Rationale: Impulse control deficits are thought to underlie criminal offending. Impulsive choice is a facet of impulse control that refers to a preference for immediate over delayed rewards. This facet of impulse control has been measured empirically using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), which provides a metric of overall disadvantageous decision-making, as well as metrics of specific maladaptive decision-making strategies. Purpose: To investigate impulsive choice as a measure of impairment in offenders as reflected by performance on the IGT, and to examine maladaptive decision-making strategies that may mimic real-life decisions to engage in illegal behaviour. Methods: 100 Canadian federal offenders (34% female, mean age = 39.14 ± 9.74) and 89 controls (39% female, mean age = 37.04 ± 10.79) completed the IGT. The IGT involves repeatedly choosing cards from four decks. Two decks are “good” and result in a net gain on the task, and two decks are “bad” and result in a net loss. Decks offer a fixed reward, but vary in loss magnitude and frequency. IGT data were analyzed for net score (number of good choices minus number of bad choices), learning across the task, and deck switching patterns. Other assessments included data on offenders’ current sentence and risk for reoffence level. Results: Offenders performed significantly poorer than controls in terms of net score. Controls learned the advantageous strategy across the task but offenders did not. Offenders also made greater use of a “win-stay/lose-shift” strategy. Low-risk offenders performed significantly better than medium- or high-risk offenders on the IGT. Conclusion: These results suggest that, compared with controls, offenders tend to make riskier choices and use maladaptive decision-making strategies that provide a larger immediate reward but are disadvantageous in the long term. The IGT, as part of a comprehensive assessment of risk, may provide valuable information for preventing criminal offending and recidivism. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Criminal offending is thought to be related to impulse control problems. Research has linked offending to poor performance on a decision-making task known as the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). On the IGT, participants repeatedly choose cards from four decks that provide wins and losses of points. Two decks are “good” and result in an overall gain on the task, and two decks are “bad” and result in an overall loss. In this study, 100 Canadian federal offenders and 89 non-incarcerated control participants completed the IGT. Offenders performed worse than the control group overall, and control participants but not offenders learned the best strategy (i.e., choosing from good decks) over the course of the task. Additionally, offenders with a “Low” criminal risk rating did better than those at “Medium” or “High” risk levels. These results suggest that the IGT may provide important information about the cause and prevention of criminal offending.

It is believed that one of the best ways to study the personality adequacy of children is through their behavior in situations. / Master of Science

An inadequate music education program should give rise to some thought and action on the part of any serious-minded progressive teacher in that field, It is not enough to suspect or to discover faults, but a way to improve the situation should be attempted. Best practices should be evaluated and objectives formulated for future procedure through cooperative planning.

La lactancia materna (LM) es la manera óptima de alimentación del recién nacido. La OMS recomienda que se amamante a los recién nacidos de manera exclusiva durante 6 meses y que se continúe junto con alimentación complementaria al menos, hasta los 2 años de vida. Solo una minoría de los recién nacidos se benefician de la lactancia materna. En Europa en general, y en España, en particular, el inicio de la LM alcanza cifras adecuadas, sin embargo, su exclusividad baja rápidamente a los 4 y 6 meses y es muy baja a partir de los 6 meses postparto. La mediana de duración de lactancia materna exclusiva (LME) en España es de 3 meses y a los 6 meses un 53.1% de los lactantes no recibe ya leche materna. Uno de los factores individuales que afecta al inicio y duración de la LM es la actitud de la madre hacia la misma. Una mujer con actitud positiva hacia la LM, es más propensa a amamantar y lo hará durante más tiempo que la mujer con actitud menos positiva. La Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) es un cuestionario de 17 ítems que se desarrolló para predecir la elección del método de alimentación infantil, así como la duración de la LM; puntuaciones más altas indican que las mujeres son más propensas a amamantar. Objetivos. El objetivo general de esta tesis doctoral es describir y explicar la relación de la actitud hacia la lactancia materna en el inicio y duración de la misma. Los objetivos específicos son: (i) aportar una herramienta válida y fiable en la población española (hombres y mujeres), para la medición de la actitudes respecto a la alimentación de los recién nacidos; (ii) valorar la utilidad predictiva de la puntuación obtenida durante el embarazo de la escala IIFAS-S, para predecir el inicio de la LM, la LME al alta y a los 5 meses después del parto; (iii) evaluar qué variables estructurales e individuales modulan el efecto de la actitud sobre el inicio de la LM, LME al alta y a los 5 meses postparto. Metodología. Estudio observacional longitudinal, con seguimiento de un año a una muestra de mujeres embarazadas y sus parejas captadas en varios departamentos y áreas de salud de la zona este de España. El estudio se llevó a cabo en dos fases tras un proceso estándar de traducción lingüística de la escala IIFAS. Resultados. Ninguno de los 17 ítems de la escala IIFAS se consideró inapropiado para el contexto español. Según la evaluación de los traductores y retrotraductores, la dificultad de la traducción fue baja y no se detectaron diferencias semánticas, ni problemas de lectura y comprensión. Conclusiones. La versión española reducida de la escala IIFAS, la escala IIFAS-S de nueve ítems, se obtuvo mediante criterios de mejora de la fiabilidad y poder predictivo de los ítems. La escala IIFAS-S presenta una estructura unidimensional y los resultados de fiabilidad y validez son adecuados, tanto en padres como en mujeres. La escala IIFAS-S es un buen predictor del inicio de la lactancia materna, pero no de la LME durante la estancia hospitalaria y a los 5 meses posparto. Las principales variables que influyen en la decisión de iniciar la LM son la edad, la actitud materna y la experiencia previa de la madre. La actitud materna hacia la lactancia no tiene un efecto independiente sobre la LME durante el ingreso hospitalario, que está condicionada por variables relacionadas con las dificultades durante el postparto y la capacidad de la madre para afrontarlas, así como por variables estructurales del hospital, como la acreditación IHAN. Entre las mujeres que amamantaban de forma exclusiva al alta, la LME a los 5 meses posparto está relacionada con aspectos personales de la madre, como su actitud hacia la lactancia, el nivel de autoeficacia para la misma y la edad, con aspectos relacionados con la atención hospitalaria posparto, como la acreditación IHAN, con las dificultades y problemas de lactancia y con el contacto de la madre con grupos de apoyo tras el alta.

No description available.

The problem of the study was to determine whether a controlled program of reading instruction at the eighth grade level produces superior and retained improvement in rate and comprehension as compared with the usual classroom procedure.

The purpose of the study is to classify the retarded children from the viewpoint of selection for special education to determine the probable percentage of slow-learning children in the elementary school, and to evaluate the provisions made for the retarded group.

Background: The government in Taiwan has promoted breastfeeding in recent years yet, exclusive initiation rates and continuation of breastfeeding remain low. Maternal attitudes have been found to be better predictors of infant feeding method during the postpartum period than socio-demographic factors. Understanding maternal attitudes related to infant feeding in Taiwan will support the development of better targeted, more effective health promotion programs aimed at increasing breastfeeding rates. Objectives: To examine maternal attitudes toward breastfeeding and the relationship of these factors to breastfeeding duration at six weeks postpartum. The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) was translated into Chinese for this study; a secondary aim of the study was to assess the psychometric properties of the translated tool. Design: A prospective longitudinal study. Setting: A public hospital in Taichung City, Taiwan. Participants: Using convenience sample. 140 in-hospital breastfeeding mothers were recruited in the hospital setting to complete the IIFAS. A total of 120 (86%) completed 3 week follow-up interview and of those who continued to breastfeed 102 women (100%) were contacted at 6 weeks and completed the study protocol. Methods: Following a systematic translation procedure, mothers completed IIFAS questionnaire in the hospital. Then, participating women were contacted by telephone at three weeks and six weeks postpartum to obtain information regarding infant feeding status and duration. Results: Maternal breastfeeding attitudes were the only predictive factor of the breastfeeding duration (p=0.05). The Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency was 0.73. In-hospital IIFAS scores significantly predicted infant feeding methods at six weeks postpartum. 72.9% (n=102) of the mothers were breastfeeding their infants, of which 37 mothers (26.4%) were exclusively breastfeeding, 65 mothers (46.4%) were partially breastfeeding at three weeks postpartum. These102 breastfeeding mothers were continued to be followed through six weeks postpartum. 62.1% (n=87) were still breastfeeding their infants, of which 34 mothers (24.3%) were exclusively breastfeeding and 53 mothers (37.9%) were partially breastfeeding at six weeks postpartum. Insufficient milk supply was the reason most often given for discontinuing breastfeeding. Conclusions: Maternal attitudes were related to breastfeeding duration. This study provides evidence that the translated version of the IIFAS is a valid and reliable tool to assess breastfeeding attitudes among Taiwanese mothers in the population tested. Breastfeeding rates showed that the low rates of exclusive breastfeeding. Health professionals might use this tool to identify mothers at increase risk for not continuing with exclusive breastfeeding and intervention strategies need to be developed to improve rates of successful exclusive breastfeeding.

Call number: LD2668 .R4 1967 L43

We describe methods and progress in developing the American Long Oak Chronology (ALOC), an effort to construct an oak tree-ring chronology from the Central US that spans the Holocene. Since 2000, we have collected and measured ring widths on over 550 pieces of subfossil oak (Quercus) wood. Over 330 oak samples have been radiocarbon dated, with ages ranging up to 14,000 cal yr B.P. A 1,093- year-long tree-ring record has been constructed from live and subfossil bur oaks (Q. macrocarpa Michx.) and swamp white oaks (Q. bicolor Willd.) growing along and buried in sediments of streams that flow through northern Missouri and southern Iowa, USA. Here we describe the ALOC for the period A.D. 912–2004 to demonstrate its dendrochronological value, display the material quality, and emphasize the importance of chronology construction. We also report on progress in developing older floating chronologies. The development of more long, multi-millennium chronologies will be an important contribution to dendroclimatology. These chronologies will be particularly useful to the Central US, a region with a continental climate and limited temporal depth of annually resolved paleorecords. Perhaps more critical is its location in the middle of one of the most important agricultural regions in the world.