The purpose of the study was to determine how the waste from m-Endo agar LES (LesEndo) should be categorized and managed, due to its content of the carcinogenic substance basic red 9 in basic fuchsine. The information was obtained by studying legislation and a laboratory practical was performed to verify, if basic fuchsine could remain in LesEndo agar after being heated. This was important to know for the further interpretation how to categorize and manage the waste according to the legislation. LesEndo agar was autoclaved at 121 °C for 15 and 30 minutes. E. coli and coliform bacteria was put to grow on the LesEndo agar. The results from the study showed that all replicas had coliform colonies, which appeared with a metallic fuchsine-sheen. This verified that basic fuchsine was unchanged and that there was no significant difference in growth between replicas with heated agar and the control. The total concentration of basic fuchsine in LesEndo agar was 0.08%. To be categorized as hazardous waste the threshold value for basic red 9 is 0.1%. According to a strict interpretation of the legislation, waste from used LesEndo agar should not be categorized and managed as hazardous waste. However, evaporation has to be taken into consideration and the concentration may be above 0.1%. Therefore my evaluation is that waste from used LesEndo agar should be categorized and managed as hazardous waste to protect humans and the environment from being harmed.

Level 6 of the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) assesses the ease or difficulty with which persons with developmental disabilities (DD) are able to learn a two-choice auditory-visual discrimination. Individuals with DD who have passed ABLA Level 6 are likely to have at least some language skills, and their language is likely to be more complex than those individuals who have not passed Level 6 (Marion et al., 2003). Thus, an individual’s performance on Level 6 of the ABLA may be predictive of the types of language skills he/she will readily learn. Previous research (Verbeke, Martin, Yu & Martin, 2007) demonstrated that an individual’s pass/fail performance on ABLA Level 6 predicted his or her ability to point to pictures of common objects when the tester said the names of the objects. The present research examined whether performance on ABLA Level 6 might predict the ability of a person with a severe DD to learn to say the names of common objects (called tacting). Specifically, this study investigated whether participants who passed ABLA Level 6 (the Auditory-Visual Group – Group 1) would more readily learn object naming behavior (vocal tacts) than those clients who failed ABLA Level 6 (the Visual Group – Group 2). The groups were matched on the Communication Subscale of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS). Results indicated that: (a) Group 1 met mastery criterion for a significantly larger number of naming responses than Group 2; and (b) the mean number of trials to mastery criterion was significantly lower in Group 1 than in Group 2. The implications for language training are discussed.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of English

Researchers have hypothesized that for people with autism, the deficits in learning certain tasks may be a function of deficits in learning the prerequisite auditory, visual and motor discriminations. The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) Test is a useful tool by which these discriminations are assessed. This study investigated whether performance on ABLA Level 6, an auditory-visual discrimination, predicts performance on a receptive language task with children with autism. Participants included five children who passed ABLA Level 6, four children who passed ABLA Level 4 but failed ABLA Level 6, and one child who passed ABLA Level 3 but failed ABLA Level 4. Standardized prompting and reinforcement procedures were used to attempt to teach each participant to respond correctly on ten name-recognition tasks. During a task pictures of two objects were placed in randomly alternated left-right positions, and a child was required to point to the picture that was named. Training on a task continued until either a pass or a fail criterion was met, whichever came first. Three of the Level 4 participants passed all ten of the picture name recognition tasks, and one passed eight of the ten tasks. The Level 3 participant passed two of the ten tasks. All five of the Level 6 participants passed all picture name recognition tasks. The difference in performance between children at ABLA Level 4 and Level 6 was not significant at the .05 level. These results suggest that children with autism at ABLA Level 4 or 6 are approximately equally capable of learning receptive name recognition tasks.

Background: Cognitive processing in diagnostic oral radiology requires a solid foundation in the basic sciences as well as knowledge of the radiologic changes associated with disease. Although it is generally assumed that in dentistry, students must acquire both knowledge sets, little is known about the role or impact of the basic sciences on clinical reasoning because the two have traditionally been taught separately in the curriculum. Objectives: This dissertation investigates the role of basic sciences in oral radiology and its effects on diagnostic accuracy. The studies were designed to satisfy the following research aims: 1) to examine and compare the effects of integration and segregation of the basic and clinical sciences on diagnostic accuracy; 2) to examine the effects of basic science instructional methodology and diagnostic strategy on diagnostic outcomes; 3) to explore the potential interactions between instructional methodologies used to teach disease categorization and diagnostic strategies; and 4) to examine the effects of testing the basic sciences on diagnostic accuracy in an integrated instructional methodology. Methods: We conducted three quantitative studies, all of which involved a learning phase and an immediate testing phase that assessed diagnostic performance and memory. In each of the studies, learning strategies, and or testing frequency were varied. We also included performance assessment of diagnostic ability and memory, one week after the initial learning phase. Results: Our results show that students who learned basic sciences explanations had higher diagnostic accuracy when using a holistic System 1 type diagnostic strategy than those who did not. We also demonstrated that basic science knowledge was the most effective when directly integrated with the clinical sciences, and this result is further enhanced with testing. Conclusions: We conclude that integrated basic science learning provides a coherent framework that has the potential to significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy of training dentists.

plan B / Pacific Islands Studies

<p>The problem that gave rise to this study was to determine how Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) was implemented in the Western Cape and to find answers to the question of &quot / what exactly is the nature of the relationship between adult education and training&quot / ?</p>

This research is focused on improving health outcomes for older people by improving the continuum of care at the critical hospital-community interface. The elderly are at particular risk of medication misadventure following hospital discharge. The smooth transition of patients across of the hospital-community interface requires the availability of quality information in a timely fashion to patients and the community-based health professionals. The principal objective of this thesis was to improve medication-related communication through the provision of a community-linked Medication Liaison Service involving hospital and community-based practitioners in the identification of at risk patients, delivery of services to those patients whilst in the hospital and immediately post-discharge in their own homes, and appropriate follow-up services.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--The Pennsylvania State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-129).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-139).