Separating global and specific factors in developmental dyslexia

The general goal of the study was to identify global and specific components in developmental dyslexia using various manipulations based on the rapid automatization paradigm (RAN). In two experiments, we used both factor analysis and the Rate-and-Amount Model to verify if one (or more) global factor(s) and a variety of specific effects contribute to the naming (and visual search) deficits in children with dyslexia.

Results of Experiment 1 indicated the presence of three global components: pictorial naming, detailed orthographic analysis, and visual search. Pictorial naming is predicated by typical RAN tasks (such as naming colors or objects), independent of set size, but also from a variety of other tasks including Stroop interference conditions. The detailed orthographic analysis factor accounts for naming of orthographic stimuli at high set size. Visual search marked tasks requiring the scanning of visual targets.

Results of Experiment 2 confirmed the separation between the pictorial naming and detailed orthographic analysis factors both in the original sample and in a new group of children. Furthermore, specific effects of frequency, lexicality, and length were shown to contribute to the reading deficit.

Overall, it is proposed that focusing on the profile of both global and specific effects provides a more effective and, at the same time, simpler account of the dyslexics' impairment.     

Crystallographic orientation dependence of nanoindentation hardness in austenitic phase of stainless steel

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the indentation hardness evolution in different in-plane directions of austenite grains whose {111} planes are parallel to the sample surface determined by nanoindentation tests and electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) analysis. A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of the indentation surface around one of the indents indicated the activation of two sets of slip planes with respect to each of the three indenter surfaces for a Berkovich tip. The identification of the slip traces by EBSD data analysis is in accord with Schmid`s law. We therefore proposed a new approach for defining the orientation parameter to interpret the indentation hardness. The orientation parameter was shown to be the minimum value of the three maximum Schmid factors on the secondarily activated slip planes in three directions for a Berkovich tip. Indentation hardness increased with the decrease in the orientation parameter and was dependent on in-plane orientation.     

Thermal stability and glass-forming ability of Se80− x Te20Ag x (x = 0, 3, 5, 7 and 9) chalcogenide glasses

The thermal stability and glass-forming ability (GFA) of Se_{80? x} Te₂₀Ag _x (x?=?0,?3,?5,?7 and 9) chalcogenide glasses have been investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The DSC runs have been taken at five different heating rates (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50?K/min) under non-isothermal condition. The thermal stability and GFA are monitored through determination of the temperature difference ΔT?=?T _c???T _g, where T _c is the onset crystallization temperature, T _g is the glass transition temperature, H ^l is the stability parameter, ΔH _c is the enthalpy released during crystallization and F _i is the fragility index. The activation energy of crystallization E _c and crystallization rate factor K have also been determined as indicators of the thermal stability of the above-mentioned samples. It is found that Se₇₁Te₂₀Ag₉ is the most stable among all the samples of the series.     

Twinning behaviour of TWIP steel studied by Taylor factor analysis

The twinning behaviour of Twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel has been studied by analysing the grain orientation and the Taylor factor, based on microstructural and electron backscatter diffraction device observations. It is demonstrated that the Taylor factor can give an important guideline for determining the deformation mode of TWIP steel. The higher the Taylor factor, the easier the formation of twins and thus a tendency for the deformation mode to be mechanical twinning, while a low Taylor factor corresponds to a slip deformation mode. When the loading temperature is relatively low, the high Taylor factor regions increase and thus deformation twinning becomes easier while slip becomes more difficult, leading to increased tensile stress and decreased elongation.     

Interpretive habit is strengthened by cognitive bias modification

We investigated the nature of the memory mechanisms underlying cognitive bias modification by applying Jacoby's (1991) process-dissociation procedure to responses during the transfer task. In the two training conditions (negative and benign), students imagined themselves in 100 ambiguous scenarios, most with potentially negative resolutions; the ambiguity was resolved in a consistently negative or benign direction by completing the fragment of a final word. Control participants completed non-ambiguous, non-emotional scenarios. Next all participants responded on a final training block, where half of the scenarios were completed negatively and half benignly. Transfer was assessed by examining choices in the completion of test scenarios when participants were instructed to respond in the same way as they had to a final-block training scenario that was situationally similar. Benign training facilitated correct responding to benign analogues and impaired correct responding to negative analogues. Performance in the negative-training and control conditions was similar. Process-dissociation procedures revealed that this newly established habit and not controlled recollection provided the basis for transfer.     

致癌因素与机体相互作用的损伤与抗损伤反应

损伤与抗损伤是机体对病因作出的一种防御性反应.正确地认识其在疾病发生发展过程中的作用,不仅有助于现代医学阐明疾病的发生机制,而且有利于传统医学提高辩证施治的效果.本文旨在探讨癌症致病因素与机体相互作用的抗损伤反应中的辩证关系,可望逐步提高医者在临床实践中运用唯物辩证法和方法论的自觉性.     

吉林省城市中小学生超重与肥胖的现状研究

为了更好地了解吉林省城市中小学生的超重和肥胖现状及其影响因素,选取吉林省20所学校的17 893名中小学生(8岁～15岁)进行体格测量与问卷调查.调查结果显示,中小学生超重和肥胖总体检出率为30.5％,并且有39.9％的中小学生对体重的自我认知情况与实际检测结果不相符,存在体重认知的偏移.可见,控制儿童青少年超重与肥胖的工作已刻不容缓,应引起全社会高度重视,从低年级儿童入手,做到早期预防.     

By-Person Factor Analysis in Clinical Ethical Decision Making: Q Methodology in End-of-Life Care Decisions

Objective: To determine the usefulness of Q methodology to locate and describe shared subjective influences on clinical decision making among participant physicians using hypothetical cases containing common ethical issues.

Design: Qualitative study using by-person factor analysis of subjective Q sort data matrix.

Setting: University medical center.

Participants: Convenience sample of internal medicine attending physicians and house staff (n = 35) at one midwestern academic health sciences center.

Interventions: Presented with four hypothetical cases involving urgent decision making near the end of life, participants selected one of three specific clinical actions offered for each case. Immediately afterward and while considering their decision, each respondent sorted twenty-five subjective self-referent items in terms of the influence of each statement on their decision-making process. By-person factor analysis, where participants are defined as variates, yielded information about the attitudinal background the physicians brought to their consideration of each hypothetical case. We performed a second-order factor analysis on all of the subjective viewpoints to determine if a smaller core of shared attitudes existed across some or all of the four case vignettes. Factor scores for each item and post-sort comments from interviews conducted individually with each respondent guided the interpretation of ethical perspective used by these respondents in making clinical decisions about the cases.

Measurements and Main Results: Second-order factor analysis on seventeen viewpoints used by physicians in the four hypothetical urgent decision cases revealed three moderately correlated (r ² < 40%) subjective core attitudinal guides used broadly among all the cases and among sixteen of the seventeen original factors. Across all the cases, our participants were guided in general by: (1) patient-focused beneficence, (2) a patient- and surrogate-focused perspective that includes risk avoidance, and (3) best interest of the patient guided by ethical values. Economic impact on the physician, expediency in resolution of the situation, and the expense of medical treatment were not found to be influential determinants in this study.

Conclusions: Q sorting and by-person factor analysis are useful qualitative methodological tools to study the complex structure of subjective attitudes that influence physicians in making medical decisions. This study revealed the subjective viewpoints used by our physician participants as they made ethically challenging treatment decisions. The three second-order factors identified here are grounded in current bioethical values as well as the personal traits of physicians. The participants' decision methods appear to resemble casuistry more than principle-based decision making. Generalizability of results will require further studies.     

Evaluation of the Religiosity in 5-D Scale

ABSTRACT

The goal of this study was to evaluate the factor structure and measurement equivalence of the Religiosity in 5-D Scale (Faulkner & DeJong, 1966). Using 262 participants from the Georgia Centenarian Study (Poon et al., 1992), analyses included exploratory factor analyses without rotation and using rotation, confirmatory factor analyses of a multiple and single factor religiosity construct, the establishment of measurement equivalence across age groups. The 5-D scale maintained a one-factor construct of religiosity. Dimensions of this factor included ideology, experience, ritual, and consequence. A measurement model of the religiosity construct was then established using summary scores. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a satisfactory model of fit (GFI = .99; CFI = 1.00). Finally, measurement equivalence was maintained across age groups including sexagenarians (GFI = .95), octogenarians (GFI = .89), and centenarians (GFI = .95). The 5-D scale is an appropriate measure for use in aging research.