The information meaningful to coaches during player assessments and the types of experiences that contribute to athletes' confidence are not as well studied in ice hockey as in other sports. The primary purpose of this investigation was to determine what sources of expectancy information are salient to collegiate ice hockey coaches. A secondary purpose was to identify the experiences that contribute to sport-confidence in collegiate ice hockey players. Thirty two coaches and 16 athletes in NCAA ice hockey programs participated in this study. Results indicated that there is congruence between the information used by ice hockey coaches of different roles and competitive levels when evaluating athletes. It was observed that coaches rate psychological factors highest when evaluating athletes. The experiences meaningful to ice hockey players' sport-confidence were accessed and the ordering of sources was compared between positions. A sport psychology consultant working within ice hockey can better understand coach behavior by knowing what player characteristics are meaningful to a coach when evaluating athletes. Additionally, a consultant can know what information an athlete taps in his or her personal life for reassurance of self-efficacy in sport. Future research employing interview techniques can identify sport-specific sources of evaluative information relevant to ice hockey coaches and the experiences particularly meaningful to hockey players' confidence in sport. This study provides some groundwork and direction for further investigation of the expectancy information and sport-confidence sources relevant within specific sports.

Background: Competitive rowers among other athletes, compete in relatively cold environmental conditions. A warm-up is a standard procedure in all sports, and athletes complete it in order to increase body metabolism and tissues. Delays that occur before races can force rowers to be constrained to their boat and lose the effects of the warm-up. Quick racing starts following long delays do not allow time for additional warm-up; therefore, performance during the race may be affected, which is important since rowers perform supramaximally for about 6 to 8 minutes. This combination of intensity and duration does not give the body enough time to benefit from gradual warm-up effects that occur during the first few minutes of exercise at a lower intensity. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of varied durations of post warm-up periods on the metabolic, thermoregulatory, and performance responses during subsequent high intensity rowing or running in a cold environment. Method: Five experienced rowers (1 female; 4 male) and five trained runners (2 female; 3 male) completed four trials consisting of a standardized warm-up followed by: 5 minutes of rest in room temperature (5-R); 5 minutes of rest in the cold (5°C) (5-C); 30 minutes of rest in room temperature (30-R); 30 minutes of rest in the cold (30-C). After the resting period, rowers performed a 2000 meter time trial on a rowing ergometer and runners performed a 1.5 mile time trial on a treadmill. Blood samples were collected pre-exercise, post-warm-up, pre- and post-time trial and 3 minutes post-time trial and were analyzed for lactate concentration in all participants, and pH and bicarbonate (HCO3-) in the rowers. Core temperature (Tc) was measured via an esophageal probe, skin temperature (Tsk) was measured via surface probes on four sites of the body, and heart rate (HR) was measured via a Polar monitor. These variables were measured every five minutes during the warm-up and resting period, and every quarter of the time trial. Results: In performance times, there were no interactions found between conditions; however, there was a tendency for slowest times to be completed in 30-C and the fastest times in 5-R. Statistical analysis could not be performed for pH and bicarbonate responses due to the lack of complete data. These variables both returned to pre-exercise values after 30 minutes of rest and the smallest changes after the time trial occurred in 5-R. No significant interactions were found in blood lactate concentrations; however, there were increased rates of clearance following 30 minutes of rest, smaller changes after the time trial in 5-R, and slightly lower concentrations in the cold trials. A significant rest time by environment by time point interaction was found for Tc (p=0.00). At the end of rest, average Tc was significantly greater in 5-C and during performance, peak Tc was significantly lowest in 30-C, both compared to all other trials. A similar interaction was found in Tsk (p=0.00) and during warm-up, Tsk significantly decreased in cold trials compared to room temperature. Also, at the end of rest, Tsk was significantly lower in 30-C compared to the rest of the trials and remained lower throughout the time trial. HR was significantly lower after performance in 30-C compared to all other trials (p < .05). Summary: We found significantly colder core and skin temperatures during the trials in the cold and significant differences in variables when comparing 30 minutes of rest to 5 minutes. Even though performance was not significantly slower in 30-C, it would seem that there was a combination of physiological events due to temperature and prolonged rest time that may have affected performance. From the results, we can conclude that performing an adequate warm-up and maintaining core temperature, especially in the cold, is important for preparation before a high-intensity bout of exercise, and that athletes should consider this information when performing in colder environments.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the phonological patterns of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican preschoolers. Twenty-seven typically developing children of Puerto Rican descent were identified as participants. Ages ranged from 3;0 to 6;1, with a mean age of 4;4. There were a total of 15 boys and 12 girls. The children came from three educational centers in the San Juan area of Puerto Rico. The children were administered the Assessment of Phonological Processes-Spanish (APPS-2). The data gathered were compared to previous data gathered from Puerto Rican, Chilean, and Mexican-American preschoolers. The average TOMPD for all twenty-seven children was found to be 22.7. The most frequently occurring phonological patterns across all age groups were stridency deficiencies, postvocalic singleton omissions, and liquid deficiencies. Between age groups, no significant differences were noted in TOMPD scores. The children in the study exhibited similar error patterns as seen in previous studies on Puerto Rican preschoolers. Compared to previous studies across other dialects of Spanish, the Puerto Rican children exhibited greater TOMPD scores (22.7) than Chilean children (17.9) and Mexican-American children (10.3) who were administered the same assessment. Similar error patterns were shown across all dialects, with liquid deficiencies being one of the top three deviations for all three groups. All children scored within the "normal" range on the assessment tool. Therefore, there are specific dialectal features of Puerto Rican Spanish, such as substitution of the /h/ for the /s/, which should be considered a dialectal difference when assessing a child for services. Information such as this will assist SLPs in distinguishing between a language difference and disorder in diverse populations.

The purpose of this study was to examine mercury in macroinvertebrate communities from grassland ponds with and without fish communities. We sampled macroinvertebrates from five ponds with fish and five ponds without fish, at the LBJ National Grassland in North Texas. In ponds without fish, the biomass of macroinvertebrates was significantly higher than in ponds with fish. The average mercury concentration of macroinvertebrates from ponds without fish was significantly higher than the average mercury concentration in ponds with fish. Because ponds without fish contained a higher biomass of macroinvertebrates and unique taxa with higher concentrations of mercury, the total amount of mercury in the macroinvertebrate community in ponds without fish was significantly higher than in the ponds with fish. In ponds with fish, the average mercury concentration of the fish community was 13 times greater than mercury concentration of the macroinvertebrates community. These data suggest that when fish are present, mercury accumulates in fish rather than in the macroinvertebrate community, which has implications for the movement of mercury into terrestrial ecosystems when macroinvertebrates emerge as aerial adults.

Captive breeding is an often suggested method for preventing the extinction of species. The painted terrapin (Batagur borneoensis) is a critically endangered turtle from Southeast Asia that is currently the focus of a captive breeding program at zoos across the USA and Canada. In this study, I used genetic markers to determine: 1) phylogenetic relatedness between wild-caught captive individuals (founders); 2) parentage within zoos; and 3) current levels of genetic diversity in the captive population. Our data did not identify genetic structure among the founders, indicating that they are not mixture of individuals from genetically distinct populations in the wild. The parentage analysis indicated that only a few founders are currently breeding and so breeding strategies need to be revised in order to promote a more equitable distribution of parentage across individuals in order to maintain the genetic diversity of the founders.

The purpose of this study was to: 1) to determine if differences exist in acoustic measurements of voice production in individuals with hypofunctional and normal voices and 2) to determine if measurements of voice production are influenced by the speaking context, when comparing sustained vowel production to connected speech. Disordered speaking participants were recruited from Baylor All Saints in Fort Worth, TX in addition to existing recordings. Perceptual judges were recruited from Texas Christian University (TCU) to rate voice quality (breathy vs. normal) of prolonged vowels. A MANOVA revealed main effects on group and condition, and a significant interaction between the two. Significant main effects for group (hypo. vs. normal) were observed on Cepstral peak/expected peak (CPP/EXP) ratio (p<.001), the standard deviation of Cepstral peak/expected peak ratio (CPP/EXPSD) (p<.001), and discrete Fourier transform ratio (DFTR) (p<.001). Significant main effects for condition were observed on CPP/EXP (p<.001), CPP/EXPSD (p<.001), and DFTRSD(p<.001). A significant interaction effect was found for CPP/EXP (p<.001) and CPP/EXPSD (p<.001). These results indicate that cepstral analysis can differentiate between hypofunctional and normal voices. The consistency of significant differences observed in this study suggests that acoustic analyses are capable of discriminating between normal and hypofunctional voices reliably.

The objective of this study was to find out whether error feedback can affect Representational Momentum (RM). Participants viewed a target that exhibited leftward or rightward implied motion. A probe then appeared, either at the same location where the target had disappeared, or at a different location. In Experiment 1, participants in feedback absent and feedback present conditions, were assigned to six groups each, on the basis of the location of the different probe from the point of disappearance of the target. In Experiment 2, participants were shown the probes at different distances, in separate trials. The findings support the hypothesis that RM reflects a partially modular or cognitively impenetrable process, as error feedback did not reduce RM. Greater displacement for rightwards motion of the target may indicate that reading habits can influence directionality in motion perception, as proposed earlier. Participants in Experiments 1 and 2 were more likely to indicate same for probes presented ahead than behind the final inducing stimulus.

The purpose of this proposed study was to investigate the effects of gender on measures of nasalance in speakers native to Texas and speakers of the Texas South dialect. Speakers (n=25 males, n=25 females, ages 18-30) were recruited from the Texas South dialect region and across Texas. Participants wore the head-mounted microphones of the Nasometer system and produced speech consisting of isolated vowels and sentences. A significant main effect of gender on nasalance was found in the speakers of the Texas South dialect region during vowels (F= 5.656, p= .026) and sentences (F= 5.312, p=.031). No significant differences were found for Southern dialect (p>.05), Southern gender (p>.05), or both dialects combined (p>.05) on nasalance scores. Although a limited sample was used, the findings suggest that speakers born and raised in the Texas South dialect region have different nasalance scores than speakers born and raised in other parts of Texas.

The goal of this research study was to obtain empirical evidence for the role of elastic fibers in the physiology of voice production, using perceptual measures of voice quality. To achieve this goal, the researcher studied individuals with Williams syndrome (WS), a genetic condition which has the hallmark characteristic of heterozygous deletions to the elastin (ELN) gene on chromosome 7. Due to alterations in normal functioning of the ELN gene, which programs elastogenesis in the connective tissues of the body, it is believed that this population can help determine how altered vocal fold histological structure, characterized by reduced and/or disorganized elastic fibers, influences vocal fold movement and the resulting sound production (voice quality). The specific aim of this project was to characterize the perceptual clinical presentation of voice quality in populations with WS via auditory-perceptual measures. Auditory-perceptual voice quality ratings were studied in 16 individuals with WS and 16 normal matched controls. Results revealed no significant differences between individuals with WS and normal controls on ratings of voice quality category, severity, or pitch. These findings diverge from those of previously published research, which will be addressed in the discussion.

The human vocal folds are organized in layers, the epithelial layer, three layers of the lamina propria, and the vocalis muscle. Each layer of the lamina propria contains different amounts and forms of elastin, and it has been suggested that an alteration in the elasticity of the vocal folds may cause dysnychronous vibration. The elastin gene (ELN) acts as the instruction manual for the cellular production of elastic fibers throughout the body, including those within the vocal folds. It has been found that individuals with Williams Syndrome (WS) and individuals with Supravalvular Aortic Stenosis (SVAS) have irregularities in ELN. The purpose of this study was to examine the acoustic voice quality of individuals with WS compared to normal controls so that a better understanding of the phenotypic differences, with respect to vocal production, between WS and the general population can be attained. In this study, 16 individuals with WS (8 male, 8 female) and 16 normal controls produced sustained vowels to which acoustic measures were applied. Acoustic measurements included fundamental frequency (Fo), jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio. The results indicated that individuals with WS did not manifest significantly different acoustic measures of voice quality compared to normal controls. With regard to gender effects, the male participants as a whole were found to have a lower Fo than the female participants and the female participants were found to have a higher percentage of jitter than the males, irrespective of group. These results will be discussed in context with previous studies that have focused on disorders affecting ELN and the effects on voice production abilities.