SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF FAMILY MEDICINE FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND. JOHANNESBURG 2014 / INTRODUCTION: The Under-5 Clinic in Johan Heynes Community Health Centre is always packed and has high immunization rates (104%). Despite this, during clinical consultation, the family physician researcher suspected that mothers were poorly informed about childhood immunization, which immunization the child had received and symptoms of common side effects. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed mothers understanding of indications, benefits, adverse effects of childhood immunization, how to catch-up on missed vaccinations, and how they obtained information about childhood immunization. METHODS: A cross sectional descriptive study was undertaken of all mothers attending immunization services at the clinic. Systematic sampling of 302 mothers using face to face interviews was done. The instrument questions were obtained from 2 similar validated studies, adapted to suit the setting, and piloted. Data was collected from 15th November to 15th December 2012. Data was analyzed using Epi-info. RESULTS: Ninety seven percent of mothers brought their children for immunization because they feared their children could develop illnesses. Seven percent of mothers knew what vaccines their children would receive on the day of immunization and what diseases these vaccines prevent. Nearly all mothers were given information on when to immunize their children. Fourteen percent where given information on why they need to immunize their children. CONCLUSION: Most mothers knew that immunization prevented certain illnesses, but did not know which illnesses were being immunized against. Further, most mothers didn’t know about the common side effects of childhood immunization. However, most mothers were well informed about the timing of immunization.

This study determined the impact of master scheduling models on student performance as reported by the AEIS database in the high schools of the SAISD. General student performance and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills were the primary measures for comparison. The SAISD made a transition from an A-B block schedule in 2002 to a traditional-seven period model in 2003. Conclusions have been made as to the degree of influence that traditional and block schedules have on student performance. The population of this study was the eight high schools of the SAISD. All students enrolled on these campuses were included in the data analysis. The population was 14,418 students during the 2002-2003 school year and 13,689 in 2003-2004. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were the measures utilized for the purposes of population comparisons and data review. Based on the findings of this study, the recommendations for practice indicate the following: 1. Attendance ratings did not return statistical significance on a traditional schedule. 2. Advanced Course participation and AP/IB testing results returned statistical significance on a traditional schedule. 3. SAT and ACT did not return statistical significance on a traditional schedule. 4. TAKS Campus Performance did not return statistical significance on a traditional schedule. 5. TAKS Reading/ELA, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies scores returned statistical significance on a traditional schedule. 6. African American, Hispanic and Special Education Performance returned statistical significance in TAKS Science and TAKS Social Studies on a traditional schedule. 7. White Performance returned statistical significance in TAKS Science on a traditional schedule. 8. Economically Disadvantaged Performance returned statistical significance in each area of the TAKS assessment on a traditional schedule. 9. Limited English Proficient Performance returned statistical significance in TAKS Math on a traditional schedule.

Disruptions to job shop schedules are tedious and difficult to incorporate after the schedule has been generated and implemented on the shop floor. In order to deal with such disruptions, a real time reactive scheduling strategy is essential. Reactive scheduling is the process of repairing the predictive schedule during online execution for internal disruptions (e.g. machine breakdowns) and external deviations (e.g. prepone or postpone of orders). Existing approaches for schedule repair in real time mainly utilize heuristics such as Right Shift Rescheduling (RSR), and Affected Operation Rescheduling (AOR). In the present form, both these approaches are only used for handling machine breakdowns in the shop floor, but are inept in accommodating new and unexpected job orders. These approaches also neglect specific issues related to urgent jobs, for instance multiple job routings during the repair of the schedule. In this paper the existing heuristics (RSR and AOR) have been modified to include urgent jobs. Also a modified AOR approach (mAOR) is proposed that considers urgent jobs with multiple job routings. An extensive simulation study has been conducted on a job shop simulation testbed for the efficiency and stability of the repaired schedule using the mAOR and RSR heuristics. The efficiency of the repaired schedule is a measure of the percentage change in the makespan after incorporating repairs whereas the stability of the schedule is a function of starting time deviations that indicate the degree by which it deviates from the original schedule. The results of the experiments indicate significant benefits of the modified AOR algorithm over the existing RSR schedule repair heuristic. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Since the release of A Nation at Risk in 1983 student performance on a variety of high stakes tests have become increasingly important in educational settings. The results of this type of assessment are quantifiable, and are intended to indicate certain levels of academic performance and achievement. Advanced Placement (AP) Exams are one example of high stakes tests. With the rapid growth of Advanced Placement (AP) courses and the corresponding popularity of the AP Exams there is a need in the research to identify specific variables that may be influential to AP Exam score performance. Course schedule type, either in the 4⨉4 block or traditional yearlong format, has been examined as a variable that influences student AP Exam score performance. In some studies the implementation of a 4⨉4 block in place of a traditional yearlong course schedule type resulted in increased AP Exam score performance, while in other studies replacement of a traditional yearlong course schedule by a 4⨉4 block course schedule type resulted in decreased AP Exam score performance. The limitations in the existing research present a need for more controlled studies using multiple years of data to further examine the relationship between clearly identified course schedule types and AP Exam score performance. In response to the need, this research performed a controlled study and examined the relationship between three specific course schedule types and AP Exam performance over time. This study analyzed sample data using participants (N=428) from a single institution in a southeastern state in the United States enrolled in the same AP course subject, taught by the same instructor, and who completed the same subject AP Exam over multiple years (2008-2012). / Ph. D.

No description available.

The effects of response-independent mirror presentation schedules on the swimming behaviour of Betta splendens were studied in two experiments. In experiment 1, four fish received alternating baseline (no mirror) and fixed-time (FT) 2-min or variable-time (VT) 2-min mirror presentation conditions. Two fish consistently showed increased rates of mirror-side lap-swimming (MSLS; a back-and-forth swimming pattern) and decreased distance from the mirror during the inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) of FT and VT sessions, and during baseline sessions that followed FT and VT phases. Data from one fish indicated that a VT schedule might increase both proximity to the mirror and MSLS rates that have decreased on FT. Therefore, in experiment 2 three fish from experiment 1 received alternating FT and VT conditions. Proximity to the mirror and MSLS rates increased during VT phases relative to FT phases in two fish, though effects were small and did not occur across all alternations. Additional findings were that MSLS during ISIs tended to increase within FT phases, that MSLS generally occurred either at a steady rate within ISIs or showed a scalloped effect, that mirror presentations produced approach to the mirror side that persisted during ISIs and subsequent baseline phases, and that mirror-side distance during the mirror presentations was less than during the ISIs. Although the findings were not consistent across all fish, they were replicated a number of times within at least two of the fish. The findings are discussed in terms of adventitious operant conditioning, respondent conditioning, and the behaviour systems approach. The results of this study increase the generality of response-independent schedule effects on locomotive behaviour. / May 2009

The effects of response-independent mirror presentation schedules on the swimming behaviour of Betta splendens were studied in two experiments. In experiment 1, four fish received alternating baseline (no mirror) and fixed-time (FT) 2-min or variable-time (VT) 2-min mirror presentation conditions. Two fish consistently showed increased rates of mirror-side lap-swimming (MSLS; a back-and-forth swimming pattern) and decreased distance from the mirror during the inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) of FT and VT sessions, and during baseline sessions that followed FT and VT phases. Data from one fish indicated that a VT schedule might increase both proximity to the mirror and MSLS rates that have decreased on FT. Therefore, in experiment 2 three fish from experiment 1 received alternating FT and VT conditions. Proximity to the mirror and MSLS rates increased during VT phases relative to FT phases in two fish, though effects were small and did not occur across all alternations. Additional findings were that MSLS during ISIs tended to increase within FT phases, that MSLS generally occurred either at a steady rate within ISIs or showed a scalloped effect, that mirror presentations produced approach to the mirror side that persisted during ISIs and subsequent baseline phases, and that mirror-side distance during the mirror presentations was less than during the ISIs. Although the findings were not consistent across all fish, they were replicated a number of times within at least two of the fish. The findings are discussed in terms of adventitious operant conditioning, respondent conditioning, and the behaviour systems approach. The results of this study increase the generality of response-independent schedule effects on locomotive behaviour.

The effects of response-independent mirror presentation schedules on the swimming behaviour of Betta splendens were studied in two experiments. In experiment 1, four fish received alternating baseline (no mirror) and fixed-time (FT) 2-min or variable-time (VT) 2-min mirror presentation conditions. Two fish consistently showed increased rates of mirror-side lap-swimming (MSLS; a back-and-forth swimming pattern) and decreased distance from the mirror during the inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) of FT and VT sessions, and during baseline sessions that followed FT and VT phases. Data from one fish indicated that a VT schedule might increase both proximity to the mirror and MSLS rates that have decreased on FT. Therefore, in experiment 2 three fish from experiment 1 received alternating FT and VT conditions. Proximity to the mirror and MSLS rates increased during VT phases relative to FT phases in two fish, though effects were small and did not occur across all alternations. Additional findings were that MSLS during ISIs tended to increase within FT phases, that MSLS generally occurred either at a steady rate within ISIs or showed a scalloped effect, that mirror presentations produced approach to the mirror side that persisted during ISIs and subsequent baseline phases, and that mirror-side distance during the mirror presentations was less than during the ISIs. Although the findings were not consistent across all fish, they were replicated a number of times within at least two of the fish. The findings are discussed in terms of adventitious operant conditioning, respondent conditioning, and the behaviour systems approach. The results of this study increase the generality of response-independent schedule effects on locomotive behaviour.

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, often engage in challenging behavior that severely limits positive outcomes. Although treatment packages comprising functional communication training and multiple schedules of reinforcement have demonstrated great promise to both increase appropriate, socially acceptable communication responses for preferred items and decrease challenging behavior associated with not having access to preferred items, resurgence of challenging behavior has been reported to occur during lengthy periods when preferred items are not available (i.e., extinction). This study evaluated whether noncontingent access to an alternative item during an abrupt shift to a lengthy period of extinction would reduce the extent of challenging behavior. Two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder participated. The results of this study indicated that (a) functional communication training successfully reduced challenging behavior and increased the rate of functional communication responses (FCR) for both participants, (b) multiple schedules of reinforcement (i.e., signaled periods of reinforcement and extinction for FCRs) successfully produced discriminated FCRs, and (c) no major differences in challenging behavior were observed when alternative items were presented during the abrupt shift to a terminal period of extinction versus when alternative items were not presented. Limitations and future directions of research are discussed.

Parents of children diagnosed with autism often report that their children lack the independent skills that typically developing children have that can help them succeed on their own throughout life, especially into adulthood. To increase task and daily independence and to decrease dependence on adults, and other people, there are a wide variety of interventions that can be implemented. This systematic literature review evaluated studies that had incorporated activity schedules; these activity schedules were implemented among those diagnosed with autism within the school setting and between the ages of three and twenty-one. Twenty-nine studies were included and analyzed to determine the most frequently used type of activity schedule format and why it is implemented, reasons an activity schedule may be chosen for implementation, and evaluated whether social validity is a frequently used tool of measurement for studies implementing an activity schedule. Percent rigor for more than half of the studies included concluded that those studies had the components to identify a quality study, and those that fell below the necessary criteria lacked measurements of social validity or procedural fidelity. The results showed that a photographic activity schedule is the most commonly used type of schedule and it is used to teach a child to independently complete an activity or a sequence of activities; theses skills have been shown to generalize and be maintained over periods of time, across settings, and researchers. / Applied Behavioral Analysis