Early amplification options

Children with permanent hearing loss have been remediated with hearing amplification devices for decades. The influx of young infants identified with hearing loss through successful newborn hearing screening programs has established a need for amplification resources for infants within the first six months of life. For the approximately two of every 1000 infants born who are identified with bilateral hearing loss [Mehl and Thomson, 1998, Pediatrics 101, p. e4], the use of amplification is commonly the first step in treating the sequella of their loss. The use of hearing aids, combined with early intervention, has been shown to significantly improve the speech and language skills of young children with hearing loss [Yoshinaga-Itano, 2000, Seminars in Hearing 21, p. 309]. Speech and language delays have contributed to compromised academic performance of school aged children with hearing loss [Johnson et al., 1997, Educational Audiology Handbook, Singular Publishing, San Diego]. Most hard-of-hearing and deaf children use hearing aids and other assistive listening devices every day throughout their lifetime and the life expectancy of a hearing aid is only five to eight years. The current challenge for pediatric audiologists is selecting and evaluating the available amplification to provide the best options for children and their families. Amplification technology has seen an explosion in growth the past few years and the options continue to expand rapidly. This article examines currently available amplification technology and reviews the selection criteria that may be used for infants and young children. Issues such as style, type, amplification features, signal processing strategies, and verification and validation tools are also discussed.     

Less is better: when low-value options are valued more highly than high-value options

This research demonstrates a less-is-better effect in three contexts: (1) a person giving a $45 scarf as a gift was perceived to be more generous than one giving a $55 coat; (2) an overfilled ice cream serving with 7 oz of ice cream was valued more than an underfilled serving with 8 oz of ice cream; (3) a dinnerware set with 24 intact pieces was judged more favourably than one with 31 intact pieces (including the same 24) plus a few broken ones. This less-is-better effect occurred only when the options were evaluated separately, and reversed itself when the options were juxtaposed. These results are explained in terms of the evaluability hypothesis, which states that separate evaluations of objects are often influenced by attributes which are easy to evaluate rather than by those which are important. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Remembering chosen and assigned options

Recent studies have shown systematic choice-supportive memory for past choices, wherein people tend to overattribute positive features to options they chose and negative features to unchosen options (Mather & Johnson, 2000, Mather, Shafir, & Johnson, 2000). In contrast, the present experiments showed no choice-supportive memory bias for assigned options. Rather than having a general motivation to recall the chosen or the assigned option in a more positive light, people appear to be influenced by heuristics that vary with context: In recalling past choices, people expect the chosen option to contain more positive and fewer negative features than do its competitors. In recalling past assignments, in contrast, people expect the assigned option to be remembered better than the unassigned alternatives. This vividness heuristic leads to systematic misattribution of new features to unassigned alternatives, but not in a manner supportive of the assigned option. Some implications of these findings are discussed.     

new options for college study

In an effort to meet the changing demands American society is placing on educational institutions, colleges and universities have begun reexamining their educational practices and philosophy. Here the author discusses two alternatives to traditional classroom learning: (a) universities' acceptance of standardized examination results as evidence of learning and (b) “external degree” programs, which involve a reorganization of the higher education system. She discusses one such program in detail. Both of these changes will encourage and enable more people to pursue college degrees; they will also demand new or redefined roles for counselors in and out of the academic community.     

Issues and options in literacy training

When was the last time you saw a job application with no spelling or grammatical errors? Basic skill deficiencies among people at all levels of business are forcing companies to develop innovative ways of compensating for and correcting the problem. What follows is a summary of literacy training strategies and suggestions for implementation.     

Pharmacogenetics: ethical issues and policy options

Pharmacogenetics offers the prospect of an era of safer and more effective drugs, as well as more individualized use of drug therapies. Before the benefits of pharmacogenetics can be realized, the ethical issues that arise in research and clinical application of pharmacogenetic technologies must be addressed. The ethical issues raised by pharmacogenetics can be addressed under six headings: (1) regulatory oversight, (2) confidentiality and privacy, (3) informed consent, (4) availability of drugs, (5) access, and (6) clinicians' changing responsibilities in the era of pharmacogenetic medicine. We analyze each of these categories of ethical issues and provide policy approaches for addressing them.     

Evaluative conditioning: Overview and further options

Abstract

The demonstration of evaluative conditioning by Baeyens, Eelen, and Van den Bergh confirms our previous findings and extends the evidential basis for conditioning without awareness. The case made against their findings by Shanks and Dickinson is not supported by the methodological claims they advance. We suggest alternative control procedures and argue that evaluative conditioning plays an adaptive role in the formation of preferences.     

Centrality preferences in choices among similar options

Three explanations were explored for the finding that people prefer the middle option rather than the extremes when choosing from an array of similar options. In Study 1, 68% chose the middle item from a set of three highlighters and three surveys, whereas 32% chose an item from either end, p < .0001. In Study 2, 71% selected the middle chair from a row of three chairs that were either all empty, or had a backpack occupying either one of the two end chairs, p < .0001. These results support a minimal mental effort principle rather than a preference for symmetry rule. In Study 3, 54.2% recalled more graphic items from the center poster of a 3-poster collage, whereas 31.3% and 14.5% recalled more items from the left and right posters, respectively, p < .004. These findings lend additional support to a focus of attention explanation.     

Communication options for children with hearing loss

This article examines the communication options that are available for use within families of infants and young children who are hard-of-hearing or deaf. The need for language development, regardless of the specific communication mode, is stressed. The demands of the current environment of early identification and intervention often put families in a position of needing to decide among communication methods before they are fully knowledgeable and/or emotionally ready. Specific communication options are delineated and considered within a continuum of spoken and visual language. Available research related to early acquisition of language by infants and young children who are hard-of-hearing and deaf is reviewed; outcomes, when available, are presented for specific methods from reports of older children. Factors that influence families' decisions regarding the selection of a communication option are highlighted in the context of the existing literature. An ongoing evaluative process that respects the choices of families is advocated; a context in which change(s) in communication mode through childhood is viewed as a positive circumstance. The ultimate goal in the selection of any communication approach is to ensure that infants and young children who are hard of hearing or deaf and their families are language proficient and fluent communicators.     

Using real options to value modularity in standards

This paper proposes a model of technology standardization based on modular standards and the effect of market uncertainty on the value of modularity in standards. A real options model quantifies the value of modularity in standards, illustrating that a rational way to standardize some IT technology in uncertain markets is with modular design, end-2-end structure, and proper staging of the standard. Highly modularized standards provide a higher option value because of the ability to select the best modules to change at a fine granularity.     

Current and emerging pharmacological treatment options for dementia

Treatments for the symptomatic relief of Alzheimer's disease are available but despite advances in our ability to treat persons with various forms of dementia, more effective treatments are needed. The cholinesterase inhibitors donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine have demonstrated efficacy in improving cognition and global status and to a lesser extent, behavioral abnormalities relative to placebo in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease. Rivastigmine has been shown to benefit patients with dementia with Lewy Bodies and with dementia associated with Parkinson's disease. Donepezil and galantamine have also been shown to be mildly effective in dementia due to cerebral ischemia. Memantine has a distinct mechanism of action and is effective in moderate-to-severe AD. The benefits from these drugs, however, are limited and their long-term effectiveness has not been well-demonstrated. Their clinical utility is controversial. Many novel approaches that promise to provide more effective treatments are currently being pursued.     

默认选项设置的助推效果：来自元分析的证据

默认选项设置指通过设置默认选项以增加人们选择该选项可能性的助推方法, 近年来被越来越多地运用于促进公众积极行为上, 然而这种方法在有效性上却受到了来自公众和学者的质疑。据此, 本研究运用元分析法整合了近几年有关默认选项设置的已有实证研究, 分析该助推手段的有效性, 并进一步考察可能影响其有效性的相关变量。研究共纳入符合要求的原始文献56篇, 含92个研究, 结果发现：(1)默认选项设置的确能有效助推人们的行为; (2)默认选项设置的助推有效性在东、西方文化下存在显著差异, 其在西方文化背景下的助推效果要显著好于其在东方文化背景下的使用; (3)默认选项设置的助推有效性在不同情境应用领域中存在显著差异, 相较于健康和环保领域, 默认选项设置在金钱相关的情境领域下助推效果更好。     

Autonomy,constraining options,and organ sales

Although there continues to be a chronic shortage of transplant organs the suggestion that we should try to alleviate it through allowing a current market in them continues to be morally condemned, usually on the grounds that such a market would undermine the autonomy of those who would participate in it as vendors. Against this objection Gerald Dworkin has argued that such markets would enhance the autonomy of the vendors through providing them with more options, thus enabling them to exercise a greater degree of control over their bodies. Paul Hughes and T. L. Zutlevics have recently criticized Dworkin's argument, arguing that the option to sell an organ is unusual in that it is an autonomy–undermining "constraining option" whose presence in a person's choice set is likely to undermine her autonomy rather than enhance it. I argue that although Hughes' and Zutlevics' arguments are both innovative and persuasive they are seriously flawed — and that allowing a market in human organs is more likely to enhance vendor autonomy than diminish it. Thus, given that autonomy is the preeminent value in contemporary medical ethics this provides a strong prima facie case for recognizing the moral legitimacy of such markets.     

Climate change: the evidence and our options

Glaciers serve as early indicators of climate change. Over the last 35 years, our research team has recovered ice-core records of climatic and environmental variations from the polar regions and from low-latitude high-elevation ice fields from 16 countries. The ongoing widespread melting of high-elevation glaciers and ice caps, particularly in low to middle latitudes, provides some of the strongest evidence to date that a large-scale, pervasive, and, in some cases, rapid change in Earth''s climate system is underway. This paper highlights observations of 20th and 21st century glacier shrinkage in the Andes, the Himalayas, and on Mount Kilimanjaro. Ice cores retrieved from shrinking glaciers around the world confirm their continuous existence for periods ranging from hundreds of years to multiple millennia, suggesting that climatological conditions that dominate those regions today are different from those under which these ice fields originally accumulated and have been sustained. The current warming is therefore unusual when viewed from the millennial perspective provided by multiple lines of proxy evidence and the 160-year record of direct temperature measurements. Despite all this evidence, plus the well-documented continual increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, societies have taken little action to address this global-scale problem. Hence, the rate of global carbon dioxide emissions continues to accelerate. As a result of our inaction, we have three options: mitigation, adaptation, and suffering.     

Curricular options and services for youth with disabilities

The purpose of this research was to identify and discuss the curricular options, modes of delivering services, and related instructional matters for youth with disabilities. To carry out that we gathered data in six high schools of various sizes and types. Based on a conceptual framework designed by Goodlad, we identified 12 research questions. Data of four types (observations, interviews, surveys, and documents) were gathered from all six sites in response to those questions. Reports were written for each of the high schools that included several recommendations. These recommendations were explained to individuals at the schools and researchers were apprised of the extent which the suggestions were either considered or put into practice. Results from the six schools with respect to the 12 research questions are summarized.     

Training and career options in psychology and law

This article examines various training and career options in psychology and law. Data are discussed from a survey of universities which offer psycholegal training. Psycho-legal training programs in the US and Canada are identified. We also discuss policy and research careers for persons jointly trained in psychology and law.