When a client has cognitive impairment resulting from cerebral dysfunction (CD) that goes undiagnosed and, therefore, untreated, psychotherapy and rehabilitation outcome is likely to be impacted negatively. Due primarily to managed care, screening for CD has reduced substantially. Master's level counselors need a cost-efficient way to detect possible CD and, thus, justify referral for neuropsychological evaluation. This study examined the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence™ (WASI™) instrument's ability to screen for possible CD by examining the relationship between a) WASI Performance IQ (PIQ) and Verbal IQ (VIQ) scores and neuropsychological test scores, and b) the VIQ-PIQ discrepancy and the severity of disability. In this retrospective study, test scores were extrapolated from neuropsychological assessments conducted between 2001 and 2004 on 73 CD-diagnosed adults at a CARF accredited rehabilitation facility. Disability severity ratings of mild, moderate, and severe were assigned based on clinical judgment and interrater agreement. The assessment battery included the WASI and several neuropsychological tests: Halstead-Reitan TPT, TMT-A and B, and FOT; WMS-III VR-I and 2, LM-1 and 2, and MC; McCarron-Dial HVDT; SDMT; and SCT. Based upon a multitrait-multimethod matrix, mild to moderate convergent and discriminant validity was found with the WASI VIQ and PIQ traits among neuropsychological verbal and performance measures. Statistically, the SCT, TMT-A, and HVDT-right shape were most predictive of the PIQ, and the WMS-III LM-2 and MC were most predictive of the VIQ. VIQ-PIQ discrepancy did not predict severity of disability, but IQ means and subtest scores between the mild and severe groups were significantly different. Results indicated that WASI VIQ-PIQ discrepancy did not detect CD. However, WASI subtest scores of 40 or lower may justify further evaluation of potential CD. Contrary to the WASI manual, Similarities and Block Design rather than Vocabulary and Matrix Reasoning subtest scores may be more predictive of CD. This author suggested that counselors administer the WASI, SCT, and TMT-A as a time efficient screening method for CD.

No description available.

Illegal substance use in the United States is a growing problem, and a western state has a higher than average rate of drug offenders. Many courts, including misdemeanor courts, have limited to no budget for drug treatment programs outside of the drug court treatment programs. As such, many court-ordered drug treatment programs, when drug counseling is ordered in exchange for a reduction in charges, are outsourced to privately owned companies. The drug counseling entails a single 8-hour outsourced drug counseling course, which includes either in-person, online, or correspondence-based counseling. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the three modalities of the lower level drug counseling course. Effectiveness was measured by comparing recidivism rates of offenders completing each of the three modalities of the program. A second goal of the study was to investigate whether relationships exist in recidivism rates as a function of modality of program delivery, type of drug used by offenders, risk of re-offense, or an interaction between the three. Archival data (N = 395) were collected from a misdemeanor court, and the results of an ordinal logistic regression indicated a statistically significant relationship between recidivism, risk, and modalities of counseling. The modality that was most effective was the online modality of counseling, for offenders who had no risk, and reduced the potential for recidivism by 79%. The results of this study could assist the local government in determining the effectiveness of each of the three modalities of the abbreviated drug counseling program and assist in future decisions regarding development of drug counseling programs and necessary funding for those programs, providing potential for positive social change.

No description available.

L’IRM mammaire a une place prépondérante dans l’imagerie mammaire. Son utilisation plus large est limitée notamment par son coût et le nombre limité de machines. Nous avons travaillé sur plusieurs aspects de cette problématique. Dans un premier temps, nous avons modifié le positionnement en passant du procubitus au décubitus. Ceci a permis de montrer que le décubitus permettait une meilleure corrélation topographique des lésions avec l’échographie et était mieux toléré par les patientes. Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons étudié les facteurs de réduction du temps d’acquisition par l’intermédiaire des séquences à haute résolution temporelle et d’un protocole abrégé. Ces changements devraient permettre de faciliter l’accessibilité de l’IRM aux patientes, de réduire son coût tout en conservant les mêmes valeurs de sensibilité et spécificité que le protocole standard / Breast MRI has a prominent place in breast imaging. Its wider use is limited in particular by its cost and the limited number of machines. We have worked on several aspects of this problem. In a first step, we changed the positioning from procubitus to decubitus. This showed that the decubitus allowed a better topographic correlation of the lesions with the ultrasound and was better tolerated by the patients. In a second step, we studied the factors of reduction of the acquisition time via the sequences with high temporal resolution and an abbreviated protocol. These changes should make it easier for patients to access MRI, reduce costs while maintaining the same sensitivity and specificity values as the standard protocol

According to the author¡¦s professional observations of the 3PL industrial situations and problems, the main issue of this paper is to present real cases providing solutions on 3PL industrial pitfalls. In this paper, the pitfalls of ¡§Third party logistics¡¨ industry actually focus on the ¡§NVOCC¡¨ services, which indicate the vicious competitions of price for these decades. Due to the low entry barrier and low cost requirements; 3PL industry originally is under a keen competitive environment. Plus, because of the different price structure of underlying carrier during the recent decades, for 3PLs, the vicious cycle of NVOCC becomes more and more serious. Therefore, in this paper, author analyzes two practical cases based on existing literature review. The main purpose here is finding out the efficient suggestions of solutions on breaking this vicious cycle of competition by improving the core competitiveness from both internal services offering and external logistic network.

The aim of the current study is threefold: to develop a creativity questionnaire based on the main criteria for creativity as determined by means of a comprehensive literature survey; to administer this questionnaire, in combination with the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA) and the 16PF for the purpose of determining respondents’ level of creativity in relation to their personality constellation; to determine whether a typical 16PF profile can be obtained for the purpose of identifying a creative individual. The sample consisted of fourth-year Psychology students at the University of Pretoria. Identified problems that motivated the research include, amongst others, a lack of research in this domain, and therefore a need for a reliable and valid measuring instrument for creativity. Creative individuals are often misinterpreted or misunderstood by the community as the result of a lack of knowledge. The purpose of the research will also be to reduce misconceptions such as these, by informing the reader about creativity as well as the individuals who possess this unique characteristic. Creativity is, however, an extremely broad concept which is very difficult to define, and only the main criteria for creativity were applied in the development of the Creativity Questionnaire. According to Ryhammar&Brolin (1999), creative individuals can be described as being motivated, persevering, intellectually inquisitive, having a need for self-actualisation, independent in thought and deed, confident, self-aware, and open to external and internal stimulation. Operationalisation of such criteria formed the basis of the Creativity Questionnaire. The dissertation reports on the development of a Creativity Questionnaire which can be used in a variety of areas, but will need further revision and refinement in terms of items included, validity and reliability. Therefore the current study should be considered as a pilot study for the testing and development of this questionnaire. The results of this investigation confirm and extend previous research in demonstrating a close association between creativity and specific personality traits. Creative subjects (as measured by the ATTA) indicated that they perceive themselves to be significantly more independent in thought, open to experience, dominant, individualistic and competent, than less creative subjects. Both subjects with average and high creativity levels indicated that they tend to be more resourceful, self-sufficient, and prefer to make their own decisions. These subjects tend to be more abstract thinking and bright. Both subjects with low creativity levels and subjects with high creativity levels indicated that they tend to be more spontaneous, socially bold, uninhibited and venturesome than subjects with average creativity levels. The latter subjects tend to be more restrained, sensitive to threats, timid and shy. Subjects with low creativity levels on the other hand, indicated that they tend to be more outgoing, participating, warm-hearted and easy-going than subjects with an average creativity level. The latter subject group tends to be more critical, detached and reserved. Subjects with low creativity levels also seem to be joiners, sound followers and group-dependent. These subjects also indicated that they tend to be more concrete thinking and less intelligent, than subjects with average and high creativity levels. / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted

No description available.

社會秩序維護法第80條之規定，是我國目前性交易管制政策之法源依據，該條文係採原則禁止、例外許可之管制原則。然就憲法保障人權之基本精神而言，性交易開放與否關係著憲法保障人民之工作權、生存權、性自主權及隱私權等。本文將從憲法保障人權的角度出發，以各號有關於工作權、性自主權、隱私權等大法官解釋，檢視當下我國社會秩序維護法對於性交易之管制是否符合時宜，是否有侵犯人權及違反比例原則之虞。 在論文章節安排部份，第貳章除了蒐集相關文獻外，另以大法官釋字第666號解釋為主軸，結合各學者的看法及其他大法官協同意見，進一步對解釋文做說明。之後再針對釋憲及修法前後警察機關對於性交易案件之取締方式及外國性交易管制政策做比較，分析評估性交易合法化是否有違社會善良風俗，社會善良風俗的定義是否一成不變；第叁章部分則依研究目的、研究問題及研究倫理擬定訪談大綱，並律定訪談過程及對象；第肆章部份則以親自訪談方式，針對性工作者及基層實務警察人員進行訪談，請受訪者對於當下性交易管制政策，分別就工作特性、執法取締、人權保障及其他建議等四部分提出看法；第伍章結論部分，除了提出本研究之發現外，並評估開放性交易之可行性及對我國當下性交易管制政策提出修法的建議。 從事性交易之性工作者，大多數為面臨龐大經濟壓力的弱勢婦女，法令的禁止只會迫使她們淪為制度性剝削的受害者。我國政府針對性交易行為，應擬定適宜的管制政策，以有效的管理政策替代執法取締，如此一來，才能體現我國憲法保障人權之基本精神。 / Our regulations on sexual trade is based on Social Order Maintenance Act (abbreviated to SOMA), which adopts the principle of what in main provisions are prohibited yet the exceptional causes are permitted. Regarding the Constitution of R.O.C on citizen rights , such as work, sexual autonomy, and privacy, however, such ideas above are all referred to whether the permission of sexual trade is OK or NOT. We will look into some regulations of sexual trade, via bits of Grand justice interpretations, to determine if SOMA would be appropriate now days and if it would defy the principle of proportionality and human rights, from the aspect of the Constitution that ought to secure Human rights. Besides collecting related materials, we will further explain the No.666 Grand justice interpretation by combining some scholars’ researches and opinions and some Concurring opinions, and that would be demonstrated on Chapter 2. Secondly, we’ll analyze whether the legalization of sexual trade would be against the social convention, or whether the definition of public order and good morals is permanent. On chapter 3, we’ll establish the main structure and distinguish those who necessarily receive our interview in line up with the cause, problems and ethics of researching. On Chapter 4, we’ll interview the police officers and sexual traders in person to absorb their opinions on by-then regulations, clampdown, human rights of sexual trade and their recommendations. In the final part of the essay, in addition to proposing our discoveries, we will put forward our suggestions on the revision of by-then sexual trade regulations and evaluate the possibilities of validation of sexual trade. Those who feed on sexual trade mostly are afflicted from enormous economic pressure and the ban on sexual trade of regulations make them institutionally deprived. In order to exert the spirit of the Constitution that ought to secure human rights, we advise the government need to enact appropriate laws and rules focusing on sexual trade behavior to effectively replace the clampdown.