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The primary aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effects of a novel dysphagia rehabilitation approach: skill training on swallowing in individuals who have dysphagia secondary to Parkinson’s disease. The secondary objective was to assess skill retention following treatment termination. This within-subject study involved 10 patients with Parkinson’s disease who met the inclusionary criteria. All participants underwent two baseline data collection sessions, conducted two weeks apart. Data collected included the water swallow test, Test of Mastication and Swallowing Solids (TOMASS), ultrasound measurement of hyoid movement and cross-sectional area of submental muscles, surface electromyography (sEMG) of submental muscles, and swallowing-related quality of life questionnaire (SWAL-QOL). Patients then underwent 10 sessions over two weeks of skill training therapy using custom-designed sEMG software. The focus of the treatment was producing swallowing tasks with defined and adjustable temporal and amplitude precision. The skill training treatment phase was followed by an immediate post-intervention assessment session and two weeks later by a retention assessment session. All outcome measures were administered at each data collection point. The study consisted of a total of 14 laboratory sessions, conducted over a six-week period per subject. Results revealed significant improvements in swallowing efficiency for liquids, reduced durational parameters on sEMG, such as pre-motor time (PMT), pre-swallow time (PST), and duration of submental muscle contraction. There was a functional carry-over effect seen from dry swallows, which were the focus of training, to water swallows, which were not directly trained. Additionally, improvements in swallowing-related quality of life were demonstrated. In conclusion, the skill training approach evaluated in this research is able to produce functional, biomechanical, and swallowing-related quality of life improvements in patients with Parkinson’s disease. This indicates the potential effectiveness of this novel approach for dysphagia rehabilitation in this population. However, replication with a larger number of patients with Parkinson’s disease is needed before findings can be generalised to the larger population

The central purpose of this study was to determine if affective work-related skills expected of workers by their employers could be identified using the critical incident technique. Additionally~ this study sought to determine if there were affective skills common among several selected occupational areas. The following research questions gave direction to this study: 1. Can the Critical Incident Technique be used to identify work related affective skills needed by persons employed in the television service and repair, electronic assembler (manufacturing), and television sales (retail) occupational areas? 2. Can these skills be grouped into meaningful clusters? 3. Are different affective skills required by persons in each of the three occupational areas? The research procedure used in this study was the Critical Incident Technique developed by John Flanagan. Five steps are included: (1) determination of the general aim of the activity, (2) developing plans and specifications for collecting factual incidents, (3) collecting data, (4) analyzing the data, and (5) interpreting and reporting the data. The instrument used to collect critical incidents was adapted from the form developed by W. K. Kirchner and M. D. Dunnette. It was composed of two major sections: (1) the Effective Critical Incident Form and (2) the Ineffective Critical Incident Form. Respondents in this study were divided into three strata according to occupational areas: television retail sales supervisor, television service and repair supervisor, and electronic assembler supervisor. Thirty names of line management personnel were randomly selected from each strata for individual interviews. Critical incident interview reports were reviewed and work-related affective behavioral statements were abstracted from each incident. A panel of experts was used to review the list of behavior statements. The final instrument included 63 behavior statements. A random sample of line management personnel (394) were potential respondents in this study. Each participant provided biographical data and indicated degree of agreement (Very Unimportant to Very Important) with 63 work-related affective behavior statements. The analysis of data consisted of computing means for each of the behavior statements and comparing them to an established criterion (mean score greater than 2.50). Factor analysis was used to reduce the data and to group the behavior statements into meaningful clusters (factors). One way analysis of variance was used to determine whether there were significant differences between the factors and the occupational areas used in this study. / Ed. D.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

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Training is associated with specific neural adaptations. Skill training has been associated with increases in corticospinal tract excitability, leading to long term adaptations within motor cortex. Neural adaptations associated with strength training are less well established. It is not known how they are affected by volume, intensity, rate of muscle activation, or rest period. We evaluated the acute neural adaptations to a single session of strength training with the goal of evaluating the influence of rate of muscle activation on neural adaptations at the cortical and spinal levels. Thirty subjects participated in a single session of maximal, isometric knee extensions with the right leg. The training consisted of 4 sets of 5 contractions, with sets separated by approximately 5 minutes. Subjects were randomized into a high rate of muscle-activation group (Ballistic), a low rate of muscle-activation group (Ramp), and a Control group that did all testing but no training. Cortical spinal tract excitability was assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation, spinal excitability was assessed using peripheral nerve stimulation, and inhibition of motor cortex was assessed using short-interval intracortical inhibition. In addition, we measured changes in motor performance. These same measures were assessed 24 hours later. Results showed that an acute strength training session is associated with a depression in resting cortical spinal tract excitability, but no change in active excitability. This change was immediate, taking place after just 2 contractions. Training was also associated with an increase in the excitability of the monosynaptic reflex circuit within the spinal cord during muscle activation, but not at rest. After 24 hours, cortical motor tract excitability had returned to normal, but intracortical inhibition was decreased from the original measure. Subjects from all groups increased maximum rate of torque development from Day 1 to Day 2. These results indicate that strength-training is associated with neural adaptations, though the adaptations were different than those for skill training. Understanding these adaptations will allow coaches and clinicians to better design programs to optimize the strength potential of the nervous system along with that of the muscles.

This study was to explore the effects of the social skill training programs integrating with picture books for the 2nd grade students¡¦ social skills of immediate and sustainable impact. Specific recommendations for the findings were provided for future research and implementation of social skills training. The study used the nonequivalent quasi-experimental designs and took two different classes of 2nd grade in a medium-sized elementary school in Pingtung County. There were 25 subjects in experimental group, and 26 subjects in control group; theformer were practiced for eight weeks with eight units of social skill training programs integrating with picture books and the latter were practiced with general a general integrated curriculum. Using the scale of Children Social Skills to collect data during the pretest, posttest and follow-up posttest, and then, all data were dealt with by the analysis of one-way ANCOVA. Furthermore, the qualitative data of Session Feedback Form, worksheet, teachers¡¦ observation were also anlayzed. The study found social skill training programs integrating with picture books has both immediate and incessant guidance effect on promoting experimental group children¡¦ whole social skills, and subscales of cooperative, positive assertive as well as negative assertive skills. While, promoting the subscales of empathy and self-control skills only found immediate guidance effect with no incessant guidance effect. The qualitative anlaysis found the experimental group has positive attitude on social skill training programs integrating with picture books.

Sports vision gained attention in the late 90’s and has since been the focus of many research studies. Thus far sports vision research has effectively succeeded in determining the importance of visual skills and also discovering the ability to improve visual skills through training. It is this ability to enhance visual skill performance that has led to the development of vision training programmes. However, the effectiveness of these training programmes is far from unanimous with many studies yielding inconclusive results. Possible reasons for this are the lack of scientific measures implored, testing and training of skills that are not specific to the subjects and training programmes that are unrealistic. Another major area that is missing from sports vision research is the accountability of external variables like; lifestyle, anthropometric and cardiac measurements. Aspects such as; stress, nutrition and hypo/hypertension are proposed to either have an enhancing or declining effect on visual skills. These relationships have not been scientifically tested and remain undefined. It is also important to note that research has thus far been limited to athletes. This study therefore aimed to determine the effect of two different training programmes on the visual skill performance of university students. Furthermore, external variables are determined to certify that visual skill training alone would improve visual skills and to determine and define if any relationships exist between visual skills and external variables. In order to meet the aims of this study, volunteer university students underwent pre testing of specific visual skills together with lifestyle evaluations, body composition and cardiac health testing. Thereafter the total participants (n=600) were divided into three groups. Group 1 (n=169) acted as a control group with no visual training taking place in a six week period, group 2 (n=225) underwent lab-based training with a simple repetition of testing methods used as training methods and group 3 (n=205) underwent training via an internet- based training method. Thereafter all variables were tested again and statistical analysis of the data was performed. Results showed the lab-based training group having the most improvement in visual skills with all skills improving besides vergence. The Eyedrills training group also showed significant improvements in focusing, tracking and eye- hand coordination. The control group showed the least improvement in visual skills thereby ruling out the notion of improvements occurring only due to test familiarity. Significant changes occurred in a variety of the external variables across the three groups. Due to the varied results with regards to external variables, correlations between these variables and visual skill performance is still unclear and remains undefined. There is enough evidence from this study to conclude that visual skills are improved due to visual skill training. The change from the typical subject type (i.e. athletes) is important in the expansion of visual skill testing and training to other fields besides the sports one. The effect of external variables on visual skills still remains unanswered and therefore more precise research in this regard is warranted. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Physiology / unrestricted

Behavioral researchers have investigated procedures for identifying preferred items for individuals with varying levels of developmental disabilities. Some researchers in this area have reported difficulties in identifying preferred items for individuals with severe to profound multiple disabilities (SPMD), in part because the individuals may not possess the motor skills needed to select and manipulate the items included within the assessment. The purpose of the current study was to address three research questions: Would differences in preference patterns be observed if individuals with SPMD could activate toys with a motor response that is within their repertoire (i.e., press a large microswitch to activate the toy) versus when they are required to perform a motor response that may not be within their repertoire (e.g., sliding knobs, twisting dials to activate a toy)? Would teaching specific skills to activate a toy result in increased toy engagement and a shift in preference toward directly operating the toy? Would teaching the participant a motor response to activate the toy directly affect the levels of microswitch engagement observed? Data were collected within a combination multiple baseline (across 2 participants) and multielement (across conditions) design. The results of this study showed that (a) differences in preference were observed when different measures of assessing preferences were conducted, (b) acquisition of specific motor skills resulted in an increase in preference toward directly manipulating items, and (c) acquisition of motor skills also resulted in a decrease in activating items via microswitches. These results extend the preference assessment literature by showing that the motor skills present within an individual's current repertoire may affect the results of preference assessments for individuals with SPMD.

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