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For many years, speech recognition threshold (SRT) testing has been used as an indicator of audiologic health. However, with changing methods and technology, test-retest reliability has not been reviewed extensively with newer digitally recorded spondaic words which meet a published criterion of listener familiarity. This study examined the test-retest reliability of 33 high frequency usage and psychometrically equated spondaic words. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recommended method (2-dB decrements) was used to measure the left and right SRT of 40 participants using both male and female talker recordings. For each participant, four SRTs were found during the test condition and four SRTs were found during the retest condition. All of the SRT scores were analyzed and the averaged SRT values found using a male talker recording resulted in an average retest SRT to be 1.4 dB better than the average test SRT. The averaged SRT values found using a female talker recording resulted in an averaged retest SRT to be 1.2 dB better than the averaged test SRT. The SRT scores also showed high validity when compared to each participant's pure tone average (PTA). This study additionally found no significant interaction in using a male versus a female talker when using digitally recorded and psychometrically equated spondaic words.

The clinical value of oto-acoustic emissions (OAEs) for the identification of the integrity of outer hair cell function has been proven numerous times in research studies, and OAEs are commonly included in the audiological test battery used by audiologists. The technological advances in this field, however, require continuous research to determine the value of new equipment. The main objective of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of distortion product oto-acoustic emissions (DPOAEs) and transient evoked oto-acoustic emissions (TEOAEs). The subjects were female adults between 18 and 25 years of age, and 30 ears were used for this study. All participants had normal middle-ear function, normal hearing sensitivity (pure tone thresholds) and present OAEs. DPOAEs and TEOAEs were performed at specific time intervals to determine the test-retest reliability, and an OAE-gram was generated by combining DPOAE and TEOAE test results. These measures were performed as an initial measure (M1), after five minutes (M2), after an hour (M3), after a week (M4) and after a month (M5). The test-retest reliability was calculated by analysing the statistics quantitatively. Results were analysed to determine the variance between each participant individually at different time intervals, and also to determine the variance of the group as a whole at different time intervals. Through this analysis high test-retest reliability between the different tests was proven. Inferential statistical Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) proved that the test-retest reliability of DPOAEs, TEOAEs and the OAE-gram (generated through a combination of the DPOAE and TEOAE results) was consistent throughout all periods of testing. The highest correlation existed between immediate re-measurements, while the largest difference was observed between M1 and M3. High test-retest reliability for all tests conducted at different time intervals from original measures were confirmed. Recommendations that arose from this study are further research in the normal hearing population for better generalization, research into specific variables between subjects, research with longer time between different tests, as well as the test-retest reliability in pathologic populations. / Dissertation (MCommunication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / MCommunication Pathology / Unrestricted

Background: Atypical processing of auditory information in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be observed at a neurological as well as at a behavioural level. The Functional Auditory Performance Indicators (FÁPI) is an observational monitoring tool for pre-school children with hearing loss, but has not yet been described in children with ASD. A reliable instrument to monitor progress of functional auditory performance in young children with ASD may contribute to evidence-based practice during intervention. Method: The aim was to describe the overall performance of five-year-old children with ASD on the FÁPI; to determine the test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability of the tool. The study was exploratory with a descriptive design incorporating repeated measures. Twelve participants with ASD were purposely selected. The mean age was 65 months and all were exposed to English as additional language. Ten of the 12 participants had very little speech as reported by their parents. Pre-recorded sound and speech stimuli were used to elicit responses from participants in their familiar therapy rooms. For test-retest reliability three data collection sessions per participant were conducted over a two-week period. Video recordings were provided in randomised order and analysed by two independent raters. The raters were blind to the order of data sets. Results and conclusion: With an increase in complexity of auditory stimuli a marked decrease in response was observed in the participants. Category seven, the highest level of auditory responses, demonstrating the child's ability to process linguistic information, showed the least responses The test-retest reliability was good, with a single difference in the category 'Awareness and meaning of sound'. Inter-rater reliability indicated a significant difference in two of the seven categories of the FÁPI, 'Awareness and meaning of sound' and 'Sound localisation' with p-values of 0,006 and 0,003. These categories may be the most subjective in the tool. Despite some subjectivity in two of the seven categories the FÁPI was reliable to plot functional auditory performance in the sample group. Since the instrument relies on direct observation with very few demands to participate on a social level, it has potential for use in five-year-old children with ASD. Further research is required to determine the tool's performance using natural sound conditions to monitor the progress of children with ASD longitudinally, against themselves during intervention. / Dissertation (M Communication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / MCommunication Pathology / Unrestricted

La compréhension des effets cérébraux sous-tendant l’impact de la stimulation magnétique transcrânienne répétée (rTMS) est un a priori nécessaire à la connaissance de la prise en charge thérapeutique des patients bénéficiant de ces traitements. A posteriori, elle permet en plus de comprendre les processus physiopathologiques responsables des symptômes cliniques propres aux troubles mentaux. Nous nous sommes ici intéressés aux effets de la rTMS sur le cerveau des patients souffrant de schizophrénie (SZ), au travers des deux principes fondamentaux du fonctionnement cérébral que sont la ségrégation et l’intégration fonctionnelle. En premier lieu, nous avons analysé l’effet de la rTMS visant le cortex préfrontal médian (CPM) sur le principe de ségrégation fonctionnelle chez des SZ avec trouble de la cognition sociale. Pour ce faire nous avons développé un paradigme d’imagerie par résonance magnétique fonctionnelle (IRMf) écologique et novateur de cognition sociale. Un prérequis aux études longitudinales en IRMf est la reproductibilité du signal d’activation. Nous avons alors démontré la fiabilité de notre paradigme entre deux sessions, puis à l’aide de ce paradigme, nous avons étudié l’effet de la rTMS sur la ségrégation à partir de la variation du signal BOLD et des taux de N-AcetylAspartate et de glutamate. Puis nous avons étudié l’impact de la rTMS ciblant le sillon temporal supérieur gauche (STSg) sur les hallucinations auditivo-verbales (AVH) en termes de connectivité fonctionnelle statique (intégration fonctionnelle). Nous avons ainsi mis en évidence l’effet bénéfique de la rTMS sur le trouble de cognition sociale et sur les AVH. En outre, quand la rTMS cible le STSg, il ne semble pas avoir d’effet sur la connectivité fonctionnelle statique du réseau cérébral du langage observé. Cependant, focalisé au niveau du CPM, elle permettrait d’augmenter la concentration de N-acétylaspartate des SZ. L’absence d’effet de la rTMS illustrerait plutôt des profils d’organisation cérébrale différents des SZ, et ce par des variabilités interindividuelles, suggérant qu’il serait à l’avenir bénéfique de déterminer les caractéristiques optimales de la stimulation sur une base individuelle afin de mieux moduler les processus anormaux du cerveau dans les schizophrénies. / The understanding of the brain effects underlying the impact of repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a necessary a priori necessary concerning patients treatments. A posteriori, it also helps to understand the pathophysiological processes responsible for the clinical symptoms of mental disorders. Hither, we are interested in the effects of rTMS on the brain of patients with schizophrenia (SZ), through the two fundamental principles of cerebral functioning: segregation and functional integration. First, we have analyzed the effect of rTMS on the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) according to functional segregation in SZ with social cognition disorder. To do this we have developed an ecological and innovative social cognition paradigm for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A prerequisite for longitudinal studies in fMRI is the reproducibility of the activation signal, we have then demonstrated the reliability of our paradigm between two sessions. Using this paradigm, we have studied the effect of rTMS on segregation from the variation of the BOLD signal and the levels of N-Acetyl Aspartate and glutamate. Then, we studied the impact of rTMS targeting the left temporal sulcus (STS) on auditory-verbal hallucinations (AVH) in terms of functional connectivity (functional integration). We have thus demonstrated the beneficial effect of rTMS on social cognition disorder and on AVH. Moreover, when the rTMS targets the STS, it does not seem to have an effect on the static functional connectivity within the listening language network. However, focused on the MPFC, it would increase the N-acetylaspartate concentration of SZ. The absence of the effect of the rTMS would rather illustrate different brain organization patterns of the SZ, due to inter-individual variability, suggesting that it would be in the future beneficial to determine optimal characteristics of stimulation on an individual basis in order to best modulate abnormal processes of the brain in schizophrenias.

Rationale: Schizophrenia patients consistently show deficits in sensory-evoked broadband gamma oscillations and click-evoked entrainment at 40 Hz, called the 40-Hz auditory steady-state response (ASSR). Since such evoked oscillations depend on cortical N-methyl D-aspartic acid (NMDA)-mediated network activity, they can serve as pharmacodynamic biomarkers in the preclinical and clinical development of drug candidates engaging these circuits. However, there are few test-retest reliability data in preclinical species, a prerequisite for within-subject testing paradigms. Objective: We investigated the long-term psychometric stability of these measures in a rodent model. Methods: Female rats with chronic epidural implants were used to record tone- and 40 Hz click-evoked responses at multiple time points and across six sessions, spread over 3 weeks. We assessed reliability using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Separately, we used mixed-effects ANOVA to examine time and session effects. Individual subject variability was determined using the coefficient of variation (CV). Lastly, to illustrate the importance of long-term measure stability for within-subject testing design, we used low to moderate doses of an NMDA antagonist MK801 (0.025–0.15 mg/kg) to disrupt the evoked response. Results: We found that 40-Hz ASSR showed good reliability (ICC=0.60–0.75), while the reliability of tone-evoked gamma ranged from poor to good (0.33–0.67). We noted time but no session effects. Subjects showed a lower variance for ASSR over tone-evoked gamma. Both measures were dose-dependently attenuated by NMDA antagonism. Conclusion: Overall, while both evoked gamma measures use NMDA transmission, 40-Hz ASSR showed superior psychometric properties of higher ICC and lower CV, relative to tone-evoked gamma.

Extensive research has been conducted on the relationship between brain activity and personality traits, and several theories propose a lateralization of specific personality qualities. A prominent model suggests frontal lateralization of motivational direction, specifically, the behavioral inhibition and activation systems (BIS/BAS), with greater right frontal activity linked to behavioral inhibition and greater left frontal activity linked to behavioral activation. Recent studies have presented contrasting findings in the absence of this correlation. With the present study I aimed to investigate the link between frontal lateralization and the BIS/BAS. I further examined the test-retest reliability of resting-state frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA), and of the BIS/BAS scale. Resting-state frontal EEG asymmetry and participants’ responses to the BIS/BAS scale were collected from University of Skövde students on multiple occasions. FAA were obtained from electrode sites F4-F3, F6-F5, and F8-F7 over three sessions, two weeks apart, along with BIS/BAS scores from the first and third sessions. Within-subject FAA showed variability over time, suggesting FAA to be a less reliable measure of personality traits. Only two out of the four BIS/BAS subscales demonstrated consistent scores, raising doubts about the reliability of using it to assess personality traits. BAS Drive correlated negatively with FAA, contrary to the expected direction, but no other significant correlation was observed between resting-state FAA and BIS/BAS. Verifying FAA as an indicator of BIS and BAS is important for drawing meaningful associations between them. Future research should consider employing a repeated measures design and a larger sample size to enhance the understanding of this relationship.

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In recent years, collaboration between different companies especially global collaboration on oversea product development becomes more and more popular. Forming efficient product design team becomes an important concern for these companies. Team formation strategies not only consider team member's skills and availability, but also gender, race and cultural background. Personality traits are also increasingly considered when composing a team, based on the hypothesis that diversity in personality traits within a team will improve the team's ability to innovate (Park, 2014, Figure 6-3). Wilde released his 20-item psychological preference test together with his Teamology teaming strategy in 2008, with the assumption that its resulting reliability would be approximately 80% over time due to their similarity to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questions (Kirby et al, 2007). In this thesis, the overall test-retest reliability of Teamology instrument is proved good since consistency over time for all four Dimensions are higher than 80%. For each of the 20 items, some are considered not reliable with low consistency over time. Systematic change for consistency data over time is discussed as well, a tendency is figured out that for Dimension EI and SN, graduate participants tend to change their preference on dimension EI and SN over time, while no obvious change is shown for Dimension JP and TF. When the culture and language difference is concerned, all four dimensions have good consistency over time, which means language and culture difference will not affect the consistency of Teamology test score. Finally for Park Creativity Index and MBTI Creativity Index, the reliability over time is tested and judged acceptable with Pearson's correlation data of 0.528 and 0.516. / Master of Science

Yes / /Aims: Partial weight-bearing protocols are commonly incorporated into hospital, clinical and field-based rehabilitation to enhance recovery, particularly in patients following cartilage surgeries. Overloading can affect healing time and the stability or integrity of the healing structure, however underloading can also be detrimental, as adequate weight bearing encourages the healing process—for example, osteoblastic stimulation. Therefore, accurate reproducibility of these protocols could be considered essential to the rehabilitation process. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy with which weight-bearing protocols (20%, 50% or 80% of body weight) could be reproduced shortly after being taught. Methods: Thirty participants were taught three partial weight-bearing protocols (20%, 50% and 80% of body weight), using bathroom scales. Participants ability to reproduce their target load for each protocol was assessed statically using bathroom scales and dynamically with a force plate using a three-point elbow crutch-assisted gait. Participants were assessed 10 minutes after being taught. Errors between actual and target load during these trials was calculated. Findings: Accuracy assessed with scales was comparatively good for all target loads, however dynamic trials using the force plate showed an inverse relationship between all error measures and target loads (i.e. 20% > 50% > 80% body weight; all P<0.01). The peak error was double the intended load at 20% of body weight (95% CI: 11.9% body weight, 24.1% body weight). At 80% of body weight, the peak error was not significantly different from zero. Conclusions: The static method of instruction of partial weight-bearing protocols, using bathroom scales, does not seem to translate accurately to dynamic motion, and therefore affects adherence to medical instruction. Practitioners should be aware of the potential errors in reproducing these loads and the potential effect on rehabilitation. These results would suggest that practitioners should be cautious when using bathroom scales to teach partial weight-bearing protocols and not to rely on them to assess reproduction accuracy during gait