The present research is a comprehensive look at the causes and treatment of autism. To date the research has not found the etiology of autism, even though many areas have been examined. The areas looked at are psychogenic, biochemical and neurobiological. Some of these areas seem promising and may in the future shed more light on why these persons present this particular cluster of problem behaviors. Approaches to the treatment of autism have not yielded an all encompassing cure for autism. Therefore, the symptoms of autism were presented along with the current treatments that are most successful in dealing with those symptoms. Facilities that work with these people were visited and the approaches they use were presented.

Since the advent of the laser there has appeared a multitude of scientific papers describing the various parameters that would affect the lasing action of the ruby laser. Many investigations have been carried out to determine the efficiency of the R-line fluorescence in ruby: however very little work has been done concerning the X-ray-induced luminescence of ruby. Certainly the applications to laser technology would be of sufficient importance to merit a study of ruby under continuous irradiation, although this was not the main stimulus that motivated this investigation. The original program of study was undertaken to determine if there existed any relation between thermoluminescence and X-ray-induced luminescence. The samples that were chosen for study were the alkali-halides, ruby and sapphire. After some interesting preliminary observations it was apparent that time would not permit a detailed study of all the samples mentioned. Owing to the important applications of ruby, all experimental efforts were concentrated on the ruby samples. The purpose of this investigation was: 1) Study the X-ray-induced luminescence of ruby as a function of temperature, chromium concentration, and polarization. 2) Observe the thermoluminescence of ruby and compare it to the X-ray-induced luminescence of ruby. 3) Determine the thermal energies of activation for the ruby samples. These observations were made over a temperature range from room temperature (23°C) to 400°C.

The urgent need for tapping new reserves of manpower during the recent war emergency caused new stress to be put upon the rehabilitation of handicapped individuals. Employers were more willing than ever before to give the handicapped person a chance to prove that he could produce in competition with those who were physically whole. These two factors combined to bring about an increase in the staff personnel in Kentucky in such a short period of time that it was impossible to revise the organization of this division of the State Department of Education rapidly enough to keep pace with its expansion. The present administrative and supervisory organization was worked out rapidly and set to work as more or less of an experimental organization. Now that the present organization has been tried and time enough has elapsed for those in charge to locate its weaknesses discovered. Since the writer is employed as a district supervisor under the present organization and is in a position to recognize many of these weaknesses from the standpoint of the worker out in the field, Mr. W. Hickman Baldree, the present director of Vocational Rehabilitation in Kentucky, has agreed to this study in order that the new organization may reflect the views of the man who does the case work as well as those of the supervisory and administrative staff of the state office.

Within this thesis the application of software complexity metrics in the object-oriented paradigm is examined. Several factors which may affect the complexity of software objects are identified and discussed. The specific applications of Maurice Halstead’s Software Science and Thomas McCabe’s cyclomatic-complexity metric are discussed in detail. The goals here are to identify methods for applying existing software metrics to objects and to provide a basis of analysis for future studies of the measurement and control of software complexity in the object-oriented paradigm of software development. Halstead’s length, vocabulary, volume, program levels and effort metrics are defined for objects. A limit for the McCabe cyclomatic complexity of an object is suggested. Also, tools for calculating these metrics have been developed in LISP on a Texas Instruments’ Explorer.

The aim of this project was to examine the effects of perceptual learning, or practice, on the vision of older adults. Previous findings had indicated that older adults have restricted functional visual fields, but that practice in detecting peripheral targets can substantially improve their performance. Two possible explanations for poorer performance in the older age groups were examined: 1) slowed speed of central perceptual processing and 2) attentional deficit problems. Six observers in each of three age groups were tested and trained in performing a peripheral localization task while performing a concurrent central task. A progressive loss in the functional visual field was again demonstrated as a result of age. All age groups, however, improved significantly in their performance of the task over seven sessions. Results supported the attention deficit explanation for poorer performance in the older age groups. The findings were consistent with the position that older observers find it more difficult to avoid processing irrelevant information in the visual field. Future research will need to determine whether or not improved performance following practice endures with time.

A sample of the general population from a small mid-South town was divided according to orthodoxy, devotionalism, denomination and denominational upbringing. Degree of death anxiety was assessed by the Templer Death Anxiety Scale. A multiple regression analysis of the data indicated that non-orthodox individuals or individuals having no religious affiliation had significantly lower death anxiety than their heterodox or religiously affiliated counterparts. Devotionalism, denomination and denominational upbringing were not significantly related to death anxiety. Several covariates were found to be related to death anxiety: death of a family member or friend (within one year), education, and father living or dead. Though these variables may suggest future research and clinical implication they were not significant enough to act as predictors of death anxiety.

I wrote my first story in third grade. “Francine and the Head-Chopper Man” borrowed its plot from “Beauty and the Beast,” but my teacher didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she arranged for me to read the story to the fifth-grade class down the hall. After that first public reading, I was hooked. I knew at age seven I was going to be a writer. When I discovered journalism in the ninth grade, I knew just what type of writing I was going to do. In junior high and high school, I was editor of the newspapers, and in college I worked on the newspaper and was editor of the yearbook. After graduation I was a reporter, copy editor and features editor at two daily newspapers in Kentucky. I began teaching journalism part-time at Western Kentucky University in 1983, and two years later, when I heard about the English department’s new writing concentration, I decided to study for my master’s. In Frank Steele’s Advanced Writing Workshop, I was confronted by a question I hadn’t asked in years: What did I want to write? Having written newspaper articles for years, I wanted to try something different – the essay, based on fact and usually written in the first person, although not necessarily. I believe this type of writing is valuable because it records and attempts to understand events, people and perceptions. As the number of essays grew, I began to realize a potential problem: If the subjects are dissimilar, any collection of essays runs the risk of seeming disorganized. If the subjects are similar, it runs the risk of sounding the same from essay to essay. I hope this collection of essays avoids both faults. The subjects are dissimilar – ranging from family to education – but revolve around the common themes of relationships and time. Each essay examines relationships between parents and children, sisters and brothers, friends, teachers and students, or others. In addition, they all deal with time, either chronicling the passage of time or preserving the moment. Most of the essays are written in the first person, and many deal with family issues. Those two details may sound as if the collection is germane to only one person, the writer. But it is not. Most readers will recognize themselves or people they know in the characters, and many will recall a way of life, an attitude, or a conversation they thought they had forgotten. Even those who don’t recognize or remember the characters may find the essays valuable if they learn a little about ordinary people and ordinary problems.

An attempt was made to investigate the extent to which individuals are unknowingly influenced by a sex role stereotype in their evaluations of men and women. It was hypothesized that subjects would describe a character in more potency-related, “masculine” terms if that character had been identified as a male than if the character had been identified as a female. Subjects taking part in this study were an equal number of male and female students in introductory psychology classes. The semantic differential technique was employed as a descriptive tool for the subjects’ evaluations of a character they read about in a short passage. The content of the passage used was designed to include qualities usually thought of as masculine and qualities usually thought of as feminine. A 2 x 2 factorial analysis of variance procedure was performed. The results indicated no significant differences either for Factor A, sex of the stimulus figure, or Factor B, sex of the subject. This suggests that both males and females described the character equally in terms of potency and that the sex of the character portrayed did not significantly influence the subjects’ perceptions or evaluations. However, the interaction effects of the two factors did approach significance. Male subjects tended to produce a lower mean potency score when evaluating a female character than when evaluating a male character. On the other hand, female subjects showed the opposite tendency of evaluating a female character with a higher potency rating than they gave to a male character.

Phospholipids are the major structural components of the lipid portion of biological membranes. The study of the thermal properties of these phospholipid provides a systematic understanding of the relationships between the chemical structures and functional properties of phospholipid molecules in artificial and biological membranes. This study examined the thermal behavior of phospholipids in the solid state using DSC and TG coupled with FITR. The phospholipids were found to have phase transitions below the melting point. Egg-yolk lecithin had four transitions below its melting point; sphingomyelin had two phase transitions below its melting point. Phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine had complex phase transitions. The water content of the lipids affected the phase transitions. The water content of the lipids affected the phase transition. In this study, TG provided a quicker, an easier and more accurate way to find the percentage of water in lipids. Most of the phospholipids existed in the hydrated state, and different lipids were associated with different amounts of water. One mole of egg-yolk lecithin was associated with one to two moles of water. One mole of phosphatidylethanolamine contained two moles of water. Phosphatidylserine was a monohydrate, and one mole of sphingomyelin associated with two moles of water, a dehydrate.

The purpose of this study has been to determine the amount of utilization of puppetry including construction of the puppets and development and presentation of puppet programs and benefits derived from such programs in public elementary, junior high school, and middle school libraries, but excluding libraries which served schools with grades one through twelve, in First and Third Kentucky Educational Association School Districts. Data were collected through a questionnaire which was developed and mailed to 132 schools served by 107 librarians. Ninety-three of the librarians involved in the survey completed the questionnaire. It was found that only a little over one-third (39.8 percent) of the librarians were using puppetry as part of their story hour program. The majority of respondents who utilized puppetry in story hour programs were elementary school media librarians. Only two middle school librarians and one sixth grade center librarian were represented in this group. Of the librarians who utilized puppetry it was found that the greatest number of respondents used puppets obtained from a commercial source. The commercial source which was mentioned most frequently was the Society for Visual Education. A significant number used librarian and student produced puppets. The classroom teacher and parents were seldom involved in the production of puppets or as sources of assistance in student construction. The majority of respondents used hand puppets with fabric being the most frequently mentioned item utilized in puppetry construction. Paper sack puppets were used by a significant number of respondents. The greatest number of respondents used puppets to tell the story with a significant number using puppets to accompany the story, to introduce the story, and to produce puppet shows. The greatest number of respondents used table or desk top stages for their productions. Scripts taken from play books and extemporaneously produced during the performance were used by the greatest number of respondents with a significant number using scripts written by the students and the librarian. First, second and third grades were most frequently involved as observers of puppetry performances. As participants in puppetry construction and production, fourth, fifth, and third grades, in rank order, were most frequently involved, but closely followed by librarians who reported utilizing second, sixth and first grades. The majority of respondents reported that they utilized puppetry ten or fewer times during the school year, while librarians seldom reported using puppetry forty or more times during the school year. The greatest number of respondents reported that puppetry added variety to the story hour. A significant number of respondents listed the following benefits: helped to develop better listening skills, helped to develop creativity, stimulated reading, introduced book characters and advertised books, and encouraged group-relatedness and cooperation. In regard to puppetry workshop attendance, it was found that less than one-third of the respondents who utilized puppetry had attended some type of puppetry course or workshop.