistence of vocational students beyond the first or second semester? 2. How can the University of Alaska Anchorage assist students with their career development and decision-making? 3. How can the University of Alaska Anchorage encourage the persistence of commuter students? / Graduation date: 1995

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2009. / Modern surfing dates as far back as the 1960’s when the first amateur and professional surfing competitions were held (1). Since these humble beginnings, surfing has enjoyed a sustained growth over the last half a century, principally through increased commercialization of surfing apparel and an increased positive association with the lifestyle of surfers. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine a retrospective cohort analysis of the injury profile of internationally competitive surfers and provide information on chronic, repetitive strain injuries suffered by them. Therefore, for the purpose of this study, the following information was gathered in order to create an injury profile: • Demographics of internationally competitive surfers competing in the Mr. Price Pro, Durban, South Africa, • Prevalence of surfing injuries, • Treatment received for injuries. Methods: This study was a retrospective, quantitative, epidemiological study (9), on the Chiropractic Student Sports Association’s (CSSA) questionnaire in order to produce a retrospective cohort analysis of the injury profile of internationally. On entry into the Chiropractic treatment facility, the surfer is requested to complete their portion of the CSSA questionnaire. Thereafter the senior intern then takes a brief case history, elaborating on the information provided by the surfer, followed by a standard clinical assessment related to the anatomical region or list of differential diagnoses based on the history. iv The study was limited to any surfer, male or female, who was competing on the World Championship Tour or the World Qualifying Series and registered to compete in the Mr. Price Pro. Results: Chronic injuries made up for 52.7% of surfing injuries, with the spine and surrounding musculature being the most commonly affected regions. Factors associated with injury were the repetitive nature of certain aspects of surfing and the age of the surfer. The findings in this study concurred with previous literature with the respect to sustaining of an injury related to surfing. However, many of the findings in this study differed to that of previous literature with respect to the common site of injury. The spine was the most common site of injury, as opposed to lower extremities as had been previously reported. The factors associated with injury also differed somewhat from previous literature. Therefore, this warrants further investigation with due consideration to the recommendations from this study.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1986. / Bibliography: leaves 97-102. / Photocopy. / x, 102 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm